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Considering Purchase: 2015 MB Pro 15

Christopher11 said:
Thank you guys again so much for this input. I will check out that refurb at the Apple Store.I do intend to get a Mac Pro with 12 cores soon... but first, really need to upgrade my mobile setup. So a MB Pro is in order for me. What do you guys think of this machine? https://www.ebay.com/itm/303447177893

The sellers says"SSUBX SSDs are 2X FASTER than the previous models. BEWARE of other sellers that install older / aftermarket SSDs and selling single GPU machines!"

He has 100% feedback, in many cases from sales, so I thought it worth asking you to check out. Thanks so much again for the exceptional advice I get at this forum.
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That seems really expensive to me. It’s basically the same system I have except it has 1 TB of storage and a 90 Day warranty.

I also think the warnings are stupid. Some people look for the systems with just integrated graphics if they don’t need them because they generate less heat.

Installing an NVME drive is also not a bad thing as long as that is disclosed. There is an extensive thread on this forum about how to do this and many people have had great success with this.

just seems like a lot of money for a five year old system. You are most of the way there to a higher end 2020 13 inch and only about 700 away from a 16 inch refurb from Apple that would give you more power and a better warranty
 
Thank you for the response. What do you mean by 'warnings'? Regarding the drive... is the one he writes about a fast and good quality drive? He seems to say it is.
 
I'm not sure of the state of aftermarket drive these days but make sure that it's as fast (faster would be nicer), as big as you want and that it doesn't use more power and doesn't use power when the system sleeps.
 
Christopher11 said:
Thank you for the response. What do you mean by 'warnings'? Regarding the drive... is the one he writes about a fast and good quality drive? He seems to say it is.
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Yes it is a good drive but that is just the designation for the stock drives for that year. If I remember right, that means that they were a newer PCIE Standard that was faster than previous years. NVME Drives installed in those systems could also take advantage of that technology. This chart shows some comparisons with the Apple Drive and others that can be installed with an adapter. https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...m-2-nvme.2034976/#lg=attachment894580&slide=0

The stock drive is a good drive but he is wrong to say that you should stay away from anyone that put in an aftermarket drive. There are plenty of aftermarket drives that work quite well. As long as the seller advises that they have installed an aftermarket drive and what kind of drive they installed I don't see any problem with that.
 
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pshufd said:
They are nice systems but the 2015 doesn't have Firewire. The 2015 is a nice machine and I have one but it's getting long in the tooth. That's a nice system but you take your changes on Ebay. Other options would be the 16 and the 2020 13. If you don't need portability, you could get a Mini or an old Pro.
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what does long in the tooth mean?
 
I see, so that would be the stock drives Apple would have installed that year. So it will work well with the system, be fast, etc.
 
Christopher11 said:
I see, so that would be the stock drives Apple would have installed that year. So it will work well with the system, be fast, etc.
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No, not necessarily. Apple will still make models after they have been discontinued for the business market. I got a 2015 but I think that it was built in 2017 as we ordered a lot of them for employees. But the issues with older equipment area not being able to run the latest operating systems, Apple unwilling to service them, and then Apple no longer supplying spare parts.
 
Christopher11 said:
I see, so that would be the stock drives Apple would have installed that year. So it will work well with the system, be fast, etc.
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Yes. They are the stock drives but aftermarket NVME drives can work well also depending on what kind was installed. There are various trade offs like some have better performance but generate more heat or result in worse battery life.
 
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Right, gotcha. Thank you. But you guys seem to be in agreement that the drive he's referring to in the listing is a good one for a Macbook.
 
Hello everyone. Thanks again for all the helpful comments above. I still have my eye on a 2015 MB Pro 15, with as fast a quad core processor as I can find. I found this seller and machine, which I would configure with 1TB ssd, who seems to have a good reputation as a seller of used macbooks and other mac stuff. I wondered if you had any thoughts.

I wrote to him and he said they use Eagle Eyes for the 1 tb ssd drive. Any thoughts on that, or experience with?

Thanks so much again for any reply.

I really had trouble wading through all the MacBook Pro 15s on Ebay that were from this same seller in Illinois, who has multiple accounts and LLCs, and is apparently not safe to buy from; deceptive and at times defective components, which I gathered from both the negative feedback and a Reddit post on the topic. One of them is Fleetwood Macbooks, but there are others, like Illinois Precision Group. He has a ton of macbooks on Ebay, so it's a bit difficult to find additional Mac sellers. I was hoping you guys could comment on the one above. Thanks again.
 
Christopher11 said:
Hello everyone. Thanks again for all the helpful comments above. I still have my eye on a 2015 MB Pro 15, with as fast a quad core processor as I can find. I found this seller and machine, which I would configure with 1TB ssd, who seems to have a good reputation as a seller of used macbooks and other mac stuff. I wondered if you had any thoughts.

I wrote to him and he said they use Eagle Eyes for the 1 tb ssd drive. Any thoughts on that, or experience with?

Thanks so much again for any reply.

I really had trouble wading through all the MacBook Pro 15s on Ebay that were from this same seller in Illinois, who has multiple accounts and LLCs, and is apparently not safe to buy from; deceptive and at times defective components, which I gathered from both the negative feedback and a Reddit post on the topic. One of them is Fleetwood Macbooks, but there are others, like Illinois Precision Group. He has a ton of macbooks on Ebay, so it's a bit difficult to find additional Mac sellers. I was hoping you guys could comment on the one above. Thanks again.
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I would be cautious since I have never heard of that brand and I don't even see it on the chart that was created to compare drives that is sticked in this forum. They must have stock of a number of different MacBooks because they offer to let you select your memory but that is not a user upgradeable component in those systems. Feedback looks like a reputable dealer and accepting 30 day returns are positive signs of a dealer. I don't see a selector to choose CPU Speed or GPU Option and those could be variations in that year so make sure you know which one you are getting.
 
Yeah, you're right, I can't seem to get info on Eagle Eyes ssd either. Hopefully someone will chime in with more info. But, either way it's okay, because if it's not a good brand, I will just find someone selling a machine with one that is. It's a fortunate thing when you can be patient and find the right machine.
 
This one seems nice, probably original owner, with fast CPU and 1 TB SSD. I feel the price is too much though. I think it's worth more like 1100.
 
Oh, good question. Nah, I haven't even thought of it. My main focus is music, and I also need a reliable keyboard for writing; I freelance as an editor. So gaming level graphics, while they are super cool, wouldn't be a big concern. In fact if the absence brings the price down that would probably be a good thing for me.
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I would scoop this up now if closer to 1000. It feels a bit pricey to me. Do you agree?
 
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Christopher11 said:
This one seems nice, probably original owner, with fast CPU and 1 TB SSD. I feel the price is too much though. I think it's worth more like 1100.
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I agree that it seems overpriced. It is very similar to what I currently have and when I checked the Apple Website for Trade in and they offered me $610 which I think is too low. I think the actual value is somewhere in between. That original batter also has lost some of it's capacity. The picture shows that it has a maximum capacity of 7759 and the max capacity on mine is 8339 so that may affect it's long term performance on battery.
 
I'm looking at another from a dealer, 2.8ghz quad core, and 1 TB Intel SSD. I looked up reviews on Intel SSDs, and many Mac users seem to really like and praise it.
 
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I was hoping you guys could render an opinion on this one. The seller states that the SSD in this machine is by Intel, and that it is faster than the original Apple SSDs. Is that true? I looked up Intel SSDs, they do seem to get good reviews.
 
Christopher11 said:
I was hoping you guys could render an opinion on this one. The seller states that the SSD in this machine is by Intel, and that it is faster than the original Apple SSDs. Is that true? I looked up Intel SSDs, they do seem to get good reviews.
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I think that Intel makes solid SSDs but I'd ask the seller for the model number, preferably from a System Hardware display. I'd guess that some of the Intel server-class SSDs are a lot faster than the retail models.
 
That's a great idea, I will ask him right now.
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Is it unusual to find a MB Pro with 2TB SSD? That seems like a great deal, and potentially quite useful. I have only one TB now, spinning hard drive, and can fill it up all too easily.
 
Christopher11 said:
That's a great idea, I will ask him right now.
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Is it unusual to find a MB Pro with 2TB SSD? That seems like a great deal, and potentially quite useful. I have only one TB now, spinning hard drive, and can fill it up all too easily.
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There are several places that buy 2015s used and then modify them to add more storage. Some places will list a machine for sale and allow you to pick the SSD size of the machine. So they might buy a system with minimal storage and then you get to pick the storage that you want. I've seen lots of aftermarket 2TB SSDs for sale on the 2015 models.
 
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Gotcha. Well, if he does send me the hardware display, I will post the info and link here. I feel like, if it's a good SSD, this is a fairly decent deal.
 
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