MBP 2010 failing. Buy 15" now or Skylake?

[Eorlas]

mid 2010 13" MBP owner here, and it's dying. the thing eats struggleberries for breakfast everyday despite having new life breathed into it with an 8gb ram upgrade and a 128gb SSD.

I've done all manner of fresh installs and disk cleanup, and this lil bastard is still slowin' down. occasionally I get graphical artifacts, and not too long ago it gave me some trouble during boot (freezing etc.) it has also started to struggle loading 1080p movies and outputting via mDP to HDMI.

I'm very much interested in upgrading to a 15" MBP, and have a few questions:

-Is the 2015 model a significant enough upgrade to justify the extra expense over a 2014?

I know everyone is on the edge of their seats in anticipation of Skylake, but current speculation says Skylake for MBP may not come until 2016. Anyone have further details on this here? Will we find out something different at IDF next week?

If Skylake MBP isn't until next year, I could probably upgrade now then consider selling it to pay towards a Skylake refresh if it also results in a form factor change.

Thanks all

 

[TheIguana]

If your current Mac isn't cutting it to get your work done then purchasing a new one is a good plan. Between the 2015 and 2014 rMBP there is minimal difference from a computing perspective between the models especially if you don't plan to get a dedicated graphics card.

Between them the big differences are a force touch enabled trackpad, a faster SSD (not that the previous one was slow by any means) and a mildly better graphics card.

If you can get a great deal on a 2014 and money is tight then that could be a good option. But either model year is going to be a significant jump in performance from your 2010 model.

I know everyone is on the edge of their seats in anticipation of Skylake, but current speculation says Skylake for MBP may not come until 2016. Anyone have further details on this here? Will we find out something different at IDF next week?

Only Apple knows. Maybe October, maybe November, maybe 2016. Probably won't be August or September.

 

[Eorlas]

I do plan on getting the model from either year that has the dGP. Having the latest and greatest is awesome, but understandably the price premium doesn't entirely live up to the minor upgrade I've been reading the 2015 to be over the 2014.

The trackpad sounds cool, as does the performance boost around the system, but then again it's not a massive boost.

Ugh decisions.

 

[cbass]

I am in nearly the same position. I have a early 2011 MBP and use it for work, it runs about 10h per day almost every Day. It already failed a year ago and Apple exchanged the Logic Board, at least I got my money back. But now it starts getting slow and again I ocassionally see artifacts on boot. I already exchanged the battery with a non original one holds up to 2h again.

So now I am thinking to sell my MBP I would get about 800 Euros thats like 850 $ and buy a 2015 rMBP. I would love to wait on Skylake but:

1. I can not wait until early 2016, late 2015 would be possible since it's only a few weeks to go
2. The Skylake Model will be a major update an maybe I shouldn't buy the first gen and wait for the second?
3. What do you think will there be a Design change? Maybe a gold rMBP?

What would you do?

Thanks
cbass

 

[Samuelsan2001]

I am in nearly the same position. I have a early 2011 MBP and use it for work, it runs about 10h per day almost every Day. It already failed a year ago and Apple exchanged the Logic Board, at least I got my money back. But now it starts getting slow and again I ocassionally see artifacts on boot. I already exchanged the battery with a non original one holds up to 2h again.

So now I am thinking to sell my MBP I would get about 800 Euros thats like 850 $ and buy a 2015 rMBP. I would love to wait on Skylake but:

1. I can not wait until early 2016, late 2015 would be possible since it's only a few weeks to go
2. The Skylake Model will be a major update an maybe I shouldn't buy the first gen and wait for the second?
3. What do you think will there be a Design change? Maybe a gold rMBP?

What would you do?

Thanks
cbass

I would buy one now.

Firstly the benefits of having a better computer that is actually doing what you need even for a couple of months outweighs the minor benefits a CPU upgrade will bring.

Secondly the mobile skylake roadmap released yesterday shows only 15W CPU's this year (macbook air level) and the 28W (rMBP 13 inch) early next year and the 47W quad core aren't even on there yet, your chances of any rMBP updates before February next year look incredibly slim and I'd say march/april more likely.

To be honest I don't see them doing colours on the Pro machines, I also don't see much change going on, a bit slimmer and USB C/thunderbolt 3 support for external 5K screens.

 

[cbass]

Secondly the mobile skylake roadmap released yesterday shows only 15W CPU's this year (macbook air level) and the 28W (rMBP 13 inch) early next year and the 47W quad core aren't even on there yet, your chances of any rMBP updates before February next year look incredibly slim and I'd say march/april more likely.

Okey thanks for the hint. Thats what I am afraid of. I might just sell my MBP 2011 get the 2015 an sell it again in 2016 if it's woth it.

 

[meyer1131]

I got the 2015 15" rMBP upgraded from the 15" 2011 and love it!

 

[Procomp]

i have the same "problem" just ordered the 13" rmbp and than looked up and saw that skylake about to come, start to feel really bad about it... hope there's not design changes, i wouldn't mind for a gold rmbp

 

[jdiamond]

I would buy one now.

Secondly the mobile skylake roadmap released yesterday shows only 15W CPU's this year (macbook air level) and the 28W (rMBP 13 inch) early next year and the 47W quad core aren't even on there yet, your chances of any rMBP updates before February next year look incredibly slim and I'd say march/april more likely.

Just wanted to add that Intel has crippled the new Skylake features everyone has been waiting for (AVX 3 delayed until Cannondale), so the CPU boost will be almost nothing. For me, the only thing that might be interesting is TB3 and a 2 TB SSD option, but who knows if we'll see either? For most people, I don't see much to anticipate.

 

[pjfan]

If I were in your shoes, I would lean towards 2015 rMBP. You never mentioned your use cases, however.... But give. The options you represent, I'd choose 2015.

 

[cbass]

Well I am selling my MBP 2011 right now an then getting the 2015 since I need it for daily work.
My opinion on Skylake is: If apple just updates the CPU and Graphics it will be no big deal for me because the MBP 2015 is powerful enough and if they choose a complete redesign I don't want to get the first generation because as always I bet they will still be kinda buggy.