Buying a MacBook Pro in the UK - Is this spec suitable?

[techuser247]

Hi,

I am thinking about buying my first ever Apple product, in the form of a MacBook Pro and I would like some advice regarding my choice of spec, please.
-
2.3GHz Processor
128GB Storage

• 2.3GHz dual-core 7th-generation Intel Core i5 processor
  
  
• Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
  
  
• 8GB 2133MHz LPDDR3 memory
  
  
• 128GB SSD storage
  
  
• Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640
  
  
• Two Thunderbolt 3 ports

£1,249.00

I intend to use it for emailing, writing Word documents and possibly some JAVA program development, Android Studio for writing Android apps, web development and I am also interested in learning to write iOS apps using Xcode.

Should I change anything, e.g. double the RAM to 16GB?


I am buying in the UK.

Any advice would be appreciated, please.


Thanks.

 

[Stefan johansson]

No one else can specify what you need. It all depends on how large files you want to use,and how fast you need it to be. Changing the RAM can be a good idea,but not necessary if you're not into gaming,photo editing or video editing.

 

[akadafni]

Hi,

I am thinking about buying my first ever Apple product, in the form of a MacBook Pro and I would like some advice regarding my choice of spec, please.
-
2.3GHz Processor
128GB Storage

• 2.3GHz dual-core 7th-generation Intel Core i5 processor
  
  
• Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
  
  
• 8GB 2133MHz LPDDR3 memory
  
  
• 128GB SSD storage
  
  
• Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640
  
  
• Two Thunderbolt 3 ports

£1,249.00

I intend to use it for emailing, writing Word documents and possibly some JAVA program development, Android Studio for writing Android apps, web development and I am also interested in learning to write iOS apps using Xcode.

Should I change anything, e.g. double the RAM to 16GB?


I am buying in the UK.

Any advice would be appreciated, please.


Thanks.

Recommend upgrading the SSD storage. 128 is just not enough, especially if you plan on keeping the device for a while

 

[canuckRus]

Hi,

I am thinking about buying my first ever Apple product, in the form of a MacBook Pro and I would like some advice regarding my choice of spec, please.
-
2.3GHz Processor
128GB Storage

• 2.3GHz dual-core 7th-generation Intel Core i5 processor
  
  
• Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
  
  
• 8GB 2133MHz LPDDR3 memory
  
  
• 128GB SSD storage

You may regret not buying more SSD storage down the road.

 

[LV426]

Recommend upgrading the SSD storage. 128 is just not enough, especially if you plan on keeping the device for a while

Agreed. You can gobble through storage space very quickly if you're a programmer. I have, for instance, a Windows 10 virtual machine on my laptop for work stuff. Bang, there's 100Gb gone right away once you start doing some serious development. Tempted to do some video editing (which the MacBook Pro is good at)? Bang, loads of storage gone.

You should probably be looking at the 512Gb option.

 

[AFEPPL]

I would go with the 16GB option.
You can get away with 128GB storage as you can always add an external storage device via TB3 or use cloud, but you cant add RAM

The other side of the coin, you can get a good PC for the same money, keep that in mind.

 

[LV426]

I had an 8GB MacBook Pro. The amount of RAM was fine for programming purposes. I have a 16GB model now, but this amount of RAM is luxury, really, and not needed for most programming scenarios. Fast inbuilt storage is always useful, however.