MBP 15'' upgrade from base model?

[beachbum45]

I know there are many variants of this question but I wanted to ask my specific situation. So I bought a base model mid 2014 MBP 15in, but Im questioning whether it's worth trading it in for the next pre-config model. With the educational discount, it's a $300 upgrade for which you get a slightly faster processor, 512gb SSD instead of 256, and the dGPU. I dont need the dGPU and I'm actually somewhat worried about it after my 2011 failure, but I'm trying to future proof as much as possible. As far as the SSD, everyone can always use more, but I typically have 80-100gb free with frequent cleaning up.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[Joe Rossignol]

I know there are many variants of this question but I wanted to ask my specific situation. So I bought a base model mid 2014 MBP 15in, but Im questioning whether it's worth trading it in for the next pre-config model. With the educational discount, it's a $300 upgrade for which you get a slightly faster processor, 512gb SSD instead of 256, and the dGPU. I dont need the dGPU and I'm actually somewhat worried about it after my 2011 failure, but I'm trying to future proof as much as possible. As far as the SSD, everyone can always use more, but I typically have 80-100gb free with frequent cleaning up.

Thanks for your thoughts!

I feel like you are partially answering your own question by ruling out the need for a dedicated GPU and more flash storage. So your decision ultimately comes down to whether you think $500 is worth it for a slightly faster i7 processor.

 

[yjchua95]

I know there are many variants of this question but I wanted to ask my specific situation. So I bought a base model mid 2014 MBP 15in, but Im questioning whether it's worth trading it in for the next pre-config model. With the educational discount, it's a $300 upgrade for which you get a slightly faster processor, 512gb SSD instead of 256, and the dGPU. I dont need the dGPU and I'm actually somewhat worried about it after my 2011 failure, but I'm trying to future proof as much as possible. As far as the SSD, everyone can always use more, but I typically have 80-100gb free with frequent cleaning up.

Thanks for your thoughts!

The cMBP had a really bad thermal design and crappy ventilation. Throw in an inefficient GPU like the Radeon and you've got Radeongate.

In the rMBPs, the thermal design has been significantly improved, along with the ventilation. The NVIDIA chip is also way more power efficient.

I've got a late-2013 15" (2.6/16/1TB/750M) and it runs pretty cool even with the 750M enabled.

So just go for it.

In the 2011 15" Radeongate debacle, the first of the widespread failures showed up within the first year, and increased exponentially after the 3-year mark.

In the case of the rMBPs, it's been almost 3 years since the original rMBP with GT 650M came out in mid-2012. So far, there haven't been any widespread issues (except for a few rare cases in which Yosemite drivers didn't work well with the 650M, but worked fine with the 750M).

So I'd say it's safe to go for the 750M option.

 

[beachbum45]

Thanks for your thoughts! It was really helpful to hear your thoughts on the differences between the 2011 issues and the current setup. Between the increase in SSD size (with better read/write speeds) and slightly faster processor Ill probably just fork out the extra dough

 

[yjchua95]

Thanks for your thoughts! It was really helpful to hear your thoughts on the differences between the 2011 issues and the current setup. Between the increase in SSD size (with better read/write speeds) and slightly faster processor Ill probably just fork out the extra dough

It's worth it.

I forgot to mention that I also got bummed by Radeongate, but since my 15" (early-2011 with BTO 2.3GHz i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB 840 Pro SSD, 1GB 6750M) had an antiglare screen, I decided to reball it with leaded solder and reapplied thermal paste on the CPU and GPU with AS5.

It's running normally now. I had to resurrect it because I liked the AG screen. My rMBP attracts glare like a solar panel outdoors.

 

[beachbum45]

It's worth it.

I forgot to mention that I also got bummed by Radeongate, but since my 15" (early-2011 with BTO 2.3GHz i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB 840 Pro SSD, 1GB 6750M) had an antiglare screen, I decided to reball it with leaded solder and reapplied thermal paste on the CPU and GPU with AS5.

It's running normally now. I had to resurrect it because I liked the AG screen. My rMBP attracts glare like a solar panel outdoors.

Yeah it was a pretty crazy issue. I had the first issue fixed with AppleCare a year after I got it. Then it started again a few months after AppleCare ended so I paid for them to send it to depot. I had immediate issues with 3 back to back logic boards so they finally CRU'd it and gave me the new baseline rmbp. I got lucky but it still was basically 4 months without a reliable computer to get to that point. Hopefully the lawsuit will go through and help everyone else that didn't get as lucky. If I was more confident at repairing hardware myself I probably would have just tried what you said since the computer was awesome otherwise.

 

[blooperz]

the 750m is already outdated...it's not worth upgrading just for that...especially if you don't already need one. It's just gonna get more and more obsolete.

 

[beachbum45]

the 750m is already outdated...it's not worth upgrading just for that...especially if you don't already need one. It's just gonna get more and more obsolete.

Upgrading was mostly for the larger SSD to future proof for larger media files honestly. The dGPU was more of a concern than a benefit, but like yjchua95 mentioned, it doesn't seem to have issues with being faulty like older ones do.

 

[Algus]

It is a waste to go for the larger storage drives IMO unless you really need the space for apps. There are tons and tons of great external storage devices out there: whether you want some sort of desktop Thunderbolt setup or are just going to plug in a beefy USB or SD card. 64 GB cards are cheap now and they've already pushed out 512 GB cards on the high end (ridiculously expensive of course)

For almost all content outside of software, external storage makes a heck of a lot of sense. You can get USB drives that are small enough that portability isn't an issue either.

You don't really have to "future proof" a 15'' MBP, even the lower specced machine uses such high end parts that it will be a beast for years to come.

 

[Natzoo]

I've had the same situation. I got the base model 15" retina in late 2013 a week later i ordered the base model but with more memory, and when that came in i realized i wanted the high end model. So i got the one with NVIDIA gt 750m and apple let me return the customized mac.

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Upgrading was mostly for the larger SSD to future proof for larger media files honestly. The dGPU was more of a concern than a benefit, but like yjchua95 mentioned, it doesn't seem to have issues with being faulty like older ones do.

Its really funny how lenovo notebooks have NVIDIA GT 860m with 4gb of memory for 1200 dollars

 

[SkimMilk168]

$300 for the extra storage and more powerful CPU is good enough a reason to "future proof" it.

 

[cbautis2]

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Its really funny how lenovo notebooks have NVIDIA GT 860m with 4gb of memory for 1200 dollars

Lenovo are crap like all non-apple stuff. Build quality is crap. Support is non-existing and OS is crap too. GPU specs don't matter anyways unless you're gaming. The difference between a mid level GPU and high end GPU aren't that much different when using GPU acceleration in video editing anyways.

 

[steveyo]

Lenovo are crap like all non-apple stuff. Build quality is crap. Support is non-existing and OS is crap too. GPU specs don't matter anyways unless you're gaming. The difference between a mid level GPU and high end GPU aren't that much different when using GPU acceleration in video editing anyways.

You're misinformed! The "true" W and T series will be more durable than any Macbook or other consumer grade laptop.

@OP

the 750m GPU is already outdated but it's a improvement over the Intel GPU
Broadwell is just around the corner (this will probably be a sideways upgrade vs current Haswell)
Skylark is coming out 2016 (this will be massive performance jump)
Maybe Apple will finally give us 32GB of ram by 2016?