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Going to buy first Macbook (15" pro 2017) - talk me out of it?

H

HammerOfThor

Member
I have a MacBook Pro full spec'd from like, 3 or 4 years ago?

Its the only computer I've ever owned that has never given me a lick of issues. Nothing. I have no problems with it. And its still going strong, where I feel the need to upgrade my Windows computers after one year.

It makes me regret being a .Net developer and needing Windows machines :)
 
S

SuperEpicMan

Banned
I am now on my second MacBook Pro and absolutely love the experience I have had with it. My old one was an entry level 2011 13" Pro for £999, which I ended up selling for £500 back in 2015 so they definitely hold their value if you look after it.

Personally I am considering getting a 13 inch model next time I upgrade. Most of the time when I use it at home it is plugged into a second monitor, so I feel the added portability is more valuable than a slightly larger screen.
 
R

reKon

Banned
Your Entertainer said:
Part of back to school promo, I'm getting the following:

MBP 15, 2017
- i7 7700
- 455
- 512 ssd
- 16gb ram
- $2429
- Along w free beats solo 3s (which I actually kinda want)

I've always wanted a MacBook, and now I have the money. I value a nice screen, build quality, durability and battery life. I will be reading tons of PDFs so the screen size being 15 was more important. Producitivity, maybe photo editing in the future. There will be very little to no gaming. I want it to last 4-5 years. I've always used and love Windows 10, but am willing to get used to macOS as a big iPhone guy.

The only gripe is how damn expensive it is. The edu discount plus free beats made it a bit better value proposition. The other laptop I was considering is a dell xps 15 with the same proc, ram, storage, but 4K w 1060. It's windows, can do some gaming, and is 1800 which is way cheaper. But the dell customer service and known issues plaguing the line scared me away.

Any other thoughts?
Click to expand...

Get the Dell XPS, and invest the remaining 900-1000
 
Z

ZOONAMI

Junior Member
LegendofDragoonLives said:
Actually get it breh.. I tried to save 300$ and bought a 2012 or 13 Pro last year, one of the worst purchases ever. It's a slow piece of shit and I hate it. Can't wait until Sep to buy extra RAM and SSD to hopefully get this garbage running on a reasonable level.

The one you'll be getting should fly though.
Click to expand...

You only saved $300? I sold my mid 2012 MacBook pro 15 for $1k this winter.

Also you cant upgrade the ram or ssd, they are soldered, unless its late 2011 or earlier

My late 2012 was still pretty zippy with the quad i7 and 650m.
 
S

shandy706

Member
Bought my girlfriend the 2015 model in a sale last year. She loves it.


I have a hard time buying ANY laptop at that price ($1500+) that doesn't have a top end gaming GPU in it though. Just can't do it...as something for myself.

Specs look good otherwise.
 
L

LegendofDragoonLives

Member
ZOONAMI said:
You only saved $300? I sold my mid 2012 MacBook pro 15 for $1k this winter.

Also you cant upgrade the ram or ssd, they are soldered, unless its late 2011 or earlier

My late 2012 was still pretty zippy with the quad i7 and 650m.
Click to expand...
13" mid 2012 Macbook Pro. 4GB. The guy who sold it at Best Buy said for certain that this is upgradable.. I'm going to be livid if I can't since I can't imagine using this piece of trash for several years at its current state :S
 
T

The Quiet Man

Member
Maybe this is not true any more for the newest MBPs, but I've had to buy 3 chargers for $80 each for my mid-2012 MBP (for work, so my company reimbursed me). It's still a good computer for working, just expect your charger cords to break eventually if they haven't improved them.
 
K

Kysen

Member
I'm in a similar position but I can't justify the price knowing I could get a monster laptop with a gaming gpu for less. If it wasn't for that touch bar I reckon the price would be significantly lower.

Also stay the hell away from Surface products. I just sold my SP4 for a huge loss, the software bugs were insane. Some poor shmuck is going to be stuck with that awful device. MS needs to get their shit together, you'd think the experience would be great with them making the hardware and the software.
 
G

Guess Who

Banned
I have a 2016 model. It’s great. Screen is beautiful, performance is fast (the SSD is blazing), speakers are great. The Radeon Pro 460/560 can handle most games at PS4ish settings if that’s something you care about. I got one adapter that does HDMI and USB-A in one adapter, that I have a monitor and USB hub connected to, and that’s practically the only dongle I need.

(Also, I thought the XPS 15 was a 1050, not 1060?)

The Quiet Man said:
Maybe this is not true any more for the newest MBPs, but I've had to buy 3 chargers for $80 each for my mid-2012 MBP (for work, so my company reimbursed me). It's still a good computer for working, just expect your charger cords to break eventually if they haven't improved them.
Click to expand...

The 2016 and 2017 MBPs switched to USB-C chargers, which have more durable cables and, more importantly, can have the cable replaced separately from the power supply.
 
P

pagrab

Member
I have been a Windows guy forever. 6 months ago got a Macbook Pro. I hated it for the first month. Now I cannot imagine going back. Amazing touchpad and keyboard. Nevet had any problem with the machine.

Last month my wife got a Surface Pro. It is ridiculous how inferior this thing is to the mac.

Go for it.
 
B

BigDes

Member
In a similar position, although I am still torn over a Macbook and a Macbook pro

The Macbook's lack of ports is making me favor the pro though
 
Z

ZOONAMI

Junior Member
LegendofDragoonLives said:
13" mid 2012 Macbook Pro. 4GB. The guy who sold it at Best Buy said for certain that this is upgradable.. I'm going to be livid if I can't since I can't imagine using this piece of trash for several years at its current state :S
Click to expand...

Ah, you must be talking about the non retina model. Yeah those are upgradeable but definitely haven't aged well. Probably running a spinner in there. SSD will help you immensely.
 
Y

Your Entertainer

Member
Kysen said:
I'm in a similar position but I can't justify the price knowing I could get a monster laptop with a gaming gpu for less. If it wasn't for that touch bar I reckon the price would be significantly lower.

Also stay the hell away from Surface products. I just sold my SP4 for a huge loss, the software bugs were insane. Some poor shmuck is going to be stuck with that awful device. MS needs to get their shit together, you'd think the experience would be great with them making the hardware and the software.
Click to expand...

I agree and had the same thought about the GPU. Howerver, I won't be gaming, want something built amazingly, a top of the line screen, amazing customer service and good battery life. Can't think of much besides the mac that does that.
 
M

MercuryLS3

Junior Member
Your Entertainer said:
This is touch. May go 256 as I won't be gaming. Are usbc external ssds cheap and a thing now?
Click to expand...

Unless you have a huge media library, go for 256gb. I bought my first mac in 2009, I was wary of buying it due to price but I wish I bought one earlier than that. Mac's are built so solid, OSX is a really great OS, best trackpad in the business. Mac's may be really expensive up front but their resale value is very very high, I've been able to upgrade every few years with only like $200 out of pocket. Also Apple Care is excellent, they take good care of you if you're machine is still under warranty.
 
Z

ZOONAMI

Junior Member
Your Entertainer said:
I agree and had the same thought about the GPU. Howerver, I won't be gaming, want something built amazingly, a top of the line screen, amazing customer service and good battery life. Can't think of much besides the mac that does that.
Click to expand...

Have you considered surface book at all?

If you buy that from an MS store you will have better CS than apple imo. It's like having apple care without having to pay for it. Honestly if you do go with windows and have an MS store nearby, buy from them. They will fix any problems you have, probably even past the warranty period. I bought my Vaio s13 from them years ago and had a few issues and also fixed it for free, even a couple years after purchase.
 
M

MaskingTape

Neo Member
Your Entertainer said:
This is touch. May go 256 as I won't be gaming. Are usbc external ssds cheap and a thing now?
Click to expand...

There are very fast USBc drives available. Samsung makes some really nice ones.

I dunno about going with the touch to be honest. My brother has it, I see no use of it. Unless you NEED those 4 ports I'd save some money. Rest of the computer is the same. Save the money, add some AppleCare (it has support for accidental damage now!) and live worry free lol.
 
Duxxy3

Duxxy3

Member
I can't stand Mac's, but you do you. I have myself for tech support. I don't worry about something not working. I can always fix it myself. Not everybody can do that.
 
B

BriGuy

Member
You could buy a laptop and a decently powerful gaming PC for that much. It's your money though, so do what you want with it. I have a work-provided 2016 pro and, I mean, it's a laptop. It's got a nice screen I suppose, but there's nothing inherently special about it.
 
S

SMattera

Member
If you just want a well-built, good looking machine with a great screen for PDFs, photo editing, web browsing, etc. get a high-end Chromebook. Like the Samsung Chromebook Pro. You can get a used Pixel in good shape for under $400.

The MacBook Pro is an amazing machine, but spending that much money for something when you'll only use 5% of the power seems insane. You could spend $500 on the Samsung and take a week long vacation with the balance. Or put some money in your Roth IRA.
 
N

nullref

Member
Cost aside, the only risk is that you don't take to the OS and platform. No real way to know that without living with it for a while.

MaskingTape said:
Do you really need the 512gb SSD? That adds a lot to the price. And this is the non touch bar model right?
Click to expand...

I'd absolutely get the 512 GB. It's not upgradeable, so you have to be able to live with the storage long-term.

The specs listed mean it would be the latest generation 15", which is only available with the Touch Bar. The only 15" available without the Touch Bar is the last generation model.
 
B

br3wnor

Member
If you have the dough, definitely get it. Never had a Pro myself, but had a MacBook Air as my daily driver from 2012-2015 (wife now uses it primarily) and it was awesome. Was my first Mac and I never had any issues with it. Once I was done w/ Law School and didn’t need something to take notes in day in, day out, I bought a Windows Laptop more for gaming purposes. I now use an IPad Pro as my MacBook Air ‘replacement’ since the Windows laptop is on the bulkier side and my daily use need of a work laptop is pretty minimal, but if I ever was in a situation where I needed a good workhorse laptop I’d go right back to Mac. Premium price but it will last you a long ass time and you will have minimal hardware/software issues. There were times I’d go 2-3 weeks w/out turning my Air off and in that time wouldn’t have a single crash or other problem, and this was w/ using it 4+ hours a day on average.
 
M

MaskingTape

Neo Member
nullref said:
Cost aside, the only risk is that you don't take to the OS and platform. No real way to know that without living with it for a while.



I'd absolutely get the 512 GB. It's not upgradeable, so you have to be able to live with the storage long-term.

The specs listed mean it would be the latest generation 15", which is only available with the Touch Bar. The only 15" available without the Touch Bar is the last generation model.
Click to expand...

True, forgot they didn't update the 15 in the last batch.
 
M

MonsieurPaul

Neo Member
Go for a MacBook, but considering your expected usage you should:

- look for a refurbished (the spec gain from a late-2016 to a mid-2017 are not that much).

- really try a 13" model, you will trade a huge gain in mobility against a loss of screen space and computer power that you are not seeming to need anyway.

With the money saved you can add a dock and an external screen to have a real workstation at home.
 
J

jtb

Banned
If you can afford it, it's about as good an investment you can make on a computer.

Very reliable, excellent support from Apple, long lifespans, great resale value.
 
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