But you have a distinct advantage over owners of newer MacBook Pros because you can install a few hardware upgrades and make your 6/7/8 year old Mac perform almost as well as a new one, for only a fraction of the cost. The machine drags, the fans start racing, your super-fast Internet connection feels wasted because the video may download fast, but the playback is still choppy and the audio stutters. Just watching a YouTube video can be a chore. If you still have one of those Unibody MacBook Pros, made between Early-2009 and Mid-2012 (or an older 2006-2008 Aluminum model), you’re probably struggling to keep up with the demands of newer operating systems and newer technologies on the web, etc. This trend started with the original MacBook Air and through the introduction of the MacBook Pro with Retina Display and it’s now the rule, rather than the exception.Īnd yet, as recently as the 2009 Macworld Expo, Steve Jobs himself said, “Our pro customers want accessibility: to add memory, to add cards, to add drives.” He was introducing the “Unibody” MacBook Pro that day.

To accomplish that, displays are fused to the glass, proprietary Solid State Drives (SSDs) store all our files, RAM (memory chips) is soldered directly to the logic board and even the batteries are glued to the case. That’s the tradeoff we’ve made for wanting our Macs to be thinner, lighter and sleeker. With rare exception, current generation Apple laptops can’t be upgraded – or even repaired after accidental damage – in any meaningful or easy way after purchase.

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