Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

I need to get my daughter a small machine for secondary school and have been offered a 2011 Macbook Pro with 4GB, I5 2.4Ghz of memory. I have no idea about Macs and dont know what it's worth can any body advise pls?
Is this spec likely to run out of steam soon with the next few OS upgrades e.g. will it be too slow?
I've looked and I can replace memory, taking it to 16GB for circa £100 and I have a spare SSD I could put in woud this keep it going for a while. Again I've not really got a lot of experience with Mac stuff.
ta

8 or 16gb + an ssd drive will go along way. Specs are similar to my old MBP and tbh I can't tell much difference to my 2015 one...

As it's that old, I'd be more worried about stuff breaking inside it, ie the hdd, but as you're sticking an ssd in there it should be fine.

If it's in good nick and a good price, I'd say go for it. If the price isn't right, a macbook air would prob be a better fit though unless she wants to tinker with video?

@kboy, cheers. good idea about stuff packing up, I was so concerned about it being a MAC I'd overlooked the basics!
Conditions wise, it has a very slight crinkle on the edge of the case near the screen but its really slight other than that it needs a good clean.

Big question what is a good price? you got any ideas? they seem to go for a 250ish on the bay.

Had to bite the bullet yesterday when my 13" 2009 MacBook Pro, (with something called a CD drive?) refused to load. Popped down to the Apple Store and dropped a good amount of money on all things MacBook Pro (15" base model, touchbar plus case, dongle and Apple TV (for presentations etc.)).

It is somewhat nice being a business owner and being able to get a small discount * and know that VAT is coming back off the bill.

* Apparently if you promise to spend ~ £3.5K in a year they'll start taking up to 7.5% off, which isn't all bad. You also get a business manager who you can email and pester about sourcing you some out-of-stock AirPods.

I'm actually really enjoying the new laptop, BTW. Mainly been using it plugged into a monitor so not experienced the keyboard, trackpad or Touchbar, but the thing really flies, the screen is beautiful and the port situation doesn't really affect me - I now have one dongle to plug in rather than HDMI, USB and power, much like a docking station or Thunderbolt Display really.

I didn't know that! I'll easy spend 3.5k a year. Cheers.

Mac dudes - which password manager?

Didn't get on with LastPass, mind.

What's wrong with keychain?

1Password. Works on all devices, synchs via Dropbox.

Yep, 1Password here too. We use the family subscription and it is brilliant and hassle free.

Doesn't sync on all devices for a start - only Apple ones.

I do get on with LastPass and use it on Android, Chrome OS, Mac and Windows.

Haven't tried 1Password - does it work on all of those platforms? How does it compare?

The killer with LastPass for me is being able to sign in with my fingerprint on my 5X. Saves so much faff.

What's wrong with keychain?

Good question. I tried using it as a general password manager before but didn't really feel like I was in control of it. Will revisit.

1Password. Works on all devices, synchs via Dropbox.

Ta. Will check it out.

Few days late but... Be wary of 2011 mac books. Motherboard failure, sound card failure, battery swell of death etc. All apply to this. Unless your lucky one of these will kill it imminently.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.agilebits.onepassword&hl=en

Also works on chrome OS with the play store enabled.

Also https://www.google.se/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/30/lastpass-warns-users-to-exercise-caution-while-it-fixes-major-vulnerability

@tra, cheers. I took it and have ordered RAM so I'll give it a go.
I might be be back on here asking for advice shortly!

Does anyone know if its possible to set up a 2010 mac mini with two displays.
I have two cinema displays which i used to be able to have side by side with my old G5.

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Would have thought so, yes. It's got HDMI and Mini-displayport, so just need adapters. Never tried it myself, though.

That's good, is the Mini DisplayPort the one just to the right of the HDMI in this picture? The square with two parallel lines either side..

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It will but you'll probably only be able to drive both at 1080p max before it runs out of steam.

Yus. Fairly common now, so dongles are cheap online.

Needs a dust...

Dongles?

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Phwoar. That top one is mini-displayport, judging by its size it's to DVI.

The whites are coming out in a pinky Fuzz.. do I need a better graphics card?

Hope I'm not taking overt the thread with this, it is very much appreciated..