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kofman13

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 6, 2009
585
168
Hey all, getting a 2015 retina macbook Pro 13 inch because it suits my needs and has all the ports i need. (cant be bothered with dongles. Microcenter has a great deal on the entry level i5 8 gb ram 128GB ssd model. They also have a refurbished one with 256GB SSD for same price. I'd rather have a brand spanking new one if i can get away with it.

I plan on dual booting sierra and Windows 10 pro. All I am doing on my mac partition would be word processing (most of which is google docs in chrome), email, web browsing, netflix etc. no big apps. (maybe one audio production app that is 1 gb)

On windows all the apps that I would be using a lot in addition to the OS (isnt it like 19 gb?) would be probably not more than 10 gb ALLTOGETHER.

I am guessing it will be enough but anyone with this model of MBP have any experience to chime in with?
long story short, aside from Sierra/windows 10 installs, I would probably only be using 10GB more for daily driver apps, no photos, music, or videos stored on HD, and i also plan on having an external usb drive nearby and maybe a transcend jetdrive
 
128GB is definitely doable for your usage. However, over time just with both OS and app updates. That'll eat up additional space.

The good thing with the 2015 is at least there are 3rd party hard drive upgrades available should you run out of space in the future.
 
I had Windows 10 installed alongside Yosemite and El Cap for a while on my 128Gb 2014 MBP. Never had any space problems. I only had basic apps installed like Pages/Numbers/A couple Jetbrains IDEs on Mac side and Office and Visual Studio on Windows. Both partitions were about half full. I kept large files like my photo library on an external drive.

So I'm guessing you'll be just fine.
 
128GB is definitely doable for your usage. However, over time just with both OS and app updates. That'll eat up additional space.

The good thing with the 2015 is at least there are 3rd party hard drive upgrades available should you run out of space in the future.
hmm do you think I should go for refurbished 256GB for same price? i really like getting new stuff, the idea of something that was broken, disassembled, put back together and repaired scares me, even though I think i can still get apple care for the refurb one
 
Refurbished is same as new. It's simply one that was previously sold, but returned. A return/refurbish does NOT imply that there was a fault of any kind - repaired or not.
Sometimes a new unit gets returned because the wife didn't like the color or the keyboard, and not a defect at all.
Nonetheless, the refurbish process means an extended checkout and inspection, with faults fixed, prior to release as a refurbished unit. An Apple refurb is assigned a different serial number.
Warranty (and entry into the extended AppleCare) is exactly the same as a "new" system.
And, sometimes that all means that a refurbished unit can be in better condition (and a better purchase) than your "new" system.
 
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hmm do you think I should go for refurbished 256GB for same price? i really like getting new stuff, the idea of something that was broken, disassembled, put back together and repaired scares me, even though I think i can still get apple care for the refurb one

I'm not too familiar with their refurbished items. If it's Apple certified where it has the one year warranty and ability to add Apple Care. I'd probably get the 256gb.

I like new as well. With a warranty though they are equal in my opinion
 
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Lots of fans of refurbs here, but I feel you on preference of buying new. Not going to debate that one. On the drive size, if you think it's questionable at the current size you're considering, go up a size. I don't know how long you've been on computers, but you always end up using more space than you initially hope you will. Like mentioned above, stupid things like updates alone start adding up. If you suddenly feel you need to use some app you weren't anticipating, boom, space gone. I got more space than I needed, but just saving off temporary files (like media for a trip or pics/video for editing) and the space goes quick. You're paying for some added flexibility. The space is at a minimum peace of mind, at best it's space you're going to use and the flexibility to delay an upgrade. If you are really disciplined about managing your files and space, you could get by. But I never heard anyone regretting getting too big of a hard drive. YMMV.
 
Lots of fans of refurbs here, but I feel you on preference of buying new. Not going to debate that one. On the drive size, if you think it's questionable at the current size you're considering, go up a size. I don't know how long you've been on computers, but you always end up using more space than you initially hope you will. Like mentioned above, stupid things like updates alone start adding up. If you suddenly feel you need to use some app you weren't anticipating, boom, space gone. I got more space than I needed, but just saving off temporary files (like media for a trip or pics/video for editing) and the space goes quick. You're paying for some added flexibility. The space is at a minimum peace of mind, at best it's space you're going to use and the flexibility to delay an upgrade. If you are really disciplined about managing your files and space, you could get by. But I never heard anyone regretting getting too big of a hard drive. YMMV.
i am really good at getting a lot out of small storage space, but I think i will get refurb 256! i will just double check i can get same warranty, because like others said above, refurb with apple is pretty much similar to brand new with applecare. any problems will be fixed if i have any
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I'm not too familiar with their refurbished items. If it's Apple certified where it has the one year warranty and ability to add Apple Care. I'd probably get the 256gb.

I like new as well. With a warranty though they are equal in my opinion
the sales rep i spoke to at microcenter today said they are an authorized reseller and you get 1 year apple and you can get additional applecare and they activate it with apple ( i didnt know about the refurbished model at the time) he said they even fix apple computers right at the store because they can order parts like displays and logic boards from apple, and send to apple if they cannot fix, and i still have option of going directly to an apple store for support as well since it's regular apple care plan. I will double check if they offer it for the refurb as well (on their website it seems they offer it for refurb too, but i will check in person)
 
i am really good at getting a lot out of small storage space, but I think i will get refurb 256! i will just double check i can get same warranty, because like others said above, refurb with apple is pretty much similar to brand new with applecare. any problems will be fixed if i have any
[doublepost=1491882711][/doublepost]
the sales rep i spoke to at microcenter today said they are an authorized reseller and you get 1 year apple and you can get additional applecare and they activate it with apple ( i didnt know about the refurbished model at the time) he said they even fix apple computers right at the store because they can order parts like displays and logic boards from apple, and send to apple if they cannot fix, and i still have option of going directly to an apple store for support as well since it's regular apple care plan. I will double check if they offer it for the refurb as well (on their website it seems they offer it for refurb too, but i will check in person)

AppleCare should apply equally to the refurb.
 
thanks guys, i got the refurb 256 yesterday and it was in a nice sealed apple certified box and it practically looked like a brand new retail packaging with all the plastic protective film too!! so happy
 
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