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How long do you plan to keep your MBP 2016/17 for?

Mr. Dee

Mr. Dee

macrumors 603
Original poster
Dec 4, 2003
5,990
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Jamaica
There seems to be a new trend of I gotta have the latest and greatest each year. So, in anticipation towards the launch of a new MBP, some of us will sell at a loss and use the money towards the purchase of a new model.

But for those who are not on the upgrade treadmill, what are your upgrade plans; how long do you plan on keeping the device?

I personally am setting my sites on 2020 or 2021 for an upgrade from my Early 2015 MBP 13.
 
I am a member of the "wanting the latest and greatest" camp. I bought a 2016 MBP soon after it was released and did the same with my 2017, and I don't foresee my habit changing before the next one.
 
Around 3 years unless something I can't resist is released before then. My 2016 15" rMBP more than meets my needs and I love it.
 
Still rolling with my 2014 MacBook Pro. :p

I think I can easily get another two years of use out of it, and possibly longer. I mostly just use it for Xcode and Pixelmator, and it handles both pretty well for now.
 
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My 2017 MacBook Pro 15" is replacing a 2008 MacBook 13".
Hence, I plan on keeping it that long as well, 5+ years
 
My last iMac served me well for 7 years, and was still fairly capable when I sold it on.

My recently acquired 2015 MBP should last me at least the same amount of time.

My iPhones now generally last me around 3-4 years, and I expect 4-5 years from my iPad Pro.

I generally focus on what a device can actually do in real-life rather than lusting over theoretical specifications on paper, and the build quality of Apple devices is usually excellent, so the useful life seems to be getting longer on average.
 
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I usually upgrade my laptop every 3 years. 2008 Black MacBook (first Mac) > 2011 MacBook Air > 2014 MacBook Pro > 2017 MacBook Pro.

I have always gotten stellar resale value also. This is not on purpose necessarily; I’m just usually ready for an upgrade after 3 years.
 
I usually keep my computers a while. My 2016 nTB was kept for about a year. I got an itch for some gold.
 
iPhone > 2yrs
MBP > 3yrs
iPad > 4yrs
Mac Pro > 5yrs

This way, I ensure I'm giving Apple money in regular intervals, to help them sustain over the years. :p

But, honestly, MBP in 3yrs so that it has a good resale value and the specs stay on top for my work. I've stopped using Mac Pros.
 
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Definitely depends on each one’s budget.

I like to set aside, $1/day towards my phone yielding a 2yr cycle.

In terms of portable computing, a pleasure but also my work, I can have a much higher budget. But Apple is making if harder to go for a lower price MacBook, and even harder to keep an iPad within the same “computing” budget.

I plan to stretch my 2016 MBP for 4 years and replace my iPad Pro 9.7” when Apple has a smaller 12.9 iPP or an OLED iPad most probably in 2019 (3 year cycle).

If iOS 12 and different format iPads come to the forefront in 2018, I may jump the gun and upgrade faster one last time.

In my case, all my upgrades over the last 10 years were facilitated because of my family hand me down policy. Avoiding spending for a new iPhone/iPad/MacBook for them was always the best use for any current Apple product being upgraded.

So yes, my iPad 3 and iPad Air are still going strong. And I had an iPhone 4s that was still working in 2016, now retired.

Major tech changes in the iPhone (3G to 4G) as well as larger screens (iPhone 6) were also major push/upgrade factors.

More and more, after 10+ years being an Apple customer, I believe in the old adage that first gen products or major revamps should be avoided. Gen2 are always a much better deal in the long run.
 
I plan on keeping mine (2016) for at least 4 years. But to be honest I only use MBPs as I move around and change jobs (Freelance) so often, it's just a lot more convenient to have something I can take with me wherever I go. One day I plan on 'settling' somewhere, and may grab an iMac and rMB.

In terms of replacing computers though, 4-5 years is a good timeframe. That's when you'll get noticeable changes in performance/experience, if you upgrade yearly it's just a money pit with no immediate gains. And if you leave it 7+ years then that's fine, probably don't need a high end computer anyway, but that's the beauty of Macs in that they usually can last that long...
 
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I usually change the MBP after 2-3 years. At that point performance improvements are substantial enough to justify an upgrade.
 
Thank god those rMbP keyboards are less reliable now so people upgrade more often. #sarcasm

I upgrade the MBP every three years a few weeks before Apple Care ends, then I can still sell it with Apple Care which comforts the buyers even if its only a few weeks.
I buy the newest iPhone when I got the money for it to be honest. For me, having new tech is more like a hobby; I do not have expensive hobbies otherwise so I think it is okay :)
 
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Sell it shortly before its one year warranty runs out, always. Then take that money, and the money you save by not purchasing AppleCare, and with that you buy the newest generation model. Rinse, repeat.

It is more expensive than purchasing AppleCare and keeping your device for those three years. But in return you never have a Mac that is older than 11 months at the most, so the chances of hardware failure are lower than when you keep your Mac for multiple years. And you get to use the newest hardware. It's not a requirement, but it's certainly nice to have the latest gen tech.

There is no point in keeping your Macbook(Pro) for more than the warranty time nowadays. You can't fix any issues yourself, after the warranty runs out, just opening the current models is hard as the bottom plate is glued to the internals in addition to the screws.

Good luck spending an hour with a hairdryer heating up the glue just to replace the battery, and with battery I mean that questionable third-party replacement since you can't get an original without handing the laptop over to Apple. The display assembly is one entire thing where a panel replacement on another laptop would cost you 100 bucks and here it's multiple times that. The rest of the laptop is basically one entire mainboard that has memory and ssd soldered onto it. And even the 13" without touchbar let's you switch the SSD only in theory - there are no replacement SSDs unless you, again, hand over the laptop to Apple.

If you instead sell your Mac when the warranty is about to run out, you will make a loss but you won't have to spend the AppleCare money in the first place, and you never run into the risk of ending up with an expensive brick.

Sure, some of you buy a Mac without a warranty extension and keep it for 4+ years, assuming it will be fine. You'd have to spend so much more if you were to do it my way. But my way of doing thing isn't actually that expensive:

2000 usd up front, 200 each year after the first (loss of selling) -> 4000 usd in 10 years.
2000 usd up front, replace after 5 years then 2000 usd up front -> 4000 usd in 10 years, or a bit less if you sell your old Mac.

And I don't have the risk of being outside the warranty period ever.
 
english_mac_in_ny said:
Sell it shortly before its one year warranty runs out, always. Then take that money, and the money you save by not purchasing AppleCare, and with that you buy the newest generation model. Rinse, repeat.

It is more expensive than purchasing AppleCare and keeping your device for those three years. But in return you never have a Mac that is older than 11 months at the most, so the chances of hardware failure are lower than when you keep your Mac for multiple years. And you get to use the newest hardware. It's not a requirement, but it's certainly nice to have the latest gen tech.

There is no point in keeping your Macbook(Pro) for more than the warranty time nowadays. You can't fix any issues yourself, after the warranty runs out, just opening the current models is hard as the bottom plate is glued to the internals in addition to the screws.

Good luck spending an hour with a hairdryer heating up the glue just to replace the battery, and with battery I mean that questionable third-party replacement since you can't get an original without handing the laptop over to Apple. The display assembly is one entire thing where a panel replacement on another laptop would cost you 100 bucks and here it's multiple times that. The rest of the laptop is basically one entire mainboard that has memory and ssd soldered onto it. And even the 13" without touchbar let's you switch the SSD only in theory - there are no replacement SSDs unless you, again, hand over the laptop to Apple.

If you instead sell your Mac when the warranty is about to run out, you will make a loss but you won't have to spend the AppleCare money in the first place, and you never run into the risk of ending up with an expensive brick.

Sure, some of you buy a Mac without a warranty extension and keep it for 4+ years, assuming it will be fine. You'd have to spend so much more if you were to do it my way. But my way of doing thing isn't actually that expensive:

2000 usd up front, 200 each year after the first (loss of selling) -> 4000 usd in 10 years.
2000 usd up front, replace after 5 years then 2000 usd up front -> 4000 usd in 10 years, or a bit less if you sell your old Mac.

And I don't have the risk of being outside the warranty period ever.
Click to expand...
That approach doesn't apply in countries such as mine where we have less primitive consumer protection laws. In many countries, AppleCare is a largely unnecessary add-on because no company can refuse repairs for a reasonable period beyond their own warranty period for defects. I've had free repairs done by Apple several years beyond the warranty period without any need for AppleCare, so although that approach might work for you, it would be extremely wasteful and unnecessary for many others.
 
Because this is my first Apple Laptop, i'll be keeping this for the long haul (at least 3 years) as this should carry me through to the end of my studies.

After that, i'll probably trade it in for an iMac.
 
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Frankly, we do not yet know. Typically, we hold the machines for three, four, five or more years. In fact we have a 17", 2004 model running AV, radio etc for the office. Some 2011's and a 2010 are still doing well.

However, having said that, with the late 2016's we purchased, it is no longer possible to upgrade HDD/SSD, memory, etc. That fact combined with all the issues we have had, battery, keyboard, funny noises, etc., has us casting about for a new policy. And possibly new machines. Currently have a Dell XP15 in for trials. Very impressed to date . . . Yet, there is the question of changing eco-systems.
 
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