I own a MacBook Pro Snow Leopard Edition. I would like to know, generally speaking, how many years do people own their MacBook Pros for, before upgrading to a new one. Would it be reasonable to expect at least 4 years good usage out of it?
Also is it true, that one needs to keep up the versions of Mac OS that are released, or should people at best be at only one version behind, but never two or three versions behind. (Would this be in part due to software compatibility issues)
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Simon
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How Many Years Do People Own Their MacBook Pros for Befored Upgrading ?
Comments: 4 Responses to “How Many Years Do People Own Their MacBook Pros for Befored Upgrading ?”
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It really depends on your needs and budget. Someone on a tight budget with very simple needs (word processing, email) can hold on to an old laptop for 8-10 years if they don't mind.
Another person, with a decent budget who uses it for graphics, sounds, video or gaming would want a new one every year or two.
Four years is reasonable for many people, but I wouldn't expect great performance from it at the end, as it falls behind the recommended specs for software, web sites and other things.
Of course another factor is the power of the laptop itself. Consider my desktop. It is a 2008 and continues to perform well. That that is because it was a top-of-the-line Mac Pro with 8 cores, 10 GB of memory, 512MB video card, etc. I'll be replacing it this year. But if I had bought a low-range iMac in 2008, I would't expect to be editing video in Final Cut Pro X and designing games with it in 2012 like I am with this Mac Pro.
So a 2008 base model MacBook would see old now in 2012, but a 2008 MacBook Pro with top specs would be holding up better.
I would certainly recommend keeping up-to-date with everything, including OS X. I'm never any versions behind. Why? Why miss out on the new features?
Some people stayed back with OS X for software compatibility. But that was because of a particular change between Snow Leopard and Lion (Apple dropping the old Rosetta system and some developers being > 4 years behind on updates).
In most cases it was a matter of people holding on to old versions of software instead of updating to the latest which did work on Lion fine. The main offender was Quicken, which was a case of people wanting the old old version of it, even though there was a new one -- so the developer failed to make that new one good enough for people to want to switch to it. Very odd and unusual.
I'm hoping to get 4 yrs out of my 13" Macbook Pro (it has an intel core duo 2 processor, 2010 model). I havent upgraded from snow leopard to Lion, but with the release of Mountain Lion in the summer, I may well purchase Mountain Lion. I think it might be wise to wait a few months for them to iron out any potential bugs in the OS (if this exists, as is the case with Windows software and Service Pack updates)
Thanks for your response Gary, hopefully some veteran Macbook Pro Owners, will also provide some additional thoughts etc.
Have had my MBP for a couple of years - it still does everything I demand of it. Assuming Intel processor, go ahead and update to Lion (more to come iOS-wise apparently) It's worth the $30 - have *never* had any problem with iOS updates - UNLIKE Win-based machines which seem somewhat "crippled" in comparison.
I am out of this league. I can only compare it with a video recorder (Tape) That changed to using discs,and i don`t think you can buy a blank video tape now. Is that what you guys are saying you after buy a new computer every two to four years. Mine was replaced because the screen was faulty,and they gave me a new one with Lion on it. I asked the guy if he could take it back,and put Snow Leopard on it. Now this one has a faulty screen. My way of thinking is they should get all these faults ironed out,before they upgrade to anything!