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Sticking with a 2019 15" MacBook Pro for another Year?

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16bitplus

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 22, 2018
47
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Looking for some feedback on a purchase decision. Currently I have the midrange 2019 15" MBP 2.3ghz i9/512GB SSD/560X/16GB RAM. I picked up a 16", and I really like it, but I am having trouble selling my 2019 15". I would need to take almost a $1000 hit (selling for around $1700-1800) to upgrade to the 16".

While it is nice to have the better keyboard, the faster GPU and twice the storage, I am thinking about just sticking with the 15" until the 16" gets a revision/spec bump. Maybe by then the display issues will be all worked out and have even better specs for the price?

My machines are a write off for the business, so I guess I could always write the 15" off as a loss and go with the 16"?

What would you do? It is just hard to swallow the $1000 loss to make the upgrade. I guess I can live with the keyboard on the 2019 15" for another year.
 
redheeler said:
I wouldn't be thinking about upgrading yet with such a recent model, as long as it still does what I need it to do.
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I hear you, I just wonder if the depreciation will be much more after another 8-12 months when the next revision of the 16" comes out. In a sense, I have the money, it is just a crappy trade: $1000 and my current 15" to upgrade to the current 16" to get an extra 512Gb of storage, better GPU and keyboard.

Might be worth holding out for an even better screen, webcam, GPus and for the problems with the rev1 version of the 16" being ironed out.
 
I traded my 2018 15" for a 16". Since it was purchased in 2018 for the business it was fully depreciated.

The 16" is a fairly substantial upgrade for me. But I had the i7 processor. Rest of configuration was same as yours.
 
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If it was a Vega 20.... I would definitely say keep it. But that 560x man idk

If you can afford it.... keep the 16 for a long while and dump the 15 for whatever profit you can
 
For the amount of money you'd spend on the 16" I definitely wouldn't buy the first version.. especially if I already had a 15" that works. Wait until next year and see what happens.
 
I feel your pain as I had the iPad 3 when 6 months later they upgraded it. But I just held on to it as long as I could as it was still a very good product. I think the same is true for the 15" Unless you run into keyboard trouble, just hold on to it for a couple of years if you can. I would personally wait for a higher refresh rate on the screen as that is the next major improvement Apple can make. I have 120 on my phone and it is so much nicer.
 
Unless you absolutely can't tolerate the butterfly keyboard and still have plenty of storage then I don't think you should upgrade. I did't have any problems with the 15" performance wise outside of some heat issues, but I couldn't stand the butterfly keyboard any longer. If you don't mind typing on it I wouldn't upgrade until maybe the next revision.
 
I would upgrade, otherwise you face further depreciation as apple continues to phase out that keyboard... etc... I upgraded no regrets...
 
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I upgraded, then again as someone who types a lot, I was not a fan of the butterfly switches. Also, the upgraded storage was the kicker for me.
 
Being in your place I would keep 15 :) It is not bad machine and performance wise nearly identical (unless you need higher graphics but then you would have selected Vega).
Not sure about it but big price drop first year should be levelled overtime. You see an effect of new model/new keyboard on 2019 15" value. It won't be repeated next year - the value will drop with slower pace - the longer you keep the lower your relative loss would be (and the newer machine you will get next)
 
Thank you for all your feedback. The universe must have heard me, I sold my 2019 15" this morning and sticking with the 16" thanks.
 
I’ll be losing quite a bit money on the base 2018 model I’m selling. At least $650, which includes my AppleCare+ costs. I got a decent deal when I bought it, so not quite as big of a hit as some of you 2019 15” buyers, but I probably should’ve sold it the minute the 16” models were announced. If anyone reading this has decided to sell and purchased AppleCare+ I would contact support and find out how much of a prorated refund you can get by cancelling the plan. I’m getting $271 back ($253 + taxes) after 10 and a half months of use, and there’s no way I would’ve gotten that much back by selling with the extended warranty.

With the new models doubling the base storage and having base GPUs that perform even better than the previous highest end option.. plus addressing the keyboard, the cooling, and increasing the battery and screen size, all while keeping prices the same.. the resale value of the 2018 and 2019 15” models is going to keep going down, and at a much faster rate than they normally would at this age.
 
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