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So where is the sweet spot?

S

steve1960

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 23, 2014
293
300
Singapore
I have a late 2011 MBP and have just been made aware of the AMD GPU issue since joining this site (yes maybe I have been living in a cave for the last 2 years!).

I do know of the problems with the retina displays on later MBP's (although I know it's limited to one manufacturer). I also don't like the lack of upgrade / replacement possibilities.

Buying a pre 2011 MBP seems a little pointless.

So is the sweet spot an early to mid 2012 with a little Apple Care remaining? I have not heard of them having any significant issues and the RAM and battery are still replaceable items right? I have not checked to see if the 2012 can take 16GB RAM but hopefully they can.
 
capathy21

capathy21

macrumors 65816
Jun 16, 2014
1,418
617
Houston, Texas
steve1960 said:
I have a late 2011 MBP and have just been made aware of the AMD GPU issue since joining this site (yes maybe I have been living in a cave for the last 2 years!).

I do know of the problems with the retina displays on later MBP's (although I know it's limited to one manufacturer). I also don't like the lack of upgrade / replacement possibilities.

Buying a pre 2011 MBP seems a little pointless.

So is the sweet spot an early to mid 2012 with a little Apple Care remaining? I have not heard of them having any significant issues and the RAM and battery are still replaceable items right? I have not checked to see if the 2012 can take 16GB RAM but hopefully they can.
Click to expand...

It really just depends on your preferences. I would say if you are going to upgrade, you mine as well go with a retina. If you prefer to keep a unit that is user upgradable, then you might want to go with a 2012 non retina model. I am fairly certain that model does accept 16GB of ram.
 
MacInTO

MacInTO

macrumors 65816
Apr 25, 2005
1,195
216
Canada, eh!
I upgraded to a 2012 rMBP 2.7 i7. It has 16GB of RAM, 768 SSD with one year of Applecare left. It was at a significant discount to a new or refurb MBP.

The only drawback is the storage. I used to have an SSD and a HDD in my 2011 MBP. Now I have to plug in an external drive when I'm working. My work files are kept on my second HDD.
 
S

steve1960

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 23, 2014
293
300
Singapore
MacInTO said:
I upgraded to a 2012 rMBP 2.7 i7. It has 16GB of RAM, 768 SSD with one year of Applecare left. It was at a significant discount to a new or refurb MBP.

The only drawback is the storage. I used to have an SSD and a HDD in my 2011 MBP. Now I have to plug in an external drive when I'm working. My work files are kept on my second HDD.
Click to expand...

I thought early 2012's still had the internal Superdrive which could be removed for an additional SSD or HDD?
 
MacInTO

MacInTO

macrumors 65816
Apr 25, 2005
1,195
216
Canada, eh!
S

steve1960

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 23, 2014
293
300
Singapore
MacInTO said:
Yes, they had both in 2012...

http://support.apple.com/kb/SP694

http://support.apple.com/kb/sp653

I had GPU failure in my 2011 and wanted to upgrade. The retina screen is much better (except for the gloss).

I found mine on CL so it was whatever was available. It worked out in the end.
Click to expand...

Yes the retina display looks really nice but I am still at heart a tinkerer! I like to be able to swap out drives, increase memory, change a battery. As you can tell from my forum name I am of an age where it is difficult to accept sealed unit technology ;)
 
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,481
43,406
steve1960 said:
So is the sweet spot an early to mid 2012 with a little Apple Care remaining? I have not heard of them having any significant issues and the RAM and battery are still replaceable items right? I have not checked to see if the 2012 can take 16GB RAM but hopefully they can.
Click to expand...
Why not buy a current model that uses the iGPU? You get a retina screen, good iGPU, 16gb of ram (if you opt for the 15" rMBP)

To me that's the sweet spot. The jury is out on the 2012 models. The 2011 GPUs started failing this year, so if the 2012 models were to follow suit, We'd not know this until possibly next year.

Personally giving the fact that the 2008, 2010, 2011 models had GPU problems, I'd rather not put any money towards a MBP that uses a dGPU at this stage.
 
MacInTO

MacInTO

macrumors 65816
Apr 25, 2005
1,195
216
Canada, eh!
steve1960 said:
Yes the retina display looks really nice but I am still at heart a tinkerer! I like to be able to swap out drives, increase memory, change a battery. As you can tell from my forum name I am of an age where it is difficult to accept sealed unit technology ;)
Click to expand...
I know how you feel!

I feel a bit helpless with these new macs. I'm glad I upgraded though. The new machines have great screens and are much lighter. However, with technology the way it is, I don't really need to take it out of the house anymore so the weight is a moot point.

The limited internal storage still irks me a bit but it's probably time to start looking at alternative storage solutions anyway.
 
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