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Should I return 2015 model for 2016?

Wow, anti-16'ers are out in force. I don't think they even realize that this was a real thoughtful pro/con discussion before showing up. Not an easy decision. I hope @jmebbk can see through the troll BS. It's typically the ones that find ZERO redeeming things about the 16 or make snide, stupid one liners vs. rational, thought out points. Your a law student though, sure you can figure this out.
 
jmebbk said:
My 2015 15' is on its way to me this week.
I'm a law student and wanted the bigger screen hence why I didn't get the 13' because I do a lot of word documents. I opted for the 2015' instead of the 2016 because it's cheaper and also the ports.

However it seems everybody is raving about the touchbar 2016 15'

Should I return it and pay more for 2016 model?
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It depends on what you're looking for, what you want to spend and what form factor you prefer.

If budget is of no concern then by all means upgrade to the newest and more powerful model. If you prefer battery life and don't care about only having integrated graphics then by all means keep what you have. Either model will serve you well for what you are doing.
 
The 2016 15" inches touch bar is the lightest laptop at this size. I have the laptop a few days and I love it. I don't see usb-C is a problem can be solved with an OCW dock which is coming next year. Also, I believe tech company are ditching traditional USBs for USB-C in the near future. The downsize of having the new : I have to buy 3 years Apple Care because I worry that the touch bar may fail in the future as it is a newly added feature. As for keyboard, I think it totally depends on people preference. For me, I like the feeling of the new keyboard, they make it feel like a mechanical keyboard. I don't know why people love the feel of the cheap chiclet keyboard on the older MacBook
 
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For a law student I assume you will spend more time typing than the rest of us. The biggest change on the 2016 that concerns you is going to be the new butterfly keyboard that is (reportedly) worse than the 2015, despite already being an improvement over the retina MacBook gen 1 butterfly.

Since you already bought the 2015, wait for it to come and use it for a while, and if you can, go to a store that has the 2016 on display and compare that specific part.

For the rest if your use case, you will likely not come into the other most complained shortcomings of the 2016 models, such as dongle hell or being underpowered. The 2016 15" is literally the lightest and slimmest ever of its screen size, the 2015 in comparison is one class bulkier.
 
You're a law student and USB-C isn't ubiquitous yet. Stick with the 2015. It'll save you 500 pounds plus all the extra money for all those dongles and docks that you might buy. The 2015 is much more practical. Performance is basically the same, even overkill for your case, and it'll easily last you all throughout law school and then some.
 
2015 for me. About the 2016 model i wait 1-2 years so Apple can debug it...

Sorry but my fingers hurt using the new keyboard. :confused:
 
thesaint024 said:
Wow, anti-16'ers are out in force. I don't think they even realize that this was a real thoughtful pro/con discussion before showing up. Not an easy decision. I hope @jmebbk can see through the troll BS. It's typically the ones that find ZERO redeeming things about the 16 or make snide, stupid one liners vs. rational, thought out points. Your a law student though, sure you can figure this out.
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TBH for their needs, unless some dire need for touch bar there is not much on the 2016 to rate their money. Money better saved since a student really.

Unless by chance looking at IP law and sciences (natural or computer) specifically their workload will run fine on the 2015. Science IP looked at since well in A vs B this can break down to loading data and running analysis...a few .x ghz's usually works well here.

Upgraded video card (technically it is I have to admit) they don't seem to need. Not even being a hater on this. No video or still picture work mentioned (what could use the better card and more video memory to full use). And not a gamer. Which mac not really good for regardless. Saw the 2016 does open gl better. Means OP could crank up the settings in valve (one of the few, gaming or otherwise, who even push open gl) games, maybe. Will save the work on your part, valve's latest release was CS:GO in 2012. We pray to see our savior return....but the 3rd coming of Gordon has still not happened yet sadly.

Now for the extra couple hundred bucks if they have a love for CS:GO that much....by all means. I'd recommend other systems for same or less for that though.
 
If you are just gonna do "Microsoft Office" stuff, definetly get the 2015, is not that it may be enough for you, it will defiently be more than enough, even almost any other decent laptop would suit you.

Even more, if I were you I wouldn't even get Macbook, I'd just go with a windows laptop and save some money.

It's like people buying bazookas to kill a fly.

And I'm saying this after I just bought a 2016 Macbook Pro, but because it suits my needs.
 
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May I ask why do you need a Mac if you're only mostly doing word documents?
MarcBou said:
If you are just gonna do "Microsoft Office" stuff, definetly get the 2015, is not that it may be enough for you, it will defiently be more than enough, even almost any other decent laptop would suit you.

Even more, if I were you I wouldn't even get Macbook, I'd just go with a windows laptop and save some money.

It's like people buying bazookas to kill a fly.

And I'm saying this after I just bought a 2016 Macbook Pro, but because it suits my needs.
Click to expand...

I completely agree with this! and I would say a Windows laptop would be a way better deal for just doing word documents. You could even get a decent 17 inch laptop for less than 2/3 the price of a 2015 15 inch Mac.

For me personally, my Mac is my all in one and I find it more enjoyable to use than any Windows laptop. I use it as a desktop (connect it to a bigger display, with a mouse and keyboard), I use it as a laptop, I play games on it and I need decent power. I also use it for basic things such as web browsing and word/excel documents and editing photos, I also have Parallels desktop and I can run Windows whenever I need to use a program that my Mac doesn't support.

My biggest advice is to think about what you use the computer for and buy one according to your usage.

A base 2015 15 inch Mac is a good amount cheaper than a 2016 15 inch Mac ($1,999 compared to $2,399)
 
ag29 said:
May I ask why do you need a Mac if you're only mostly doing word documents?


I completely agree with this! and I would say a Windows laptop would be a way better deal for just doing word documents. You could even get a decent 17 inch laptop for less than 2/3 the price of a 2015 15 inch Mac.

For me personally, my Mac is my all in one and I find it more enjoyable to use than any Windows laptop. I use it as a desktop (connect it to a bigger display, with a mouse and keyboard), I use it as a laptop, I play games on it and I need decent power. I also use it for basic things such as web browsing and word/excel documents and editing photos, I also have Parallels desktop and I can run Windows whenever I need to use a program that my Mac doesn't support.

My biggest advice is to think about what you use the computer for and buy one according to your usage.

A base 2015 15 inch Mac is a good amount cheaper than a 2016 15 inch Mac ($1,999 compared to $2,399)
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I've had such bad experiences with windows
I had a dell and it was hell. The build quality was poor and it slowed down after a year. Even though it only cost me £500.....the stress and hassle put me off windows for a long time.
 
RichardC300 said:
You're a law student and USB-C isn't ubiquitous yet. Stick with the 2015. It'll save you 500 pounds plus all the extra money for all those dongles and docks that you might buy. The 2015 is much more practical. Performance is basically the same, even overkill for your case, and it'll easily last you all throughout law school and then some.
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Yes I might stick with the 2015 that is coming!
 
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motime said:
2015 has a better keyboard, magsafe, nice set of ports, generally better battery life, less issues out of the box and similar performance overall. It is mostly people obsessed with new technology who are buying the new mbps or a niche of professionals who might get a marginal increase in performance. For the rest of us it is much more sensible to save a lot of money and enjoy the great experience last years model offers.

The touch bar is a gimmick, only hardcore fanatics or confused individuals are raving about it. Most people range from being moderately impressed to considering it a nuisance.

Oh and this is macrumors, so the advice here is generally quite biased.
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This pretty much captures it.

Another way to put it is that the bulk of what's on offer with the 2016 is a new exterior. Analogous in some ways to a move from iphone x to x+1 -- new body but in most other respects, the same phone.

Which isn't to say that people happy with their new MBPs are crazy or deluded. They are nice machines. But it's a hefty premium for mostly cosmetic features.
 
mpta said:
2015 because SSD is not soldered to the motherboard.
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That should not be a consideration.

The SSDs in the rMBPs are proprietary. You cannot directly buy one. They have to be bought from salvaged units or through a repair depot. OWC has a unit they got running, but for the 2015 rMBP this means going from a 1.5 GB/sec drive to a 0.5 GB/sec drive.
 
I waited until the 2016 models came out to replace my 2010 MacBook Pro (which is still running ok, but "it was time").

After side-by-side comparisons of the 2015 vis-a-vis the 2016, I decided the 2015 represented the better value, by far.
- More ports, that are usable TODAY and will remain so in the future
- MUCH better keyboard
- Mature design, rather than new and unproven (look at the glitches others are writing about)
- Better pricing compared to what you'd pay for a 2016 (for not that much more value)

I will assume that a law student is going to do a lot of typing. I think you'll like that "older" keyboard on the 2015, rather than the new one. Have you tried a new one?

As said above, the 2015 is "a very capable machine".
It should carry you through school and perhaps into your first job.
THEN think about something new and shiny!
 
jerryk said:
That should not be a consideration.

The SSDs in the rMBPs are proprietary. You cannot directly buy one. They have to be bought from salvaged units or through a repair depot. OWC has a unit they got running, but for the 2015 rMBP this means going from a 1.5 GB/sec drive to a 0.5 GB/sec drive.
Click to expand...

To be fair, this is a long-term problem. We'd all be much happier if Apple had just used a standard interface there. But then they couldn't charge you $400 for the upgrade from 512GB to 1TB, because you could buy a perfectly usable 1TB SSD from Samsung or SanDisk for $300 or so. Or wait a year and get a 2TB for that price.
 
therealseebs said:
To be fair, this is a long-term problem. We'd all be much happier if Apple had just used a standard interface there. But then they couldn't charge you $400 for the upgrade from 512GB to 1TB, because you could buy a perfectly usable 1TB SSD from Samsung or SanDisk for $300 or so. Or wait a year and get a 2TB for that price.
Click to expand...

The upgrade price apple charges is fair. You need to look at M.2 NVMe drives to do a fair comparison. Check out the Samsung 960 Pro to compare a 2016 performance level drive.
 
jerryk said:
The upgrade price apple charges is fair.
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Maybe. I don't actually necessarily care about the marginal performance all that much, and might be happier with a larger but slower drive.

But even if the price were completely fair today, so what? On every laptop I've had prior to the 2015-and-later Macs, I've gotten storage and memory upgrades later. Because whatever it costs this year, I'm betting that I can get it cheaper next year, or in two years. Losing that option makes the machine a lot less desireable.
 
jmebbk said:
Hmmm
Decisions decisions
I want this computer to last me 4 years...
Click to expand...

15 will easily last you 4 years, and it has the ports that you will actually use.

One family member still uses their 2009 MBP on a daily basis.

I currently have a 13 rMBP (so 3+ years now) and it's as fast as it was when I received it. Go with the 15 one and max out your SSD.
 
jmebbk said:
My 2015 15' is on its way to me this week.
I'm a law student and wanted the bigger screen hence why I didn't get the 13' because I do a lot of word documents. I opted for the 2015' instead of the 2016 because it's cheaper and also the ports.

However it seems everybody is raving about the touchbar 2016 15'

Should I return it and pay more for 2016 model?
Click to expand...

No.
 
Fishrrman said:
I waited until the 2016 models came out to replace my 2010 MacBook Pro (which is still running ok, but "it was time").

After side-by-side comparisons of the 2015 vis-a-vis the 2016, I decided the 2015 represented the better value, by far.
- More ports, that are usable TODAY and will remain so in the future
- MUCH better keyboard
- Mature design, rather than new and unproven (look at the glitches others are writing about)
- Better pricing compared to what you'd pay for a 2016 (for not that much more value)

I will assume that a law student is going to do a lot of typing. I think you'll like that "older" keyboard on the 2015, rather than the new one. Have you tried a new one?

As said above, the 2015 is "a very capable machine".
It should carry you through school and perhaps into your first job.
THEN think about something new and shiny!
Click to expand...
Yes I did thanks
Went to the Apple Store today....hated they keyboard. It's really noisy and it felt really cramped. I'm glad I opted for the 2015.
 
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jmebbk said:
Yes I did thanks
Went to the Apple Store today....hated they keyboard. It's really noisy and it felt really cramped. I'm glad I opted for the 2015.
Click to expand...
Went for a maxed out 15" 2015 expect for the gpu that I don't need. Much better choice at this time!
 
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