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My nephew is getting a new MacBook and has offered me his old 2013 model for £150.
I've no further info other than the year so I don't know if it's a Pro, Air or if it has a retina screen, so this may be a stupid question but...
....anybody know if these all were basically un-upgradeable [/new word] due to soldered RAM and odd ssd?
If it’s a pro, you should be able to upgrade the RAM to at least 8GB (possibly 16GB), and a hard disk upgrade to an SSD (240gb and 500gb now reasonably priced) should also be possible.
If it’s an Air, upgrades are harder, but not impossible, I believe.
Check the model. Late 2013 is retina, you can’t upgrade the ram, can do the SSD but it’s expensive and a bit fiddly if you don’t know what you’re doing and was not meant to be user replaceable.
If’s it’s 8gb it’s awesome. You can stick a Transcend Jet Drive flush in the SD slot to give you more space which flies for speed as long as you’re not putting apps on it. 0 tech skills needed.
IMO it’s just as good as the latest models for non pro use. Better keyboard, MagSafe, HDMI and USB - no messing with USB C adaptors.
Older version with CD drive 🙁
That said it would be easy up upgrade the RAM and change to an SSD!
Older version with CD drive
As far as upgrades go, this is good news...
You really need to find out the model identifier number.
Depending on the model number and spec, I may have some RAM and possibly an SSD going spare that would be suitable for it, as I returned my 2012 model back to stock when I sold it.
Pretty sure it's going to be an A1278 as, although he says it's a 2013, I don't believe the 2013 models had an optical drive.
He's not very techy so he's bringing it over this weekend for me to look at.
Interested in your parts if it all works out.
Mboy, if they don't work out for sharkbait, I might be interested as I have the same model.
Put in an SSD and it'll be grand - running a 2010 and 2012 MBP here - both working fine.
Put in an SSD and it’ll be grand – running a 2010 and 2012 MBP here – both working fine.
Mine was a dual core i7, ended up replacing it with a brand new 2015 model and the processor benchmarks were barely any faster! Soldered on RAM was a PITA on the newer machine too.
Ended up selling the 2015 machine as didn't really get on with it, have actually bought a 15" quad core i7 model to replace it which is (as you would expect) an absolute power house! Gets a bit hot on my lap mind compared to the 13"...
Sorry to thread hijack but this has got me thinking, I have one of the white A1342 macbooks, its recently started to slow down after I accidentally let the OS update. Are there any upgrades possible for this to keep it going? Its in good condition with good battery life so would be a shame for it to die!
I upgraded my old 17" Macbook Pro with more RAM and an SSD and it was like a new machine. Took about 20 minutes to sort out. i still run full creative suite on it, no problem.
Oikeith - you can upgrade the old white macbooks with more RAM and an SSD. My daughter still uses one with the same upgrades I did to mine. Runs fine
Thanks for all the info - it seems the older MacBooks are still up to the job with a little help - I guess they where made before Apple realised they could suck more people into buying replacements by stopping the ability to upgrade their machines.
It's likely I'll be buying this machine and sorting an SSD and RAM. It's also got me thinking about my sister' old white MacBook that she says she rarely uses now 🙂
Little additional info.... turns out its an 8Gb model so only an SSD needed probably 🙂