How often do you upgrade your MacBook Pro?

[DiCaprioAngel]

Mind you, my current late-2013 15" rMBP is my very first Apple laptop I have ever owned and purchased, I won't be upgrading until it no longer could do what I need it to do. There's really no point for me to spend money on a new device every time it comes out, be it phone, tablet, or computer. As long as it does what I need it to do, I am perfectly happy. Besides, I went all out on this laptop, made sure that it will last me. It's already been 2 years since I bought my laptop. I'm hoping it will last for a few more years, maybe even a bit longer, before I buy a new one again.

 

[waimtrp]

i use my MacBook Pro 2010 17" i7 since it released , i love the big screen 17" , after Max out the Ram , upgraded SSD & running 10.9.5, its like re-born again . so disappointed Apple discontinued the 17" line , and i don't like the New 15" retina ....
recently upgraded an USB 3.0 ExpressCard, the card is native compatible with OSX , work right the way it connect, the transfer speed is amazing .
and i ask my friend which is a photographer to try it with his 17" 2011 for shooting , running control Pro 2 , he keep smiling all the time , he said the "lag time" that deal with 2.0 port finally gone , even don't give it back to me , so i have to order 2nd one

 

[Mac-key]

As long as my machine is getting the job done, then I keep 'em running as long as I can. Case in point, I'm typing this on a mid-2009 13' MBP. It runs great! I'm using it as a replacement while my early 2011 15' MBP gets a new logic board. So I'm going on year 6 and 4 with both computers.

 

[ajcgn]

MBP is too expensive for me to upgrade.
I have the early 2011 MBP (highest resolution they had at the time)and plan on keeping it as long as possible. the hard drive was causing me problems do I upgraded to SSD, very fast now.

I still have the first Retina IPad, it's crappy slow with ios8, but I am keeping it until it fries ( I did upgrade from non retina right away though)

Went from iPhone 4 to 4s to 6. the 5 didn't offer enough for me

keeping up to date is fun, but too expensive for me

 

[MacBoook160]

I still have my early 2011 MBP, now as a backup, as I just purchased an MBA. I probably could've sold the former, but I wanted to have some kind of backup computer. If I replaced the drive, I'm sure it would be quite good (now that I'm spoiled on the MBA, the MBP feels pretty slow, I have to say!).

As far as the Air goes, hope to keep it for a number of years, then perhaps sell it to subsidize whatever the next great thing is, right before the 2020 Presidential elections.

But I tend to be someone who likes to hold onto technology for a while, like a number of you.

 

[BrettApple]

For me it's when my machine isn't adequately meeting my needs. So far that means about 6-8 years since my first personal mac was my Late 2008 MacBook.

I currently use a Late 2013 rMBP purchased in Jul '14 as an upgrade to my Late 2008 MacBook. It was still meeting my needs for the most part, but I wanted more GPU power to run higher res displays and more powerful apps. It was/is equipped with an SSD and 8GB of RAM however. And meets the needs of my brothers family just fine since they own it now.

My other Mac that I own is a 2007 20" iMac that was purchased in August of 2007 right when they released (yup, that means it's 8 years old!) and it is still a great second Mac. It is the base model with a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, 128MB ATI 2400XT, and it can boot into any OS from 10.4 Tiger (still have the disc) to El Capitan so far. That's 8 OS X versions. Along with Windows XP though Windows 10. Pretty incredible. It's also running Adobe CS5 (PS/BR/AI/ID/PR/AE), Logic Pro X, Mainstage, FCPX, Office 2016, and more. So it doesn't just sit around and look pretty.

 

[cambookpro]

It's usually dependent on a mixture of whether the Mac I'm using can handle the tasks I want to complete, whether a family member needs a new computer (so my old one trickles down to them) and whether the current model introduces new features that I think I'd benefit from.

I upgraded a PowerBook G4 when it couldn't play HD QuickTimes, and then have had 2006, 2008 and 2011 MacBook Pros for a variety of different reasons.

Will probably upgrade next year depending on what the update is like.

 

[Ih8reno]

Still have my first Mac which is an early 2011 13 inch. I upgraded the ram to 16gb and put in a 240gb ssd and it works better now then when I bought it. I don't really see any reason right now to upgrade to a new machine as it flies with even the newest software.

 

[nylon]

I upgrade on a cost benefit analysis based significant technology leaps and residual price of my current machine. This usually amounts to upgrades when there is a significant redesign of a product every 3 or 4 years. At this point I can usually eek out getting 50% of the value of my old machine back.

 

[warrenl]

I try to by used on Craigslist with Applecare and sell a yell later for close to what I purchased for

 

[Wreckus]

Since I bought my mid 2014 macbook pro in late January, I'm not expecting to upgrade for another 4 - 5 years at least..unless a new major feature comes out in the later model that renders my macbook obsolete....but i'm not expecting that to happen.

 

[Spink10]

Whenever I get a steal of a deal on a used Mac that is superior to mine. Normally works out to be a very small financial lost and even sometimes breaking even. I upgrade about every 2 years.

 

[Mcmeowmers]

I use both PC's and Mac's for a long time and Mac's do tend to have a longer functional lifespan than PC's. If you had a PC you purchased 4 year ago and never upgraded it (SSD, RAM, etc), I would consider it to be ancient but I just replaced a 4 year old MBA that was still chugging along just fine after several OSX releases. I probably could have used it for at least another 2 years, but held out long enough on getting a Macbook with a retina screen.

My windows (win10 with a 7200rpm disk) laptop with a first gen i7 boots faster and runs smoother than my late 2013 MBP(el capitan).

 

[Thunderboltedge]

The jump over the last years in terms of technology has been consistent so changing it was worthing the upgrade and the cost.
Now I hardly see something coming up over the upcoming years that could make appear my machine (2014), really obsolete, at least for my usage.
Retina was a huge step forward and especially SSD and Wifi speed increase.
But now as you can see in the smartphone market the changes are each time stightly better compared to the big improvements occurred in the previous generations.
So I can see less and less need for upgrade (e.g. the force trackpad which is something surely good, but it does not change evidently the user experience, at least not in the way a ssd did for instance.

 

[Fthree]

MBP is too expensive for me to upgrade.
I have the early 2011 MBP (highest resolution they had at the time)and plan on keeping it as long as possible. the hard drive was causing me problems do I upgraded to SSD, very fast now.

I still have the first Retina IPad, it's crappy slow with ios8, but I am keeping it until it fries ( I did upgrade from non retina right away though)

Went from iPhone 4 to 4s to 6. the 5 didn't offer enough for me

keeping up to date is fun, but too expensive for me

I recently purchased a iPad air 2 and gave my iPad 2 to my 4 year old. The iPad 2 works great still (very laggy but great for a 4 year old)

 

[Fthree]

just bought the 2015 15 fully maxed I'm hoping it'll last a few years.......

 

[S.B.G]

For me it seems every six years. My very first Mac was a 2006 MacBook Pro. Then I bought a 2012 cMacBook Pro and gave the old one to some friends.

 

[theuserjohnny]

lol @ ppl saying every 3-4 years because of newer tech, that shouldn't be the sole reason for you upgrading just so you can flaunt at having new tech.

Personally I wait until my current laptop can absolutely no longer preform the program/tasks I use at an efficient level.

Example prior to getting my 2012 rMPB 15' I was using a 2006 Macbook at the time it was perfect for essentially everyday usage but then I got into video and photography editing for classes around 2011 and quickly gripped about how inefficient it was to have a duel core CPU (w/ a laughable iGPU if you even wanted to call it that) and could not for the life of me edit video or color correct without it taking more than a day for the comp to render.

Now nearly 3 years in and this sucker is still able to preform the tasks I need, sure better versions have come out with newer tech but it's pointless to get caught up into the hype when next year there's already something better. Until I get into a situation like I did with my 06 Macbook I'll be sticking to this one.

 

[dagamer34]

I tend to be every 3-4 years, and probably would have upgraded already from my 2012 rMBP, but there's not much difference compared to what Apple currently sells. Waiting for redesign at this point that will come with very nice goodies (TB3, USB Type-C, more power-efficient display, better CPU/GPU).

 

[ajcgn]

I recently purchased a iPad air 2 and gave my iPad 2 to my 4 year old. The iPad 2 works great still (very laggy but great for a 4 year old)

I made the mistake of putting iOS 8 on the retina iPad before I read the reviews.
My wife uses the old iPad 2 with iOS 7 and it still works fine.
I seem to be using my iPhone a lot more at home now.

 

[iMaconApple]

Oh my been a while on here.... but yeah, I need to update my blackmacbook lol.. don't even support updates for it lol..


I'm looking to just get the base 13 macbook pro.. should I get it now or wait a bit for the 2nd revised one? I think it's coming out in like 2 months or so.. but I'm in need of a new macbook..

 

[The Clark]

Some people keep their laptops for as long as humanly possible, even if the performance and battery takes a hit. Others upgrade within a years time, or maybe two. How long have you had your Macbook and when will you upgrade? (apprx)

 

[Samuelsan2001]

I usually upgrade every 3-4 years, I have had my current late 2013 13 inch rMBP for 20 months and will probably upgrade in about a year or so I'm looking towards the canonlake release.

 

[maflynn]

I usually upgrade every 3-4 years, I have had my current late 2013 13 inch rMBP for 20 months and will probably upgrade in about a year or so I'm looking towards the canonlake release.

I'm at a point where I think I may do that with my 2012 rMBP. Its been a great laptop but between my facility needs (we need one more computer for my kids to do their homework) and that bad boy starting to get long in the tooth. I think it may be time. I'll give that laptop to my kids and get a newer machine

 

[jmgregory1]

Oh my been a while on here.... but yeah, I need to update my blackmacbook lol.. don't even support updates for it lol..


I'm looking to just get the base 13 macbook pro.. should I get it now or wait a bit for the 2nd revised one? I think it's coming out in like 2 months or so.. but I'm in need of a new macbook..

My suggestion would be to check out refurbs, or check out the new MacBook as well. It depends on what you need the computer to do - if you're ok using your current black MacBook, then I assume you don't need significant horsepower and the rMB might work fine (if you're ok with the slightly smaller screen). In a refurbished model, also look at the 15" rMBP's as the bigger screen size might be appealing as well.