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17" MBP refurbished or rMBP

M

miss.catchu

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 29, 2012
3
0
I have been a PC user all my life and besides one 4th generation nano I have never really owned an Apple product. I figured now would be a good time since my good ole faithful desktop of 10+ years has finally decided to shut down at irregular times right as I'm about to move into a dorm room. I have a ton of options that I'm looking into right now but my favorite is the discontinued 17" MBP. But before I risk spending 2 grand on a refurbished piece what's the upgrade ability on one? Can I eventually update the HDD to SSD? That might make all the difference between whether I purchase the 17" or a rMBP.

I double checked a lot of the specs and upgrades I want on the rMBP and price wise the 17" will be a lot cheaper pre upgrade. But I want to use the 17" and wait to see if the price on SSD's drop anytime in the next year or two before I upgrade.
 
miss.catchu said:
But before I risk spending 2 grand on a refurbished piece what's the upgrade ability on one? Can I eventually update the HDD to SSD? That might make all the difference between whether I purchase the 17" or a rMBP.
Click to expand...

On 2011 and newer models, you can install up to 16GB of RAM, and yes, you can upgrade the HDD to a SSD. The CPU and GPU, unfortunately, aren't upgradeable(on any recent Mac portable).
 
Save your money.

Save your money, go withe 17" refurbs and upgrade them to the max. My new "17 mbp is just as zippy if not faster and runs cooler than the recent macbooks.
 
Thanks T5BRICK. Yea, that is unfortunate but I can live with that since I'm not a gamer. I do occasional video and photo editing so the 2011 models will satisfy me.

macmastersam: Upgradeability +1. Having a great screen is a perk but definitely not a decision maker. And I don't care much for portability, since it will distract me from paying attention to class.
 
miss.catchu said:
I have been a PC user all my life and besides one 4th generation nano I have never really owned an Apple product. I figured now would be a good time since my good ole faithful desktop of 10+ years has finally decided to shut down at irregular times right as I'm about to move into a dorm room. I have a ton of options that I'm looking into right now but my favorite is the discontinued 17" MBP. But before I risk spending 2 grand on a refurbished piece what's the upgrade ability on one? Can I eventually update the HDD to SSD? That might make all the difference between whether I purchase the 17" or a rMBP.

I double checked a lot of the specs and upgrades I want on the rMBP and price wise the 17" will be a lot cheaper pre upgrade. But I want to use the 17" and wait to see if the price on SSD's drop anytime in the next year or two before I upgrade.
Click to expand...

The price is pretty sweet for the established OSX performer Samsung 830 right now, as the 840 is hitting the streets.

There is a lot of personal opinion involved in this decision, but I'll give you my 2 cents.

I have had a work MBP 17" (i'm in film/video production) that, since I live in the UK where prices are higher, I've sold fairly regularly here in pounds, to replace a US one in dollars when I go home, making staying upgrade up to date fairly easy on me.

I skipped it on the rMBP, and am going to ride my current 17" with a dual drive SSD and 16g ram, for some time. I just did that upgrade myself, its easy.

My feeling is, I like having the express slot, the screen real estate (and in my preferred matte) is valuable with the software I use (not just pixels), this machine is still very powerful compared to the rest of the line and the new rMBP, and the value in the rMBP isn't fair yet, lastly, there are lots of reports of issues and I don't like being Apple's beta tester.

On the other hand, having just seen my friend's rMBP, its a slick machine. Via Geekbench, it doesn't seem any more powerful (maybe less) than the 2012 non-R version, though, so you are paying a lot to be in the elite retina minority

I think you need to get your hands on both physically. Yes, the screen on rMBP is very slick. Yes, its a slight machine size-wise. I myself have never been bothered by the size and weight of the 17. But you need to feel the same, then I agree that 17 is the way to go
 
vpro: Yea, I kinda already decided I wanted the 17" before I even started the thread. But I wasn't really sure about some of the upgrades that I want to eventually get with it. How did you go about with yours? I know a lot of people can do it on their own but I'm too scared to open up my laptop on my own. I don't know if Apple will service the 17 inch pros a couple of years down the line though, since they're technically outdated.
 
miss.catchu said:
vpro: Yea, I kinda already decided I wanted the 17" before I even started the thread. But I wasn't really sure about some of the upgrades that I want to eventually get with it. How did you go about with yours? I know a lot of people can do it on their own but I'm too scared to open up my laptop on my own. I don't know if Apple will service the 17 inch pros a couple of years down the line though, since they're technically outdated.
Click to expand...

In response to Apple's support down the line; they still support pre-unibody Macbook pro's and their now >4 years old. I would also suggest the Apple Care warranty as it will help with any incidents down the line or even if they don't have parts; they will replace your machine with a new one which is what they did for me (within the 3 year warranty period). Apple's support is excellent so that's the last thing you will have to worry about.

I was thinking of selling my Macbook and getting the rMBP but as others have said; I don't want to be their beta tester and didn't want to lose my upgradability as I'm now finding out 8GB of RAM isn't enough for me.
 
Great.

miss.catchu said:
vpro: Yea, I kinda already decided I wanted the 17" before I even started the thread. But I wasn't really sure about some of the upgrades that I want to eventually get with it. How did you go about with yours? I know a lot of people can do it on their own but I'm too scared to open up my laptop on my own. I don't know if Apple will service the 17 inch pros a couple of years down the line though, since they're technically outdated.
Click to expand...

If it is under the one year warranty sure and yes if you need get the care package too. I upgraded mine all by myself. I'm sure the genius bar will do it for you if you bring in all the parts? Or any apple reseller like best buy or west world or my mac dealer? I'd wait till 2014 for them to get it all right with the new retina display and personally, I'm holding out for a 17" retina MacBook Pro.
 
vpro said:
If it is under the one year warranty sure and yes if you need get the care package too. I upgraded mine all by myself. I'm sure the genius bar will do it for you if you bring in all the parts? Or any apple reseller like best buy or west world or my mac dealer? I'd wait till 2014 for them to get it all right with the new retina display and personally, I'm holding out for a 17" retina MacBook Pro.
Click to expand...

I'm a bifocal wearing non technical type, and I was able to easily upgrade the RAM and swap out the HDD for a SSD in under half an hour. Plenty of videos exist to show every step of the process.

I picked up my late 2011 17" for a pittance on CL (even had applecare!) and upgraded myself. I think I can safely and painlessly sit out any retina upgrades for at least a couple of years easily now.
 
iFixit has great guides and tons of information. Upgrading the RAM and HDD on unibody MacBook Pros is EASY.
 
clyde2801 said:
I'm a bifocal wearing non technical type, and I was able to easily upgrade the RAM and swap out the HDD for a SSD in under half an hour. Plenty of videos exist to show every step of the process.

I picked up my late 2011 17" for a pittance on CL (even had applecare!) and upgraded myself. I think I can safely and painlessly sit out any retina upgrades for at least a couple of years easily now.
Click to expand...

What this guy said. You'll save A LOT of dough by going for a lightly used 2011 base model on on CL and doing the upgrades yourself.

Understand, though, that eventually you'll be upgrading to the Retina.
 
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