Macbook Pro 13" early 2011 - stick or twist?

[bulldoze]

Still using my early 2011 Macbook Pro i7 2.7 Ghz dual core 8GB and a self installed 256GB SSD. Battery is pretty much finished and reports Condition: Replace soon. unplugged it lasts for about 90 mins before dying.

I use a few VMs on the machine and also do some light development work. I also use it when I work from home and connect through to the corporate network through Citrix. One part of me wants to continue to use this machine until it truly dies as I like the idea of the fact that the longer I leave it till I upgrade then the better spec machine I will eventually get! - I know I am a bit weird.

But ... when the new machines are announced then surely it will be time to upgrade? a quad core i5 would be a big performance boost wouldn't it? also my eyes would love the benefits of a Retina screen. I would also have the ability to work away from a power source.

Difficult to decide as just playing with newer MacBook Pros in the Apple store does not really give me an idea of the differences as I am not using it on my sofa, using my applications.

Is it time?

 

[Fishrrman]

I can't recommend either the 2016 or 2017 MacBook Pros because of the problems with the keyboard.

Others disagree, but I _DO_ recommend the 2015 design, which has a far more robust keyboard than do the 2016/17 models, and it has a full complement of ports one can use without dongles.

The 2015 design MacBook Pro 15" is still being built and sold as "new equipment".
The 2015 design MacBook Pro 13" is available as Apple-refurbished from store.Apple.com.

IF you can hold out a while longer, new MacBook Pro's are expected around July/August.
This DOES NOT guarantee that the keyboard problems will be corrected in the new models.
But we can hope.

 

[bulldoze]

I can certainly hold out until August.

I know all about the reported problems with current MB Pro's so I am hoping Apple can turn my head with the new models.