My 2011 MBP is still my primary. This is the case for a lot of people because the newer versions just don't compare. On to of that you can't even upgrade the components in them since everything is integrated into the board.
In my opinion the best user friendly mac was the unibody early 2009 15" MacBook Pro.
It was the last Mac with a removable battery.
Plenty of technological improvements have been made since then but I still love that model.
Ditto. My 2011 MBP is a truck that just won't quit. Although I've replaced just about everything in it but the processor, the fact that I was able to do so makes me love the machine.