Feedback on Apple laptops pls

bitslice · 27 Feb 2016 at 22:02

Relative is looking for a new laptop for under £350, which is Acer territory apparently. Usage is just Office and Internet.

As their primary criteria is reliability, then personally I would have gone second hand and be looking at a Lenovo or a Macbook.

Now I rate Lenovos as reliable because I've got an old one and it still works, but I've noticed a lot of 2011 i5 Apple Macbooks on eBay under £500

Are they still a reliable choice for a 2011 laptop?

They seem OK being a solid casing, and I'd anticipate having to replace the battery anyway. But I know nothing about them or what the failure rate is.
I'm assuming that anything with an i5 is "fast enough"

What would you buy, something shiny new but mid range, or a second hand Macbook for slightly more money?

mightymouse · 29 Feb 2016 at 22:13

macbooks are pretty reliable and you should be able to get quite good life out of them. The only problem is if you get one that is heavily used then you may find that it will run too hot. What I did previously was to take it apart and replace the thermal paste. After that it just keeps going. So its luck really

tbh if you dont want too much trouble then you would be better off just getting a new basic laptop.

linktoinsanity · 1 Mar 2016 at 09:29

You can get new Lenovos for around £150-£300.

Or go with a second hand Lenovo X230 (business class one).

lamboman · 1 Mar 2016 at 11:01

Buy new.

For basic office usage a nice machine without a warranty for double the money is a little crazy.

Orcvader · 1 Mar 2016 at 12:12

mightymouse said:
macbooks are pretty reliable and you should be able to get quite good life out of them. The only problem is if you get one that is heavily used then you may find that it will run too hot. What I did previously was to take it apart and replace the thermal paste. After that it just keeps going. So its luck really

tbh if you dont want too much trouble then you would be better off just getting a new basic laptop.

This. My brother has an early 2011 MBP i5 model and it's starting to get quite sluggish. It's easy to open up however so you can clean the CPU cooler, but I think the harddrive is probably reaching the limit considering its age.