When my Brother-in-Law died four years ago, my sister gave me his MacBook Pro (14" 2012) and asked me to go through his emails and records for any overlooked financial info.  No unpleasant surprises were expected or found. Fortunately, the MacBook was logged onto his account at start-up as he had not left any record of his Password.   

My sister does not want the MacBook and told me to keep it.  I was able to set up my own account but I have to be very careful not to accidentally close his account as it is the admin account and once closed, I can never get back in.

 

I have always been a Windows user but pretty casual stuff: email, news, social media, You Tube, Netflix, ect.  I actually have very few applications on my Windows machine.

My question is, what does the MacBook do better?  Since I have it and can not sell it, what should I use it for? 

If all you do is what you describe then it probably wont make any difference whether you use Mac or PC.

 

Assuming that you no longer need your BIL's stuff then you can just wipe the machine and start afresh:

 

 

Isn

5 hours ago, KittenKong said:

If all you do is what you describe then it probably wont make any difference whether you use Mac or PC.

 

Assuming that you no longer need your BIL's stuff then you can just wipe the machine and start afresh:

 

 

Thanks for the suggestion  I was under the impression that the original admin password was required to initiate any major changes or system restores.  Is this incorrect?  At 3:30 in the attached video (Thanks, BTW) when he is about to download OSX, he states that you will probably need to fill in Apple ID and Itunes password.  Don't these have to be the Apple ID and PW of the machines administrator of record?

Thanks again

You can create a new ID:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7370389

though that may not get you the newest version of iOS as discussed in that link.

You dont need the original admin password for this as you are erasing the machine and reinstalling from scratch, as if it had a new hard drive.

 

Or if you have access to your BIL's email you could create a new password for his ID and just carry on with that, if you want to keep the machine for yourself:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201487

 

What do Macbook pros do better?

 

My experience and a few other firends experiance with Apple products are...

 

They last longer, no real virus issues, all software is in house which makes for a better and stress free user experience, they dont break down, gees i could go on for ever...

 

I have a 13inch Macbook pro 2017 and an iMac i bought in 2012 no troubles what so ever, iPad Air and iPhone 4,5,6+,7 now the XR the only issue with the phones was the 5 sucked battery and i upgraded to the 6+ as quick as possile after a year it developed touch desciese which Apple were happy to replace in the end i opted to trade up to the 7 a very good phone..

 

Before and during i owned 1 windows desk top and 2 windows laptops one a Toishiba the other at the time 2011 high spec i7 Dell...and i would say i had a pretty poor run with them, countless window reinstall on all of the machines..the Dell? $AU1600, what went.. hardrive during warranty, Battery just as it came out of warranty shortly after keyboard back light then a second hard drive only for a third hard drive to give up the ghost, you pay more for Apple and ive got better everything for it.