MacBook Pro 17" Pre-2010: Repair or Scrap?

fatbhoy

I'm hoping to get some advice on whether I should scrap my pre-2010/2011 MacBook Pro 17" or send it for repair. For the past couple of years it's developed a fault with its power system:

When you press the power-on button, it makes a sound like it's about to power up, the internal fans spin for about 3 seconds, and then it dies and nothing happens. When it's connected to the power supply, the LED light on the power-chord connector (the magnetic connector that attaches to the laptop's power port) shows green when it's first connected, then within a second it shows orange, which indicates to me that power is getting into the laptop. I opened the case and all the power connectors look intact and connected to what they're supposed to be connected to.

It's a Duo-core, with maxed-out RAM (8GB). It's old but could be useful for watching films, browsing the Internet, and many other things actually. The most valuable thing about it is its huge 17" screen.

So should I scrap it, send it for repair (but that might cost a lot, and it might not even be repairable), or could I sell it secondhand for a small amount of money and hope for an enthusiast to buy it and repair it themselves?

Nowso

it might be for parts . apple parts are not cheap , and likely cost more to fix than its worth

you need more power and ram these days to do anything these days

fatbhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122234188#Comment_122234188

It has plenty of CPU and RAM to do a lot of things, e.g. watching movies via VLC, and it would be a shame to scrap it with such a rare sized screen. The only downside might be that because its architecture (board/cpu/chipset) only supports earlier versions of MacOS, that limits the software that can be installed to older versions that might be hard to come by.

I Googled around yesterday and saw that one repair place charges €75 to diagnose.

Nowso

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122236782#Comment_122236782

dont think it would be econimical to repair . how much would it even be worth if u spent a lot . seen one pre owned for 300 sterling listed on ebay

fatbhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122236822#Comment_122236822

I reckon it would be worth less than 500 if working, and probably a lot less. Like you, I think I'm starting to form the opinion that it would indeed be uneconomical to repair.

Murt2024

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122236844#Comment_122236844

Wouldn’t bother, personally wouldn’t even pay 50 euro for it. Not even 720P screen and a completely outdated processor that would struggle to play 1080p video. Just sell it for scrap. It’s like trying to sell an iPhone 4 for a couple of hundred euros. You won’t be able to run any new video editing programs or won’t handle HD video

You can get refurbed 2017 models for 250 euros.

https://www.refurbed.ie/p/apple-macbook-air-2017-i-13-3/?co=ie&utm_cluster=gradeC&utm_content=apple-macbook-air-2017-i-13-3&utm_group=apple-macbook-air-2017-i-13-3&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAApmdt2tArPA55brtTc1SfJqu-AntK&gclid=Cj0KCQjwpZWzBhC0ARIsACvjWROM6HUvKw7l-uO4CjlXR32sbsFTcGeQj_hk2ClVnOUu9nKpFmHGDZ8aAgVvEALw_wcB

fatbhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122236878#Comment_122236878

> Not even 720P screen and a completely outdated processor that would struggle to play 1080p video.

You don't actually know what you're talking about, do you? The display is 1920x1200.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/112473

Murt2024

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122237020#Comment_122237020

My bad, was looking at a different model, might get 100 euro for it when fixed if lucky but you'd want to be very gullible to buy it.

Edit: Sold listings on Ebay seem to be going between 100 and 150 euro mark if that helps.

Murt2024

Edit: Sold listings on Ebay seem to be going for around the 150 euro mark if that helps for the same model laptop.

You'd want to be an idiotic Apple fan boy to but it when ones a year are too older or going for the same price with a processor around 3 times as fast.

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/176311491489?itmmeta=01HZYD6D43W8T286T6VJXXA22E&hash=item290cfbdba1:g:loUAAOSwF3tmCA19&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8NlWRJYQj4DtRNaNsVnfyXCb0JYPZfuNr3WJIF%2BKi6aCsj2otpbc%2Fa%2FgmLLAdKWX7nU5po6LxvYoPN5VBHtibJEZbwmuB1PvmC4Y%2BTomVX0FfqrNNRTsLhP3ajFdy9lRqCJo3BgOdPOSjbAl%2BkEK8Xxq90Y5OArAG1M4gkJ8MZ6GFQmPgFmkL8RNuTTFsTMaKqCGDovmZGrpquxvrUlsrlXkdET2MBDznAav8fr--Uu5OA5c4fGj8ycYaQdAecmwsCeeRBmj6Qe2s5PGbIYZhtbCtiVfHbsEW0XoHt41fOGNEebu5ebRshSx2L6VcQAZ9Q%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR5DSmc3_Yw