Support NeoGAF

[DiamondDog74]

So I recently got my CompTIA A+ and netted a service tech level 1 job. I know I can advance in the career with various certifcation paths. I'm being told that the Apple service tech certification would be helpful immediately. I'm thinking I need to buy a Mac or something to "study"? I'm looking at an 09 MacBook 15"with 2.5 GHz dual-core for $300 or a 2011 mac 11" for $350.
Is it common to pay that much for stuff that old?
Anyone else take the apple cert test and not need a mac?

 

[samn]

Don't get a Macbook that old. It won't get important security updates over the time that you'll be using it.

 

[Guess Who]

You can pick up a current-gen Mac mini for $499, or much less used or refurb. It's not a great machine, but it's better than either of those, and supports the latest macOS and mostly all of its features.

 

[slamhk]

Best advice given by the user above.
Never buy hardware that old if the certification specifies that you're able to work with software/hardware starting from a certain date.
Googling it I saw that the ACMT 2017 :
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205332

Describes the following regarding which products you're being certified for:

ACMT 2017 qualifies a technician to repair all the Mac products that were covered by prior ACMT certifications, plus all other Mac products that were produced before 31 December 2016.

Regarding the topics you would have to take are described in the following link:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207709

All in all, I would say that it is necessary to at least have some degree of familiarity with Mac OS X (creating volumes, set up networking etc.) and with the Mac Mini being accessible it would be the best entry point.
They also have a 14 day return policy. If you're able to finish the exam/certf. within 14 days.

You could also keep it, the mac mini make some great plex servers lol..

 

[DiamondDog74]

Appreciate the talking down from buying either of these. Way too old is what I was thinking too. Friend has a Mac mini I can borrow