Is 256 Gb enough these days and 707 cycles a lot?

[Beggar]

Hey!

I'm thinking about buying a pre-owned MacBook Pro Retina 2013 to try some things out and I wonder whether those specs in the title are sufficient. I'm planing on installing Adobe Creative pack, Unity, Final Cut Pro, Visual Studio. I expect the notebook will be mostly used as a desktop 90% of the time.

Thanks!

 

[Dave_H]

IMHO, 256GB would be sufficient for office work. You're going the multimedia way (apps & data), I'm afraid you might be on the short side quite soon.

As for the 707 cycles, I have to admit, it shows an extensive use. Before reaching that I was already having serious issues with my battery (shutting down unexpectedly at 40, 50 or even 70%, showing "service the battery" notification, etc.). I finally got it replace at 751 cycles (+200€ !) a month ago, and all is fine till now.

 

[matram]

700 cycles is a lot. The 2013 is also ”vintage” meaning you are not guaranteed repair. You have two years of life before the MBP is ”obsolete”.

Only you can say how much disk you need.

 

[maflynn]

I'm planing on installing Adobe Creative pack, Unity, Final Cut Pro, Visual Studio.

I would probably recommend at least a 2015 MBP to run these. Also the 700 cycles as mentioned is on the high side, so you may not get too much time on the battery when not plugged in

 

[matram]

With regard to Visual Studio, I run VS for Windows in a Fusion virtual machine (4 vcpu and 8 GB RAM). Frankly the first MBP that felt "snappy" with VS is my (almost) top of the line 16" 2019 (see my signature).

So also with regard to VS what you suggest seems weak.

But maybe it is very cheap

 

[Fishrrman]

"I'm thinking about buying a pre-owned MacBook Pro Retina 2013 to try some things out and I wonder whether those specs in the title are sufficient. I'm planing on installing Adobe Creative pack, Unity, Final Cut Pro, Visual Studio. I expect the notebook will be mostly used as a desktop 90% of the time."

For your use case, I sense that a 2013 isn't going to be "enough". You're going to be pushing against its limitations VERY quickly into ownership.

If it's primarily for desktop use, why not consider a 2018 Mini...?