Should I Buy a cMBP 15''?

[nilsh32]

Hi all,

I have had my current white macbook for 6 years now and I need a new one. I have saved up and decided on a non-retina classic macbook pro with the antiglare high res screen, the 2.6Ghz i7 with 1GB vram. I have already bought a SSD and 16 gigs of ram online to upgrade it.

Anyway, with all this talk of updated macbook lines, should I go through with it? My worry is that they are going to update the macbook lines and then I will be forced to get retina if i want the 15'' screen. I want a 15'' screen much more than I need a retina display, but the retina 15'' computers are SO expensive to buy and they are not upgradable! So I am wondering if I would be a fool to knowingly purchase a 2,000$ computer that will be obsolete in 2 months. I do like having a CD drive and I have a feeling those will be going away as well.

Thoughts? I don't buy new computers often, I take care of them and keep them for a long time, and I want to get it right.

-Nils

 

[B...]

It sounds like you need a cMBP, not a rMBP. I would guess that this year, Apple will either discontinue the 15" cMBP or just not update it with Haswell, the new Intel processor. Either way, you should wait if you can, because if it is not upgraded, oh well, but if it is discontinued, you could get it right after for very cheap. And, since you need a CD drive and like upgrading RAM and HDD easily, you shouldn't be worried about the computer becoming obsolete, because it is the right computer for you (it sounds like).

 

[xShane]

Hi all,

I have had my current white macbook for 6 years now and I need a new one. I have saved up and decided on a non-retina classic macbook pro with the antiglare high res screen, the 2.6Ghz i7 with 1GB vram. I have already bought a SSD and 16 gigs of ram online to upgrade it.

Anyway, with all this talk of updated macbook lines, should I go through with it? My worry is that they are going to update the macbook lines and then I will be forced to get retina if i want the 15'' screen. I want a 15'' screen much more than I need a retina display, but the retina 15'' computers are SO expensive to buy and they are not upgradable! So I am wondering if I would be a fool to knowingly purchase a 2,000$ computer that will be obsolete in 2 months. I do like having a CD drive and I have a feeling those will be going away as well.

Thoughts? I don't buy new computers often, I take care of them and keep them for a long time, and I want to get it right.

-Nils

Your 15" cMBP will not be obsolete in two months.

The refresh is only expected to bring a 10% speed increase in the CPU and only a slight integrated graphics card performance boost (the 15" cMBP has a dedicated card so that doesn't even matter anyhow).

It should last you 3-5 years.

 

[kh3khalid]

I am in the same situation as you, as my current laptop lags and freezes when just reading some PDFs. So, I ordered a 2.3 cMBP 15" with anti glare a week ago. I have the money to buy 16GB of Ram & 250GB SSD, and I will buy them soon.

I just couldn't wait. And I don't think that the improvements are worth waiting for.

Haswell? The current quad core is already powerful.
More battery life? 7 hours is more than enough.
Better GPU? This is a good update if they do it tbo. But in my case I wont need a better GPU than the current.

Finally, it really depends on you. You have to see your needs and decide. I needed one so I bought one.

 

[stchman]

For the price of a 15" cMBP (and your upgrades), you can get a 15"rMBP for less.

Here's a rMBP for $2400 with 16GB and a 512GB SSD.

http://www.macmall.com/p/Apple-MacBook-Pro/product~dpno~9232504~pdp.hgdachd

A cMBP with screen upgrade and core i7 upgrade will cost you ~$2000. You'll need to add in the RAM you bought (~$130) and a 512GB SSD (~$500) and you are MORE expensive than the rMBP, plus the Retina screen is a better display. Not to mention the cMBP weighs more, having a build in DVD drive is not worth it.

My advice, if you're going to spend that kind of money, get the rMBP.

 

[A7ibaba]

hahaha,macbook pro with i7 processor ,gt650 ,16 gb ram and ssd will be obsolete in 2 months,hahaha.Seriously? Dude ,people still using dual core laptops with 2 gb ram and mechanical HDD's,and they are perfectly happy with it.Only thing u will get with mbp retina is resolution,and that's the thing i wouldn't call something really important if u ask me.

----------

For the price of a 15" cMBP (and your upgrades), you can get a 15"rMBP for less.

Here's a rMBP for $2400 with 16GB and a 512GB SSD.

http://www.macmall.com/p/Apple-MacBook-Pro/product~dpno~9232504~pdp.hgdachd

A cMBP with screen upgrade and core i7 upgrade will cost you ~$2000. You'll need to add in the RAM you bought (~$130) and a 512GB SSD (~$500) and you are MORE expensive than the rMBP, plus the Retina screen is a better display. Not to mention the cMBP weighs more, having a build in DVD drive is not worth it.

My advice, if you're going to spend that kind of money, get the rMBP.

Your calculations have a big flop.All that suff used for upgrade have resale value and can be upgraded later again with more powerful hardware as new thing come on market,while retina dont have that options.

 

[nilsh32]

For the price of a 15" cMBP (and your upgrades), you can get a 15"rMBP for less.

Here's a rMBP for $2400 with 16GB and a 512GB SSD.

http://www.macmall.com/p/Apple-MacBook-Pro/product~dpno~9232504~pdp.hgdachd

A cMBP with screen upgrade and core i7 upgrade will cost you ~$2000. You'll need to add in the RAM you bought (~$130) and a 512GB SSD (~$500) and you are MORE expensive than the rMBP, plus the Retina screen is a better display. Not to mention the cMBP weighs more, having a build in DVD drive is not worth it.

My advice, if you're going to spend that kind of money, get the rMBP.

This is what the back of my mind is telling me. I bought a 250 gig SSD, 16 gigs of ram, and an external hard drive enclosure already though, it was around 300$ for all that. It's past the point I could return it to amazon.com, I could sell it on ebay or something. That's some work and money lost though.

I guess if I were to go that route, I would be then waiting for the notebook refresh because I would get the haswell processor and hopefully a cheaper price for the 15''. When's this supposed to come out, June? How certain are we on that?


Thanks for the help so far guys.

 

[Livewings]

Hi all,

I have had my current white macbook for 6 years now and I need a new one. I have saved up and decided on a non-retina classic macbook pro with the antiglare high res screen, the 2.6Ghz i7 with 1GB vram. I have already bought a SSD and 16 gigs of ram online to upgrade it.

Anyway, with all this talk of updated macbook lines, should I go through with it? My worry is that they are going to update the macbook lines and then I will be forced to get retina if i want the 15'' screen. I want a 15'' screen much more than I need a retina display, but the retina 15'' computers are SO expensive to buy and they are not upgradable! So I am wondering if I would be a fool to knowingly purchase a 2,000$ computer that will be obsolete in 2 months. I do like having a CD drive and I have a feeling those will be going away as well.

Thoughts? I don't buy new computers often, I take care of them and keep them for a long time, and I want to get it right.

-Nils

No 15 cMBP is fat, and ugly. An eyesore especially compared to rMBP.

 

[stchman]

Your calculations have a big flop.All that suff used for upgrade have resale value and can be upgraded later again with more powerful hardware as new thing come on market,while retina dont have that options.

Wow, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD have HUGE resale value. By the time the OP outlives 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD it will be time for a new computer.

----------

This is what the back of my mind is telling me. I bought a 250 gig SSD, 16 gigs of ram, and an external hard drive enclosure already though, it was around 300$ for all that. It's past the point I could return it to amazon.com, I could sell it on ebay or something. That's some work and money lost though.

I guess if I were to go that route, I would be then waiting for the notebook refresh because I would get the haswell processor and hopefully a cheaper price for the 15''. When's this supposed to come out, June? How certain are we on that?


Thanks for the help so far guys.

How long have you had those items? Amazon has I believe a 30 day return policy.

This forum has a marketplace to sell stuff. What brand and size SSD do you have? I might be interested.

 

[nilsh32]

Wow, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD have HUGE resale value. By the time the OP outlives 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD it will be time for a new computer.

----------



How long have you had those items? Amazon has I believe a 30 day return policy.

This forum has a marketplace to sell stuff. What brand and size SSD do you have? I might be interested.

It's past the 30 days. Yes, I will sell the stuff if I do decide to hold out for a rMBP, but I still don't know. This whole June notebook update has really complicated things! I bought 16GB of crucial RAM and a 250GB Samsung 840 SSD.

-Nils

 

[A7ibaba]

Wow, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD have HUGE resale value. By the time the OP outlives 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD it will be time for a new computer.

They have better resale value than used retina macbook pro,considering the fact when the time come to change battery u need to replace whole laptop because battery is glued to chasis and touchpad. Not to mention calling clasic mbp fat and ugly comparing it to rmbp 1 milimetar thiner.hahaha.

 

[IlikeMacsSoMuch]

To the OP:

I bought the 15 inches cmbp last september, with the high res mate display and 1GB videocard and couldn't be happier with it. Like you planned to do I upgraded the HDD for an SSD and while I was at it I upgraded the ram to 16 GB in the same time.

Man that thing flies! It all depends on what you need it for, I'm an IT consultant and sometimes I work outside or in very bright place so I needed the mate screen ( I prefer it as well) and sometimes I need to burn a dvd for a client, or have to use a firewire connection or even have to work some places where they don't have wifi (yes even in 2013 some people or companies such as Canadian hospitals don't ). And I hate carrying a hundred adapters and in this model everything is already there and if anything breaks it is easier to repair.

The rmbp has a wonderful display but when I'm at home, where my work office happens to be, my CMBP is plugged into my 27 inches iMac that I use as an external monitor. Yes the rmbp has a higher resolution but hey, 27 inches!

So what do you need?

 

[mslide]

So I am wondering if I would be a fool to knowingly purchase a 2,000$ computer that will be obsolete in 2 months.

Why would any MBP you buy today be obsolete in 2 month? A device/computer only becomes obsolete when it no longer is sufficient to do what you need of it.

If you need a new MBP, then buy it. Even if Apple comes out with a new MBP the day after your return period expires, who cares? Your MBP will still be fast/powerful and meet your needs for many years to come.

For what it's worth, if I was in the market for a 15" MBP, I'd definitely pick the cMBP over the rMBP just like I recently went with a 13" cMBP over the rMBP. The 'classic' line meets my needs better. I felt like I would have to sacrifice too much just to get a fancy display.

 

[Quash]

If you really want one, you might as well buy one now.
The chance is big there will not be a haswell version of the cMBP in a couple of months.

 

[boshii]

Why wait? Get what you want. It would still be a good computer after new ones are released. Nobody knows when they would be released anyway so you could be waiting longer than expected.

 

[thekev]

This is what the back of my mind is telling me. I bought a 250 gig SSD, 16 gigs of ram, and an external hard drive enclosure already though, it was around 300$ for all that. It's past the point I could return it to amazon.com, I could sell it on ebay or something. That's some work and money lost though.

I guess if I were to go that route, I would be then waiting for the notebook refresh because I would get the haswell processor and hopefully a cheaper price for the 15''. When's this supposed to come out, June? How certain are we on that?


Thanks for the help so far guys.

They could easily show up in the third quarter. Apple typically gets notebooks out fairly quickly once cpus are available on a major refresh. It's usually within 2 months of intel's release dates, often sooner. I would guess before fall, but I wouldn't expect it terribly soon. That they bumped Ivy recently suggests a Haswell release is further out. The cMBP models kept the old cpus, which makes me think they're likely to be phased out no later than next year. I suspect they want to occupy the same price points at their desired margins, especially on the 13". The 15" model hasn't started over $2000 since the PowerPC days. My guess is $1999 at the very highest. If you're a student, take advantage of it. Also consider refurbished. Many of them are likely returns.

It's past the 30 days. Yes, I will sell the stuff if I do decide to hold out for a rMBP, but I still don't know. This whole June notebook update has really complicated things! I bought 16GB of crucial RAM and a 250GB Samsung 840 SSD.

-Nils

I'm not really sure why you bought those things if you didn't already have the machine in front of you. Sales happen from time to time.

 

[nilsh32]

They could easily show up in the third quarter. Apple typically gets notebooks out fairly quickly once cpus are available on a major refresh. It's usually within 2 months of intel's release dates, often sooner. I would guess before fall, but I wouldn't expect it terribly soon. That they bumped Ivy recently suggests a Haswell release is further out. The cMBP models kept the old cpus, which makes me think they're likely to be phased out no later than next year. I suspect they want to occupy the same price points at their desired margins, especially on the 13". The 15" model hasn't started over $2000 since the PowerPC days. My guess is $1999 at the very highest. If you're a student, take advantage of it. Also consider refurbished. Many of them are likely returns.




I'm not really sure why you bought those things if you didn't already have the machine in front of you. Sales happen from time to time.

The uncertainty in time makes this more difficult. What I am thinking currently is to maybe just wait until the refresh happens, and then I can decide. If I go retina, I can sell the RAM and everything I bought and hopefully recoup most of the money. Or, I can buy a refurbished cMBP of the same vintage that I am currently considering buying new. The reason I bought these computer components so early is because when I ordered them, I was planning on buying the laptop within a week, I wanted to have the parts about the same time when I got the laptop. Well, plans changed and stuff came up, and I couldn't spend the money. So now I have the parts but still no computer. I will be buying it soon, but now I am considering waiting.

 

[dakhein]

In the same boat

I was looking for the exact same model as the OP. While it is true the refresh may up the base model to specs that match or exceed that model (improved gpu with 1GB video RAM), I still made the plunge and purchased a refurb 2012. I might end up kicking myself for it but I have yet to regret any Mac purchase to this day.

 

[David58117]

I was looking for the exact same model as the OP. While it is true the refresh may up the base model to specs that match or exceed that model (improved gpu with 1GB video RAM), I still made the plunge and purchased a refurb 2012. I might end up kicking myself for it but I have yet to regret any Mac purchase to this day.

Here too.

I think I've learned to stop obsessively watching specs, and instead focus more on use and enjoyment.

The 15 cMBP does every thing I want and has tons of CPU left over.

I don't think I'll be unhappy with a quadcore i7 w/ 16 gigs of RAM for quite awhile..

 

[DHagan4755]

Does anyone honestly believe that Apple is going to drop the retina pricing with the Haswell upgrades? Unless Apple starts the pricing on the 15" retina models at $1,799 there's no way the classic MBP is going anywhere.

 

[IlikeMacsSoMuch]

Does anyone honestly believe that Apple is going to drop the retina pricing with the Haswell upgrades? Unless Apple starts the pricing on the 15" retina models at $1,799 there's no way the classic MBP is going anywhere.

It doesn't mean anything, they did discontinue the white macbook in what, 2008? Or 2007? If they sell a lot of cmbp, enough to justify it, they will keep it. I have a 2012 cmbp 15 inches and I wouldn't trade for a retina but the retina is very popular.

 

[maxosx]

So I am wondering if I would be a fool to knowingly purchase a 2,000$ computer that will be obsolete in 2 months.

-Nils

It's only obsolete if you believe the Apple marketing drivel.

Granted I buy the latest just for the fun of it, but when it comes right down to it, I keep most laptops I buy for quite some time.

When it comes to Mac's although I have the latest fully optioned 15" MBP retina, my all time favorite that I _USE_ to my engineering work during the week is my 15" fully optioned mid 2010 hi-res/anti-glare MBP. I installed max ram and an 830 series Samsung 512GB SSD in it, and it's a rocket.

Oh sure the 2012's retina display is nice, but I really love the 2010's anti-glare for the days when I'm spending 10 hours of intense work, it's hi-res is just right.

So it all comes down to personal preference but my highly optimized version of 10.6.8 on that same 2010 MBP is also much more to my liking than Mountain Lion 10.8.3 that's on my MBPr.

Nothing is quite as satisfying as a Fast Mac

 

[IlikeMacsSoMuch]

Nothing is quite as satisfying as a Fast Mac

2 networked fast mac?

 

[maxosx]

2 networked fast mac?

Yes!

Mine's part of my very robust & secure home network with NAS, UPS et al.

 

[Orlandoech]

For the price of a 15" cMBP (and your upgrades), you can get a 15"rMBP for less.

Here's a rMBP for $2400 with 16GB and a 512GB SSD.

http://www.macmall.com/p/Apple-MacBook-Pro/product~dpno~9232504~pdp.hgdachd

A cMBP with screen upgrade and core i7 upgrade will cost you ~$2000. You'll need to add in the RAM you bought (~$130) and a 512GB SSD (~$500) and you are MORE expensive than the rMBP, plus the Retina screen is a better display. Not to mention the cMBP weighs more, having a build in DVD drive is not worth it.

My advice, if you're going to spend that kind of money, get the rMBP.

I completely agree. People don't understand the actual math behind the scenes.