record vinyl to my macbook is it possible?

Yes, I have done it several times. You will need an ADC (analog to digital converter, I use HRT’s Linestreamer + http://www.hirestech.com/product/?pid=100. Then you need software, I use Pure Vinyl http://www.channld.com/purevinyl/ but there are several others including Audacity which is freeware. And I use an older MacBook that has two USB ports. The newest ones don’t which is why they probably told you that.

Forget the kids in the Apple Stores, they know little about hifi. Purchase a refurbed older Macbook and you’ll sail smoothly. Apple did their customers a great disservice by taking away all the connectivity. Stupid in my opinion.

The thing is, I found that I'd rather spend my precious time listening to vinyl directly rather than recording it and playing it back on digital. Yeah, of course, it's good for the car or portable listening but in the end too much time is used. Let us know what path you took in your archival endeavors.

Simplest way is to get a phono Pre amp or a turntable that has a usb drive.  You can then directly record into your HD.  There is free software to help.  I think it’s called Audacity.
  I did this years ago, but only with a few albums, and I sold off my vinyl rig a few years ago, so I won’t comment any more on this, but the info above should be enough to get you started

I'm sorry this is a bit off topic but I agree with stevecham. I've been a Mac user since they came out....really before...had an Apple IIe in college. I've never owned anything but Apple. (Have used Windows at work for decades).

Apple has grown increasingly hostile to the things I look for which are elegance, utility and usability of older software. That used to be their thing. No longer. I find the OS to be more and more Windows-like, I find that having to have a bag full of dongles to plug things into my laptop to be ridiculous (and expensive) and I find that Apple is abandoning relatively recent versions of their software with rapidity.

To the OP, you can always get a USB dongle to plug into a newer MacBook.

I'm seriously considering stepping away from Apple after 35 years for the very reason the OP is experiencing.

I have an older macbook.  I will look into it.  Thanks

Of course you can digitize your vinyl. As mentioned above, you need an ADC - analog to digital converter (reverse of a DAC), and then you need the digital input into your mac to be recorded using software. Some turntables come with an USB output which can do this directly, but typically these tables are cheap and I’m not sure if the quality will be good. I can vouch for HRT Dacs having used them before, I am sure their ADC is very good.