Macbook Pro Mid 2012 i5 in 2017

[Cesarisg]

Hello everyone, a friend is selling me a Macbook Pro Mid 2012 for $300, the base model i5 and 4gb of ram, it's very well taken care, no dents or scratches I've used it for a day and didn't overheat or froze.

My question is... Is it worth it in 2017? I want this laptop for my wife, her laptop(Compaq CQ40 an old compaq laptop) stopped working in december last year and thought this was a good oportunity to give her a Mac she has always wanted, she takes very well care of her laptops, her old laptops was in great condition for an 8 year old laptop, sadly the motherboard decided to die.

I have a 240gb SSD, caddy for the hard drive to use as storage and 8gb ram laying around to upgrade the Macbook(Used to have a pc repair shop), she will only use the laptop for web browsing, office pages, light photoshop editing(barely knows how to use it) and mostly something to keep backup for her iPhone, iPad(she's an Apple fan) and media.

Should I get the Macbook of her dreams or buy her a new windows laptop that's worth the $300?, I don't have experience with Macbooks before, don't know how trusty they are.

 

[tryrtryrtryrt]

Check battery condition in CoconutBattery.
Is she OK with its weight?
Other than this seems pretty good deal.

Don't buy PC laptop for 300, they're ****.

 

[estabya]

With the SSD and upgraded RAM that you already have this thing will still fly for what it sounds like she'll use it for. $300 is a pretty decent deal.

EDIT: I think hands down it will be better than any $300 windows machine you will find.

 

[ZapNZs]

Provided it is in good working condition, at that price it is an outstanding deal for an outstanding computer.

 

[Sterkenburg]

That machine will be hands down better than anything else a $300 budget can afford. The fact that you already have RAM and SSD parts for upgrading makes the choice a no-brainer. Get her the MBP she wants

 

[treekram]

I concur with the other posters. I have this computer (13") and I think it works well for users like your wife who don't necessarily need the latest technology. It's also the last MBP model that was easily upgraded with standard parts. Of the 6 Macs I have, it was by far the easiest one to upgrade the drive. If you need to replace the battery, it's $129 from Apple (installation included). The most common issue that comes up with the 13" mid-2012 MBP is that the HDD cable can go flaky but guess what - if you take it to an Apple store, they'll fix that and if you want to do it yourself, the cable is $20-$40. If your friend is trustworthy, chances are it still has years of life left.

 

[Cesarisg]

Check battery condition in CoconutBattery.
Is she OK with its weight?
Other than this seems pretty good deal.

Don't buy PC laptop for 300, they're ****.

When I had it for service I was impressed by the battery life, from 100% to 50% was about an hour and a half with light use, like web browsing and office.
She's ok with its weight, the 13" version it's not that heavy, but the 15" it's pretty heavy for her, I would like the quad core and the bigger screen, but the laptop is for her, she doesn't need any of that.
[doublepost=1492811736][/doublepost]

With the SSD and upgraded RAM that you already have this thing will still fly for what it sounds like she'll use it for. $300 is a pretty decent deal.

EDIT: I think hands down it will be better than any $300 windows machine you will find.

Yeah, that's why I thought of buying it, because of the price, condition and potencial with the upgrades I have laying around, her 8 year old windows pc was still holding for her needs, and I think this laptop will hold for a long time or enough time to save and buy a brand new Macbook.
Thanks for the response.

 

[tubeexperience]

Hello everyone, a friend is selling me a Macbook Pro Mid 2012 for $300, the base model i5 and 4gb of ram, it's very well taken care, no dents or scratches I've used it for a day and didn't overheat or froze.

I bought a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013) for the same price.

 

[Cesarisg]

That machine will be hands down better than anything else a $300 budget can afford. The fact that you already have RAM and SSD parts for upgrading makes the choice a no-brainer. Get her the MBP she wants

Yeah, $300 laptop are all plastics and fragile, nothing like a MBP aluminum body.
[doublepost=1492812119][/doublepost]

I bought a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013) for the same price.

Wow, that was a bargain.

 

[tubeexperience]

Yeah, $300 laptop are all plastics and fragile, nothing like a MBP aluminum body.

You are comparing new versus used.

Here's a Windows laptop for comparison:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-XPS-L3...681940?hash=item58f347a954:g:DPYAAOSwcLxYJdIL