old vs new vs refurb

[search4mac]

Hey, I'm in the market for a new Macbook (had one, it died after like 5 years and was beautiful)

I was wondering if it would be worth it to buy a mid/late-2012 macbook pro, or should I just wait and hoard more money until I can afford a 2014 model?

I'm just worried that anything I'd buy from 2012 (being 2.5 years old) would just poop out on me way too soon. I'd rather not pay more than 1500 which obviously limits my buying ability (been thinking about doing a 13 in and/or an refurb but idk if I would be happy because I used to have a 15 in and it was pretty much perfect)

Anyways what say you? 2012 worth it?

 

[yjchua95]

Hey, I'm in the market for a new Macbook (had one, it died after like 5 years and was beautiful)

I was wondering if it would be worth it to buy a mid/late-2012 macbook pro, or should I just wait and hoard more money until I can afford a 2014 model?

I'm just worried that anything I'd buy from 2012 (being 2.5 years old) would just poop out on me way too soon. I'd rather not pay more than 1500 which obviously limits my buying ability (been thinking about doing a 13 in and/or an refurb but idk if I would be happy because I used to have a 15 in and it was pretty much perfect)

Anyways what say you? 2012 worth it?

I'd say totally not worth it.

The cMBP is crippled by the lack of a retina display, and its elderly Ivy Bridge CPU.

Good for education usage, but not worth it.

I'd suggest a refurb retina MBP instead. Refurbs are damn good, and are as good as new.

 

[search4mac]

Thank you! Do you have any perpersonal feelings about 13 in vs 15 in? I had the 15 and I'm worried that if I get a 13 I'm going to feel so stunted.

 

[AFEPPL]

Unless something has changed a new 2.6GHz/16GB/256GB is only £1356 or £1159 for the 128GB version with 16GB.

You don't need anything more, use a NAS drive for external storage or cloud based storage. No need to get drawn into a spec fest.

New everytime.

 

[yjchua95]

Thank you! Do you have any perpersonal feelings about 13 in vs 15 in? I had the 15 and I'm worried that if I get a 13 I'm going to feel so stunted.

I'd go for a 15" anytime solely for the screen estate and quad core i7 alone.

Whether or not you need the dGPU, that depends on your usage.

The late-2013 and mid-2014 ones share the same Haswell CPUs and hence are current tech.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP asked above:
[[ Do you have any perpersonal feelings about 13 in vs 15 in? ]]

Get the 13".

Use the money you save to buy a nice external display as well.

 

[farmermac]

Thank you! Do you have any perpersonal feelings about 13 in vs 15 in? I had the 15 and I'm worried that if I get a 13 I'm going to feel so stunted.

from personal experience once you find the screen size you love, don't switch. 15" high res anti-glare was the perfect size before IMO. Now the retina would be my choice if I had to get a new computer.

 

[Altemose]

The 13" Retina is the great balance of desktop space and portability in my opinion though with the slimmer form factor and lighter weight I would probably get a 15" with what I do.

 

[Nordichund]

Here's my 2 cents.

I would have no problem buying a refurb. The reason for this is that it has gone back to Apple and been thoroughly tested by Apples's OWN qualified technicians. The quality control at the Chinese factory might be 99.9% okay, but quite a few lemons do get through.

Personally, I chose the 13". After owning a quite heavy, but amazing early 2008 MBP that I found a tad too big to carry around, I decided to buy a new 13" rMBP.

I still went to the store and played, tested the latest models side by side. Although I believe the 15" to be an incredible machine and a lot lighter than my old 2008 incarnation. Not needing the better graphics power of the 15", it was after I picked both of them up and compared the weight that I decided on the lighter*and smaller 13".

 

[Daniele Mnn]

If you like the 15" size, i would suggest to buy a refurb rMBP 15" without the discrete GPU, unless you have needs for it.