Debating returning 15" inch retina MBP...need advice

[snarestud940]

Hey everyone,

I purchased a 15.4 inch MBP with 256 GB Hard drive on Monday of last week. I LOVE IT! however, I'm debating whether or not to bring it back to Best Buy and get the 512 GB. And the only reason is for storage.

Here is my dilemma. I don't do photo or video editing. I surf the web, do microsoft word, excel, and powerpoint documents. I do email, and do music arranging in Sibelius.

I have an iMac with a 1 TB hard drive and have about 783. GB free. But thats with all of my music stored on there, movies, and pictures. I copied over everything but music, movies and pictures from my iMac and have more than enough space on my macbook. I attached a photo of the space, for my macbook and iMac.

I THINK I have enough space that I need, but I don't know. I just don't wanna spend the extra $400 unless I really need it, and I want an honest opinion of what you guys think I should do. Part of me wants to get it, but part of me doesn't want to exchange this one, set up the new one, and spend the extra money.

Please respond! Thanks all! This forum is a great way to express opinions and get advice! I love it!

 

[T5BRICK]

If you're keeping your iMac, do you NEED to copy your movies and music over to the rMBP?

I'd stick with the one you have unless you need to have your media on both computers.

 

[Dead0k]

replace it for more. even 512 GB at some point (years later) won't be enough

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Well we can all advise but ultimately only you know how much space you need.

There are many external and cloud storage solutions going forward so if you think 256GB will be fine for a few years I'd keep it.

 

[maflynn]

If you think the storage is too constraining now, its only going to get worse and you'll need to deal with a external drives, which can be a pain. I'd return it.

 

[snarestud940]

Thanks guys! Not sure what to do, as my old MacBook had a 250 hdd, and I only filled about 125.

To answer some of your questions, yes, I am keeping my iMac, but not sure if I should copy everything over.

When you all say years to come, what do you mean?

Lastly, can I transfer the Apple care that I bought with this MacBook?

 

[AFEPPL]

Either change your usage pattern or get a bigger device. Do you need the data directly on the laptop device?
I don't store anything on any of my laptops and after 3 years even the 128GB version has well over 50% free.
NAS and cloud are the way to go.

 

[coorsleftfield]

Doesn't the 512 model also get you a faster processor and AMD graphics ?

 

[ceparker27]

Yes, 2.5 vs 2.2 ghz

 

[snarestud940]

ok, i went for it! got the 512, and setting it up now! only thing is, I see that this mac was created back in June, and the other was made in August. Does this matter? Also, this battery already has 3 cycles on it? Is there a good chance that this was preowned already? just want to make sure.

 

[CE3]

ok, i went for it! got the 512, and setting it up now! only thing is, I see that this mac was created back in June, and the other was made in August. Does this matter? Also, this battery already has 3 cycles on it? Is there a good chance that this was preowned already? just want to make sure.

The manufacturing date doesn't matter. One was simply built before the other. As far as the battery is concerned, brand new and unopened shouldn't have 3 cycles on it.

 

[snarestud940]

The manufacturing date doesn't matter. One was simply built before the other. As far as the battery is concerned, brand new and unopened shouldn't have 3 cycles on it.

It was from best buy, and they price matched with B&H, it was unopened, everything was good. What do you guys think?

 

[Fancuku]

Nothing to worry about. It is not uncommon for the the battery to have 3 cycles out of the box. Just relax and enjoy your new machine.

 

[snarestud940]

Nothing to worry about. It is not uncommon for the the battery to have 3 cycles out of the box. Just relax and enjoy your new machine.

excellent! I'm so paranoid! hahaha. I'm very anal about all my apple products! Thanks again everyone! The new storage is definitely better! I can breathe now lol.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

ok, i went for it! got the 512, and setting it up now! only thing is, I see that this mac was created back in June, and the other was made in August. Does this matter? Also, this battery already has 3 cycles on it? Is there a good chance that this was preowned already? just want to make sure.

I have seen brand new macs with up to 5 cycles on the battery don't worry about that it means nothing, my last one had 3 cycles on it.

Manufacturing date also makes no difference, why would it??

 

[navaira]

The manufacturing date doesn't matter. One was simply built before the other. As far as the battery is concerned, brand new and unopened shouldn't have 3 cycles on it.

My Air was brand new, unopened, left the factory two weeks before I bought it and had 3 cycles on it. It also currently has battery capacity of 103-104%.

 

[maflynn]

I don't even look at the cycles, heck I have no idea what my 2012 rMBP has for cycles, I figure when the battery needs to be replaced it will tell me and I can deal with that then. People obsess over the battery and fail to enjoy the computer. The MBP is a great computer and just have fun

 

[JackieInCo]

Nothing to worry about. It is not uncommon for the the battery to have 3 cycles out of the box. Just relax and enjoy your new machine.

This. Mine had 2 on it. They do go through some testing during assembly so it's common to have some cycles on it already. I bought the 512GB 15" 2015 MBP and have not regretted it. I've been down to just over 100GB since owning it while converting videos and I'm glad I have all that space.