Buying a refurbished 2010 Macbook Pro in 2018 - worth it?

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May 1, 2018
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I need to get a new laptop to use for uni, but my budget is not huge... Basically I am wondering if the following machine would still be worth buying in 2018:
Apple MacBook Pro 7,1/P8600/8GB Ram/1TBHDD+128GB SSD/320M/13"
As far as I can tell (please correct if I am wrong) this is a 2010 MacBook Pro, and is refurbished and comes with 2 year warranty. Will it work okay in 2018?

I have also found the following machine:
Apple MacBook Pro 9,2/i5 3210M/4GB Ram/320GB HDD/DVD-RW/13", which is newer and a bit more expensive, but has less memory...

So I am just wondering which of these two would someone with more knowledge on the subject advise buying? I can't afford any newer than these, I need it mostly for writing essays, presentations, editing music, editing video.. will either of these do the trick in 2018?


Thank you!
 
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Well, what's the price of the unit? That is in fact a mid-2010 13'' MacBook Pro, and it seems to have had its optical drive removed in favor of the second HDD.

The 2010 line is old hardware but its not obsolete in terms of software support. They can still run the latest version of OS X (10.13). Keep in mind with that editing and such that you are looking to do, you will be doing so on a 13'' 1280x800 screen. Most people would rather not do that given how spoiled we are in terms of resolution these days. Not to mention the battery on that thing has probably seen better days.

In any case, it largely depends on the price of course. Is it some kind of known outfit that you're purchasing from? Not sure who sells an old Mac like that with...

rune2h

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May 1, 2018
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Well, what's the price of the unit? That is in fact a mid-2010 13'' MacBook Pro, and it seems to have had its optical drive removed in favor of the second HDD.

The 2010 line is old hardware but its not obsolete in terms of software support. They can still run the latest version of OS X (10.13). Keep in mind with that editing and such that you are looking to do, you will be doing so on a 13'' 1280x800 screen. Most people would rather not do that given how spoiled we are in terms of resolution these days. Not to mention the battery on that thing has probably seen better days.

In any case, it largely depends on the price of course. Is it some kind of known outfit that you're purchasing from? Not sure who sells an old Mac like that with such a warranty. I don't recon it's cheap.
 
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quink

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Jun 6, 2018
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Hi Kerry,

I bought my 13” MacBook Pro in mid 2010. I have since pushed it to the limit by upgrading in phases.
So, the RAM is 8 GB, swapped the optical drive with the HDD and installed an SSD drive as my main drive, Installed MacOS High Sierra, replaced the battery and it is still going strong for 8 years!

It’s good enough for editing text and presentations on iWork. But it’s very slow for editing videos and music.

Installing a 128 GB SSD made the difference. If your warranty is void for installing an SSD then it may be too slow for most modern software.
Unless of course you want to use legacy softwares. It is still a good machine if your budget is low.

If you can buy the newer machine and can afford to upgrade the RAM, then you are in a better position.
Better still of you can install an SSD as your main drive... you will notice an immense boost in speed.

Good luck !
 
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Jun 10, 2018
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Guys, I've got an MPB 13inch from 2011

Upgraded with two 500GB SSD
16GB RAM Corsair
New keyboard
New fan
New Thermal Paste (recently cleaned)
New Battery

and Im working 10hours straight everyday in music production with Logic Pro X. (22 tracks on) and lots of demanding plugins.

I can say that I can't believe, this machine is running flawless. Never noisy and never burns.

Also, I recently switched from Photoshop to the original Affinity Photo and even Graphic design runs incredible there.

Yes there are drawbacks like, no high end video edition, no gaming. But I don't need those.

I confirm these older machines can fly with proper care + upgrades.

I want to switch to newer ones, but I rather keep the older one instead of a 2017 model. Although I'm waiting for 2018 to release the new one, hopefully designed for true professional artists. ( With all necessary ports and a proper keyboard for example )

 
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