I had already upgraded the memory (RAM) the maximum amount possible and had upgraded the operating system as much as it could possible support (Snow Leopard) about a year ago. I knew there wasn't going to be much else I could do with it as it continued to edge toward retirement.
Rather than buy new, I decided to take my employer up on the offer to buy a used MacBook Pro that they had decommissioned a year or two earlier. There were a few discards that were deemed to be in decent condition and I knew the MacBook Pro would support more RAM, therefore allowing it to run faster than my current turtle.
I went ahead and shelled out a few hundred dollars and brought it home. Immediately I realized that it wouldn't hold a charge when not plugged directly into the wall. Though I often use my laptop at home near an ample power source, I knew this would get annoying fast, so I took it into the Apple store to see what they could suggest.
They ran some diagnostics on the battery and determined that, due to its age, there wasn't much they could do to fix it, so they sold me a new one. A bit costly, but definitely not a deal breaker.
Once I got it home (again), I started the process of migrating all of my data. There were a few "must haves" on my list, including iPhoto. Unfortunately, since my laptop was used and the original software had long been lost, I didn't have a copy of the version of iPhoto that worked with the installed operating system. I tried buying a used copy of an old version of the software, but it didn't seem possible. (Side note: This is one thing I did not consider about the fact that most software can now be bought from the app store directly; once Apple decides they no longer want to support old versions, and therfore, old computers, they can disappear them, POOF!, like magic.)
So...I needed to upgrade the operating system. In order to do that, I needed to upgrade the RAM. After a bit of detective work, I found out that I could double the RAM, so I bought some new online. Not surprisingly, during my investigation I found out that my new/used laptop was also a vintage 2007, the same year as my old laptop. Still not a deal breaker, but it made me realize that it had been decommissioned well over two years earlier and was maybe not in the most pristine condition.
Anywho, I learned how to install the new RAM and then proceeded to install the newest operating system (Mountain Lion). Again, I would have been happy to install Lion, a prior version of the software that might have run better on a older Mac and could also support the newest version of iPhoto, but it is no longer available through the app store. (POOF!, remember?)
But all was well. The operating system installed without any major hiccups. iPhoto installed without any major hiccups. I did have an ancient version of Photoshop that I had been using that I could no longer install, which was a bummer, but I decided to start using the similar online service Pixlr as an alternative. If I couldn't accomplish what I needed to with that, I'd take it to work or ask my lovely sister the photographer for help.
Relief. Everything was finally up and running. I transferred over all of my bookmarks, my Quicken file for money management, my photos, videos, documents and the like. I installed the super wonderful Open Office and life was good.
Until...
About a month later, the screen up and died. I had a faint hope that it wasn't fatal, but alas, it would have taken all the kings men to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
But there was a silver lining. Another MacBook Pro, also decommissioned from work, was still sitting around, so I requested a "trade". My boss was all too happy to accommodate and I skipped home with my second new/used MacBook Pro in hand.
And...it wouldn't boot up past the gray screen. I spent two nights looking up support pages on my phone and trying various options.
(Side note: This is one of the reasons I love Macs. They're not perfect and they're horridly expensive and they're almost totally proprietary, but because of these things, they are a lot easier to support than PCs, IMHO. Since you can't mess around with their inner workings as much, they don't get as jumbled as PCs often can. Therefore, their support options are much more simple, such as "press Command+Option+P+R" instead of "boot up command prompt, type in this crazy long string of numbers, cross your fingers, turn around three times and sneeze over your shoulder.)
Long story long, nothing worked. So off I went to the Apple store again.
(Side note: I have to say, I had the BEST customer experiences in the 3 different trips I took to the Apple store as well as the chat conversation with support and the phone conversation with support during this whole debacle. Even when they couldn't fix it, I left feeling like they'd just given me a puppy. How do they do that???)
The second new/used MacBook Pro was pronounced dead at the scene. It was determined that it would be extremely costly to fix the problem (most likely a motherboard issue) and it would probably not prolong the life of the computer more than another year or so.
Unfortunately, based on the two specific problems with the two new/used computers, there was simply no way to cobble them together to make one working computer. I asked. Twice. I looked on the Internets. I pleaded to the heavens. It just wasn't in the cards.
Having already sold my old/old MacBook to a friend and having already decided that I was in need of an upgrade no matter what, I ended up buying a new-to-me refurbished 2012 MacBook Pro from the Apple Store and called it a day.
Moral of the story: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. And it still might not get you anywhere.
I sincerely wish that I would have been able to save a computer from the landfill and save the environmental cost of creating a new computer from virgin materials. I realize I could have looked on Craigslist or eBay and bought another used computer that could have worked out perfectly, but I just didn't have it in me to go through the process all over again and worry that the seller was giving me a bum deal.
Alas, I have typed all of this on my beautiful new computer that I hope will last me for at least 6 years, as my previous MacBook did. If I didn't use this thing an average of 4 hours a day, maybe I could have lived with less?
We suppose we find out all too quickly where we draw the line when it comes to eco-friendly endeavors...
Til next time.
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