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How often do you upgrade your MacBook Pro?

My first MB was a 2007 white MB then sold it in 2011 to get a refurbish. The white MB was perfectly fine, just a bit slow. My 2011 MBP is upgraded to 8gb ram and dual HDD. I think it can last at least a year or two more.

Before I moved to Apple, I had Sony laptop that last a year before the screen breaks. Then another Sony laptop that last a year and a half before it became so slow that it's unbearable.

Moral of the story, Apple's stuff maybe expensive but it last longer.
 
I had gotten out of mac laptops a while back after I got a 2011 or 2012 mac mini at no cost with my Amex reward points. I've written several books on it and use it strictly as an appliance for word , email and research. For a brief time i had a 2012 mba 13, but sold it in order to buy the samsung note 12.2 tablet as a laptop replacement, and it's pretty darn solid. it uses a word look alike called hancom word and it's great, .but recently I got the jones for a mac laptop so I bought a used 2010 mbp 15 i5 loaded for $750 and a new 2014 mba 11 for $720. The mbp is in mint condition and is very fast. i really love it and have been using it more than my mini desktop. I'm not sure I'll keep the 11 from best buy. I actually like my Samsung tablets better I have the note 8, note 10.1 2014 edition and the note 12.2. They are really more flexible and with better screens than the mba 11. But since I only paid $720 new for the 11 I may just keep it. My wife just got a 2014 base mba 13, and also has an Imac, and 2 samsung tablets and the samsung note 3 phone. I think we are set for a few years . Later this to year I'll put an sad in the 15 and up the ram.
 
7 years is a long time! Credit for stretching it out that long! But honestly, being a current Windows user I upgrade about every 3 years when the laptop turns to jelly and becomes worthless.
 
2 years.

I sell on my used machines for a good price and then upgrade to the latest models. The advantages for me are that I plan my expenditure and the difference in the price between the sold device and the new one remains reasonable. It also means that software upgrades always work at optimum performance. One year I will update mobile devices and the following, my computers, meaning I have a pretty much constant net spend on tech products.

For the purchasers of my devices, there is the knowledge that they will perform well for at least two further years with software upgrades.

Might not work for everyone, but works for me.
 
I have a mid 2012 MacBook Pro. I wanted to use it for at least 5 years, but with retina screens, faster flash storage, force touch, etc, I think it's time to move on. The only question is 13 or 15 inch.
 
I kept my 2010 around as a OS testing machine when I moved up to a 2012, hardware wise I'll try running as long as the hardware+OS is supported.

When it comes to Windows up until Windows 7 I retired my old Thinkpad T61 to docked mode as it got too slow back in 2010, for laughs installed Windows 10 and its snappy like WinXP... I tried LXDE Linux distros without much luck on the speed side, Win10 came along and it was a shock.
 
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I owned a 2008 15" MBP that I sold a few months later. I eventually bought a 2009 13" MBP. Sold it to buy a 2009 15" MBP. Sold it a few years later. This year, I bought a 15" retina 2015 MBP and this week, a 2012 13" MBP non retina. I'll likely keep these for several years.
 
Upgraded recently from a mid2009 (that got an SSD upgrade). The screen's low resolution and bad viewing angles was always a complaint but what really made me upgrade was the poor video performance with HD.
 
Just sold my 2009 17" MBP and bought (2) 2015 13" rMBP. Was thinking of replacing the 7200rpm HD with a SSD but the wife really wanted the retina display. Got a lot of good use out of the 2009 MBP. I think before that it was 4 years that I owned a 12" White MB that I sold and bought the 2009 17" MBP.
 
gngan said:
My first MB was a 2007 white MB then sold it in 2011 to get a refurbish. The white MB was perfectly fine, just a bit slow. My 2011 MBP is upgraded to 8gb ram and dual HDD. I think it can last at least a year or two more.

Before I moved to Apple, I had Sony laptop that last a year before the screen breaks. Then another Sony laptop that last a year and a half before it became so slow that it's unbearable.

Moral of the story, Apple's stuff maybe expensive but it last longer.
Click to expand...

Not to mention that Apple computers have not bad resale value even after 6 years.
 
I upgrade it every time a new model comes out, basically every year.
I don't lose too much money as i buy it with the student discount and there's no need for apple care.
This way i always have the most powerful hardware available and honestly i don't want to worry about all the problems macbooks have after a few years (dead logic boards, problems with graphics cards-seems almost all macbooks with dedicated gpus have problems probably due to the crap cooling solution, weaker hinge, worn battery, etc).
 
I'm still on my very first (2010), although had numerous windows laptops before that. The longevity of th map has been an incredible asset, although admittedly it has been upgraded on a few occasions. I shall pass it on to a family member when it is ready to go out to pasture...
 
Martin29 said:
2 years.

I sell on my used machines for a good price and then upgrade to the latest models. The advantages for me are that I plan my expenditure and the difference in the price between the sold device and the new one remains reasonable. It also means that software upgrades always work at optimum performance. One year I will update mobile devices and the following, my computers, meaning I have a pretty much constant net spend on tech products.

For the purchasers of my devices, there is the knowledge that they will perform well for at least two further years with software upgrades.

Might not work for everyone, but works for me.
Click to expand...

I do similar 2-3 years.
For same Total Cost of Ownership calc.
 
RestUnknown said:
Late 2007 Macbook Pro, updated once after 2 or 3 years to 4gb of ram, since then nothing done to it. But thinking of putting in a ssd. I will use this baby till it doesn't work anymore.
Click to expand...

I have the same computer. Do add the SSD. It's a more complicated installation process than the newer ones, but it's very easy and ifixit has a great video detailing every step. Print the written instructions for each step and tape the screws from each step to the appropriate page. If the machine is working for you now, Once you add the SSD you will think yore using a new computer. Best $100 I've ever spent.
 
I tend to upgrade every 1-1.5 years. I'm a power user, I need the speed. I tend to recoup costs by reselling. The way I think about it is like buying an expensive piece of software the first time, and then paying a smaller amount for upgrades for the subsequent years. Plus the frustration saved from slow moving software is well worth it to me personally. The one I'm on now I've had coming on two years, long for me. It runs well, though sometimes it's a bit laggy with the RAM (dunno why) and the recent MBP upgrades haven't been a significant enough advancement for me to upgrade. Though I'll probably get the next one.

On a side note this is the first time I've posted since the forum upgrade.. not a fan.
 
I upgrade every 5 - 7 years, typically running the current machine to the ground, before purchasing another.
 
Before I got my '09 MBP, I had several windows laptops/desktops that felt like I was replacing constantly. Very frustrating. Picked up the '09 MBP and never looked back. Never had any issues. Basically the only real reason I upgraded was because I wanted retina so I bought '14 earlier this year. The '09 has been passed on to a family member. Unless something unfortunate happens with my current or something amazing comes out--I'll be sticking with it until the end.
 
Between 2 and 3 years though this current machine is at the 3 year mark, i.e., 2012 machine. I was thinking of selling it later this year and buying something else, but at this point I've more or less decided to hang on to it.
 
I sell mine every year before the warranty is up and get the latest model.
 
I firmly believe in a "Low End Mac" philosophy - use the oldest equipment you can comfortably work with. I tend to hold on to my machines for quite a while and when I do pull the trigger on a new machine, I always buy used/refurbished and usually the high-end, BTO version of that particular generation. Our current machine is an early 2011 15" MBP with the Hi-Res and 2.3GHz BTO, which we just purchased last spring (with 2014's tax return). We got it for a good price and it was in mint condition. Despite being four years old now, this is by far the nicest computer we've ever owned and it's still more than we need. After a year of using it in stock condition, I just recently upgraded it to 8GB of ram and a Sandisk Extreme Pro 480GB drive - this thing is now pretty much just as "snappy" as all of those shiny new models sitting in the Apple Store.

Before that, we were using a 2008 White C2D MB that was purchased refurbed in '09... Before that? You guessed it - PPC. Our trusty old, Hi-Res, 1.67GHz PowerBook lasted us a solid five years of daily use and it still works perfectly - as does our Pismo (still my all time favorite machine) that came before it!

So, my opinion? If you're still happy with your current machine's performance - stick with it! It's always "nice" to have the latest and greatest... But I have other hobbies I'd rather throw cash at than a new Mac every year or so...
 
To add to my earlier response ... It's looking like I might wait with my current one until it's 4 or 5 years old. I really don't see a need to upgrade since it still works just fine for my needs. Guess I'll eventually adopt a wait-and-see approach, but for now? Yeah ... 4-5 years.
 
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I've had my 2012 rMBP (2.6GHz, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) for a little over 3 years now. Little reason to upgrade at the moment, it still handles everything I throw at it. I think I'll probably get a new one next year assuming they don't drop discrete GPUs (otherwise I'm probably going back to PCs)
 
I stopped when Apple discontinued the 17" cMBP. In fact, I upgraded to the 17" cMBP the day it was discontinued, as I had upgraded before to the 15" ExpressCard cMBP the day the ExpressCard was removed.

The only way is out now, that's why any other Apple hardware is dead for me too.
 
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