Buying an old Macbook

Littlejonny · July 26

It seems strange asking this on a guitar forum but I gather there are some knowledgeable techy people here…

I’m in need of a new laptop - as ever, rather skint. My 2012 i7 2.3Ghz 16G RAM 500GB SSD has died…it has too many problems to list…it’s basically like Sir Gawain in the Holy Grail getting all his limbs chopped off and still fighting.

so I’ve been looking at some second hand MacBooks on FB marketplace. I’m hoping to get something that will keep me going for 3 years.

obvs there are plenty of M1s for £300 and less that are clearly stolen as the seller only started their FB account in 2024 and doesn’t have a profile pic! So I’m thinking an older one…

can anybody here recommend a minimum spec that will trump my old 2012 machine and be able to run Logic sessions and potentially Davinci Resolve (although I don’t do as much of that these days). What year should I look for/avoid? Also, what are those weird thunderbolt ports - are they useless?

One thing is I’d prefer a 15” screen as that’s what I’m used to.

Kittyfrisk · July 26

It was discussed here before, general view was that the A1398 Retina was a good bet https://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/3713733/#Comment_3713733
Having said that, I'm still using my much repaired & upgraded mid 2012 i7 2.3Ghz 16GB too.
Technical obsolescence is one thing, real world usability & longevity is another

Littlejonny · July 26

Wow - same machine. What a beast it was. Do you find the battery doesn’t last, as in, it drains when I’m sleep mode or shut.

The last straw for mine was closing the screen on a usb drive, after already removing the smashed glass layer! It really has been abused

Kittyfrisk · July 26

My battery has been reporting the 'Battery service' alert for a couple of years, but as I have it connected to the mains when in use, it's not a problem. No battery swelling as yet, so I'm not in a hurry to replace it as there are lots of dodgy poor quality batteries about & 'good' brand ones aren't cheap.
I had installed two SSD's, but currently just use one as a boot drive, after I had to disassemble the Mac after yet another liquid spill... :-\"
They really are as hard as nails & I'll miss it when it goes, as I love being able to fix & swap things instead of everything being soldered & glued X(

Littlejonny · July 26

In 2024 is there really no recent macbook model worth buying? The A1398 retina is pretty ancient no?

What about those i9 machines? I think they come up for £500 on FB…presuming that’s legit, would it be a much better machine?

Littlejonny · July 26

Think I might go for a 13” M1 air…there’s one on FB for £385. Looks legit and should keep me going for three years

Kittyfrisk · July 26

Calling @Danny1969 ; for another widely experienced view.

Danny1969 · July 30

I'm still typing on a 15" A1398 as it still does what I want. I own almost all variants from the first Macbook Pro to the M1 version, about 8 or 9 of them I think but i like this one. However even the last of them produced in 2015 are too old now for a current version of OSX

After the Retina series around 2016 the Touchbar models came out those have quite a few issues with poor LCD cables and keyboards ... plus the USB C chip tends to go wrong leaving the power in stuck at 5V .... The M silicon models are better but still biggish money.

So in a rock and a hard place at the moment. What I will say is even the most basic M1 machine can do more tracks and plugs in a Daw than most people need. So cheap M1 is my choice but make sure it's not on someones account even if not stolen.

Littlejonny · July 30

Danny1969 said:

I'm still typing on a 15" A1398 as it still does what I want. I own almost all variants from the first Macbook Pro to the M1 version, about 8 or 9 of them I think but i like this one. However even the last of them produced in 2015 are too old now for a current version of OSX

After the Retina series around 2016 the Touchbar models came out those have quite a few issues with poor LCD cables and keyboards ... plus the USB C chip tends to go wrong leaving the power in stuck at 5V .... The M silicon models are better but still biggish money.

So in a rock and a hard place at the moment. What I will say is even the most basic M1 machine can do more tracks and plugs in a Daw than most people need. So cheap M1 is my choice but make sure it's not on someones account even if not stolen.

@Danny1969 thanks so much mate - I actually watched a couple of (v boring) YouTube vids today about it and came to the conclusion that the base model M1 is the way to go.

I might even go for a second hand M1 Air, unless that’s inadvisable?

As for DAW purposes, at the moment I don’t do much, but when I do, I never go to a huge track or plug-in count. I like minimal sessions.

SquireJapan · July 30

I have (I'm not selling, to be clear!) a macbook M1 air - 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD. Logic and Ableton it's great. I do have an external SSD for the insane collection of stuff you can have through Native Instruments, but totally not needed.

I think people do get a bit silly with plugins IMHO. This should be taken with a pinch of salt, but I just model the whole thing on if I had a real desk. If that were the case, I'd have compressors on channels, but have reverb/delay on sends.

It seems (please correct me!) that people manage to use up a lot of RAM and CPU putting reverb(s) per channel, with other crazy plugins. I get that massive sample libraries will eat up RAM, but I've never got near it.

Caveats, I'm really just using Logic or Ableton like a few ADATS and a Mixing desk, along with some basic outboard. The limit is the quality of the music I'm putting in the thing, not the rest.

The good thing about the M1 air, is that they're now super cheap - as you've said, £300 will get you one. Very power efficient, and powerful. Keen to hear some other views though. I'm very amateur.

Danny1969 · July 30

I have a Macbook air motherboard with 8Gb ram hooked up to a 27" LCD like a kind of poor mans iMac. It's running Logic and at no point have I ever felt I needed more processing power. My typical projects are 24 to 32 tracks with EQ and comp on every channel and then 3 or 4 aux buses running verbs and delay.

But this old chestnut pops up time and time again. I get the need for more and more processing power for video, the resolution and frame rate increases over time.
With audio that's not the case. Everything is still 24/48 and machines from 15 years ago can handle huge track counts.

2020 Studios ran a 2006 Mac Pro and some sessions could reach 90 tracks or so. The M1 processor in a Macbook Air is actually more powerful than the Xeon CPU in the machine we had

Littlejonny · July 31

Thanks guys. Yes, my approach to DAW work is old school - I tend to prefer one reverb for the whole track on an aux bus.

I guess an M1 with 16GB RAM would be ideal but they are a lot more money.

of the current line-up, the M2 15” air looks a bit of a bargain

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