Macbook Purchase Advice

[Mohamed elnamoury]

Hi , many thanks for being in the forum.
I am willing to buy macbook 12 inch soon and i am undecided which is the best, 2015 model with 500 gb hard disk or 2017 new model with 256 gb.
Kind regards
Mohamed

 

[Glmnet1]

It depends on your usage. Tell us more about it so we can provide better assistance.

The 2017 is a better machine and a good upgrade over the 2015. Also, I personally like to buy newer devices because it helps to keep them longer.

Verify how much storage you're using right now and plan for the future. 256gb is not a lot for most people.

 

[mtneer]

Additionally what kind of discount are you getting for buying the older 2015 model? Obviously that has to be big enough to make it worth your while.

 

[EugW]

1. The keyboard on the 2017 is much, much better.
2. The CPU on the 2017 is significantly faster.
3. The GPU on the 2017 includes hardware 10-bit 4K HEVC decode support.
4. The keyboard on the 2017 is much, much better.

Did I mention the keyboard on the 2017 is much, much better?

 

[Mohamed elnamoury]

It depends on your usage. Tell us more about it so we can provide better assistance.

The 2017 is a better machine and a good upgrade over the 2015. Also, I personally like to buy newer devices because it helps to keep them longer.

Verify how much storage you're using right now and plan for the future. 256gb is not a lot for most people.

Usually i do not need too much storage as my usual uasge is for reading, presentation and some teaching videos
[doublepost=1521260601][/doublepost]

1. The keyboard on the 2017 is much, much better.
2. The CPU on the 2017 is significantly faster.
3. The GPU on the 2017 includes hardware 10-bit 4K HEVC decode support.
4. The keyboard on the 2017 is much, much better.

Did I mention the keyboard on the 2017 is much, much better?

One review on the youtube warned from butterfly keyboard as the issue of cleaning, dust stucking and keys change..
I do not have experience so what do you think about that??

 

[EugW]

Usually i do not need too much storage as my usual uasge is for reading, presentation and some teaching videos
[doublepost=1521260601][/doublepost]
One review on the youtube warned from butterfly keyboard as the issue of cleaning, dust stucking and keys change..
I do not have experience so what do you think about that??

Well, both the 2015 and the 2017 have a butterfly keyboard. The 2017 is a newer and updated butterfly keyboard though.

BTW, the 2017 Core m3 is noticeably faster than the 2015 Core m3.

https://technical.city/en/cpu/Core-m3-7Y32-vs-Core-M-5Y31

 

[maerz001]

If u don't need a lot of storage than you should go for the 2017 cos it's a lot faster.

And please give more infos in your headline what this thread is about. It helps also the search function

 

[SpitUK]

Not even a decision to think about. 2017 all the way, amazing machine. I have owned the 2015, 2016 and now the 2017.

 

[Dave245]

I would think that with the MacBook you should get the highest spec's you can as they are not very powerful, the only problem is that with the MacBook currently (when maxing it out) it is very close to MacBook Pro price, £1,864 for a maxed out MacBook BUT there is a 13.3" MacBook Pro with Touch Bar that costs £1,949, so for less than £100 you can get a Pro which has higher specs and a better screen.

 

[EugW]

I would think that with the MacBook you should get the highest spec's you can as they are not very powerful

Not sure that's great advice. The current 2017 Core m3-7Y32 is faster than last year's Core m5-6Y54, and close to the speed of the 2017 MacBook Air's Core i5 (within 5%). It is faster than the 2015 MacBook Air's Core i5-5250U.

 

[Mohamed elnamoury]

There is no brianer that the macbook pro is more powerful but I do like the handling and design of the macbook as i use the notebook mainly for reading and presentation

 

[Dave245]

Not sure that's great advice. The current 2017 Core m3-7Y32 is faster than last year's Core m5-6Y54, and close to the speed of the 2017 MacBook Air's Core i5 (within 5%).

It depends what your doing and how long you plan to keep the Macbook is what I should of said (I will edit my post), I’ve always been told to get the most RAM and highest processor as I tend to keep my machines for years, for example I still have my 2011 MacBook Pro which at some point I will have to upgrade to a newer machine.
[doublepost=1521299747][/doublepost]

I would think that with the MacBook you should get the highest spec's you can as they are not very powerful, the only problem is that with the MacBook currently (when maxing it out) it is very close to MacBook Pro price, £1,864 for a maxed out MacBook BUT there is a 13.3" MacBook Pro with Touch Bar that costs £1,949, so for less than £100 you can get a Pro which has higher specs and a better screen.

EDIT: it depends how long you plan to keep the MacBook and what your doing with it.
[doublepost=1521299942][/doublepost]

There is no brianer that the macbook pro is more powerful but I do like the handling and design of the macbook as i use the notebook mainly for reading and presentation

For reading and presentations you would be fine with the entry level Macbook! If that’s all your going to do. I do understand about the design it is brilliant and I myself have gone backwards and forwards with getting the MacBook or the MacBook Pro.

 

[EugW]

It depends what your doing and how long you plan to keep the Macbook is what I should of said (I will edit my post), I’ve always been told to get the most RAM and highest processor as I tend to keep my machines for years, for example I still have my 2011 MacBook Pro which at some point I will have to upgrade to a newer machine.

In general, the important things to get are RAM and storage. After a certain threshold, CPU speed is secondary. This is especially when upgrading the CPU may only give you a 5-10% increase. The Core i7 MacBook is only about 5% faster than the Core m3.

Also my old 2009 MacBook Pro still surfs and does Mac Office OK. It runs a 2.26 GHz Core 2 Duo, which has a PassMark score of 1500+. My Core m3 MacBook has a PassMark score of 3500+.

For surfing, my m3 MacBook (PassMark 3525), Core i7 870 iMac (PassMark 5375), Core i5-7600 iMac (Passmark 8875), and even Core i7-7700K iMac (PassMark 12075) all feel almost the same. Yes, there are occasional times the Core m3 can feel a bit slower, but most of the time it's about the same.

My 2009 MacBook Pro with 8 GB RAM and 2.26 GHz Core 2 Duo T8400 does feel laggy at times, but otherwise still works fine, and that thing is 9 years old and didn't have the fastest available CPU when I bought it either.

---

tl;dr:

IMO the Core m3 MacBook will be fine for MS Office and surfing for at least 5 years... if you get enough RAM and storage for your needs.

I personally don't need a lot of storage for my laptops, but I have found that RAM is of utmost importance to keep a laptop viable, so I got 256 GB storage and 16 GB RAM for my m3. IMO, the main reason to above an m3 in the current MacBook is to get more SSD storage, because they don't sell the 512 GB model with the m3.

 

[Dave245]

In general, the important things to get are RAM and storage. After a certain threshold, CPU speed is secondary. This is especially when upgrading the CPU may only give you a 5-10% increase. The Core i7 MacBook is only about 5% faster than the Core m3.

Also my old 2009 MacBook Pro still surfs and does Mac Office OK. It runs a 2.26 GHz Core 2 Duo, which has a PassMark score of 1500+. My Core m3 MacBook has a PassMark score of 3500+.

For surfing, my m3 MacBook (PassMark 3525), Core i7 870 iMac (PassMark 5375), Core i5-7600 iMac (Passmark 8875), and even Core i7-7700K iMac (PassMark 12075) all feel almost the same. Yes, there are occasional times the Core m3 can feel a bit slower, but most of the time it's about the same.

The 2009 MacBook Pro does feel laggy at times, but otherwise still works fine, and that thing is 9 years old and didn't have the fastest available CPU when I bought it either.

---

tl;dr:

IMO the Core m3 MacBook performance will be fine for MS Office and surfing for at least 5 years.

I suppose the 16GB Ram option that they started to offer last year was also a big upgrade! My 2011 MacBook Pro can surf the web fine along with doing word processing, however when it comes to some video editing (nothing too taxing just 1080p) it can get a bit slow and laggy, my 2012 iMac isn’t too bad at home tho. I’ll be keeping an eye on this years MacBook updates, if we see a 13.3” I’ll probably be all over that, however if they do out quad core processors in the 13” Pro with Touch Bar I will probably lean more towards that, especially considering I keep my machines for a while.

 

[EugW]

I suppose the 16GB Ram option that they started to offer last year was also a big upgrade! My 2011 MacBook Pro can surf the web fine along with doing word processing, however when it comes to some video editing (nothing too taxing just 1080p) it can get a bit slow and laggy, my 2012 iMac isn’t too bad at home tho. I’ll be keeping an eye on this years MacBook updates, if we see a 13.3” I’ll probably be all over that, however if they do out quad core processors in the 13” Pro with Touch Bar I will probably lean more towards that, especially considering I keep my machines for a while.

Yeah, if I were into video editing on my laptop, I'd get a MacBook Pro, with a discrete GPU too. It'd have to be at least a 2017 MacBook Pro though, and preferably a 2018 (with increased core count).

But I have an iMac Core i5-7600 with Radeon 575 and any video editing would be done on my iMac anyway, so for me it's moot. I suspect it's also irrelevant for the OP, since s/he hasn't stated any need for video editing.

Ironically though, the MacBook Core m3 can edit 4K even some 8K tolerably according to some reports.

I think this may be due to the improved Quick Sync in the Kaby Lake iGPUs. I've heard reports that h.264 hardware decode/encode has been improved, and in addition, it now has up to 10-bit 4K h.265 HEVC hardware decode/encode as well. 10.13 and Apple software will leverage up to 10-bit 4K HEVC hardware decode (only available in 2017 Macs or later, excluding the MacBook Airs), and up to 8-bit 4K HEVC hardware encode (2015 iMacs, 2016 MacBooks and MacBook Pros).

To put it another way, in some specific instances, you're actually better off with a 2017 MacBook than a 2016 MacBook Pro. There are videos on the MacBook Core m3 that can play back smoothly that even an iMac Core i7-6700K can't, due the lack of the hardware support in the iMac.

 

[Dave245]

Yeah, if I were into video editing on my laptop, I'd get a MacBook Pro, with a discrete GPU too. It'd have to be at least a 2017 MacBook Pro though, and preferably a 2018 (with increased core count).

But I have an iMac Core i5-7600 with Radeon 575 and any video editing would be done on my iMac anyway, so for me it's moot. I suspect it's also irrelevant for the OP, since s/he hasn't stated any need for video editing.

Ironically though, the MacBook Core m3 can edit 4K even some 8K tolerably according to some reports.

I think this may be due to the improved Quick Sync in the Kaby Lake iGPUs. I've heard reports that h.264 hardware decode/encode has been improved, and in addition, it now has up to 10-bit 4K h.265 HEVC hardware decode/encode as well. 10.13 and Apple software will leverage up to 10-bit 4K HEVC hardware decode (only available in 2017 Macs or later, excluding the MacBook Airs), and up to 8-bit 4K HEVC hardware encode (2015 iMacs, 2016 MacBooks and MacBook Pros).

To put it another way, in some specific instances, you're actually better off with a 2017 MacBook than a 2016 MacBook Pro. There are videos on the MacBook Core m3 that can play back smoothly that even an iMac Core i7-6700K can't, due the lack of the hardware support in the iMac.

I have seen that video a couple of times now it's part of the reason why i keep going back and forth with getting and not getting the MacBook, the other thing that puts me off is the small 12" screen i fear it will be too small in comparison to my 12.9" iPad Pro.

It will be interesting to see what processors they put in this years MacBook (if indeed they do update it). Maybe it's just wishful thinking but they could announce a couple of Mac updates that the educational event on March 27th OR WWDC may seem more likely.

 

[Guy Clark]

Personally I would go with 2015 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro which is available at drastically reduced prices now.

The advantage is the flexibility of multiple ports so less need for a docking station.

Ports include:

2x Thunderbolt 2
2x USB 3
HDMI
SDXC

....and of course it retains the MagSafe charger port.

 

[EugW]

I have seen that video a couple of times now it's part of the reason why i keep going back and forth with getting and not getting the MacBook, the other thing that puts me off is the small 12" screen i fear it will be too small in comparison to my 12.9" iPad Pro.

It's up to you and your own preferences. For me a 12.9" iPad Pro is pointless. Way too big for an iPad, which for me is purely a consumption device.

It will be interesting to see what processors they put in this years MacBook (if indeed they do update it). Maybe it's just wishful thinking but they could announce a couple of Mac updates that the educational event on March 27th OR WWDC may seem more likely.

If they do upgrade the MacBook, there is no guarantee they'd update it at either the March event or WWDC. They only announce at big events when it makes sense to do so, both in terms of impact and in terms of timing. For example, the 2016 update of the MacBook was just a press release.

Also, since we don't see any evidence of updated 8th generation Y series chips for the MacBook yet, there is a chance it won't get updated until the Cannon Lake Y chips are out, which might not be until Q1 2019, or Q4 2018 at the earliest.

If it were me though today, I'd wait anyway, since Cannon Lake Y is likely going to be quad core. I bought my 7th gen Y MacBook in 2017, with significantly increased speeds, hugely improved keyboard, 16 GB RAM, and big iGPU upgrades in terms of codec support so that made sense for me. The next big thing in the MacBook (besides a possible 13" model) would be the quad core support, but that won't come until 2019.

If the MacBook gets updated in mid-2018, it would be still be with dual-core at likely similar performance, and no iGPU update.

 

[Dave245]

It's up to you and your own preferences. For me a 12.9" iPad Pro is pointless. Way too big for an iPad, which for me is purely a consumption device.


If they do upgrade the MacBook, there is no guarantee they'd update it at either the March event or WWDC. They only announce at big events when it makes sense to do so, both in terms of impact and in terms of timing. For example, the 2016 update of the MacBook was just a press release.

Also, since we don't see any evidence of updated 8th generation Y series chips for the MacBook yet, there is a chance it won't get updated until the Cannon Lake Y chips are out, which might not be until Q1 2019, or Q4 2018 at the earliest.

If it were me though today, I'd wait anyway, since Cannon Lake Y is likely going to be quad core. I bought my 7th gen Y MacBook in 2017, with significantly increased speeds, hugely improved keyboard, 16 GB RAM, and big iGPU upgrades in terms of codec support so that made sense for me. The next big thing in the MacBook (besides a possible 13" model) would be the quad core support, but that won't come until 2019.

If the MacBook gets updated in mid-2018, it would be still be with dual-core at likely similar performance, and no iGPU update.

I love my iPad Pro and wouldn’t be without it, but I do also love Mac, the iPad Pro is a lot more capable especially when used with the Apple Pencil I love drawing and taking notes with it also apps like Affinity photo are just awesome to use. But when it comes to things like video editing (short 1080 videos) and writing for prolonged amounts of time (as a writer it’s what I mainly do) I love to use a Mac.

I’m not saying they would have anything major to announce but they could just say like they did last year at WWDC “we have updated the Mac to the latest processors” or something to that effect. If they do announce a 13” version it may make sense.

You mentioned getting the 16GB Ram in your 2017 MacBook, do you find it helps? My 2011 MacBook Pro has 8GB so just on ram alone the MacBook would beat it, do wonder how would compare on other specs tho as I brought the 15” Quad core version. With thinking of upgrading in the future I obviously want something faster and worth the investment.

 

[Mohamed elnamoury]

Could u please have a look at this video, i can not upload the video so i just took screen shoot

 

[ksec]

1. The keyboard on the 2017 is much, much better.
4. The keyboard on the 2017 is much, much better.

Did I mention the keyboard on the 2017 is much, much better?

Much better? It is louder, slightly more clicky. It is definitely better, but only because the original was rather poor by other standard and crap by Apple’s Standard.

Which means the 2017 keyboard is still only half decent.

 

[EugW]

Much better? It is louder, slightly more clicky. It is definitely better, but only because the original was rather poor by other standard and crap by Apple’s Standard.

Which means the 2017 keyboard is still only half decent.

Agreed.

The 2017 keyboard is still mediocre. But the 2015 keyboard was crap.

IOW, the 2017 MacBook keyboard is a huge improvement over the 2015 MacBook keyboard, but it's still not as good as my 10 year old MacBook5,1's keyboard.

 

[Mohamed elnamoury]

Is there a difference in heating between different models......many thanks in advance.

 

[Dave245]

Agreed.

The 2017 keyboard is still mediocre. But the 2015 keyboard was crap.

IOW, the 2017 MacBook keyboard is a huge improvement over the 2015 MacBook keyboard, but it's still not as good as my 10 year old MacBook5,1's keyboard.

This is opinion based, there are people who hate the new keyboards and people who love them, i don't see Apple changing that other than to evolve it over time just like they do with most products. The same can be said for things like the Touch Bar and the large track pad (some people love it while others don't).

 

[Mike Boreham]

I have a 2016 MacBook. I have seen the comments about the 2017 keyboard being much much better, and these influence my upgrade decision. But I have several times tried 2017 MacBooks in stores and the difference does not hit me.

Granted I am not trying the 2017 and 2016 side by side, but when I try the 2017 in the store, I don't get a "wow this is much better" feeling. Maybe if I could try them side-by-side in my own workspace it would be more obvious.