How to get your MacBook to Last 10 years! (Apple Won't Tell You!)

The best part about Apple's MacBooks is that they usually last a long time, up to around 10 years. However, that isn't always the case. Some of them only last a few.. and the owner is to blame.

Here are some tips to get your MacBook to last 10 years so you can resell it at any time with awesome performance and reliability still left on the clock!

[MaxTechOfficial]

Thanks to Mailchimp for sponsoring a portion of this video! 

[km]

Just upgraded my 2010 MacBook Pro this summer when the M2 Air came out. I still have the old machine as well and it still works fine. I was just ready for an upgrade.

[kevinclws]

It also helps longevity of SSD to keep it half empty, as when disk is 90% full then all writes are to the empty 10%, so the empty 10% of SSD will wear out 10x faster while the full 90% never gets rewritten

[ericthompsonofficial]

Thanks for sharing these tips. I’ve have a 2013 MacBook Pro, and I’ve used allot of these tips, and my Mac is still going strong 9 years later.

[bartonlynch]

Dude, as an Apple Certified Technician I can asure you that those examples of "worn screens" are not the case, those are damaged screens/connectors. Wear does happen on LCD (CCFL or LED backlight) but it takes a long time, more than a decade and the signs are mostly diminished brightness and white ghosting before becoming unusable.

I still see dozens of old 15-20 year old PowerBook G4s and even G3s running perfectly fine, even older pre PowerPC models still run OK (look at all the collectors on YouTube). I still have to encounter a unibody era MBP or Cinema Display so worn it's useless, they last longer than anyone plan to deal with it before replacing it. A non-issue to worry about, at all.

[scottwilson]

Agreed w MaxTech. Additionally?
Using an external SSD will help extend the life of the internal.
Using an external monitor, mouse, & keyboard (when not mobile) will also increase longevity.

[skesinis]

Great video and tips Max! One more tip I have for my old 2014 & 2015 MacBook Pro, is to replace the stock heat sink thermal paste with a better quality one. I used an Arctic Silver one, and it reduced the CPU temperature by 5 to 10 degrees C in some cases. This change made some tasks that used to get the CPU to 100 degrees and throttling all the time to now run at 90 to 95 degrees, and throttling much less.
These two models actually had a replaceable SSD, so I used a 2TB gaming SSD (a Seagate Firecuda 510) with a tiny adaptor, and a nominal speed of about 3500MB/s read/write.
It reached 1750MB/s on the 2014 MacBook Pro, which has a 2PCIe lanes slot for the SSD, and it was a great improvement over the 750MB/s of its Apple SSD, and about 3000MB/s on the 2015 model, which has a proper 4PCIe lanes SSD slot, and it improved the 1900MB/s Apple SSD. I had to replace the batteries in both back in 2020, because they were swelling to the point it became a potential fire hazard, but now they’re both still running as new, and even better than that when you account the SSD speed!

[charlesschenk]

To increase the number of TBW (which increases the life of an SSD), buying a greater capacity SSD will give longer life to a MacBook Pro. In the video, Vadim’s example mentions 256GB =150TBW, and 512GB=300TBW. Thus a 1TB SSD would have a 600TBW, and a 2TB SSD would have a 1200TBW. This means a 4TB SSD should have 2400TBW, and outlive a 256GB SSD by a factor of 16 times!

I’m typing this on a late 2013 MBP. It still works fine, and by using a plastic shell type case and a clear vinyl keyboard protector, this computer still looks almost like new. A year ago, I replaced both the battery, and this MBPs little 512GB SSD with a 2TB SSD from OWC. Also, while I had the MBP apart, I removed the heatsink so I could clean out the original, dried-out thermal paste, and replaced that with new.

I do have some software that runs fairly slowly on this computer's i7 Quad-Core CPU, and did purchase a 16-inch M1 Max when they came on the market. However this older MBP is still going strong. It will be interesting to how long this MBP will work.

The limit I’ve run into with it is the age of the Mac OS. It can only go as far as Big Sur, although it is running Mojave at the moment.

[benjoshua]

Just upgraded after 10 years from 2012 retina MBP

My tips:
*I keep it away from dusty areas. Post warranty, I suggest getting iFixit and cleaning it once in 3 months
*External keyboard and mouse (save your keys)
*Travel bag with good padding
*Lookout for replacement programs from apple post warranty (Apple replaced my ghosted display on 3rd year).
*Low brightness (turn off power nap)
*Use plugged in always and drain once in a while
*Shut down at 50% if you're keeping it idle for more than a week

[thunbergmartin]

Great tips! Ive been using the same MBP 15 retina mid-2012now for over 10 years, and still use it for lite 3d graphics and architecture, as well as all everyday stuff. Hoping it last until the 3nm mbp :) Id perhaps add to the list: 1. Be mindful how you carry it around, I have a backpack with a separate tray, and its firm enough not to put any pressure on the laptop while walking around. On a similar note, don't carry it with one hand, since it ads pressure o the frame of the laptop, I have now statistics on how this affects the internals, but I doubt it helps its longevity. 2. Switch out the battery, it's a question of usability: if you feel contempt with the battery performance, chances are you'll keep it as a working machine longer.

[cybernetck]

I have a 2012 MacBook Pro with no screen issues at all. It works perfectly fine, out side of the battery being somewhat degraded . I’m planning on a M2 MB pro to last about as long, if not longer. I do have a case on my laptop, which I believed helped with longevity.

[adjolev]

I am using Al Dente, its limited to 78%, I try to use it plugged in most of the time, but once a month I drain it to 15% and then charge it to 100% before leting it go back to 78% with Al Dente. I got the macbook pro 16 in january 2022, and now it has 43 cycles and 100% battery health. I do recomend using Al Dente more than the optimised battery charging option on the mac. Thanks for the other tips! Love your videos!

[I_Mackenzie]

Just did that with my MacBook Pro 2013. Just upgraded to the new MacBook Pro. But, I wished I’d did it earlier. I now think 4 years is a good time to upgrade. You don’t realise what you are missing out on if you hang onto it too long.

[yogajoeguy]

I keep my MacBook Pro 16 inch plugged in all the time.
It drops down to 77% and stays there.
I spoke with Apple, and they said this is the proper way.
But they also recommended to use the battery and Restart at least once a week.
I owned it for over a year, the battery is still 100% and battery cycle count is 36.
I have not been restarting it, nor letting the battery cycle down.

[tonkatruckfit]

Just got my M3 Pro Space Black 18GB Ram/1TB Storage.

Getting started on this.

[jinraigami]

If my MBP can last 5 years without any hiccup, it should be fine for me. If you make money using your computer, the faster your laptop/mac can deliver work, the faster you can make money, so investing on them every 3-5 years aren't so bad. If you only use it for personal, yeah, 7-10 years should be the goal.

[DojoOfCool]

I'm been working in computer biz since the 80's and have owned and used a lot of hardware, my rule of thumb has alway been buy as much computer as you can afford if you want it to last a long time. That is even more important now that RAM, storage can't be upgraded. In past it was great in both PC and Mac that you could add more RAM later or swap the storage for bigger so as your computer started to slow you could add more RAM and more years of use. Today you can't do that so get a lot of RAM from the beginning. Not only will that helps as over the years app's become more RAM hungry and Apple keep adding background programs, it help cut down on the amount of work the CPU has to do to juggle RAM when there isn't a lot. Amount of RAM affects computer speed because the more that the computer can keep in physical RAM the less it has to juggle things in and out of physical RAM when work and you have multiple apps running and a browser with dozens of tabs open. So get more life by buying as much computer as you can in the beginning.

[lenn]

I'm still using an early 2008 15" MBP. Only thing that's given out besides the battery is one of the ram slots. Will be replacing it with the rumored 15" MBA when/if it comes out.

[extrasoap]

i use a combination of al dente at 50% and istat menus fan control to keep it consistently at 33C while fast charging. it's been a year and my battery is at 100% health after 208 cycles

[RobinTFH]

My Mid-2012 MacBook Air is still running well. The screen is perfect. The battery now only lasts about 2 hours, but most of the time it is on the charger: it is running as a television and radio as I don't have either working in my new flat! I do mainly use a MacBook stand which keeps the computer clear of any surface and provides good ventilation and cooling. Most of the OS settings you refer to are unavailable as I am running MacOS Catalina and cannot upgrade any further. However, I shall bear them in mind when I [eventually] get a new MacBook … maybe 2030?