Older Macs

[shutupdonnie]

How old is too old? Looking at buying an older Macbook (06-08) to jack around with to increase proficiency.

 

[phaZed]

Too old, I wouldn't even consider a Mac older than 2012 since El Capitan will not load on pre 2012 machines.

 

[trevm999]

Too old, I wouldn't even consider a Mac older than 2012 since El Capitan will not load on pre 2012 machines.

My early 2009 iMac keeps on nagging me to upgrade, and I just looked it up and that doesn't seem to be true unless I am missing your meaning?
https://support.apple.com/kb/SP728?locale=en_US

You could go later than 2008 for just messing around, but I wouldn't. The 2009 macbook is my favourite model

 

[Markverhyden]

Actually one can load 10.11 on machines back to '07 iMacs. But, as usual, not all features are available until you get modern, '12, hardware. So it depends. I've also heard rumors that one can load various flavors on ESXi.

 

[trevm999]

Yes, I usually don't pay attention to features that aren't available since I probably wouldn't use them. What I did back when I was training to become a mac tech was bought a relatively new mac mini (still had warranty) used it for a month then sold it. There's not much to OS X when you're used to the basic concepts of how things work.

 

[L2CS]

I just replaced my old Macbook from 2010 with El Capitan on it. Pretty much everything worked but some of the minor convenience features. Like Apple TV, tethering my phone from my MacBook, and a few other small things. I put in a 500GB SSD and 8GB of RAM a year ago. It was awesome for the most part. I would have used it longer if it didn't slide off my desk and break the screen. My wife "forced" me to upgrade after that happened claiming I deserved a new one not a "Franken-MacBook" as I called it. I could have replaced the screen but what geek doesn't love a new piece of shiny technology!

 

[shutupdonnie]

Thanks amigos

I keep hoping I'll come across one in a junk pile that we're asked to haul away but no luck yet

 

[Peter Stevens]

Carefule with the newer Macs. If you buy one that has the SSD HD and memory soldered to the motherboard, it's damn near impossible to upgrade.

I have a MacBook Pro 15" from 2009, it's getting a bit slow these days even with maxed-out memory (have left it at Mavericks)

I recently bought a Macbook Pro 13" (the "thick" one) as it still allows the upgrade of the HD and Memory.

If you only want to play with one, might I suggest a Mac Mini? It's not portable, but it will give you the base you are looking for..

 

[shutupdonnie]

I've looked @ the mini but I like the portability and the laptops are hitting the price point. The site I'm looking at is macofalltrades.com but the reviews are about 50/50. I'm leery of buying used/refurb from someone 1k miles away. I also want to use garageband but that's not loaded so they say I've got to find a disk for that, so I've got to figure that out if I'm going to any deals there.

 

[Markverhyden]

I've soured on MacMini's. Have two, dad multiple drive failures and now one of them is toast, all I can load is 10.6 and it will not see the NIC. I REALLY like the MBP 13" that @Peter Stevens mentioned. My 2010 had firewire, thunderbolt and USB. Maxed the RAM to 8GB and put in a 500gb SSD. My Dad's using it now but I'm keeping my eye out for another one. I've got a 15" MBP Retina but it's pain to haul around.

 

[altrenda]

A rule of thumb for Apple is they support the current OS version, plus the 2 preceding versions. Mavericks (10.9) is the last supported version, and any machine that shipped with it is still viable.

As a note, Google is dropping Chrome support for Mountain Lion (10.8.5) in April, at the same time they are dropping it for XP and Vista.

Here is a list of El Capitan compatible machines, which should give you an idea of the oldest machine you should buy.

iMac (Mid-2007 or later)
MacBook (13-inch Aluminum, Late 2008), (13-inch, Early 2009 or later)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid-2009 or later), (15-inch, Mid/Late 2007 or later), (17-inch, Late 2007 or later)
MacBook Air (Late 2008 or later)
Mac Mini (Early 2009 or later)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or later)
Xserve (Early 2009)

And, btw, I love the Mini. My various clients have over 250 of them, and we install more all the time. The laptop drives Apple uses were not really up to working in a desktop environment, but upgrading them is worth it.
My favorites are the Late 2012, especially if you get them with the i7, but they are hard to come by. The i5's are nice and easily upgradeable.