I got lucky and found a 2017 2 thunderbolt port 13 inch MacBook Pro in mint condition and wondering.....

[chevyboy60013]

I went and had a new battery installed in my iPhone yesterday, and while waiting noticed in the display case a couple MacBook pro's for sale. I asked about them, and asked which one of the two could I get for $200.00 and being a cash sale, which one would they sell. Ended up getting the dark grey one, with the 128 ssd and 8gb ram, actually both had the same specs... It had macOS Catalina on it, which I upgraded to allegedly the last supported version which is Ventura, and wondering if I am better off keeping it on Ventura, or using OCLP to patch Sonoma on it? Ventura will do everything I would want it to, and I have used OCLP before as my late 2009 iMac and mid 2010 MacBook Pro are running Sonoma with OCLP. Just wondering what is recommended. It runs Ventura very nicely, but how long will it be supported for?

 

[IWT]

Well, I'm not a fan of using OCLP or its like; but many are, like yourself.

I would personally stick with Ventura.

My other comment is that you will have to be careful about the amount of data you put on it given that the Mac's SSD is only 128GB.

These are, as obvious, personal views

Ian

 

[chevyboy60013]

Well, I'm not a fan of using OCLP or its like; but many are, like yourself.

I would personally stick with Ventura.

My other comment is that you will have to be careful about the amount of data you put on it given that the Mac's SSD is only 128GB.

These are, as obvious, personal views

Ian

I'm kinda leaning that way with this one.

 

[Rod]

I think that's a terrific deal, I wish I could come across one like that. I have a newish Silicon 14" MBP running Sonoma which I love and a 2010 (White Unibody) MacBook running High Sierra. The big advantage of that has been that I've been able to re download a lot of 32 bit apps I already owned.

Ventura already has most of the features of Sonoma like Live Text and System Settings not to mention Continuity Camera, Passkeys in Safari, new Mail an Messages and a better Spotlight so I wouldn't bother to use OCLP to upgrade it any further. Released in 2022 it's still supported for another year.

Personally, and this is just a suggestion, but I would be tempted to downgrade it to Mojave. That would give you the same option as me. You could run all of your old 32 bit apps as well as 64 bit.
As I said, that's just a suggestion based on my wants and needs.

Either way I would consider upgrading the SSD to 250 or 512GB.

What I have learned from the old 2010 MacBook is with a bit of tinkering it can be made "safe" online despite being long past any security updates although I still don't use it for "secure" transactions it's a good emergency backup that would keep me online if repairs ever had to be made to my MBP.

 

[chevyboy60013]

Either way I would consider upgrading the SSD to 250 or 512GB.

Is it possible to upgrade the ssd in it, as I have heard the ram is soldered to the board.

 

[MacInWin]

Either way I would consider upgrading the SSD to 250 or 512GB.

Is it possible to upgrade the ssd in it, as I have heard the ram is soldered to the board.

It may be, this is what OWC has for that machine, I think: SSD Upgrades for 2016 and 2017 13-inch MacBook Pro non-Touch Bar

 

[chevyboy60013]

awesome. thanks

 

[chevyboy60013]

The more I use this MacBook Pro, it really does seem to have all the same features as Sonoma does on my late 2010 MacBook Pro running Sonoma with OCLP. So far the only thing I do not find are the awesome wallpapers Sonoma has.

 

[Rod]

They’re easy to find online.

 

[chevyboy60013]

I'll have to check them out. So far I am very impressed with this MacBook Pro. So far been using it for 4 hours on battery which has 782 cycles on it and still have 58% battery remaining. I'm kinda thinking I may be able to get close to a full work day out of one charge if not a full work day. Usually put about 5-6 hours into the 8 hour day of work, and since I have gotten 4 hours of usage out of it so far, I think that may be highly possible. The keyboard is taking a bit to get used to since the keys do not have the same travel my 2010 MacBook Pro does, but getting used to it.

 

[Rod]

Oh, so your other Mac is an older one. My bad, for some reason I thought it was newer than the $200 bargain you picked up. I guess that makes it even more of a bargain. You can forget my suggestion about downgrading it's OS.
Yes, the keys have a different action but you'll get used to that pretty quickly. It must be noticeably quicker than your 2010 MacBook too.

 

[chevyboy60013]

Oh, so your other Mac is an older one. My bad, for some reason I thought it was newer than the $200 bargain you picked up. I guess that makes it even more of a bargain. You can forget my suggestion about downgrading it's OS.
Yes, the keys have a different action but you'll get used to that pretty quickly. It must be noticeably quicker than your 2010 MacBook too.

it really is. So far I love it. Miss the backlit apple logo but cannot have everything.

 

[Rod]

Oh yeah, forgot about that

 

[chevyboy60013]

I think I will be keeping my 2017 MacBook Pro on Ventura, at least for now. It just works too nicely to risk ruining it, especially since it only has usb c ports, and think it would be quite difficult to put it back to Ventura if doing the OCLP patch made it not work as nicely as it does.

Does anyone know if there is an adapter so the regular flash drives will work with the usb c ports?

 

[ferrarr]

Does anyone know if there is an adapter so the regular flash drives will work with the usb c ports?

Yes those are available. USB-A female to USB-C male as an adapter or as a cord.

 

[pm-r]

Miss the backlit apple logo but cannot have everything.

That could change in the future depending on how creative you are in the do-it-yourself customization project Department... Or even have someone build one for you if you have more money than time...



- Patrick
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