Calling all Macintosh Clairvoyants
July 3, 2012 11:59 AM   Subscribe

How many years can I expect to get out of my MacBook Pro?

A week ago my refurbished 13" MacBook Pro arrived from Apple's online store. It's running OSX Lion 10.7.4, and when Mountain Lion is available I will upgrade to that. It has 4 GB of memory, and the processor is 2.8GHz Intel Core i7.

I'm happy as a clam with it. In addition to the usual email, and internet stuff, I've loaded iWork for my business documents and spreadsheets, and will be using Keynote soon for Toastmasters presentations.

Here's what I don't do on this laptop, and probably never will:

1. "gaming"
2. making/editing movies
3. putting together photo albums
4. Using Garage Band
5. Downloading movies or videos.
6. Having tons and tons of photos or songs in iTunes

With this in mind, how many years can I reasonably expect to get out of this model, assuming it's not dropped, mis-used, or otherwise broken? (Yes I have AppleCare.)

Now, don't break my heart....
posted by BostonTerrier to Computers & Internet (32 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Mine's still chugging along after four and a half years. It doesn't like Civ 4 anymore, but I blame Steam for that.
posted by Etrigan at 12:02 PM on July 3, 2012


I have a 2009 macbook air that's still poking along just fine. The computer i had before that was a ~2006 ibook; it is also still running - my parents currently use it as an occasional websurfing computer. If you don't drop it & don't spill anything on it, it should last for a while.
posted by lyra4 at 12:03 PM on July 3, 2012


I bought a refurb 12" Mac powerbook that lasted, mmmm, eight years? I loaned it to a friend about a year ago and it seems that its power management thingy is dying. I may or may not try to bring it back to life.

I bought a MBP (13") in mid-2009 and have added RAM (8 GB), and that's it. Still chugging along happily.
posted by rtha at 12:08 PM on July 3, 2012


My MBP is six years old. but the motherboard did get replaced three years after I got it under AppleCare. It's still chugging along just fine, but the RAM needs to be updated--it's a bit slow.
posted by zoetrope at 12:09 PM on July 3, 2012


I still use my Macbook from 2008 that works just fine. I did add some RAM to it recently, and have had to replace the battery and charger, but it's still pretty great.
posted by taltalim at 12:11 PM on July 3, 2012


My wife uses our 8 year old laptop, and aside from it being slow, it still works fine. My mom has owned about 12 macs since they started coming out, and every one has lasted for at least 5 years (the old one being passed onto a family member when she would purchase a new one).
posted by markblasco at 12:13 PM on July 3, 2012


Best answer: Generally? Three-to-five years. At this pint it's less of a question of how long the hardware will stay current as how long it will stay functional. Laptops, while durable goods, don't last forever. You'll probably have to replace some parts after a while. Hard drives fail. Motherboards fry. Screens drop pixels. Connectors fray and stop working. At some point it gets to be cheaper to throw it out and buy a new one.
posted by valkyryn at 12:14 PM on July 3, 2012


As long as you're comfortable with there being a point in the future when you'll not be able to run the newest version of OS or apps, your MBP should be able to last until it's unrepairable (or the cost of a repair doesn't calculate positively)
posted by Thorzdad at 12:17 PM on July 3, 2012


Longevity aside, Apple hardware tends to retain its value decently. If you don't wait until the laptop is dead, but instead sell it on Craigslist when your AppleCare runs out, you can recoup about 40% of your original price. There are a lot of people who are looking for used Apple laptops out there.
posted by Mercaptan at 12:18 PM on July 3, 2012


Santa brought mine to me December 25, 2006. It is our main computer and has gotten heavy use over the years, including from 2 teenage boys, and it is running fine although we do use an external cd drive because we've smooshed the opening of the integral one with the weight of our right wrists. We've been warned that it's on the list of products Apple will stop servicing in its next round of upgrades, so planned obsolescence and all that. But it has been a helluva workhorse.
posted by headnsouth at 12:20 PM on July 3, 2012


I handed down a 2004-vintage iBook to family, and it's still decent for basic stuff; I sold on a 2007 MacBook which is more than decent. So: definitely a good few years, and having AppleCare will protect you from any hardware crappiness for the first few years.

Think about a couple of phases of "refresh" upgrades, if you're inclined to get the most life out of it: doubling the RAM will help along the line, as will a switch out to a SSD.
posted by holgate at 12:22 PM on July 3, 2012


I have a MacBook from November 2007 that is just beginning to fade. I had to replace the battery and power cord a while back (maybe a year ago), and now very infrequently the screen will black out momentarily when I move the hinge. I'm planning on a new one soon, but this has been a workhorse.
posted by Stewriffic at 12:24 PM on July 3, 2012


I bought my macbook in 2006 and it's still chugging along doing web browsing, word processing, email, ssh-ing to remote hosts, and running omnifocus. I keep thinking of buying a new one, particularly with the retina display, now, but I can't quite justify the expense while the old laptop is still doing fine.
posted by rmd1023 at 12:24 PM on July 3, 2012


Best answer: As an anecdotal datapoint, I bought a used iBook G3 from a friend in 2006 and we still have it and my wife uses it as her travel laptop. It's 10 years or so old by our figuring and still functions fine. The bigger problem is it predates the Intel switch, so there's only so many programs that'll run on it and some modern things like Flash are like "You want me to run on whaaaat?" It's been on a bunch of moves and air trips and we haven't done anything to it except the routine maintenance the OS runs and it still spins up and runs fine. Even the positively-antique versions of Photoshop and stuff still work fine, it's just finding software that works on the darn thing.

My personal laptop is a Macbook I got in 2008 and I've banged it around and brought it on trips and used it every day and it's my frequent companion outside on the porch. Still runs fine, haven't done anything to it except the routine maintenance OSX does and then upgrades to the latest versions of OSX as they come out. I'm at the point I think it could probably use some more RAM, but just haven't gotten around to it.

Generally speaking, as long as the hardware holds up, it's going to depend on the software you need to run out it. If you're just doing basic word processing and internet use, you'll be fine for ages. If you need to run the latest-and-greatest Photoshop and such, it's going to depend when those programs update and what their requirements are.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 12:29 PM on July 3, 2012


I have a 2009 macbook pro that is just as blazing fast as the day I got it. I did a couple of small upgrades along the way (doubled my RAM because it was on sale at Amazon for $39 bucks, and also doubled my hard drive to a hybrid ssd also 2x my original size). But even before, I had no complaints.

I'm resisting the temptation to upgrade to the retina display one but see no real need. I could easily see this one being a great workhorse for another few years.
posted by special-k at 12:29 PM on July 3, 2012


Here's a little tip. I know people feel differently about insurance and stuff but if you think it's worthwhile, get a personal article policy PAP on yours. Since I have my auto + renters insurance through the same agent, I also get a personal articles policy on my macbook pro for the price of 5 cups of coffee/year.

This means that if I accidentally pour coffee on my laptop, throw it under a bus, get it stolen, etc etc I will get a check for the full replacement value. That + cloud backup = peace of mind.
posted by special-k at 12:32 PM on July 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


I have a 2007 macbook with 2GB RAM that I am super impressed with. It has the same specs as a Windows XP computer that I used before, but the macbook feels much faster. It also runs Lion very well (it is not compatible with Mountain Lion though). I did put an SSD in it when the HDD broke, and the screen backlight broke, so I only use it with an external monitor. So, with the things you do, I'd say with any luck 5 years or more (though you may have to buy replacement parts in those five years).
posted by davar at 12:49 PM on July 3, 2012


I'm still using my late 2008 MBP, though I recently upgraded both the RAM and hard drive.

Prior to this one, my Titanium PowerBook lasted 6 years (and I still occasionally pull it out to use with an old scanner) and my roommate is still using her 2005 iBook.

As my usage profile matches pretty closely to yours, I'd say you're likely to get 4-6 years out of your new MBP.
posted by roosterboy at 12:55 PM on July 3, 2012


Anecdotally, Husbunny's MacPro is chugging along just fine after 6 years, however the battery doesn't work anymore, so he has to keep it plugged in.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 12:56 PM on July 3, 2012


My daughter [19] is using my 2007 MacBook for the same sort of stuff. She seems perfectly happy and has not made any noises about wanting a newer computer.
posted by chazlarson at 1:07 PM on July 3, 2012


My MBP is over 6 years old and apart from having to get the screen hinge re-tightened, RAM upgraded and one hard drive failure it is still working well though my battery life is really poor. I only really use it now for net browsing and some photo editing.
posted by latch24 at 1:19 PM on July 3, 2012


Just note that the new Retina macs are not upgradeable. So the idea of adding RAM later .. appealing as it may be is not possible.
posted by rr at 1:36 PM on July 3, 2012


Best answer: This is a 13" model, so its not a Retina MacBook Pro.

Browsers seem to use more and more memory with each new version, so, at some point, your 4GB may seem crowded (I already feel 4GB isn't enough for Lion). I'd suggest upgrading it to 8GB before too much time goes by (say the next year) because at some point, they'll stop making that type of RAM and the price will drift upwards. Other than that, you should be good, provided you don't have a major hardware failure. At some point you can get more life out of it with an SSD.
posted by Good Brain at 2:07 PM on July 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


I bought a refurbed MBP in 2007. I've been using it daily since then, running 3d apps and Photoshop. Still going strong. I do use a USB-powered cooling pad when the internal fan starts running.
posted by shino-boy at 3:05 PM on July 3, 2012


Way loooonnger than a PC in any case.

I have a 2005 Macbook Pro that is still chugging along. The motherboard and hard drive went kaputt the first year, one of the fans fried the second year, and I needed a new battery the third year. All replaced under Applecare and it has been problem-free since then. Last week, I upgraded it to Snow Leopard so I can use the new version of Office... The only annoying things about it are that it will turn itself on if I leave it plugged in, the screen is getting creaky, and the airport can be a little wonky (intermittently). But those things have been going on for 5 years with no progression (and without bothering me enough to fix them).

The Dell PC we had bought one year before hasn't really been usable since 2008. (Just to give you an idea that we aren't babying things along...my unwise usage and downloading of junk was enough to make the Dell torture to use).
posted by Tandem Affinity at 3:13 PM on July 3, 2012


"I have a 2005 Macbook Pro"

They were introduced in 2006.


Really? I'm a year off then, sorry. Guess it's not doing quite as well as I thought, but possibly better than my memory...
posted by Tandem Affinity at 3:51 PM on July 3, 2012


I have a 2007 MacBook Pro and it works fine. I've replaced the battery a few times.
posted by miss tea at 4:01 PM on July 3, 2012


Response by poster: Thanks for your responses. I find them heartening, to a degree, though I wish Apple would ease up on the pell-mell rate of their OS upgrades. Can't we all just use Lion for the next ten years?

Funny how many of you use the phrase "chugging along." Thomas the Tank Mac!
posted by BostonTerrier at 6:15 PM on July 3, 2012


I have a 2001 iBook that still boots up and still runs DVDs. I was using to surf the web as late as 2008.
posted by hot_monster at 7:18 PM on July 3, 2012


My 2007 MBP runs like a champ. The only piece that's been replaced is the battery.
posted by InsanePenguin at 7:36 PM on July 3, 2012


I already feel 4GB isn't enough for Lion
I wonder if it is the SSD that makes my 5 year old 2GB macbook feel completely snappy with Lion. I just worked at a new (bought this year) notebook with Windows 7 and was happy to go back to my 5 year old macbook. I'm currently running Firefox with 15 tabs open, Preview, Safari, iTunes, Xcode, VNC and some utility apps, and it still feels very fast. I could quit programs in between use, but there is just no need.
posted by davar at 1:08 AM on July 4, 2012


I had an iMac G3 that I have given away but still runs. It must be about 14 years old. The Ethernet port no longer works and it doesn't keep the time if it's not plugged in, but it still works. I had a Powerbook G3 that was still working when I scrapped it after 8 years. I am about to get rid of an eMac that still works, 8 years later. I had to replace the hard disk in my MacBook Pro, covered by AppleCare, but other than that, it has given me no problems since 2009. I plan to get at least 5 years, if not 7, out of that, before I even think about replacing it. I don't do much that's demanding (I don't play games or edit movies); if I did, I might upgrade more often.
posted by Grinder at 12:56 PM on July 4, 2012


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