My family's MacBook Pro Late 2017 needs a new battery. The computer is in good condition, but considering Ventura might be the last OS update in receives, I'm not sure if spending more than 200€ on a new battery is worth it. What do you think?
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MacBook Pro Late 2017 - Worth replacing the battery?
- Thread starter v1ctorS
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I think that's really your decision... it depends on how long you want to keep the machine. Ventura will be supported for another 2 years with security updates as soon as macOS 14 comes out. So I think it's your call—when do you want to replace the machine?
In my opinion, the butterfly keyboards are ticking time bombs. But if yours never failed so far, then maybe you got lucky.
If the computer still does what you want it too, then yeah. Its better to spend 200 then 2000
I intend to keep it for at least two more years. It's being used in clam shell most of the time, so the butterfly keyboard breaking isn't really a concern. The only thing that worries me is Apple cutting off support. Security and privacy are important to me and one of the reasons I keep buying Apple products, but if Ventura will be supported for another 2 years, that's enough for me.
If it is used almost exclusively in clamshell mode, why replace the battery? Is it a safety concern like swelling battery, or just degradation over time?
The OS shows a warning message saying that the battery is degraded and when they do use it unplugged, it lasts less than 2 hours. If it were only for the warning message, I would not necessarily want replace the battery, but 2h is not acceptable for a machine that is in otherwise great condition.
I just replaced the battery on my wife’s 2009 MBP which is limited to el Cap. Granted, that was a 10 minute job and only cost $90, but I figure it’s also much less capable than your 2017.
And yet, it does everything she needs it to do: e-mail, photo and music management, kids’ homework, Office suite, online stuff.
As someone else said, it’s cheaper than a new one if it does all you need. I don’t understand why people get all this ”not supported” anxiety. Her MBP continues to get some kind of Apple updates.
¯\_( ツ)_/¯
And yet, it does everything she needs it to do: e-mail, photo and music management, kids’ homework, Office suite, online stuff.
As someone else said, it’s cheaper than a new one if it does all you need. I don’t understand why people get all this ”not supported” anxiety. Her MBP continues to get some kind of Apple updates.
¯\_( ツ)_/¯
A 2009 MBP is not being updated, at all. The most recent operating system is Mac OS X 11.6. Mactracker says it was last updated on July 18, 2016. Now, Apple may be releasing updates to Safari or Pages or other software programs, but the operating system is not being updated.
There's a wonderful program called MacTracker, that contains information on almost every device Apple released. According to MacTracker:
MacOS X 10.11 (El Capitan).
Released: September 30, 2015
Last update: July 18, 2016
MacOS X 10.12 (Sierra)
Released: Sepetember 20, 2016
Last update: July 19, 2017
MacOS 10.13 (High Sierra)
Released: September 25, 2017
Last update: July 9, 2018
MacOS 10.14 (Mojave)
Released: September 24, 2018
Last update: July 22, 2019
MacOS 10.15 (Catalina)
Released: October 7, 2019
Last Update: September 24, 2020
Mac OS 11 (Big Sur)
Released: November 12, 2020
Last update: July 20, 2022 [NOTE: Only MacOS recently with more than one year of updates)
Mac OS 12 (Monterey)
Released: October 25, 2021
Last update: July 20, 2022
Only ONE MacOS has more than one year of support, which was Mac OS 11 (Big Sur).
EDIT: According to Apple, only the latest operating system is fully patched. See https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/202...olicy-only-the-latest-oses-are-fully-patched/
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Who said it was?
vs
So… in other words, its getting ”some kind of Apple updates.”
It appears ESL classes are not what they used to be. Maybe it’s due to poor “software programs.”
There's a new article on Ars refering to a recent Apple support document you might be interested in. It's basically saying that "only devices running the most recent major operating system versions should expect to be fully protected".
But I’m not talking about full updates. Just specific security updates. Maybe they’re called patches. I remember getting one or two on my Mavericks Mac shockingly long after newer versions of macOS had come out, at least several years.
Hi.
If it's the non-touchbar 13" model maybe you qualify for a free replacement:
That makes sense. I would tend to do the replacement… you can get another two years out of that easily.
I have a refurbished Late 2016 MBP 15" i7 purchased in 2018. Don't really use the keyboard (butterfly) opting for the wireless extended, and always plugged in (I was advised that if used with proper cover protection, the butterfly keyboard sticking problem would not be an issue). The battery never lasted very long when unplugged, so not used in that mode much. For the past year or so I noticed the service battery warnings and that it overheated and swelling when used unplugged; it was also slow and would crash. After consulting with Apple I took it in to my local Apple Store and had the battery/keyboard replaced. In a week I had a fully functioning, cool running and fast machine running Monterey OS; reinstalling all my data from Time Machine took 4-5 hours without problems; I reinstalled applications, email accounts and drivers as needed. As victor S said, it's better to spend $200 than $2000 when it will do what you want it to do. I plan on using this machine until I decide that I need to upgrade to Apple silicon to accommodate software upgrades.
But only the current version of MacOS is fully patched, according to the link in my post.
Right. I was just letting OP know that the most critical security patches will probably still be addressed for awhile after the OS version is no longer fully supported. In other words, older OSes aren’t totally abandoned and vulnerable. Otherwise, there would be many organizations and businesses left in the dust since many aren’t able to stay up to date. But yes, staying up to date offers the most protection.