You’re browsing eBay or Facebook Marketplace and you see it. The sleek aluminum chassis. That crisp Retina display. A price tag that looks like a steal compared to the $1,200+ Apple wants for a new M3 model. The 2017 MacBook Pro 13-inch feels like a tempting entry point into the Apple ecosystem, but honestly, it’s one of the most complicated laptops Apple ever built. It’s a bit of a gamble.
Buying a 2017 MacBook Pro 13-inch today isn't just about the specs on paper. It's about knowing exactly what you're signing up for regarding the hardware "lottery." You might get a reliable daily driver that handles web browsing and light coding like a champ. Or, you might end up with a very expensive paperweight thanks to a single grain of sand under a keycap.
The Butterfly Keyboard: A Legacy of Clicky Anxiety
We have to talk about the elephant in the room. The keyboard. Specifically, the second-generation butterfly mechanism.
Apple's design goal was thinness. They achieved it, but at a massive cost to reliability. The 2017 MacBook Pro 13-inch uses a switch mechanism that is notoriously sensitive to debris. If a tiny crumb gets under the "E" key, you might type "ee" every time you press it, or worse, the key just stops responding entirely. It's frustrating. Really frustrating.
Apple eventually launched a keyboard service program for these, but here’s the kicker: that program only covers the device for four years after the first retail sale. Since we’re well past 2021, most of these machines are no longer eligible for free repairs. If your keyboard fails now, you’re looking at a bill that could easily exceed $400 because Apple usually replaces the entire top case, including the battery and trackpad, just to fix one key.
Performance Reality Check: Dual-Core in a Multi-Core World
Don't let the "Pro" moniker fool you into thinking this is a video editing powerhouse by modern standards.
Inside the 2017 MacBook Pro 13-inch, you'll find Intel’s 7th-generation Kaby Lake processors. Specifically, the Core i5-7360U or i5-7267U. These are dual-core chips. In 2017, that was the industry standard for 13-inch portables. Today? It’s a bottleneck. Modern apps are designed for the multi-core efficiency of Apple Silicon or at least quad-core Intel/AMD chips.
If you’re just using Chrome with ten tabs, Spotify, and Slack, it’ll feel snappy enough. But try to hop into a 4K video timeline in Final Cut Pro or run a heavy Docker container environment, and you’ll hear those fans ramp up immediately. It gets hot. Like, "uncomfortable on your lap" hot.
- Memory constraints: Most base models came with 8GB of LPDDR3 RAM. It is soldered. You cannot upgrade it.
- SSD Speed: On the bright side, Apple’s SSDs were ahead of their time. Even the 128GB or 256GB drives in these machines are fast enough to make the OS feel responsive.
- Graphics: Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 or 650. Fine for Netflix, bad for gaming.
The "Flexgate" Phenomenon
There is another hardware quirk you need to know about. It's called Flexgate.
The 2017 MacBook Pro 13-inch uses thin ribbon cables to connect the display to the logic board. These cables wrap around the hinge. Every time you open and close the laptop, the cable stretches. Over time, the cable can fray or tear. This leads to a "stage light" effect at the bottom of the screen or, eventually, a completely black display when the lid is opened past a certain angle.
It's a design flaw that iFixit and other repair experts have documented extensively. While Apple addressed this in later 2018 models by making the cable slightly longer, the 2017 units remain vulnerable. If you see a flickering screen or weird vertical lines on a used unit, walk away.
The Port Situation: Living the Dongle Life
The 2017 model was the era of "courage."
Depending on which version you get—the one with the Touch Bar or the one without—you get either four or two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports. That’s it. No SD card slot. No HDMI. No USB-A for your old thumb drives.
You’ve got to buy adapters. If you're a photographer, carrying a dongle just to offload photos from an SD card is a persistent annoyance. However, Thunderbolt 3 is still a very capable standard. You can drive a 5K display or connect an external GPU (eGPU) if you really need to push the graphics performance, though the dual-core CPU will likely hold you back before the GPU does.
Touch Bar vs. Physical Function Keys
The "Function Row" model (often called the MacBook Pro Escape) is actually the one many enthusiasts prefer today. It has physical keys for volume and brightness. The Touch Bar version looks cool, sure, but it's prone to UI glitches and many find it less tactile for professional workflows. Plus, the non-Touch Bar model has a slightly larger battery and a lower-wattage CPU that stays a bit cooler.
Battery Life and Software Support: The EOL Horizon
Batteries degrade. It’s chemistry. A 2017 MacBook Pro 13-inch has been on this planet for seven or eight years. Unless the previous owner had it serviced recently, the battery is likely sitting at 70-80% health. You’ll probably get 3 to 4 hours of real-world use rather than the 10 hours Apple originally promised.
Then there’s macOS support. Apple is notorious for cutting off Intel Macs as they pivot harder toward their M-series chips. The 2017 models have already started losing support for the latest macOS versions. While you can use tools like OpenCore Legacy Patcher to force-install newer versions of macOS, it’s not a seamless experience for a casual user. You might run into Wi-Fi bugs or graphics glitches.
Basically, you’re looking at a machine that is approaching its "End of Life" for official security updates. For a student on a budget, that might be okay. For someone handling sensitive financial data, it’s a risk.
Who Should Actually Buy This?
I wouldn't recommend this to a power user. No way.
But, if you are a student who just needs to write essays, or someone who wants a secondary "couch laptop" for browsing the web, it can work—provided you find it for the right price. What's the right price? Honestly, in today's market, you shouldn't be paying more than $200-$250 for a 2017 MacBook Pro 13-inch in good condition.
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If the price creeps up toward $400, you are better off saving a little more for a used MacBook Air with the M1 chip. The jump from a 2017 Intel chip to an M1 chip is arguably the biggest performance leap in the history of the Mac. It’s not just a little faster; it’s a completely different league of silence, battery life, and speed.
Real-World Reliability Checklist
If you're dead set on picking one up, do these things before handing over the cash:
- The "Space" Test: Open a TextEdit file and tap the space bar 50 times. If it double-spaces or fails to register once, the keyboard is dying.
- The Hinge Test: Open the screen to 45 degrees, 90 degrees, and 120 degrees. Look for any flickering or "stage lighting" at the bottom of the LCD.
- Battery Cycle Count: Go to About This Mac > System Report > Power. If the cycle count is over 800 or the status says "Service Recommended," factor in the cost of a replacement.
- Check the "E" and "I" Keys: These are statistically the most common keys to fail on the butterfly keyboard. Smash them (gently) and see if they feel "mushy."
Practical Next Steps for Owners or Buyers
If you already own a 2017 MacBook Pro 13-inch and it’s starting to feel sluggish, don't give up on it just yet. You can’t upgrade the RAM, but you can manage the thermal throttling. Using an app like Macs Fan Control allows you to set a more aggressive fan curve, which keeps the CPU from slowing down during Zoom calls.
Also, consider a clean install of macOS. Over years of updates, system junk builds up. Wiping the drive and starting fresh on macOS Ventura (the last officially supported version for most 2017 models) can breathe a surprising amount of life back into the dual-core processor.
If the keyboard starts acting up and you're out of warranty, try a can of compressed air. Hold the laptop at a 75-degree angle and spray the keys in a zigzag motion. It sounds like "tech support voodoo," but Apple actually has an official support document recommending exactly this. Sometimes, dislodging one speck of dust is all it takes to save the machine.
Ultimately, the 2017 MacBook Pro 13-inch is a relic of a specific era in Apple’s history—one defined by thinness at all costs. It’s a beautiful piece of hardware that requires a bit of "babying" to stay functional in 2026. If you find one cheap and the keyboard works, enjoy that Retina screen. Just keep a can of air nearby and maybe don't eat crackers while you type.