MacBook Pro 13" Core 2 Duo_ 2010_ Too old?

[Luna]

Hello,

I am about to purchase a Macbookpro, and have a very limited budget.
I resulted in finding a secondhand MacBook Pro 13" Core 2 Duo, dating from 2010 on okamac.com.

My intension is to build in the following:

Storage: 512 GB SSD
Memory: 16GB RAM
OsX 10.11 El Capitan

I need to work with Programms like; Photoshop, Adobe after effects, Adobe Premiere, TVPaint, Blender and will practically always have it attached to a wacom Cintiq 22 HD.

My questions are;

- Do you think it is a bad solution to invest in a Macbookpro dating from 2010?
-How long do you think the computer will go on for?
- Is it advisable, in order to lower costs, to invest in lower Storage or memory?
For example: Storage: 256 GB SSD, Memory: 8GB RAM

Any Info on the subject would be hugely appreciated.
kind Regards

 

[honestone]

The biggest "risk" you'd be taking is that a future Mac OS will no longer be supported by the machine. For the next Mac OS, OS 10.12 (Sierra), that machine is supported:

http://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/mac-software/will-my-mac-run-mac-os-sierra-3521736/

It is good that you plan on replacing the hard drive, but are you planning on doing that with an SSD? That would be wise. Upgrading the RAM ism always a good idea, although the primary advantage for doing that is the ability to run multiple applications at the same time.

For any internal drive (HDD or SSD), one needs to perform periodic disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs. Disk Utility is "OK" form that, but you'll need an external way to do that. It would be wise to invest in a more robust disk maintenance/repair program like TechTool Pro or Disk Warrior to assist in doing those tasks. Disk cleanup should also be something one needs to do on an almost daily basis. For example, I typically keep the prior version of an update for a program, along with the current one. When a newer version comes out, after I install it, I get rid of that "oldest" version immediately, as it is a waste of disk space to keep it around.

I also am constantly deleting unneeded EMails (I use Outlook), but they do not get permanently deleted at that time. So, as part of my weekly disk cleanup/maintenance/repair, and backup processing, I use a process (provided by Microsoft) to get rid of them permanently.

What do you plan on doing with the internal drive currently inside the machine? If it is still in good working order, you could purchase an expensive external drive case, install that drive inside it, and attach it to the machine. You could then use that drive for backups and/or storage of files (assuming it has enough space). Having that could lead to installing a 256 gig SSD, instead of a 512 gig SSD.

Another thing I forgot to ask is how you plan on "migrating" from your current machine to this "newer" one? Are you currently making backups to an external device? A bootable backup, via a backup/cloning program like SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner, is the way to go.

 

[honestone]

The biggest "risk" you'd be taking is that a future Mac OS will no longer be supported by the machine. For the next Mac OS, OS 10.12 (Sierra), that machine is supported:

http://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/mac-software/will-my-mac-run-mac-os-sierra-3521736/

It is good that you plan on replacing the hard drive, but are you planning on doing that with an SSD? That would be wise. Upgrading the RAM ism always a good idea, although the primary advantage for doing that is the ability to run multiple applications at the same time.

For any internal drive (HDD or SSD), one needs to perform periodic disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs. Disk Utility is "OK" form that, but you'll need an external way to do that. It would be wise to invest in a more robust disk maintenance/repair program like TechTool Pro or Disk Warrior to assist in doing those tasks. Disk cleanup should also be something one needs to do on an almost daily basis. For example, I typically keep the prior version of an update for a program, along with the current one. When a newer version comes out, after I install it, I get rid of that "oldest" version immediately, as it is a waste of disk space to keep it around.

I also am constantly deleting unneeded EMails (I use Outlook), but they do not get permanently deleted at that time. So, as part of my weekly disk cleanup/maintenance/repair, and backup processing, I use a process (provided by Microsoft) to get rid of them permanently.

What do you plan on doing with the internal drive currently inside the machine? If it is still in good working order, you could purchase an expensive external drive case, install that drive inside it, and attach it to the machine. You could then use that drive for backups and/or storage of files (assuming it has enough space). Having that could lead to installing a 256 gig SSD, instead of a 512 gig SSD.

Another thing I forgot to ask is how you plan on "migrating" from your current machine to this "newer" one? Are you currently making backups to an external device? A bootable backup, via a backup/cloning program like SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner, is the way to go.

Oops! For "If it is still in good working order, you could purchase an expensive external drive case, install that drive inside it, and attach it to the machine.", I meant to say "If it is still in good working order, you could purchase an inexpensive external drive case, install that drive inside it, and attach it to the machine.". Sorry about that!