Any reasons NOT to buy a fully loaded MB Pro?

[JamesGoodman]

NOTE: I am NOT asking if there are any reasons not to buy a MB Pro to begin with. I know there are lots of them. So let's not go there, not here not now.

I need a larger portable screen day to day than my 12 inch MacBook, and I'll appreciate the larger touchpad as well. I am set on buying one. What I want to know if there are any disadvantages to buying one fully loaded, the fastest processor and the 16gb of ram. Is the battery life any less because the processor is more powerful? Will the fan run any more than on a model with the i5? The difference in price is not a factor of great significance at the moment. thanks for any advice.

 

[SteveJUAE]

I guess in theory you could have more battery cycles as you can deplete the battery faster and but that's very dependant on your usage as would be fans running longer or even shorter in some circumstances

It will depreciate more. It will cost more to repair like for like post AC due to the now soldered on components

You may exceed you insurance thresholds for theft etc

 

[JamesGoodman]

I guess in theory you could have more battery cycles as you can deplete the battery faster and but that's very dependant on your usage as would be fans running longer or even shorter in some circumstances

It will depreciate more. It will cost more to repair like for like post AC due to the now soldered on components

You may exceed you insurance thresholds for theft etc

Good thoughts. Thank you. Maybe I should go with the low end processor and the 16gb.

 

[mcpryon2]

I don't think a 2TB SSD is worth the cost right now. Unless you absolutely need to have that much stuff on your laptop the money is better spent in external storage.

The CPU upgrades might not be worth it, either.

Of course it depends on what you're going to be doing with it and what hardware you need to do the job.

 

[Strelok]

You can’t afford it, you don’t need it, you don’t want to spend all the money on it.

Those are the only real reasons I can think of.

 

[ahmedouvix]

get the base cpu + gpu + best storage you can afford. do an eGPU setup and get a nice 4k display. now it's much better than fully loaded macbook

 

[ZapNZs]

I assume you are speaking of the 13-inch based on the question asking about the i5 - is this in regards to a fully loaded non-touchbar model, or a fully loaded touchbar model?

The difference between the base model touchbar (which is a very capable system even in this base configuration) and a fully loaded touchbar is about $1,100 if buying from Apple - if purchasing from an Apple Authorized Seller that sometimes has sales on non-BTO MBPs, the real-world difference is probably closer to $1,200-1,300 between the two options. As that is enough money to get a nicely specced 4k iMac refurb, then one possible question to ponder might be whether or not having an iMac and the MBP would meet your needs better than a MBP alone?

 

[JamesGoodman]

I don't think a 2TB SSD is worth the cost right now. Unless you absolutely need to have that much stuff on your laptop the money is better spent in external storage.

The CPU upgrades might not be worth it, either.

Of course it depends on what you're going to be doing with it and what hardware you need to do the job.

Thanks much. I agree and should have said that by fully loaded I was thinking primarily of processor and memory, two things that might make a difference. I am a writer of books and my entire books plus all my notes for my books (years and years of notes) and documents for my books would fit on a floppy drive (for those of you old enough to remember what they are). I can easily get by forever on 256GB hard drive. On the MacBook I am working on right now I have 212 out of 256 free.

I think the memory upgrade is the one that makes the most sense.
[doublepost=1506301124][/doublepost]

get the base cpu + gpu + best storage you can afford. do an eGPU setup and get a nice 4k display. now it's much better than fully loaded macbook

Good point. thanks much.

 

[kindaichi81]

NOTE: I am NOT asking if there are any reasons not to buy a MB Pro to begin with. I know there are lots of them. So let's not go there, not here not now.

I need a larger portable screen day to day than my 12 inch MacBook, and I'll appreciate the larger touchpad as well. I am set on buying one. What I want to know if there are any disadvantages to buying one fully loaded, the fastest processor and the 16gb of ram. Is the battery life any less because the processor is more powerful? Will the fan run any more than on a model with the i5? The difference in price is not a factor of great significance at the moment. thanks for any advice.

tha maximum upgrade i would suggest is
storage: 512gb (minimum)
RAM: 16gb (not a must since 8gb is enough for most, only consider this if you are doing video/photo editing or running multiple VMs at once)
CPU: i7 (very low priority)

any beyond these are not really worth the extra paid for unless you have strong reason for it.

 

[SteveJUAE]

Thanks much. I agree and should have said that by fully loaded I was thinking primarily of processor and memory, two things that might make a difference. I am a writer of books and my entire books plus all my notes for my books (years and years of notes) and documents for my books would fit on a floppy drive (for those of you old enough to remember what they are). I can easily get by forever on 256GB hard drive. On the MacBook I am working on right now I have 212 out of 256 free.

I think the memory upgrade is the one that makes the most sense.
[doublepost=1506301124][/doublepost]

Good point. thanks much.

Given what appears your very modest requirements (BTW I do remember floppies ) and the high price of Apple upgrades I suspect the base model would suffice.

Given that post AC any major fault is likely to cost >$700 it will make it easier to walk away from a defective unit in the future and just get a new one. The 16gb upgrade pays for a good chunk of AC

Whilst I can see the logic in so called "Future Proofing" but the truth is your on a sticky wicket once your in to 4 or 5 years of ownership with any laptop and the new breeds are not serviceable or easily repaired

As others have noted especially for research a nice vertical screen to accompany your MBP may be better money spent

However at the end of the day it's only a few $100's (excluding a 2TB SSD) so enjoy

 

[kschendel]

Let's go at it the other way. You want a bigger screen. (So did I.) 12->13 isn't much. Ok, get the 15 inch screen. I find the 15" screen to be a bit of a PITA on airplanes when the tosser in front reclines all the way, but a polite request (or head slap) usually fixes that.

Nothing you do seems to require a higher spec CPU. Get the minimum. For today's 15" MBP I guess that is the 2.8 Ghz i7. Moving up in CPU spec is pointless given your stated loads.

You're at 212 Gb used. SSD's don't like to be full. Get a 512 Gb SSD.

RAM? I got 16 Gb in mine, but mostly because I have to run virtual machines for work. In your case you might be fine with 8 GB. If you have the money, and don't want to think about it, go for 16 Gb.

Disadvantages of the top spec machine? Price, mostly. Money spent for no palpable benefit. More heat when pushed, possibly (marginally) shortening life. It's no big deal, but if you have that sort of cash to spare feel free to send it to me instead.

(I'm still happy with my "new" late 2013 15" rMBP with the 2.0 Ghz i7 and 16 GB RAM. )

 

[JamesGoodman]

You can’t afford it, you don’t need it, you don’t want to spend all the money on it.

Those are the only real reasons I can think of.

Well said.
[doublepost=1506427658][/doublepost]

Given what appears your very modest requirements (BTW I do remember floppies ) and the high price of Apple upgrades I suspect the base model would suffice.

Given that post AC any major fault is likely to cost >$700 it will make it easier to walk away from a defective unit in the future and just get a new one. The 16gb upgrade pays for a good chunk of AC

Whilst I can see the logic in so called "Future Proofing" but the truth is your on a sticky wicket once your in to 4 or 5 years of ownership with any laptop and the new breeds are not serviceable or easily repaired

As others have noted especially for research a nice vertical screen to accompany your MBP may be better money spent

However at the end of the day it's only a few $100's (excluding a 2TB SSD) so enjoy

Thanks much. This makes a lot of sense. It is remarkable to remember that our first hard drives were 10MB. But also my entire first book, all the notes for it, the word processing program (Xywrite) and perhaps the operating system as well fit on one 3.5 inch floppy.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Get the lowest spec, your usage requires nothing more than a $200 netbook running an atom processor.
You don't need any upgrades, I would say the non touch bar base model would suit you fine. with a vertical screen for working from home. as others have said the jump to a 13 inch screen may make little difference to you, have you checked out if this is going to help by comparing with your 12 inch screen if you need a bigger screen then the 15 may be your only good option for a mac.

 

[JamesGoodman]

Get the lowest spec, your usage requires nothing more than a $200 netbook running an atom processor.
You don't need any upgrades, I would say the non touch bar base model would suit you fine. with a vertical screen for working from home. as others have said the jump to a 13 inch screen may make little difference to you, have you checked out if this is going to help by comparing with your 12 inch screen if you need a bigger screen then the 15 may be your only good option for a mac.

Thanks to you and others. So helpful. Actually the difference between 12 and 13 should do the trick, because for years my Air was my sole computer and that was just fine. The difference is just enough (and the Air keyboard was of course nicer to my taste, but I'm getting used to the second generation Butterfly).

I live in a small city space and I am on the move daily and so portability is crucial. Only when my books are at the copy editing stage do I regularly need to hook up to an external monitor. I have one at my office and at that point I often bring it home.

Keyboard is actually the most important thing to me -- so important that if I weren't addicted to the OS X environment I'd buy a Lenovo Carbon X1. But my tinkering days are over and the Apple environment works even for the nearly brain dead. Little fuss, little mess, day to day.

 

[Fishrrman]

The question:
"Any reasons NOT to buy a fully loaded MB Pro?"

The answer:
Maybe one doesn't really need a "fully loaded MB Pro"...

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Thanks to you and others. So helpful. Actually the difference between 12 and 13 should do the trick, because for years my Air was my sole computer and that was just fine. The difference is just enough (and the Air keyboard was of course nicer to my taste, but I'm getting used to the second generation Butterfly).

I live in a small city space and I am on the move daily and so portability is crucial. Only when my books are at the copy editing stage do I regularly need to hook up to an external monitor. I have one at my office and at that point I often bring it home.

Keyboard is actually the most important thing to me -- so important that if I weren't addicted to the OS X environment I'd buy a Lenovo Carbon X1. But my tinkering days are over and the Apple environment works even for the nearly brain dead. Little fuss, little mess, day to day.

I love this keyboard myself for at home its very expensive but can switch between three Bluetooth devices at the flick of a switch, great for TV's pads and computers.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-B...s&ie=UTF8&qid=1506436745&sr=1-2&keywords=k811

 

[burgman]

NOTE: I am NOT asking if there are any reasons not to buy a MB Pro to begin with. I know there are lots of them. So let's not go there, not here not now.

I need a larger portable screen day to day than my 12 inch MacBook, and I'll appreciate the larger touchpad as well. I am set on buying one. What I want to know if there are any disadvantages to buying one fully loaded, the fastest processor and the 16gb of ram. Is the battery life any less because the processor is more powerful? Will the fan run any more than on a model with the i5? The difference in price is not a factor of great significance at the moment. thanks for any advice.

Other than bragging rights, for your use, no reason too.

 

[SteveJUAE]

Thanks much. This makes a lot of sense. It is remarkable to remember that our first hard drives were 10MB. But also my entire first book, all the notes for it, the word processing program (Xywrite) and perhaps the operating system as well fit on one 3.5 inch floppy.

10MB that was luxury after cassette and twin floppies

Now we have got a little more info on your usage etc I only have one more question

Why stray from your familiar pair of shoes (ie MacBook Air) ?

 

[Super Xander]

If you don't need the extra power of a fully loaded MacBook Pro, I'll just buy the standard one. They are pretty optimized overall and you'll not really see any difference in speed at all.

It can easy be said that the reason is money, but if you want to spend the price of a fully loaded machine, it will be better to save the extra money for a new machine in a few years and keep the one for less time.