MacBook Pro Potential Repair Costs

[CindysD]

I posted a thread not too long ago here about getting a MBP.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1845659/

I talked to my neighbor a few days ago and he said he would personally avoid it. He said that it's impossible to repair yourself and that in a few years if the battery were to die out I'd have to pay a nice "chump of change" as he put it to get it replaced entirely. He mentioned that the memory can't be changed, nothing and it's all "clamped" down just so in the end, you'll get fed up with repair costs and end up buying another new one.

Now I'm at a loss. He said his last version you could take parts out, add a new drive, add memory and all that. But these new retina ones he wouldn't personally buy.

Ughh!!! WTH!

 

[AR86]

I posted a thread not too long ago here about getting a MBP.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1845659/

I talked to my neighbor a few days ago and he said he would personally avoid it. He said that it's impossible to repair yourself and that in a few years if the battery were to die out I'd have to pay a nice "chump of change" as he put it to get it replaced entirely. He mentioned that the memory can't be changed, nothing and it's all "clamped" down just so in the end, you'll get fed up with repair costs and end up buying another new one.

Now I'm at a loss. He said his last version you could take parts out, add a new drive, add memory and all that. But these new retina ones he wouldn't personally buy.

Ughh!!! WTH!

It is what it is, it's not user upgradeable but it's stock configuration should be fine for a long time, buy it new or refurb from apple and then buy applecare for peace of mind which will increase your warranty to 3 years so if you have any hardware faults or other they'll be able to take care of it.

Worrying about potential problems that may creep 3+ years down the line is bordering on the paranoid and if you feel that strongly about it you should maybe look at a windows alternative that better satisfies your needs.

 

[Queen6]

The current Retina line is a strong computer for a portable and they will easily serve the average user for many years. Very few people actually require to upgrade their Notebooks, given the Retinas all have SSD`s you just need to pick the one that meets your need.

The batteries last for a minimum of 1000 cycles and Apple has an exchange program for the Retina, my own first generation Retina from Mid 2012 still has over 93% of battery capacity, I have a MacBook Air from Mid 2011 and is still has over 85% of battery capacity, all my other Apple portable paint the same picture, so personally I have no concerns and just us the machines as intended.

The only thing negative is the MacBook Pro with dGPU which if you don't explicitly need is best avoided as Apple has a poor track record on this subject. The Intel integrated GPU is now far more powerful than previous iterations and not a point of concern for the majority.

with the average MacBook you are looking at getting 4-6 years solid use out of the machine, very few if any Windows based hardware can live up to that...

Q-6

 

[David58117]

I posted a thread not too long ago here about getting a MBP.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1845659/

I talked to my neighbor a few days ago and he said he would personally avoid it. He said that it's impossible to repair yourself and that in a few years if the battery were to die out I'd have to pay a nice "chump of change" as he put it to get it replaced entirely. He mentioned that the memory can't be changed, nothing and it's all "clamped" down just so in the end, you'll get fed up with repair costs and end up buying another new one.

Now I'm at a loss. He said his last version you could take parts out, add a new drive, add memory and all that. But these new retina ones he wouldn't personally buy.

Ughh!!! WTH!

So..are you intending to repair your computer yourself, upgrade the RAM or hard drive?

They (the pros) now come stock with at least 8GB RAM and an SSD...those were the upgrades people would do, anyway.

So you're getting the upgrades free and included all of us people from the classic line (the last upgradable one before retina) use to do ourselves.

I've never had to worry about batteries on an apple computer (while windows, yes), so it seems like a non-issue.

So, I would counter to your neighbor that there's now really no reason to upgrade anything yourself on the retina line. Solid state drives and 8 GB of RAM are already stock now..and if you go up to the 15" you get 16GB stock.

The trade off is an amazing screen and something much thinner and lighter than the old upgradable ones.

Anyway, this is coming from someone who use to be like your neighbor and skipped retina in favor of the older upgradable line. Retina nowadays is pretty tested and solid.

For your needs a stock macbook air would be fine, but I would look at the 13" 2014 retina version. And get Apple Care just for piece of mind.

 

[mac8867]

So if you value the word of your neighbor over the thousands of users in this forum, then perhaps a mac is not for you. I don't mean that in any way to be negative. Any computer purchase is a bigger one, a mac is at the top of the cost scale. If you bought one and would forever second guess yourself, then don't. Many of us had trepidations with our first time purchase into the platform, but most have never regretted it. Good luck with your decision.

 

[RUGGLES99]

You are preaching to the choir here so all you will get is pro responses about how wonderful the rmbp is, i myself would not shell out the HUGE dollars a new mbp goes for. To me those prices are insane. I've had and have macs and windows. I sold my mac air 13" because it was crap and went with a samsung note pro 12.2 tablet as a laptop replacement. Just recently though i wanted another mac laptop as a satellite to my desktop mac mini for a book project, i read about all the retina problems, i was mindboggled by the cost, and i was turned off by the non flexibility -- no user ram updates, ssd, battery etc etc. It was shocking. So what did i do? I familiarized mtself with all the pre retina mbp and decided the best was the high end antiglare mid 2010. I bought one on ebay from a dealer in the midwest who offered a 90 day warranty, and 30 day no questions asked return Policy. It arrived in pristine condition. 4 gb ram, 500gb ssd, yosemite, other software, Mag safe, etc. It is incredibly fast, screen is wonderful. I put ms office 2011 for mac on it. I'm happy as a pis. It made me feel great again about mac, even though my mini has been wonderful for its main use, writing, i do most of my browsing, email, movies etc etc on my samsung tablets. As for the mbp, my "new" mid 2010 15" antiglare mbp does everything i need for $700 compared to over $2000 for a locked new mbp. Now i'm looking to buy the perfect, reasonably priced mid 2010 17" mbp. Btw, if you buy in ebay, you can pay off the used mbp over 12 months interest free, so no cash out of pocket.its a no brainer.

 

[Weaselboy]

I would not be overly concerned about the battery issue. Yes, you do need to take it to Apple to get it replaced if you ever need a new battery, but it is not that expensive.

Here is Apple's official pricing on battery replacement. The Retina model battery replacement is $199. Plus you likely won't even need a battery for 3-5 years or more. I think most laptop batteries you could replace yourself are going to run you around $100, so the Retina is not that much more.

 

[David58117]

You are preaching to the choir here so all you will get is pro responses about how wonderful the rmbp is, i myself would not shell out the HUGE dollars a new mbp goes for. To me those prices are insane. I've had and have macs and windows. I sold my mac air 13" because it was crap and went with a samsung note pro 12.2 tablet as a laptop replacement. Just recently though i wanted another mac laptop as a satellite to my desktop mac mini for a book project, i read about all the retina problems, i was mindboggled by the cost, and i was turned off by the non flexibility -- no user ram updates, ssd, battery etc etc. It was shocking. So what did i do? I familiarized mtself with all the pre retina mbp and decided the best was the high end antiglare mid 2010. I bought one on ebay from a dealer in the midwest who offered a 90 day warranty, and 30 day no questions asked return Policy. It arrived in pristine condition. 4 gb ram, 500gb ssd, yosemite, other software, Mag safe, etc. It is incredibly fast, screen is wonderful. I put ms office 2011 for mac on it. I'm happy as a pis. It made me feel great again about mac, even though my mini has been wonderful for its main use, writing, i do most of my browsing, email, movies etc etc on my samsung tablets. As for the mbp, my "new" mid 2010 15" antiglare mbp does everything i need for $700 compared to over $2000 for a locked new mbp. Now i'm looking to buy the perfect, reasonably priced mid 2010 17" mbp. Btw, if you buy in ebay, you can pay off the used mbp over 12 months interest free, so no cash out of pocket.its a no brainer.

Over $2000!?! Even my 2014 retina 15" was under that BRAND NEW.

When I had the 13", I bought it new for about $1,200 - open boxed/refurb go for cheaper and are eligible for warranties.

Anyway, my opinion is $700 goes further towards a current gen product..rather than something with 5 year old parts..

I believe your 15" is only duel core..and after comparing the processors between that and the 13" 2014 retina in CPU BOSS ..the i5 in the current 13" retina came out much faster..

Add to that the current retina comes with 8GB stock RAM - your savings drops if you plan to upgrade it..

Even comparing it to the current 13" air processor - it was pretty close with the air slightly nudging it out.

And you're pretty much paying air money at $700...

Oh - and this was comparing the top of the line i7 version of the 2010 15" - the rests are i5's and would of been no contest...