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How often do you upgrade your Macbook pro?
- Thread starter saxman211
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Not sure if you read his actual post or just the title or if you instead just wanted to be obtuse, but it was very clear he was talking about upgrades in context of buying a new/replacement system in lieu of the old.
Since it's my primary productivity tool, I've justified purchases about every three years since the mid 90s. And each one roughly doubled in performance.
Been over 4 years with my 2013 because performance seemed to stagnate in the ensuing years. Was really hoping the 2018s moving to 6-cores would be the boost I was looking for, but the real world results I've been seeing in reviews have been pretty anemic.
Really torn if I should be looking elsewhere for more appropriately powered systems given the animation and game dev work I do. It just sucks because I really liked working on the mac portables, and going back to a desktop or windows system feels like a frustrating regression.
Been over 4 years with my 2013 because performance seemed to stagnate in the ensuing years. Was really hoping the 2018s moving to 6-cores would be the boost I was looking for, but the real world results I've been seeing in reviews have been pretty anemic.
Really torn if I should be looking elsewhere for more appropriately powered systems given the animation and game dev work I do. It just sucks because I really liked working on the mac portables, and going back to a desktop or windows system feels like a frustrating regression.
So far, it has seemed like a big boost for me. I had a similar reasoning up till now - waiting to upgrade my maxed out 2013 MBP, and not seeing the types of gains to make it worth it, along with the 16gb ceiling not budging. Doing some initial testing with Unity game dev workflows with the new machine, and many larger tasks take ~30% less time. And the machine seems overall much snappier with lots of apps open, etc. Old machine was getting annoying frequent slowdowns and hiccups.
That being said, if you can deal with Windows, you can definitely find more bang for your buck on that platform.
I just bought a maxed out late 2013 MBP and I couldn't agree more. I was surprised to find this 2.6 i7 processor scores a 4200 compared to 5000 on a base 2018 15" for single core on geekbench. That is a raw increase of 20% in 5 years.
As a college student I couldn't justify the price tag for this MBP. Bought the maxed out late 2013 used for $700.
desktop has always been king, maybe we need another decade or so for things to change.
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You mean it’s surprising the $2,299 base MBP outperforms by 20% in single core (never mind the multi core performance, which is what matters and would probably be around a difference of 80% or more) a $ 6,000 notebook from a few years ago with probably 900 cycles on its battery? So you can get way more performance for way less?
You’re trying to justify your purchase and that’s OK, but those are not comparable machines by any stretch of the imagination.
Mild purchase justifying, yes. 500 cycles.
It's surprising that multi core performance has only doubled in 5 years and not even that in single core. Up to you if oyu want to spend ~3k for it. The maxed out 2018 MBP vs base doesn't change that.
if I had $6000 to spend on a laptop I probably would be looking at a hackintosh setup with more adequate cooling anyway.
yikes.... less than 2 years on a 2k plus machine is unacceptable
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I tend to get a new one when the current machine either no longer gets Mac updates, doesn't support peripherals/ limited by drive or ram upgrades
I have had the following
- 2003 emac (bought new (~1000)) - 1ghz g4/512MB/80GB
- 2006 macbook (black) in (bought new (~$1500)) - 2ghz core duo/2gb/250GB
- macbook in 2010 (bought used in 2011 and sold previous) - 2.26 core2duo/8gb/250gb HDD
- 15in 2008 macbook pro (bought used ($150)in 2015) - 2.53ghz core2duo/8gb/500gb HDD
- 13in 2012 macbook pro (bought new ($1200)) - 2.5ghz i5/16gb/512GB SSD
- 15in 2015 macbook pro (bought used ($1500) in 2017) - 2.5ghz i7/16gb/512GB PCIE
- 15in 2015 macbook pro (bought used ($1300) in 2018) - 2.8ghz i7/16gb/1TB PCIE
Current machines I have are bolded.
I have found it very nice to have computer for various purposes. I used the 2008 for my garage computer where I do not care about the grime on it. The 2012 is now my dedicated music box/spare computer/server. the (2) 2015 machines are my on the go computer and my docked machine in my office
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I can assure you the top end 2.6 i7 from 2013 was not $6000. Mine was just over $3000 CAD.
Also if we're going by benchmarks, the difference in multicore between the 2013 and 2018 is more like 50%. And from all the reviews I've watched, most real world stress tests using workflow that takes advances of all cores has it at more like a 10-15% year-over-year increase, and thats with adding 50% more cores this round. And heck, apple shipped the things with a bug that actually made them slower than the previous year model in some cases!
I'm sure the 2018 is faster than the 2013 model; 5 years on it better be. And in the end it might end up approaching enough of an aggregate gain for me to still upgrade. But I'm also pretty sure it is valid to weigh the benefits of the latest model vs getting an older model discounted depending on people's needs/budget. So in conclusion, yes, my imagination can stretch all the way 5 years back to compare these systems.
I bought a PowerBook 12" in 2004, upgraded to a MacBook Air 7 years later in 2011". It's now another 7 years later and I'm looking at getting one of the 13" MBPs.
I thought I had mine running a long time for 7 years each, but wow, 9 years! You've gotten some good mileage out of it. Kudos. I guess my MBA could run for another year, but the bloody fan comes on quite regularly and flash barely works (video streaming).
I thought I had mine running a long time for 7 years each, but wow, 9 years! You've gotten some good mileage out of it. Kudos. I guess my MBA could run for another year, but the bloody fan comes on quite regularly and flash barely works (video streaming).
Seemingly every 6 years. My first MBP was in 2006. Then I bought a cMBP in 2012 and am still using it. I put in an SSD when I first got it and it's been working great ever since. As it is right now I'm at the 6 year mark again and I have no plans on replacing it yet.
I have a MBP 13" 2012 - funnily enough just today the 'battery service' appeared on the menu bar 
This machine will probably become my wife's new daily driver, while I am considering to get new MBP 13" TB i5/16/512.
Last year I've also built my new 1080Ti PC.
So if I buy a Mac that would be -> new Mac every 6 years, new PC every 7 years.
This machine will probably become my wife's new daily driver, while I am considering to get new MBP 13" TB i5/16/512.
Last year I've also built my new 1080Ti PC.
So if I buy a Mac that would be -> new Mac every 6 years, new PC every 7 years.
15" 2.16 GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro 'Late 2006' - bought in 2006
13" 2.26 GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro 2009 - bought in 2009
15" 2.0 GHz Quad Core i7 Retina MacBook Pro 2014 - Bought in 2014
12" 1.1 GHz Core M MacBook 2015 - Bought in 2015
13" 2.3 GHz Core i5 MacBook Pro 2017 - Bought in 2018
For me, 3 - 5 years
13" 2.26 GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro 2009 - bought in 2009
15" 2.0 GHz Quad Core i7 Retina MacBook Pro 2014 - Bought in 2014
12" 1.1 GHz Core M MacBook 2015 - Bought in 2015
13" 2.3 GHz Core i5 MacBook Pro 2017 - Bought in 2018
For me, 3 - 5 years
I used to upgrade almost yearly, but then I wasn't particularly happy with the design changes and felt the value wasn't worth upgrading. I had my cMBP 2012 for 6 years which is a record for me. I was able to upgrade the RAM, replace the HD with an SSD, and convert the optical drive to a second hard drive. You don't get that kind of value or longevity anymore.
I think now however, I'll upgrade every two years, assuming the keyboard problems are fixed. Get Apple care, sell the laptop after 2 years and upgrade. If not, I"ll probably upgrade every 5 years and just give my old laptop to my wife to use.
I think now however, I'll upgrade every two years, assuming the keyboard problems are fixed. Get Apple care, sell the laptop after 2 years and upgrade. If not, I"ll probably upgrade every 5 years and just give my old laptop to my wife to use.
2007, 2011, 2015, 2017. Each of the earlier Macs are still being used. I hand them down to the kids.
I was happy to upgrade every couple of years, with the odd machine lasting a third, when 15” MBPs started at about £1,599 - that’s a price I can live with every 2-3 years. Now the machines start at £2,349 and what I’d deem an acceptable configuration (512GB SSD) starts at £2,699 I think I might instead look at getting the final edition of each design cycle from now. So 2019, 2023... assuming Apple stick to a 4 year design cycle. I’m not relishing the idea of keeping a machine as a main for an entire four years, there’s a lot that can go wrong even outside of accidental damage in that time. From the time I’ve spent with them the touchbar models seem reasonably robust but definitely more highly strung than previous versions. If a 15” MacBook were to appear at around the same £1,599 I guess I’d go back to roughly biennial updates. I guess it would mainly be family and friends not receiving good as new hand me down machines that lose out a bit here. And Apple’s bottom line, £1,600 every other year is more than £2,700 every four.
