OT- need advice replacing 2009 Macbook Pro

I need to replace my trusty old mid-2009 Macbook Pro. It can't run an OS later than El Capitan, and now Fusion 360 and Turbotax require a later OS, otherwise I'd stay with it. I'm not a heavy/power user, use Fusion 360 and Illustrator occasionally

The question is whether to buy a new one or used at 1/3 the price. From what I can tell, anything 2012 and beyond will run the latest OS, any reason not to just go with a nice used machine? Would I be better with SSD than hard drive?

Thanks for any advice, I'm just not up on this stuff.

The best bet is a semi used one, put a new ssd in it.
Don´t use the old ssd for many reasons.

IF you spend 2500 bucks on a brand new computer and it lasts you 10 years that is 250 bucks a year, with warranty , and increased usable life at the end

If you spend 1500 bucks on a used one, you pay 150 a year over ten years

Is it important?

I tend to buy used stuff, but I get years out of my new desktops and then filter them down to less important uses over time.

I'm in same boat.

One of the problems with both Apple and Microsoft is that they keeping putting old OS's out to pasture, unsupported, mainly to sell new computers. A used Mac could be a good option but it, too, will end up unsupported before a new one. So, even though a 2012 will work this year -- it's still going to be obsoleted before a 2019 model. Sweet spot might be a couple years old unit??

As for TurboTax bowing out -- I've gotten less and less happy with their software over the years. First, lousy Mac editions (so I'd run it on a PC). Then not bothering to support older Mac OS (I have a couple more Macs, 2008 vintage, with dropped support even earlier). And always finding a way to get a few more bucks from their customers with features stripped from cheaper additions. Given the new tax laws, if you're not dragging forward tons of history into the new year, maybe time to look elsewhere??

Assuming you will continue to want a Mac, buy a refurbished one from the Mac website. Best of both worlds- its essentially new, with warranty, and up to date software, its free of annoying software you dont want, and its cheaper than new. Over the years my family and I have probably bought close to 2 dozen refurbished macs, no problems.
Refurbished Mac - Apple

Thanks for the replies. I'm a semi-retired one man operation on a tight budget, I think I'm going to look for a lightly used 2012-2015 13" Macbook Pro. I've done a little research and consensus seems to be that was their finest hour, should be fine for me too.

Hanermo- what are the reasons not to use the old SSD?

richard newman said:

I think I'm going to look for a lightly used 2012-2015 13" Macbook Pro. I've done a little research and consensus seems to be that was their finest hour, should be fine for me too.

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I followed that exact same path for a family member back in 2015. I found a really nice clean machine - nearly new - on ebay at a great price. The newer machines are often not better - there are sweet spots in generations and years. The machine has been flawless.

richard newman said:

Thanks for the replies. I'm a semi-retired one man operation on a tight budget, I think I'm going to look for a lightly used 2012-2015 13" Macbook Pro. I've done a little research and consensus seems to be that was their finest hour, should be fine for me too.

Hanermo- what are the reasons not to use the old SSD?

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Definitely get a model with the SSD. The difference is like night and day.

richard newman said:

Thanks for the replies. I'm a semi-retired one man operation on a tight budget, I think I'm going to look for a lightly used 2012-2015 13" Macbook Pro. I've done a little research and consensus seems to be that was their finest hour, should be fine for me too.

Hanermo- what are the reasons not to use the old SSD?

Click to expand...

I've got an early 2013 Macbook Pro with 256Gb SSD and it's been flawless. The battery is now a bit dodgy and they want $450 to replace it - plus keep the computer for a bit over a week and go over it. That's a show-stopper really because while I could probably get by without it I'd have to strip a shit-ton of data and databases off it before I let it out of my control.

Every time I've considered buying a new one I've been underwhelmed with Apple's offerings at their price points. I'll probably buy a really good Ultrabook and install Linux next go-round. Not like I use stuff that isn't available anyway, Photo library excepted.

PDW

Not sure how you would do this with a laptop, but the Assist has a gen 1 tower thingy, the cheese grater model. It will not install anything newer than 10.7.5

However, if you take the disk out of a newer machine, it runs fine.

We declined to do that because the newer OS X'es are nasty but it did work. All the work Jobs put into making Apple desks look pretty, so now they make them look like DOS 4.0. Great plan.

Are we being manipulated ? Corporate America, building the best most innovative products to be the most competitive ?!