There’s something almost endearing about old laptops, laptops that work well even after years of daily use. Laptops that seem clunky and awkward when placed alongside their most recent generation, but serve your needs just as well as the newer ones might.
As I’ve written before on the site, I have a few of these. A 13″ Macbook Air mid 2011 that I am writing this on. A 12″ Macbook Pro mid 2012, the last one before the Retina generation, which I’ve been using for work for the past week. The first Retina machine, the 15″ Macbook Pro mid 2012. And a 13″ Macbook Air early 2014. All but one of these (the 2011 Air) have been bought second-hand or are hand-me-downs.
Because my main work machine (another retina Macbook Pro) is in the office under lockdown, I spent the first four weeks working full-time on my 2018 12.9″ iPad Pro, which was surprisingly productive.
Last week I took these laptops out of storage to charge and verify that they’re still in working condition, as I do about once a quarter. On a lark, I’ve begun to use them for everyday work. They all have replaced batteries, SSDs (I replaced the non-retina Pro’s HDD with one), 8 GB RAM (the 2011 Air has 4), run Mac OS High Sierra (although two of them can be updated to Catalina), and run perfectly well.
These machines appeal to me because they’re such a terrific example of sustainability. Apple may release new laptops and revisions every year but you don’t have to buy them that often. In fact you can go five years, even ten depending on what you use your computer for. The relatively high price you pay up-front translates to many years of trouble-free use. The ‘cost per wear‘ equivalent of Apple’s laptops is extremely low.
So it’s not just ‘old stuff’ that I find interesting, but specifically tools that have held up over time and are still usable today. It means they’re well designed, solidly constructed and are a pleasure to use.
And using well-constructed hand-me-downs has also forced me to become at least somewhat proficient at repair and maintenance, meaning I get to know these things better, which in turn teaches me what about them makes them great in the first place.
Finally, adopting a mindset of being okay using such tools has over time helped me get better at identifying new items that are likely to last long, perpetuating the cycle.
Endnote. I have found the Progress Is Fine blog an enjoyable place to discover enduring vehicles, appliances, furniture and tools from decades ago. As they say, “We like things that remain useful long after the companies and people that made them are gone.”