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15" rMBP 2015 vs 2016, I Need Advice

Macusercom

Macusercom

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 10, 2012
170
467
Vienna, Austria
My situation
I currently own a non-retina 15" MBP (Mid 2012) with 2.6 GHz and a 650M as well as a MacBook Air 13" (Early 2014) with 1.4 GHz. I intend to "combine" the best of both by buying a newer and lighter retina MBP for everyday usage. Also I was tired of needing to sync data between multiple Macs or buying multiple license keys for some apps that require it. I've been holding of on buying a new Mac since the beginning of this year. I do want 16 GB of RAM as well as 512 GB+ storage. I'm do not want to store xyz GB of data on an SD card to "expand" the internal storage.

Right now I've been carrying my MBA around all the time. It has great battery life and does things really really well, but some things like Final Cut Pro X or other stuff is a real pain and I need to wait to get home. I simply bought it as the non-retina MBP was too heavy and bulky to be using it for college.

Things I Do
At home I mostly use Final Cut Pro X for editing 1080p videos, Logic Pro X, Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, After Effects and other smaller tasks like Chrome, Word and iTunes. For me I insist on having a quad-core CPU as well as a powerful GPU (as good eGPU solutions appear to be rare).

The issue
As for many other users I was shocked when I saw the price of the new 15" rMBP 2016. I love Touch ID, its slimness and design, but I'm thinking about being worth the price in the long run. I will most certainly keep the MBP for around 3 to 5 years and sell it afterwards. Ports are some kind of a deal, but Í find it useful having one cable for everything and being able to use hubs that deliver power which was never possible with MagSafe. If I'd buy one, it'll be an 460M GPU.

Also the wider colour gamut might be perfect for calibrating it as my 2012 MBP achieved 98 % sRGB and with such a wide colour gamut calibrating it will most certainly not result in banding. Moreover, the 2015 MBP appears to have a quite bad gamut compared to the old non-retina high-res one. The brighter thing doesn't interest me as I do not intend on using it outside.

Lastly, the possibility of having a USB-C power bank thrilled me. I could use a medium sized power bank to charge the rMBP 2016 on the go. For the 2015 version I'd need a special power bank which is available (even though not magnetic). However, without every using the butterfly keyboard, I think I wouldn't like it. I got used to Apple's keyboards, even prefering it over the mechanical one I have on my gaming PC.

Things I'd miss: the SD card slot. I rarely used it and it never really worked properly on my 2012 MBP, but I am a photographer and I might use it. But an adapter would do it too.

Prices for the rMBP 2015 with the M370X are about € 2400 here now. Compared to € 2950 for the rMBP 2016 with the 460M it's sort of a big jump. The 13" rMBP 2016 is not something I could ever consider.

Final words
I'm really struggling to find a good decision. I price wasn't something I had to think about, I would go the 2016 road all the way. It is no like it's not in my budget, but I think the jump is not worth the price right now. But I feel that in the long run it will pay off if I look back. Waiting another year for prices to drop is not something I want to do. Moreover, buying a refurbished 15" rMBP 2016 would be about as much as I'd pay with the education discount and I would never want to buy a used Mac from some user. I also read about bad experiences with refurbished devices from 3rd parties while my own MBA is an Apple refurbished product and came in like new.
 
If you have a "bad experience" with a refurbished machine (I'm guessing that means it's defective in some way), Apple will repair or replace it, just the same as if you had bought it new. If you're not open to shelling out the money for a new one, hold out for a refurb.
 
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GnarleyMarley said:
It's the exact same AppleCare coverage and warranty that you get with a brand new Mac.
Click to expand...
"Gedekt door de beperkte Apple garantie van één jaar"
It says on the dutch apple pages under refurbished products, "beperkt" means "limited", it says: covered by the limited apple warranty of one year".

Normal placed products do not use the term limited.


Sorry if this confused me as it implies to me there might be a difference as they say it's limited.
 
Floris said:
"Gedekt door de beperkte Apple garantie van één jaar"
It says on the dutch apple pages under refurbished products, "beperkt" means "limited", it says: covered by the limited apple warranty of one year".

Normal placed products do not use the term limited.

Sorry if this confused me as it implies to me there might be a difference as they say it's limited.
Click to expand...
Warranties, in the US anyway, are always limited in some way. I've yet to see an unlimited warranty covering any product from any company, for the simple reason that damages resulting from abuse, misuse or alteration of a product could not be reasonably expected to be repaired for free.

Also consequential damages, i.e. damages indirectly resulting from the failure of the product such as loss of use of the product, or loss of business income, etc. are usually specifically excluded, except where limited by state law.
So yes, virtually all warranties are limited in some way.

There is also an International Convention (CISG) so far ratified by 85 countries, covering the international sale of goods.
 
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What you don't get with a refurb is the white box. From my experience (3 refurbished MacBook(Pro)s, 4 refurbished minis, and a refurbished AirPort Extreme) is there is no other difference.
 
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talmy said:
What you don't get with a refurb is the white box. From my experience (3 refurbished MacBook(Pro)s, 4 refurbished minis, and a refurbished AirPort Extreme) is there is no other difference.
Click to expand...

Say, if you were in the market for a refurb 2013 (nMP) would you buy from Apple or from somebody that specifically builds and refurbs Macs? Is Apple Care worth it for a refurb that may or may not be DOA? What's the estimated "Okay pal, your machine is 86'd from Apple Care..." rate on something that you have to keep bringing to a pro-genius? Are the boxes too thin, or are they rolling them out the door w/o the close inspection that my old G4 1.4Ghz Mac Mini received? -BTW, that one came in a huge cardboard box and was encased in gray foam rubber. Advice?
 
JamesPDX said:
Say, if you were in the market for a refurb 2013 (nMP) would you buy from Apple or from somebody that specifically builds and refurbs Macs? Is Apple Care worth it for a refurb that may or may not be DOA? What's the estimated "Okay pal, your machine is 86'd from Apple Care..." rate on something that you have to keep bringing to a pro-genius? Are the boxes too thin, or are they rolling them out the door w/o the close inspection that my old G4 1.4Ghz Mac Mini received? -BTW, that one came in a huge cardboard box and was encased in gray foam rubber. Advice?
Click to expand...

In order:
  • I only buy refurbs from Apple, not other parties.
  • Apple refurbs come with the same 1 year warranty as new products, and there is a 14 day free return policy that will handle the DOA problem nicely. I've never had a DOA refurb, though.
  • AppleCare is basically an insurance policy, and is a profit source for Apple, so in the long run it isn't a good deal for the customer. It's a purchase of peace of mind. A refurb is no more likely to need a repair in years 2 and 3 than a new Mac.
  • I have never needed a repeated repair. Apparently for those that have, Apple will give them replacement computers.
  • Boxes are just as sturdy, just not white. I've heard it said that the refurbs are more closely inspected than the new Macs. I've never had any blemish on any of mine.
 
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