How long will my MBP last?

[FearoftheNight]

I've got a late 2007 Santa Rosa MBP...any idea how long the thing will last? I had the mobo/cpu/gpu replaced last year since the 8600 crapped out. I'm thinking about putting a SSD in there...is it likely it'll last another 3 or 4 years for me?

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

It should.

 

[alent1234]

you're going to spend $300 or so on a laptop that is only worth around $300?

 

[Oyeve]

you're going to spend $300 or so on a laptop that is only worth around $300?

Beats spending 2k. I use a 15" mbp from mid 2009 and I dont see myself replacing it for at least 3-4 years. Why?

 

[Kadarin]

I've got one of these too, and it works fine (though was sluggish enough with Lion on it that I went back to Snow Leopard). However, I really just don't use it all that much anymore.

 

[Ka0t1x]

It all really depends on how much drive space is required. I only really use a max of ~30Gb on my main OS drive, so the SSD for me would be ~$100.

 

[Bateluer]

I've got a late 2007 Santa Rosa MBP...any idea how long the thing will last? I had the mobo/cpu/gpu replaced last year since the 8600 crapped out. I'm thinking about putting a SSD in there...is it likely it'll last another 3 or 4 years for me?

. . . You're going to use a laptop for ~7 years? Sell it off, pick up one of the new MBPs, much faster.

I bought an MBA two weeks ago, and I fully intend to sell it in ~2 years for a more current laptop. Tech moves fast.

 

[TheStu]

. . . You're going to use a laptop for ~7 years? Sell it off, pick up one of the new MBPs, much faster.

I bought an MBA two weeks ago, and I fully intend to sell it in ~2 years for a more current laptop. Tech moves fast.

'Tech comes at you pretty fast, if you don't stop and refresh once in a while, you might miss it'
-Ferris Bateluer

 

[gmaster456]

Personally, I'd sell it while its still worth something and get a new one. But to answer your question, for average usage (browsing, email etc), It should last you another 3 years.

 

[blackdogdeek]

i have one of the early 2006 models (core duo). i still use it for iphone/ipad development.

 

[r0k]

Ok first of all a 2007 MBP is worth a lot more than $300 and putting an SSD in the thing should give a high percentage return on whatever you spend for the SSD. Secondly I just went through a round of SSD upgrades in all our old Macs. I gave everybody small SSD drives for the OS and turned their hard drives into external drives with $10 SATA to USB enclosures. It was the single most significant speed upgrade I've ever seen and I've been upgrading computers a long time.

On my 2008 Penryn (turned in my Santa Rosa for it), I installed a Seagate Momentus XT 500 GB "hybrid" SSD drive which is a 500 GB 7200 drive with a 4GB SSD drive. All the decisions about what goes to SSD and what goes to HDD are handled by the firmware using the same algorithm that is used for its 32MB cache. Everything is always written to HDD but frequently used content is prefetched to SSD. It works great. It's not as fast as SSD but it's a heck of a lot faster than 5400 RPM and maybe twice as fast as a normal 7200 RPM. For just over $100 that's a good deal and perhaps something you should consider. While you've got the thing opened up, don't forget to pop in more RAM.

As far as the longevity of your hardware? I expect it to go another 3+ years if you can stand the temptation not to upgrade when some fancy new 3d bluray 3 terrabyte 12 gigahertz for $99 Mac Plus (or whatver it's called) comes out.

 

[Rottie]

just got a MBP yesterday and took it to apple store for testing it turns out the nvidia card is having an error code 14 even though the nvidia still working fine but the applecare just want to turn it in for replacement at no extra cost so with that new logic board i would probably sell it when 2012 come out hoping for good higher value.

 

[alkemyst]

r0k is right...just the utility value of the MBP is more than $300...it's hard to find really good laptops below that. It's like trying to find a good used pickup truck.

There are a lot of beaters out there.

In the end ANY system should be able to do what you bought it for for a LONG time. In the end I'd say that usability is usually about 5-6 years tops though before the powers that be change things enough that they no longer run on the older hardware.

However as a PURE email, Word/Excel type, GOOGLE machine 2-3x that with today' hardware.

 

[alkemyst]

just got a MBP yesterday and took it to apple store for testing it turns out the nvidia card is having an error code 14 even though the nvidia still working fine but the applecare just want to turn it in for replacement at no extra cost so with that new logic board i would probably sell it when 2012 come out hoping for good higher value.

I didn't follow this. What kind of MBP and what did you pay to have the apple store look at it? What's your plan for it.

 

[silverpig]

I have a 2009 MBP with a 2.26 GHz C2D and it runs great. I upgraded it to 8GB ram and a 60GB SSD and it flies along just fine. It runs everything I want just fine.

 

[Rottie]

I didn't follow this. What kind of MBP and what did you pay to have the apple store look at it? What's your plan for it.

Late 2007 MBP I just won from eBay by accident I was playing around eBay and hit winning bid by mistake then eBay sent me email that I just won. so...I was not sure the seller has ever replaced logic board apple store told me the seller bought it on March 2008...I am doing video editing and photoshop.

 

[FearoftheNight]

yea thats what i'm thinking. i really like this machine and its been a trusty workhorse for me. it's not my primary machine anymore but i'd like to have it on the side. and isn't it a $100 upgrade for like a $500-600 machine?