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I need help to buy a Macbook Pro

J

Jeremy40100

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 22, 2018
4
0
Hi,
I would like to buy a MacBook Pro. Until now I have only used a Pc that I used for gaming. So I don't know much about Macbooks. I would like to know which 13" and 15" macbook pros are good. By that I mean which year? retina or not ? how much RAM should I look for ? (I will be using Auto Cad). What should I be aware of when buying this used macbook pro ?.

Thanks for your help !
 
I mean that's an extremely broad question. The short answer is that all MacBook Pros are good, aside from the 2011 models, as first off they're quite old at this point, and second they'll die quickly as all their GPUs are ticking time bombs.

You won't really go wrong with any of the retinas though, and you're especially golden if it's 2014 or later. The rest, well, the hardware specs you'll want all depends on needs, but if it's a 15" it'll definitely perform well as long as it's relatively recent. 13" will perform well too, but they typically are substantially less powerful.
 
I have found this one for £700. It's a 2015 model NON-RETINA. Is it best to buy one with or without retina? I've heard you can't upgrade the retina model.
And is the Nvidia GPU good on this model ?
Specification

-- 15 inch LED screen
-- 3.3GHz Quad Core i7 Boost from 2.3GHz

-- 16GB Memory

-- 1000GB / 1TB Solid State Hybrid ( SSHD )

-- 2 x Graphics Card
Intel HD 4000 ( 1.5GB Memory )
Dedicated Nvidia GeForce GT 650M

-- Thunderbolt and 802.11ac Wireless
-- 2 x USB 3.0 ( speed 5000mb per second )
-- Battery is NEW only 35 cycle (max 1000)
 
There is no 2015 non-Retina MacBook Pro. The last non-Retina MacBook Pro was introduced in 2012.
That model of yours is a Mid 2012 non-Retina.
 
Jeremy40100 said:
I have found this one for £700. It's a 2015 model NON-RETINA. Is it best to buy one with or without retina? I've heard you can't upgrade the retina model.
And is the Nvidia GPU good on this model ?
Specification

-- 15 inch LED screen
-- 3.3GHz Quad Core i7 Boost from 2.3GHz

-- 16GB Memory

-- 1000GB / 1TB Solid State Hybrid ( SSHD )

-- 2 x Graphics Card
Intel HD 4000 ( 1.5GB Memory )
Dedicated Nvidia GeForce GT 650M

-- Thunderbolt and 802.11ac Wireless
-- 2 x USB 3.0 ( speed 5000mb per second )
-- Battery is NEW only 35 cycle (max 1000)
Click to expand...

That’s a 2012 model. I have the same but it’s not worth £700 with only an SSHD. GPU isn’t great.

Personally I’d get a 2015 15” rMBP or a 2016 15” model for a little more cash. You get a lot more for your money though.
 
Jeremy40100 said:
I have found this one for £700. It's a 2015 model NON-RETINA. Is it best to buy one with or without retina? I've heard you can't upgrade the retina model.
Click to expand...


You're being ripped off if you're being told this is a 2015 model. Apple didn't sell non-retina models in 2015. They also didn't see any with Nvidia GPUs. This is an Ivy Bridge CPU as well. This is in fact a 2012 MacBook Pro.

I would advice you look for a retina model instead, preferably newer, but a 2012 retina will do too. The computer is good enough, but there's just such a huge difference between a retina screen an a std-DPI display.
 
Oh sorry my bad, it is a 201. the seller told me it is the Last macbook pro apple have released in October 2012. he added that this is a custom model.
 
Thank you so much for your quick answers.
I have found another one. This one is from Early 2015 and has a 13" retina screen. it's the I5 @2.7GHZ with 512 GB and 8 GB RAM for £800

Would 8GB RAM be enough ?
 
How much AutoCAD are you doing? It benefits from having a dGPU and more RAM most of the time when working with larger drawings. Consider a 15" model if it's a work thing, if it's just a hobby then the 13" will be fine (Albeit a little sluggish at times).

As others have mentioned, don't go looking for a 6 year old computer expecting it to be any good just because it's a Mac. Try get a 2015+ model and if you can't afford that then you're best to save up or buy a Windows alternative. Don't get a computer that isn't up to scratch for the purpose you intend to buy it for just for the sake of Apple.
 
Jeremy40100 said:
I have found this one for £700. It's a 2015 model NON-RETINA. Is it best to buy one with or without retina? I've heard you can't upgrade the retina model.
And is the Nvidia GPU good on this model ?
Specification

-- 15 inch LED screen
-- 3.3GHz Quad Core i7 Boost from 2.3GHz

-- 16GB Memory

-- 1000GB / 1TB Solid State Hybrid ( SSHD )

-- 2 x Graphics Card
Intel HD 4000 ( 1.5GB Memory )
Dedicated Nvidia GeForce GT 650M

-- Thunderbolt and 802.11ac Wireless
-- 2 x USB 3.0 ( speed 5000mb per second )
-- Battery is NEW only 35 cycle (max 1000)
Click to expand...

I do owe the same 2012 quad-i7 model. Got it 2nd hand for far more money than your occasion is, but I'm really happy with it.
Fast, silent. Great performance. Doesn't get to it's limits doing the stuff I need it to do.
I use it mainly for paperless-office with DEVONthink /batch-scanning/batch-OCR and for light-weight video/photo-editing. Don't know, if it/the GPU will meet your needs and the needs of AutoCAD.
I preferred that 2012 non-retina book over an rMBP cause I can swap my 1TB SSD to a bigger one, whenever I need more space and SSD's get cheaper.
My main driver for on the go is an early 2008 MBP 2,4GHz Core2Duo (silver keyboard, non-glossy display) with a 500GB SSD, 6GB and ElCapitan. It came at 100$. Plus additional cost for the SSD. Great device. Has got an ExpressCard for USB3.0. Get's most of my jobs done and the bright non-glossy display is great for watching videos.

Don't ever go for those 2010/2011 i7 DualCore. Lot of them have a faulty graphic-chip and there's no more Apple-support due to lack of spare parts. I do also have such a 2010 15" MBP. My so called "StrokeUnit". Got the faulty GPU mended, but it's a red-hot and without additional software to power down CPU-boost and 2nd-GPU it's fans are always at max.

As others said: a real quad-core runs much smoother than a dual-core and a 15" display is more convenient than 13" one. I have "old"-eyes and do not benefit from retina and a 13"rMBP having a better screen-resolution than my 15"-rMBP. But if you need to travel a lot, the 13" might come in more handy...
 
Last edited:
Jeremy40100 said:
I have found another one. This one is from Early 2015 and has a 13" retina screen. it's the I5 @2.7GHZ with 512 GB and 8 GB RAM for £800
Click to expand...

Depends what you're doing really - again.

But I would yet again recommend getting a 15" model if you can find one. I'd also have you consider that even if the clocks speeds are lower on the 15" model, it'll perform better as it's a quad core as opposed to a dual core in the 13". And you might be able to find it cheaper if you go down in storage. You can always get external drives if you need more than 256GB. 256 is enough for me, though I've got a lot of extra storage as well (Time Capsule, external SSD, iMac).

If your media doesn't need to be on something as fast as an SSD though, the 256GB SSD will save you enough money as opposed to 512GB that you'd be able to pay a 1TB hard drive and have money to spare.
 
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