Won’t recognize WiFi

Also, as a future warning, from my experience I've found that Apple's laptops and desktops tend to have an 8-10 year hardware lifespan.

@zpl - Thats not quite true! Mac's have a good lifespan over Windows PC's.

The real issue is the speed of change! Just like prop planes were displaced by jets and then turbo fan jets. You still see older planes flying! Granted fewer of them.

But that's not because of the planes failure its our desire to travel faster and farther! As well as the plane makers wanting to sell newer gear (stockholders expect ti)

Here with Mac's the issue is the software someone wants may not run on a given system either due to the systems limitations or the version of OS the app requires won't run on it.

The last piece is the level of security the system offers as over time people have figured out how to break into older OS's. Todays OS's are much tighter. Sierra based systems are very safe!

Now the truth! The newer 2016 onward MacBook Pro models are not as good as the older systems! High wear parts like the keyboard just don't hold up as well, Intels failure of proper TDP numbers and Apples lack of managing the thermals properly in such a thin system which cooks the T-CON makes the newer systems less desirable over the 2014/15 Retina's.

Apple killed the Butterfly keyboard after the ground swell of people having problems. Even the newer 16" model thermals are better! (still not good enough! In my opinion) Will Apple get it right in the next generation of systems with the Apple Silicon chips?

I still use a 2011 15" MacBook Unibody as its still plenty powerful for web use. In fact I'm banging on one right now which is in fact running with a 2012 logic board.

@danj Thanks for the additional info and corrections! I guess I should've clarified that in my experience, if they're kept in good condition they tend to function normally with their original hardware for about 8-10 years. After that some sort of hardware repair tends to be necessary, such as a battery replacement, hard drive replacement, logic board or top case replacement, etc.

@zpl - Yes the batteries wear out across the board. Some peoples use also speeds up the process of killing them.

In my case the 2011 logic board GPU gave up as I was pressing it to hard processing some images. That was my fault! As I expecting more out of the system than it was designed to do. Which is why I don't process my photos on this system anymore, instead I use a 2013 MacPro! And some of the work I was doing on it was also pushing it hard too!

There is normal wear and tear on any device. Just look at your car, your battery, tires and oil all need changing at some point. I'm not that rich to throw a car away because it needs an oil change ;-}

We also need to look at how our eagerness to get something new is also hurting the environment. Repair, Reuse then Recycle needs to be the mantra we all go by, The new 3 R's!

So keeping your system working as long as you can makes a lot of sense! Yes after you've dripped the system over a cliff its safe to say its gone, But if you haven't done something that hurtful it should be repaired.

@zpl I used the internet recovery mode. It worked for it a second time. It’s only when I try to reinstall the OS.