So, I’m listening to Windows Weekly. and for the 8 millionth time, Leo just HAD to say that he thinks that “Intel macs are a thing of the past”. Oh come on. Why, then, are refurbed old Macbookpro’s, especially 2012-2014, selling so well these days. I check OWC all the time, and the older ones dont last on their website more than 2 or 3 days. And they are not giving them away… 800 $ or so with 500 gig SSD and at least 8 gigs of RAM. And I just dont understand why he fawns over a company that treats him like persona non-grata. If i liked a product, but the manufacturer treated me like crap, i might buy it but i wouldnt give them so much free advertising. Fact is…Fact always is…that everything has its plusses and minuses.
Im still looking for a mid 2012 macbookpro 16 gigs ram, 500 gig SSD, I7, quad core if they made it…and so hard to find. 13" or 16".
Also, Id like to know who you all think I can trust buying refurbed. Theres a lot of stuff on Amazon, and Amazon says they will stand behind them, but idk…The names of the refurbing companies scare me. I’ve done really well with OWC over the years, but most of the 2012’s they have are i5 processors, and they still dont last more than a few days for sale.
Also…different subject…I now am using an early 2011 macbookpro. I was able to upgrade to sierra no sweat. But it doesnt want to upgrade to high sierra, which I think its supposed to be able to do.
Any suggestions…any secrets to getting this done?
Yes, you will be able to get refurbished (and new) Intel Macs for a while, but Apple is moving to 100% Apple Silicon over the next 18 months or so. In the near future, there won’t be any new Intel Macs to buy and there will be fewer and fewer of them on the second hand market.
Apple will also stop producing software, especially macOS for those Intel Macs in a few years time.
Because the older keyboards are better, because refurbished is cheaper than buying a new model. A lot of people don’t like the butterfly keyboard, for example - it is one of the worst keyboards I’ve ever tried to use, only the Sinclair ZX81 and ZX Spectrum were worse.
I know a lot of people who have always bought refurbished or Apple Warehouse deals, where they buy a model that was previously sold to a customer and returned.
An intel Mac works fine today, but 4 years down the line you won’t get any upgrades. I am writing this on a 16 inch intel Mac book pro, so you can understand I am not super happy with that.
That does not mean that intel Macs are necessarily obsolete. We have been using Mac systems that are 10+ years old, so one way or another my Mac will still be relevant for a while, but in a couple of years a new Apple silicon Mac will run rings around it.
I purchased a 2012 MacBook pro a couple of years back for my gf because it was a requirement for her course.
After a ssd replacement it was performing better than newer Mac systems her colleagues were using. She still prefers it over a newer Thinkpad p53 she has.
There are a lot to be said for older Mac systems. I think this applies up to 2015.
Some info here on how to download High Sierra. Haven’t tested it though!
All my Apple macs and phones have been refurbs. As new stock reduces, then returned ones reduce, so the refurbs dry up. Plus they’re still popular with people like me, so when some do appear they are snapped up. Hope you find one.
I ran a 2012 until late last year. Maxed out to 16GB memory, and had 4tb of SSD (sacrificing the optical drive). Worked great, but I could see it was finally getting a bit slow. Bought a 2019 16" i9x8 with 32GB and 4tb. I have to run a company VMWare image, so at this point, Intel is a requirement.
Bought it as an Apple refurb, to save a few dollars. If it lasts me anywhere close to the 7 years the last one did, I’ll be happy. Will I get a silicon mac? yes, I have an Air that needs to be replaced sometime.
At this point, Intel vs Apple Silicon is about what software you need to run, your memory and port requirements, etc. Once they have more capable AS systems later this year, and when VMWare and Parallels work out the VM issues, then the whole decision tree changes.
I’m running an early 2015 Macbook Pro. Unless something catastrophic happens, I won’t replace it until Apple stops supplying OS updates. I bought it as a refurb in 2016. I won’t intentionally buy something more than one generation old when I buy new stuff. So the talk about Apple Silicon is very relevant, as that is where Apple is going.
Previously, I had said that if I were to replace this, I was most likely going to go with a Dell and a Windows PC. I couldn’t see any benefit to staying on Apple hardware. With the Apple Silicon, it makes me consider it, assuming there is a device at that point that meets my requirements.
Also…different subject…I now am using an early 2011 macbookpro. I was able to upgrade to sierra no sweat. But it doesnt want to upgrade to high sierra, which I think its supposed to be able to do.
Any suggestions…any secrets to getting this done?
Your 2011 MBP should have no problems running High Sierra. Need a bit more info on how you are trying to upgrade.
Are you trying to keep all your current settings, data, and applications when you upgrade? If so, assume you tried to do the upgrade by going to the App Store, and selecting High Sierra. If this does not work, your options are probably limited to downloading High Sierra, creating an installation drive, and doing a clean install.
Older Macs always sell well because they’re well made and have a much longer viable lifespan than most other PC makers. This has been true for ages. Macs are also on the pricy side comparatively so people are always looking for ways to save. Because older Macs are still pretty viable and desktop computers in general have been pretty fast enough for most people for years and years (since SSDs became common), a five year old Mac is still a pretty good Mac for most people.