I bought my first Macbook Pro

[egon10psi]

Well it is for my wife. She is coming forma 2014 Macbook Air. She runs a vlog and the 128gb just wasn't enough.

But I think I overshot what she actually needs.

I went into Best Buy this weekend and they had an open box deal: 2018 15" 16gb/ 512ssd / 560x for $2,120
After tax and AppleCare+ and a dongle we are going to be around $2,500.

I feel like (outside of the storage) her old Macbook Air did pretty well at editing on Final Cut and did descent with my 24mp Lightroom Files. Does she really need that much more of a computer? Would she see a drastic improvement over the MBA with just a standard 13" Pro or even the new MBA versus this 15"?

Just trying to make a smart/economical decision here. Thank you for any and all input.

 

[sosumi99]

Well, she's going to see a drastic improvement, no doubt about that. The machine you have is way overkill for what she does. She likely could have gotten away with the new MBA.

However, we don't always do the *same* thing we used to do. The new capabilities will also allow her to work with longer videos, bigger images, and experiment with effects that she would have been discouraged from in the past due to slowness or lack of instant feedback. That's the thing about computers, they're tools. Sometimes our work and creativity are limited by the tools we have without our even realizing it, until we get a much more capable tool, and new possibilities are opened to us.

If she's using this to further her primary means of creative expression and/or making money, it may well be worth it. Your machine costs ~$1000 more than the new MBA, but if she's going to keep this for four years (as indicated by how long the last machine lasted), that's about $250 a year for the extra capabilities. As long as she finds the new machine pleasant and helps her do *more*, I say it's money well spent.

 

[egon10psi]

Well, she's going to see a drastic improvement, no doubt about that. The machine you have is way overkill for what she does. She likely could have gotten away with the new MBA.

However, we don't always do the *same* thing we used to do. The new capabilities will also allow her to work with longer videos, bigger images, and experiment with effects that she would have been discouraged from in the past due to slowness or lack of instant feedback. That's the thing about computers, they're tools. Sometimes our work and creativity are limited by the tools we have without our even realizing it, until we get a much more capable tool, and new possibilities are opened to us.

If she's using this to further her primary means of creative expression and/or making money, it may well be worth it. Your machine costs ~$1000 more than the new MBA, but if she's going to keep this for four years (as indicated by how long the last machine lasted), that's about $250 a year for the extra capabilities. As long as she finds the new machine pleasant and helps her do *more*, I say it's money well spent.

I guess at the end of the day if I get any MBP I am going going to save a few 100 dollars over what I spent on this top tier model. The new AIR would be the only big savings and I am not sure I want to gamble on 2 cores being future proof.

 

[tcphoto1]

Instead of spending $2500 on a new computer, how about doing what pro photographers do and store photos, video and other files on external drives. Do you not also run Time Machine on a regular basis? It is not smart to have only one copy of important data and two quality external drives can be bought for a total of $300. Once you’ve backed up the files, it is smart to delete them from the computer.

 

[egon10psi]

Instead of spending $2500 on a new computer, how about doing what pro photographers do and store photos, video and other files on external drives. Do you not also run Time Machine on a regular basis? It is not smart to have only one copy of important data and two quality external drives can be bought for a total of $300. Once you’ve backed up the files, it is smart to delete them from the computer.

All of my photos are backed up twice. I think you misread. The memory/storage problem comes from her vlogs, not my photos. Although Lightroom could be a littler faster on the MBA. I haven't tried editing on the new MBP yet.

 

[FlushedNotRushed]

That's a good price as I paid $2200 after tax for my refurbished 2018 15" base model through Apple. Enjoy it!