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I just got a near mint 2015 13" MacBook Pro with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB (upgradable!) SSD off eBay for cheap, for my kid for school. For ~US$350 I was expecting much more wear, but it basically looks brand new, except for the underside which has a couple of scratches and had some sticker residue. I got the latter off with some adhesive remover, and it looks very good now. Also, the charger's plastic flip up clip (that you coil the cable around) is cracked and loose. However, given that otherwise the machine looks basically brand new, and the battery is new with only 29 cycles, I'll take it. :)

Yes, it's quite a bit chunkier than my 2017 12" MacBook, but...

1. It's got ports! MagSafe is awesome, although I actually prefer MagSafe 1 on my 2009 MacBook Pro to MagSafe 2.
2. The keyboard is great, basically the same as my old 2009 MacBook Pro.
3. The trackpad is noticeably superior. I prefer a strong click, and its medium click is the same as the MacBook's strong.

I wonder how the trackpad is on the M1 Air. I haven't had a chance to test drive that one yet.

The 2015 Pro's i5-5257U doesn't handle video as well as my 12" MacBook Core m3-7Y32 though, since the latter has better codec support.

M1/M2 would be awesome paired with a 12" screen, but to be honest, these days I'd consider an M1 Air if I had use for a laptop. It's 12" x 8.4", compared to 11" x 7.75" for my 12" MacBook. However, I'd love to see the MacBook Air go to 12.5" with a similar form factor to the 12" MacBook. However I don't see that happening. I suspect the 12" is dead and gone, with 13.3" staying as the smallest size in the Air.

I wonder if they'll keep a 13.3" Pro around in some form though, cuz there is a fairly big price jump between the M1 Air and the 14" Pro. Or are they going to go upmarket with the 13.3" Air and raise the price? If so, maybe that could leave room for a 12.x" Air?
 
^^^ Size comparison:

2017 12" MacBook Core 1.2 GHz m3-7Y32 Kaby Lake vs. 2015 13" MacBook Pro Core 2.7 GHz i5-5257U Broadwell

IMG_3615.jpeg


Performance is roughly in the same ballpark for most things but the MacBook Pro does much worse for 4K video.

800/1600: Geekbench 5 MacBook10,1
800/1750: Geekbench 5 MacBookPro12,1

Meanwhile, the M1 MacBook Air gets around 1750/7750! :oops:
 
^^^ Size comparison:

2017 12" MacBook Core 1.2 GHz m3-7Y32 Kaby Lake vs. 2015 13" MacBook Pro Core 2.7 GHz i5-5257U Broadwell

View attachment 1924758

Performance is roughly in the same ballpark for most things but the MacBook Pro does much worse for 4K video.

800/1600: Geekbench 5 MacBook10,1
800/1750: Geekbench 5 MacBookPro12,1

Meanwhile, the M1 MacBook Air gets around 1750/7750! :oops:

This clearly shows how much more portable MB is.

M1 in the same chassis and it's an instant buy for me.
 
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