Not sure about "better," but possibly preferable, depending on who you are and what you care about.
As for me, I have a 2014 15" rMBP and a 2017 15" rMBP. Both have 512GB and a discrete GPU. I use the 2014 model 99% of the time.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Best Buy Discounts Entry-Level 15-Inch MacBook Pro to $1,499 in One-Day Sale
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
As for me, I have a 2014 15" rMBP and a 2017 15" rMBP. Both have 512GB and a discrete GPU. I use the 2014 model 99% of the time.
I can tell you don't own one. My battery life is fantastic, I don't have keyboard issues, and the ports are much more useful than USB-A. I can do more with one of my USB-C ports than I could with 3/4 ports of my old 2012 model.
Exactly. I own the model with the dGPU and it's been perfect for over a year and half. Wish the newer models kept all the convenient ports and great keyboard. Apple should have just kept upgrading it's internals and not add the gimmicky touch bar no one asked for which also bumped up the price considerably.
autrefois
macrumors 65816
Wasn't aware of this. They used to say stop "nickel and diming" me. Maybe we should start saying stop BestBuying me?
It's not discounted. Selling an iPhone 5 for $500 in 2018 isn't a $200 discount either.
Agreed. This would have been a great price in 2016, an okay price in 2017, but in 2018, this feels like it should just be the normal price, or possibly even slightly overpriced. I own this exact model by the way, but I bought it in early 2016, before the 2016 redesign came out. Good computer. Battery is at 89% of design capacity after 2 years.
I had my 2015 15" with 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM and dedicated graphics for $900 back In february. I had it for sale since before Christmas and had a hard time selling it for that price.
Doesn’t have a lit up logo. Do I need to say more
I’m happy with my 2015 MBP quad i7. Once the i9 models are out I’ll pay attention again.
If they ever bring back the lighted Apple logo I would love it if there was an on/off option. When I'd be reading or watching a show on my MBP late at night and my wife is trying to sleep, she hated that light. Needless to say she loves my new 2017!
It's great that you like it, but you could have made your point without the speculative and snarky (and quite possibly incorrect) "I can tell you don't own one." I do own one, and aside from the battery part, I can relate to what the other guy said. It's all about personal preferences and how you use your machine. I'm happier continuing to use my 2014 rMBP, but that's me. Everyone is different.
Clearing stock ahead of WWDC in about six weeks.
I have this 2015 model for work and was surprised at how well it handles itself given that it’s not much faster than my 2012. I think the SSD and GPU are what makes it feel snappier. I switched jobs and had a mid-2017 top 5K iMac before so it was kinda disappointing but it hasn’t been bad. The SSD isn’t as fast as the iMac but several times faster than my 2012 MBP. It sucked to go from 32GB of RAM to 16GB but honestly I feel like the SSD helps a lot when I’m running low since I multitask a ton doing full stack web development, design and photography. And the GPU makes it feel a lot less laggy. The mid-2012 MBP with the retina display feels like it can barely run retina sometimes and can get pretty choppy after a while. Working with 42MP RAW files on my 2TB Samsung T5 SSD is a lot smoother too.
Hopefully Apple updates this model soon or, even better, ditches the Touch Bar completely. I haven’t spoken with a single Pro user who thinks it’s worth the money or regularly uses it for professional tasks. It’s just a way for Apple to jack up the price of the machine. Although to be completely honest IDK if I’ll buy a MBP again. I’ll either get an iMac/Pro or Mac Pro to go with my iPad Pro. Higher end desktop Mac will be my work truck and iPad Pro is becoming my personal car.
I have this 2015 model for work and was surprised at how well it handles itself given that it’s not much faster than my 2012. I think the SSD and GPU are what makes it feel snappier. I switched jobs and had a mid-2017 top 5K iMac before so it was kinda disappointing but it hasn’t been bad. The SSD isn’t as fast as the iMac but several times faster than my 2012 MBP. It sucked to go from 32GB of RAM to 16GB but honestly I feel like the SSD helps a lot when I’m running low since I multitask a ton doing full stack web development, design and photography. And the GPU makes it feel a lot less laggy. The mid-2012 MBP with the retina display feels like it can barely run retina sometimes and can get pretty choppy after a while. Working with 42MP RAW files on my 2TB Samsung T5 SSD is a lot smoother too.
Hopefully Apple updates this model soon or, even better, ditches the Touch Bar completely. I haven’t spoken with a single Pro user who thinks it’s worth the money or regularly uses it for professional tasks. It’s just a way for Apple to jack up the price of the machine. Although to be completely honest IDK if I’ll buy a MBP again. I’ll either get an iMac/Pro or Mac Pro to go with my iPad Pro. Higher end desktop Mac will be my work truck and iPad Pro is becoming my personal car.
This would possibly be fair if his post was as reasonable as yours, however I was responding to someone who was being extremely hyperbolic.
I have the dGPU as well. I think it is the AMD Radeon GPU, 2.5Ghz i7 quad with 16GB RAM and the 512GB SSD. Perfect machine for my workload.
This is the year you want to wait for next mac laptop Because the CPU bump is pretty good this year
all the latest intel cpus received 2 extra cores.
Waiting to see if they do any more discounts on the 13" MBP. If so, I will be picking that one up.
Yep, that's the one. As soon as you get model with the m370x, the clock speed and storage go up as well. It's a great laptop. I was lucky to find a new one because I waited for the Keynote to see what the new MacBook Pro's would be like. Turns out they released much more expensive laptops that lacked all the convenient ports. So my choice was quickly made.
Well that was a really limited sale. Price is already back up to $1999. I don’t know why anyone would pay $2k for this instead of getting the base Kaby Lake 15” for $2399 or less from B&H. Yes it has convenient for now I/O and MagSafe but that’s it. The lit up logo was nice but it’s so ubiquitous. The new SS logo is much more elegant and understated.
There are other reasons as stated, such as the keyboard and trackpad.
I think of the question in reverse: why would people want to pay more money for a Kaby Lake? Granted, it feels pretty silly to shell out $2K for a 3 year old machine. But it also feels silly (to me, anyway) to pay more for something that is a step backward in multiple ways.
Of course, everyone is different, and there are different opinions. Some people care more about performance. Some people care about the new displays (which are clearly better), or the newer speakers (although if you're listening to music on your laptop speakers...I ask you...WHY GOD WHY?).
But I can tell you that I'm a heck of a lot more comfortable on my 2014 15" rMBP than I am on my 2017 15" rMBP. And that's why I'm typing this on the former, and the latter is sitting in the other room on a shelf.
How is the trackpad on the 3rd gen MBPs better? The trackpad on the new MBPs is the best ever. There is so much room for gestures and it’s extremely comfortable. The only thing that could make it better is having integrated, Wacom style stylus support. This would be a game changer.
As for the keyboard, I’ll admit that the 3rd gen ones feel more natural. There is no getting used to it period like there is with the TB keyboard. Still after a couple of weeks, I actually like the shorter travel distance. The backlighting is also better executed without all of that light bleed. I think a 3rd gen butterfly mechanism will further improve it.
I still don’t see how it makes much sense to spend this kind of money on a 2015, previous gen product. Maybe in 2016 but not now. If people don’t feel the 2016 or 2017 models are worth buying they should wait for an 8th gen Intel refresh sometime this year. I personally should have waited for the Kaby Lake refresh but I didn’t have a MBP already and I wanted the then brand new one ASAP. I upgraded from a 2012 PC notebook so for me it was really a huge upgrade in every possible way. macOS is really much better than Windows. I only wish I had switched sooner like back in the Snow Leopard days. I always enjoyed using my friend’s MacBooks and iMacs but liked the freedom of Windows as well as the superior gaming experience. Now that I only use a PS4 for gaming, there was no reason for me to buy a Windows machine.
Last edited:
See, this is what I mean. You have an opinion (i.e., liking the new trackpad) but then state it as fact (it "is the best ever"). That's antithetical to productive discourse. I happen to—vastly—prefer the old trackpad. I don't like using gestures. I don't like feeling the edge of my palm on the trackpad. I even turn off Force Touch. The point is that people are different and have different preferences which, in turn, affect how they wish to use their machines.
It's the noise that annoys me, no pun intended. Luckily I've not had any of the failure issues that some people have documented, although as I'm using a 2017 model and I've gathered those may be a little more reliable, that's good. And like you, I hope the next generation model is better. Obviously there's no going back to the old design.
Per above, it's all about what's important to someone. "I shouldn't buy something because it's old" is actually an example of emotional reasoning, so I have to give kudos to people who are able to overcome that kind of cognitive bias. (I can't, personally, even as someone who recognizes it.) If a 2015 model makes someone happier, and that person truly understands the pros and cons, far be it for me to tell them they shouldn't buy it.
Obvious counter: They could have kept all of the 2015 model's ports, keyboard, MagSafe, etc, but replaced Thunderbolt 2 with Thunderbolt 3 and called it a day. I really wish they had done that. :|