Is the Base 2015 MacBook Pro 13" Good For Causal Use

[MichaelMidnight]

I'm in the market for a new computer and while the base 2016 Macbook Pro 13" non-touch bar version looks appealing because of the brighter screen and better speakers, she does cost a pretty penny that's forced me to look at the 2015 base model with only 8GB ram and 128GB of HD space. I think I'm good with the small space since external hard drives are cheap but I'm wondering if this base model will be good for casual use for say the next 5 years. And by casual use meaning 15 or so open Chrome tab bars, netflix use, itunes, etc.

 

[maflynn]

If by casual use, you mean just surfing the net and basic office docs, or emails. Then yes, though its a pain to deal with external drives with laptops. You'll have to carry more stuff with you when you take your laptop. For this reason, I think 128GB is too small - just my $.02

 

[Ghost31]

Dude. I think even an ipad would fit your use. A MacBook Pro is overkill

But what do I know...

 

[Disheart]

Even my MacBook Air Late 2011 could do that so I think you'll do fine.

 

[stockscalper]

The smaller Macbook will do that just fine.

 

[zhenya]

128GB is going to be difficult to live with for the next 5 years. I would either stretch for the new base model, or wait until you can save that extra $200.

 

[Domen151]

I think its more than enough for you, but maybe find some discounted 256GB models? But if you are just a casual user even 128GB will be probably enough.

 

[jackoatmon]

It will definitely do the job.

With that use case you can basically buy any Apple laptop and it will absolutely fly. Pick the one that you like the colours of and the feel of the keyboard. If you're just surfing and watching things and not actually creating any media, any one will more than do the trick.

 

[Ghost31]

128GB is going to be difficult to live with for the next 5 years. I would either stretch for the new base model, or wait until you can save that extra $200.

Yes and no. Everything was super difficult for me when I had my 15inch 128gb. Then I uploaded my photos to iCloud photos and my music is now on Apple Music and my hard drive is pretty much completely free. Just depends on the person I guess.

Funny how despite storage going up, the need for it goes down for some people depending on how reliant they are on the cloud.

But some people like to store their stuff locally so I get that too. Just saying. The cloud is awesome sauce

 

[zhenya]

Yes and no. Everything was super difficult for me when I had my 15inch 128gb. Then I uploaded my photos to iCloud photos and my music is now on Apple Music and my hard drive is pretty much completely free. Just depends on the person I guess.

Funny how despite storage going up, the need for it goes down for some people depending on how reliant they are on the cloud.

But some people like to store their stuff locally so I get that too. Just saying. The cloud is awesome sauce

This is true if you are willing to live without off-line copies. Still, over 5 years $200 is a small amount of money if it means the difference between constantly managing space and not.

 

[Lunfai]

This is true if you are willing to live without off-line copies. Still, over 5 years $200 is a small amount of money if it means the difference between constantly managing space and not.

this 100%. Having more is always better, you never know you might get into video production.

 

[Ghost31]

this 100%. Having more is always better, you never know you might get into video production.

And editing big budget movies for Steven Spielberg!

 

[Karnicopia]

I think that's a great laptop but yep you probably want to think about the storage a bit. I think you have a good summary of the trade offs here. Low storage + Cloud but you do pay in an ongoing basis for cloud and don't have offline copies if you aren't on internet. With high storage you can keep copies locally on the machine. I tend to honestly go for a combination of cloud and local storage because I like to be able to do things offline. Laptops tend to not be able to connect to internet the most often since you are on the move so I do like to have a decent amount of storage on them personally. Really depend on how you plan to use it if you have constant internet cloud may be the way to go but if you find yourself working offline a lot that could start to get annoying to have to carry around external devices for storage.

 

[MichaelMidnight]

Hey everyone! Thank you so very much for your thoughts. I'm coming off an older 2012 non-retina Macbook Pro 13" and while for some this machine is still more than capable, I myself have put it through its paces and it really is feeling old to me and I'm looking for a new workhorse. I still haven't made my decision yet but thanks again for the thoughts!