Not everyone makes the same amount of money. My mom has a 2017 model which I say is still new. MacBooks are very very expensive. One advantage of a new model is not having to memorize password after password for the advantage of touch id and the apple watch connectivity to the macbook. So the question is what year should my mom replace her 2017 model? Perhaps when it breaks? I know for my 2020 MacBook Pro I wont replace till it breaks since I also do not make allot of money and simply cannot afford a newer model.

My plan is always to repair if possible, and if not, there are usually decent deals on Apple's refurb site. The Macbook I'm using is a refurb 2012 model, and it's still going strong, although I did upgrade the SSD a few months back

Pakaku said:

My plan is always to repair if possible, and if not, there are usually decent deals on Apple's refurb site. The Macbook I'm using is a refurb 2012 model, and it's still going strong, although I did upgrade the SSD a few months back

I confirm what @Pakaku shares here. Go for a NVME M.2 SSD upgrade via adapter, choose the samsung 980 which is quite good at around 50€, (don't go for the cheaper Crucial ones).

This will give you visible boost on performances.

BR/Francesco

Replace it when it is no longer sufficient for your needs. I have a 2017 MBP that I'm replacing simply because I need to run some new software that will not run on it. Otherwise I would keep using it. It will have a new life as a backup portable option.

This really isn't a question that can be crowdsourced. None of us have the right answer for you or your mom or for your finances or hers.

Does it still function and meet her needs? Don't replace it. If it's not functioning well, you will need to look into repairing or replacing.

At a certain point if it keeps operating well, she may start finding it's no longer supported with OS or security updates and you may want to revisit the question. Check the Apple refurb store for a replacement then, at a price that's less than new gear.

ILoveCalvinCool said:

Replace it when it is no longer sufficient for your needs. I have a 2017 MBP that I'm replacing simply because I need to run some new software that will not run on it. Otherwise I would keep using it. It will have a new life as a backup portable option.

My mom just uses MS OFFICE and browses the web.

jwolf6589 said:

Not everyone makes the same amount of money. My mom has a 2017 model which I say is still new. MacBooks are very very expensive. One advantage of a new model is not having to memorize password after password for the advantage of touch id and the apple watch connectivity to the macbook. So the question is what year should my mom replace her 2017 model? Perhaps when it breaks? I know for my 2020 MacBook Pro I wont replace till it breaks since I also do not make allot of money and simply cannot afford a newer model.

I’m on the lifetime plan. I will replace it when it can no longer meet my purposes. Case in point: after a long break from Apple, I bought my first Mac 11 years ago: mid-2011 13” MBA. That Mac is still running strong, and just as fast as it was when I pulled it out of the box. Yes, it’s marked as obsolete now, but it is still running rock solid on MacOS Sierra. Every single application I use still works on it as well.

What caused me to upgrade was Silicon, as sooner or sooner, no applications for the Mac will be supported on Intel based chips. So Obsolete OS on obsolete hardware? Time to cut the losses. Went to a 16” M1 Pro 10/16/16, and will keep both of them until they can’t run anymore; same philosophy works for my Apple IIe, and it still plays a hell of a good game of Karateka! 😁

BL.

Jumpthesnark said:

This really isn't a question that can be crowdsourced. None of us have the right answer for you or your mom or for your finances or hers.

Does it still function and meet her needs? Don't replace it. If it's not functioning well, you will need to look into repairing or replacing.

At a certain point if it keeps operating well, she may start finding it's no longer supported with OS or security updates and you may want to revisit the question. Check the Apple refurb store for a replacement then, at a price that's less than new gear.

Click to expand...

Only issue I find is that it won’t run the latest to be released MAC OS. However Monterey will still work.

bradl said:

I’m on the lifetime plan. I will replace it when it can no longer meet my purposes. Case in point: after a long break from Apple, I bought my first Mac 11 years ago: mid-2011 13” MBA. That Mac is still running strong, and just as fast as it was when I pulled it out of the box. Yes, it’s marked as obsolete now, but it is still running rock solid on MacOS Sierra. Every single application I use still works on it as well.

What caused me to upgrade was Silicon, as sooner or sooner, no applications for the Mac will be supported on Intel based chips. So Obsolete OS on obsolete hardware? Time to cut the losses. Went to a 16” M1 Pro 10/16/16, and will keep both of them until they can’t run anymore; same philosophy works for my Apple IIe, and it still plays a hell of a good game of Karateka! 😁

BL.

Click to expand...

I hope that won’t be for years to come as I don’t plan on replacing my 2020 MacBook Pro soon. I can’t afford a new one anyways and there have been no stimulus checks as of late.

jwolf6589 said:

Only issue I find is that it won’t run the latest to be released MAC OS. However Monterey will still work.

Ventura is supported for 2017 MBPs. Check "Supported Hardware" at the link below. If your mom just browses the web and runs Office, then she has no reason to replace the machine she has right now.

ILoveCalvinCool said:

Ventura is supported for 2017 MBPs. Check "Supported Hardware" at the link below. If your mom just browses the web and runs Office, then she has no reason to replace the machine she has right now.

macOS Ventura - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

She has a MacBook Air

jwolf6589 said:

Only issue I find is that it won’t run the latest to be released MAC OS. However Monterey will still work.

It will soon be possible to install Ventura on MacBook Air 2017 model and older thanks to the usual great effort of the OCLP project.

So I would not worry about that 😉.

fra9000 said:

It will soon be possible to install Ventura on MacBook Air 2017 model and older thanks to the usual great effort of the OCLP project.

So I would not worry about that 😉.

Is this supported by Apple?

jwolf6589 said:

She has a MacBook Air

The time to consider replacement is when the current OS is no longer supported and not when the hardware is no longer supported by the latest OS.

m1maverick said:

The time to consider replacement is when the current OS is no longer supported and not when the hardware is no longer supported by the latest OS.

True and it may be years before Monterey is not supported by Office.

m1maverick said:

The time to consider replacement is when the current OS is no longer supported and not when the hardware is no longer supported by the latest OS.

That is feasible, especially if you know what you're doing. Taking my mid-2011 MBA into account, Sierra's last update was in 2019, with High Sierra's last update in 2020. That would have given me 9 years of support for the OS. which actually would have put me on par with how long that Mac has lasted physically. I've had no repairs on that Mac, either. So if anything, if taken care of, you should be able to get a good 9-11 years out of the Mac.

However in the OP's case, they also have to take into account how long supported applications will be available on it. When Rosetta 2 support gets dropped from MacOS, by that time, most companies will be producing Silicon Apps only, so at that time, Intel-based Macs would be essentially abandoned, which would force users to get a new Mac at that time, unless they want to remain with those older apps: supported, unsupported, or otherwise. At that point it would come down to when to cut the losses when it comes to Intel.

BL.

bradl said:

That is feasible, especially if you know what you're doing. Taking my mid-2011 MBA into account, Sierra's last update was in 2019, with High Sierra's last update in 2020. That would have given me 9 years of support for the OS. which actually would have put me on par with how long that Mac has lasted physically. I've had no repairs on that Mac, either. So if anything, if taken care of, you should be able to get a good 9-11 years out of the Mac.

However in the OP's case, they also have to take into account how long supported applications will be available on it. When Rosetta 2 support gets dropped from MacOS, by that time, most companies will be producing Silicon Apps only, so at that time, Intel-based Macs would be essentially abandoned, which would force users to get a new Mac at that time, unless they want to remain with those older apps: supported, unsupported, or otherwise. At that point it would come down to when to cut the losses when it comes to Intel.

BL.

Click to expand...

I hope that won't happen until another 5 years because then it would also force me to get a new mac. But remember not all Mac desktops are being sold in Apple Silicon.

jwolf6589 said:

Not everyone makes the same amount of money. My mom has a 2017 model which I say is still new. MacBooks are very very expensive. One advantage of a new model is not having to memorize password after password for the advantage of touch id and the apple watch connectivity to the macbook. So the question is what year should my mom replace her 2017 model? Perhaps when it breaks? I know for my 2020 MacBook Pro I wont replace till it breaks since I also do not make allot of money and simply cannot afford a newer model.

Replace when cost for fixing / upgrade exceeding cost to buy the new one. I still have two 13” 2014 MBP which still actively being used with no major issues. They had keyboard replacement, speaker battery replacement (through 3rd party service center). They’re all still cheaper than cost of the new one.
Apple hardware is expensive, but cheap in the long run. It become expensive due to many people get bored and update/replace with the new one when the old one is still usable (for whatever reasons).

5 years is a pretty good run. If she can get Ventura and has no issues with using then she should keep it. She might be used to it and not want a new device.

Another thought would be to sell it on Swappa and see what she can get for it used? Then wait for the Black Friday sales and see if you can afford a M1 base model MBA. This would ensure that she is supported for a long time and would benefit from better battery life.

I would not recommend going past the support window and also you have to consider a hardware failure would make it harder to sell and she would be without the device until she can get a new one. Probably better to plan something now like a savings to put toward a new Mac when that day comes. If you plan right, start saving and sell it before there is a problem you can get a new machine with the least amount of problems.

Good luck.

Isamilis said:

Replace when cost for fixing / upgrade exceeding cost to buy the new one. I still have two 13” 2014 MBP which still actively being used with no major issues. They had keyboard replacement, speaker battery replacement (through 3rd party service center). They’re all still cheaper than cost of the new one.
Apple hardware is expensive, but cheap in the long run. It become expensive due to many people get bored and update/replace with the new one when the old one is still usable (for whatever reasons).

That is the other part to this. Some people do get lulled into the sense of impulse buying because they quickly get pulled into the aspect of "newer = better". A lot of that stems from the PC world, where warranties for OEM built computers are generally no more than 2 years. Even with those I've built, I've seen that 2 years is roughly around the time I go about rebuilding or upgrading something in the case, if not a full rip and replace of everything.

Macs - let alone most Apple computers period - are known for their longevity. My IIe is 39 years old and still a solid horse for what it does, and that mid-2011 MBA is still going, despite the fact that I've moved on to M1 Pro. But if you spend the money (more like invest it), if you get 9-10 years out of it, the cost per year, let alone cost per month, averages it out to be much cheaper than replacing a PC every other year, especially when the software requirements for up to date Windows releases are much more stringent than Macs.

BL.