Advice needed: Would you buy a discounted 2015-m7?

[mortenjensen]

Hi all,
I need to replace my current travel macbook, a MBA 2013 i7, 8gb ram, 512. This is a wonderful machine with lots of speed and battery life. My needs are safari, word, fusion (windows 10) and some Lightroom. All of this is no problem whatsoever for the 2013-MBA. My daily work station is a MBP 2011 i7 quad-core, 16gb ram, SSD etc. There is basically no difference between the two.
I need to find a new travel mac, since the MBA is going to someone else, not because I need more speed or room.

Now, I have the opportunity to pick up a rMB 2015 1.2/512 in mint condition. The price is about 60 percent of a 2016 m7/512.

I am pretty tempted to go for this one rather than finding another MBA - but also concerned over the mix reviews here at the forum for the 2015-model.

My questions are:
- is the 2015-model so much of a prototype that one should shy away from it?
- is the battery capacity evaporating after few months of use, as some say?
- is the speed of the top model alright compared to a 2013-MBA i7?
- what about the keyboard - there has been some complaint over locked keys. Is this a big thing, is something changed here on the 2016-model or is it the exact same keyboard?

Thanks for thoughts and help
Morten

 

[cursedearth]

The only reason to get a 2015 rMB would be if you got a really got discount on it as in your case so I'd say go for it. I'd call the 2015 rMB a prototype BEFORE the 2016 model was released but since the latter has only received a speed bump, both devices are exactly the same.

To be honest, if I checked out this forum before I bought the rMB I would've never made the purchase, so thank god for that. It's a quality device and the 2015 1.2/512 is more than capable. I'm using the 2015 rMB base model and have not felt the need for more power. My daily needs are more or less the same as yours and I use AutoCAD as well.

 

[mortenjensen]

The only reason to get a 2015 rMB would be if you got a really got discount on it as in your case so I'd say go for it. I'd call the 2015 rMB a prototype BEFORE the 2016 model was released but since the latter has only received a speed bump, both devices are exactly the same.

To be honest, if I checked out this forum before I bought the rMB I would've never made the purchase, so thank god for that. It's a quality device and the 2015 1.2/512 is more than capable. I'm using the 2015 rMB base model and have not felt the need for more power. My daily needs are more or less the same as yours and I use AutoCAD as well.

Thanks for input. What about battery life? Is is good for some 7 hours of light work - or are we more talking 4-5?

 

[Eggtastic]

Hi all,
I need to replace my current travel macbook, a MBA 2013 i7, 8gb ram, 512. This is a wonderful machine with lots of speed and battery life. My needs are safari, word, fusion (windows 10) and some Lightroom. All of this is no problem whatsoever for the 2013-MBA. My daily work station is a MBP 2011 i7 quad-core, 16gb ram, SSD etc. There is basically no difference between the two.
I need to find a new travel mac, since the MBA is going to someone else, not because I need more speed or room.

Now, I have the opportunity to pick up a rMB 2015 1.2/512 in mint condition. The price is about 60 percent of a 2016 m7/512.

I am pretty tempted to go for this one rather than finding another MBA - but also concerned over the mix reviews here at the forum for the 2015-model.

My questions are:
- is the 2015-model so much of a prototype that one should shy away from it?
- is the battery capacity evaporating after few months of use, as some say?
- is the speed of the top model alright compared to a 2013-MBA i7?
- what about the keyboard - there has been some complaint over locked keys. Is this a big thing, is something changed here on the 2016-model or is it the exact same keyboard?

Thanks for thoughts and help
Morten

Just curious, where are you getting a mint condition maxed out rMB 2015?

 

[touchstoned]

I bought the 2015 "M7" model (Gold BTO 1.3Ghz Base/2.9Ghz Turbo 8GB RAM 512GB SSD) because it was ~$500 cheaper than the 2016 M7 and when I looked up the benchmarks the 2015 M7 pretty much matches or slightly beats the 2016 M5 model while offering twice the storage for $150 less.

I think the 2016 M7 is a better machine, especially if you plan on playing games (which I don't do). It also does offer a slightly larger battery and a 200mhz boost in turbo bins.

You won't be disappointed with either one, I would suggest you take a good look at the colors in person because IMO the Space Grey is inferior to the other colors, which isn't evident from photos. I prefer space grey iOS devices, but not this.

 

[KPOM]

I bought the 2015 "M7" model (Gold BTO 1.3Ghz Base/2.9Ghz Turbo 8GB RAM 512GB SSD) because it was ~$500 cheaper than the 2016 M7 and when I looked up the benchmarks the 2015 M7 pretty much matches or slightly beats the 2016 M5 model while offering twice the storage for $150 less.

I think the 2016 M7 is a better machine, especially if you plan on playing games (which I don't do). It also does offer a slightly larger battery and a 200mhz boost in turbo bins.

You won't be disappointed with either one, I would suggest you take a good look at the colors in person because IMO the Space Grey is inferior to the other colors, which isn't evident from photos. I prefer space grey iOS devices, but not this.

The 2015 "m5" also came with 512GB of storage. That said, I agree that the 2015 "m7" model for $500 less is a good value compared to the 2016 m7.

Interesting comment on the color. I prefer the space gray. I have Rose gold on my iPad Pro and iPhone 6S, but think the space gray looks "classier" on the MacBook. Personal preference, I guess. That's why Apple offers it in 4 colors.