It's the best selling Mac of all time for a reason.
While the base specs are old by 2016 standards, the Mid 2010 MacBook (White Unibody) still manages to do the most basic of tasks (e.g. browsing the Internet, office apps, light video editing) with little effort, especially when fully upgraded (8-16 GB RAM, SSD, clean OS X install). The polycarbonate unibody construction gives it a solid, durable feel while managing to maintain the signature clean look typical of Apple products. The keyboard, despite not having a backlight, is a joy to type on, and the trackpad is still the best you can find on any notebook, with intuitive gestures. Battery life is a realistic 5-7 hours with average use. The 10-hour battery life claimed by Apple can only be achieved if AirPort and Bluetooth are switched off, the brightness is as low as possible, power saving options are on, and light apps like word processing are used.
There are a few known issues with this notebook, though. Chief among them is the rubber bottom: it can get dirty even with light use, and may unglue itself when the laptop is running hot. Fortunately it can be easily cleaned with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, and there is still a repair program available (as of this writing) should it need replacement. The top shell tends to get small hairline cracks near the hinge; a common issue. This can be easily rectified by covering it up with a case. It also tends to run very hot when performing more intensive tasks like gaming; a cooling pad is strongly recommended. Lastly, there is a noticeable lack of ports (FireWire, HDMI), though the Mini DisplayPort can output video and audio signals, and first/third party adapters and cables are available.
Gaming performance is average; while Mac gaming is a lot better today than it was years ago, it still has room for improvement. Some games have very poor performance on OS X. Valve's Source Engine-based games, for example, tend to stutter regardless of what graphics settings you choose, though perform admirably well on medium to high settings in Windows 7 via Boot Camp. Games from 2007 and older can be played on high to ultra settings in Boot Camp as well (with the exception of Crysis 1, which runs fine on low to medium). While the Boot Camp partition can be upgraded to Windows 10, it's not worth the hassle as you will encounter a lot of driver issues.
Despite some drawbacks, this is a solid notebook overall; an excellent choice for students, casual users, and anybody interested in learning how to use a Mac on a budget. Upgrading it to its fullest extent will give you a better experience compared to newer Windows-based laptops for the same price.
Pros:
+ Solid construction
+ Upgradeable to 16 GB RAM, solid state drive, and the latest version of OS X (10.11 El Capitan as of this writing)
+ Decent battery life
+ Acceptable gaming performance via Boot Camp
+ Great keyboard
+ Excellent trackpad
Cons:
- Rubber bottom gets dirty easily, may unglue when hot (known issue)
- Hairline cracks on the top case near the hinges (known issue)
- Runs very hot when gaming or any intensive task
- Lacks FireWire and HDMI ports
- Boot Camp partition upgradeable to Windows 10, but will have driver issuesRead full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
