It's as if we have given up on "solving" climate change in favor of short term profits...
It supplements a 2017 Macbook Pro that's still overkill in 2022. Both have excellent battery life. If it wasn't for the nearly free upgrade I got in 2017, I'd probably still rock a 2012 model.
I could probably run it as a rudimentary media server if I didn't already have one, or palm it off to a young kid who doesn't care that it's a bit banged up, or use it as a machine of last resort. I don't use it like I use my M2 MacBook Air and would never suggest someone daily drive it unless they had no other choice, but I can't justify throwing it away because it's completely solid and still works. I could also probably get $100-150 out of it if I really wanted to sell it - if anyone can tell me of another 10 year old laptop with resell value like that I'd like to know.
I don't think I've owned a non-Apple laptop for more than 3 years, with the exception of a particularly long-lived Lenovo laptop I got in 2013. Every other one has had critical hardware die that I didn't feel inclined to replace mainly due to costs outweighing benefits. Except for a few weird years in the late 2010s, Apple makes stunningly reliable and long-lasting hardware in my experience.
I replaced its battery three times now, and the fracking awful magsafe 1 cable countless times, but other than that everything works, including the camera, and I took enough care of it that it's basically as good as new. The hinge is a bit weak indeed, but it's only noticeable when I'd like to almost close it without totally closing it. I think it's acceptable for a 12 year old computer. It runs about four hours under Linux on a 4680 mAh battery.
Also, current MacBooks used in corporate environments do not reach the second hand market because the SSD is no longer an independent component. They get shredded. Perfectly good barely old computers get shredded because one component is no longer separate.
Now I also don't need dongles, nor a dedicated charger.
Maybe other manufacturers don't have long lifespans, I can't say, but Lenovos tend to hang around forever and are easy to sell when you want to upgrade.
See all the people commenting here about their 12 year old x220. I still use an 8 year old x250.
That is such non sequitur. Old hardware gets old that is nothing new. All of us _could_ do our work with laptops from early 2000s, but we don't because we want the benefit of 20 years of hardware improvement.
Why is upgrading an old laptop any better than buying a new one? The parts had to be produced anyway and unless you are upgrading frequently your old laptop will still be noticeably behind in performance.
Sure on some metrics they are fine, browsing hackernews and sending emails is solved and can be done with pretty much every computer.
>Not even considering that new macbooks if locked are unusable on the secondary market
I also don't get what you mean by this. At least my macbooks aren't "locked" in anyway. I can reset them and resell as I see fit.
Making this argument without acknowledging the impact it has on the market for stolen Apple goods makes it an intellectually dishonest one I think.