I bought the new MacBook Pro but hated the design and didn't like the Touch Bar so I returned it for the cheaper air and still am not impressed. Theres so many things I don't like about it; the design, the ports, keyboard, lights, etc. I have been researching and it seems like the 2015 MacBook Pro is the last of the best ones, and I'm thinking of just returning this air for one. Am I dumb? Is it dumb to get an older MacBook compared to a newer one? Please help
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Thinking of getting a 2015 MacBook Pro
- Thread starter jenniferwhatevr
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Looks like Thunderbolt and a thinner keyboard are here to stay.
I would say now to 2-4 years from now is the only time to viably consider a 2015 Macbook Pro as a daily driver, so if you're on the fence that might influence your decision.
I also might be wrong on this point because there are threads on here where people are still using PowerPC Macs as daily drivers. All depends on what you use the laptop for.
"The only constant is change." etc.
[doublepost=1566495388][/doublepost]I don't think it's a dumb move. I would also prefer a 2015 Macbook Pro over the current ones. Waiting to see what 2020 (or this next Apple event) holds in terms of a new 16". They might fix some of the issues with current MBPs.
I would say now to 2-4 years from now is the only time to viably consider a 2015 Macbook Pro as a daily driver, so if you're on the fence that might influence your decision.
I also might be wrong on this point because there are threads on here where people are still using PowerPC Macs as daily drivers. All depends on what you use the laptop for.
"The only constant is change." etc.
[doublepost=1566495388][/doublepost]I don't think it's a dumb move. I would also prefer a 2015 Macbook Pro over the current ones. Waiting to see what 2020 (or this next Apple event) holds in terms of a new 16". They might fix some of the issues with current MBPs.
The lights? What do you mean with that one?
I think most who use PPC Macs, myself included, mostly use them in an auxiliary fashion, and not as a primary device. Think the only one that I've heard used as a primary is the PowerMac G5 dual. And even then it's a massive power consumer that can only browse the web and do at most like 720p YouTube, so it's a tiny niche using it as a primary. But PPC hardware is fun to play with and can still do a lot of nice things.
I prefer the 2015 MBP too, and I love older Macs.
But, what would you do with it?
To better answer you question, we would need to know what you plan on doing with it and what the specs of the 2015 MBP you would get.
My family uses a lot of older Macs.
Here are the current Macs that are used daily at my home, listed from most used to least:
-Late 2012 27" iMac, BTO with i7 and 2GB 680MX, I installed some RAM for a total of 24GB.*used my me
-Late 2006 Mac Pro 1,1, upgraded over the years many times. It is still really fast. *used as a PLEX server
-Mid-2011 27" iMac, Maxed out BTO, A friend found this in the trash and gave it to me to fix.*used by my children, a side note, this iMac goes for $700-$800 on ebay, and I fixed it with a SSD and baking the GPU.
-Late 2012 17"MBP, Given to be my my brother when it stopped working and I fixed i.t*used by my children
-Mid 2012 11" MBA, Can't remember the specs, purchased a week before the 2013s came out.*used by my wife
These are all Macs that are used daily. To be fair, many of them had the best BTO options and/or were upgraded over the years, but still, they are awesome computers.
While I think all of them are pretty fast for their age, I do most of the heavy tasks using my Late 2012 iMac, mostly video encodes.
I don't have plans on getting a new Mac unless my main Mac dies or maybe when the 2019 Mac Pros show up on the refurbished stores.
I think if you got a 2015 MBP for basic usage, you will be good for many years to come.
They are in the refurbished store now. https://www.macrumors.com/2019/08/20/apple-refurbished-store-2019-macbook-pro/
Yea, I think it might be a while before we see 2019 Mac Pros in the refurbished store.
Are you considering a 15" or 13" 2015 MacBook Pro? Just wondering. I've had a 2011 and a 2015 15" MacBook Pro and I loved the form factor - superior keyboards and ports compared to 2016+ models. The 2015 MacBook Pro especially was very powerful and fast. That being said, the 2015 MacBook Pros use the 22nm Haswell/Crystalwell CPUs, and they run very hot. My 2015 MBP would heat up with fans a-blazing at the drop of a hat. Oftentimes not comfortable on my lap, even just running youtube, etc.
I don't think you'd be dumb if you find a good deal on the 2015 model to get it. They are nice machines, however they are still old and will not keep up with the newer models *if* you need sustained processing/graphics horsepower.
Tiny correction; 28nm. Otherwise fairly agreeing.
I was wrong, very sorry. Memory error. 22 is correct.
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Ha, no problem, 22nm still sounds much larger than 14nm or 10nm or even 7nm like the A12 in my iPhone. Haswell was a solid 'generation' CPU - with Apple still selling the MacBook Air with it up until very recently - that is a very long lifecycle.
My 2015 design MBP (bought in December 2016) continues to run without a problem.
Absolutely the best Mac-buying decision I've ever made.
I believe it's still possible to get Apple-refurbished 2015 15" MBP's from their online store.
They aren't there all the time, but they do show up now and then.
You have to keep checking back 2 or 3 times each day.
And if you see one -- you have to buy it then and there, because in another 15 minutes it may be gone...
Absolutely the best Mac-buying decision I've ever made.
I believe it's still possible to get Apple-refurbished 2015 15" MBP's from their online store.
They aren't there all the time, but they do show up now and then.
You have to keep checking back 2 or 3 times each day.
And if you see one -- you have to buy it then and there, because in another 15 minutes it may be gone...
Back in 2017 I bought the 2015, it was 2 years old tech but I did it and it was a great machine.
This year I had the chance to send it back due to the battery replace program (Amazon offered me a full refund).
So I paid only 200usd and get the 2019 15 Mbp.
I don’t like the keyboard so much and the touchbar neither... but man, this thing is fast, way faster than the 2015 (and it was running great for my tasks).
The keyboard, I got used to. The touchbar, I set it to the default traditional keys and I don’t even use it.
And is a new machine with 2 years warranty or 4 if it suffers any keyboard issue.
I love the 2015, but in near september 2019 we have to admit is old...
If you find it in the apple refurbished maybe is a god deal (I don’t think is going to be cheap, but the warranty counts).
But any used, with 4 years of fight? Any problem you can have, if you have, you’ll pay for it (no warranty).
This year I had the chance to send it back due to the battery replace program (Amazon offered me a full refund).
So I paid only 200usd and get the 2019 15 Mbp.
I don’t like the keyboard so much and the touchbar neither... but man, this thing is fast, way faster than the 2015 (and it was running great for my tasks).
The keyboard, I got used to. The touchbar, I set it to the default traditional keys and I don’t even use it.
And is a new machine with 2 years warranty or 4 if it suffers any keyboard issue.
I love the 2015, but in near september 2019 we have to admit is old...
If you find it in the apple refurbished maybe is a god deal (I don’t think is going to be cheap, but the warranty counts).
But any used, with 4 years of fight? Any problem you can have, if you have, you’ll pay for it (no warranty).
Please don't, at least not buying new.
It is too expensive for 5-year old tech. Why not wait for the 16" and see what happens?
It is too expensive for 5-year old tech. Why not wait for the 16" and see what happens?
Well, about that. The "nm" values are somewhat arbitrary. That is to say that when Intel says, let's say 14nm, it doesn't mean the same as when TSMC, Samsung or GloFo says 14nm. There's no set standard for what it specifically means. It's cited as the feature size of the wafer, but that's not uniform. Not all elements are sized the same, so is it an average? A specific component? Smallest? Largest? Traces? They all measure a bit differently to get to their numbers and more qualitative measurements are needed to really compare between foundries. Furthermore, from a performance standpoint, sometimes a node reduction can actually be detrimental to performance, since working a long time on the characteristics of one node, like Intel has 14nm, means that you've pushed that node quite far, getting a lot out of it. Then your 10nm process is of course denser, but it can't push frequencies as high and you end up with a worse performing chip. But you still need to push towards 10nm cause you can't keep yielding more and more from 14nm, and it'll eventually leave you at a price, density and in the end also a performance disadvantage. So you end up with the 10th series of chips having both Comet Lake and Ice Lake (14 and 10nm), where one gives you a new architecture, GPU, and so on, and the other gives you a faster performing CPU that can reach clocks 10nm never could. Bit of a mess actually.
Also adding to my mistake on calling it 28nm; Intel apparently only had a single CPU on the 28nm half-node. And it wasn't even fab'ed by themselves; In an odd move they had an Atom chip fab'ed by TSMC. Go figure.
Anyway, for now, Intel's fabs are a little behind the other big boys in the industry, but they'll probably catch up soon. Once they get frequencies in-line, I think their 10nm will be fairly similar to the 7nm we see from TSMC.... But then of course TSMC is on track for 5nm... Ryzen and future Zen is looking good. Honestly I'd prefer an Apple transition to Zen over one to ARM.
This depends more on how you use your laptops. I would say if you do anything intensive, don't buy the old model. I dabble in photo and video editing, and so I'll probably be picking up the 16" for travel. Lesser/older laptops show their pedigree when pushed. I'll share my thoughts on the things you mentioned as well as common criticisms:
- If you don't like the touch bar, you don't have to use it. Personally I don't understand why some people make such a point of it. It's a gimmick, but certainly not a drawback.
- Ports can easily be adapted because of USB-C ports, which are superior to older tech. Some people may not like dongles, but really, it's not an issue if you don't want to make it an issue. The faster, more versatile ports are welcome. I just wish there was many more of them in total.
- I like the look/design... it's just a slimmer version of the old ones more or less. Kind of hard to beat it as far as looks are concerned imo.
- Keyboard... this one, granted, is an issue for a lot of people. I say this because of the reliability issues, not the feel. I can crack 100 wpm typing and I don't have any issues with the feel, but that's just me.
- Overheating/throttling. This sucks, but many/most laptops have a problem with this, except the super fat ones. I wish there was a better solution.
Overall the latest ones, with 8 cores and Vega GPUs are pretty powerful machines. I wouldn't recommend going backwards.
- If you don't like the touch bar, you don't have to use it. Personally I don't understand why some people make such a point of it. It's a gimmick, but certainly not a drawback.
- Ports can easily be adapted because of USB-C ports, which are superior to older tech. Some people may not like dongles, but really, it's not an issue if you don't want to make it an issue. The faster, more versatile ports are welcome. I just wish there was many more of them in total.
- I like the look/design... it's just a slimmer version of the old ones more or less. Kind of hard to beat it as far as looks are concerned imo.
- Keyboard... this one, granted, is an issue for a lot of people. I say this because of the reliability issues, not the feel. I can crack 100 wpm typing and I don't have any issues with the feel, but that's just me.
- Overheating/throttling. This sucks, but many/most laptops have a problem with this, except the super fat ones. I wish there was a better solution.
Overall the latest ones, with 8 cores and Vega GPUs are pretty powerful machines. I wouldn't recommend going backwards.
Well, I'd be cool with having the Touch Bar myself... But saying it's not a drawback can be a bit false. If you really like the function keys, you get the TouchBar which you can just ignore; But you lose your function keys. Now to me that'd be a trade off; I actually like having my hardware function keys quite a lot. I'd miss them. But I also think I'd get a kick out of the TouchBar.
There's one more thing to it though; It's not just speed. It's also RSI. I'd wager you're more likely to get repetitive strain injuries with that little travel. - Though no laptop keyboard is really very good on that front. But yeah, I can type fast on the new keyboards too; But it actually makes me feel the onset of pain after a while.
Unless you are doing heavy video editing or photo work, you aren’t going to see a really noticeable difference in every day tasks. We have both a 2018 and 2015 and the only time I see i a difference is in video editing. For everything else the 2015 is equally as fast as the 2018 (which would most likely hold true for the 2019).
I don’t know that buying a spec’d out one from Apple is worth $2600, but there are really good deals on eBay and Swappa if you know what you are looking for.
In my opinion, the 2015 is a superior design to the 2016 and above. Don’t get me wrong, I like the newer models, but to me the 2015 was years of Apple designing a laptop and finally perfecting it. Maybe they’ll get there again with the newer models and the supposed 16” rumors.
I don’t know that buying a spec’d out one from Apple is worth $2600, but there are really good deals on eBay and Swappa if you know what you are looking for.
In my opinion, the 2015 is a superior design to the 2016 and above. Don’t get me wrong, I like the newer models, but to me the 2015 was years of Apple designing a laptop and finally perfecting it. Maybe they’ll get there again with the newer models and the supposed 16” rumors.
Rocking my late-2015 and still LOVING it. I bought a maxed-out late-2018 i9 last year, and returned it after testing it side-by-side with my 2015. The 2015 ports are the biggest deal for me - one classic USB on both sides, and most importantly, an SD card slot that allows me to add 256GB of space for $90, with a leave-in SD card (JetDrive 256). But so many other things are better on the 2015 for me as well... keyboard, real function keys, smaller touchpad (the new ones are massive, and create errors with inadvertent palm touches), MAG-SAFE (when I was migrating data over to the 2018, my cat jumped up on the table, got caught on the 2018 USB-C powercord, freaked and jumped off, and pulled the laptop half off the table. I was literally an inch away from destroying a $5,000 laptop within hours of buying it.) Oh, and the fans were LOUDER on the 2018, even surfing the web.
Returning that 2018 and keeping my 2015 may have been the best computing decision I've ever made.
By the way, I'm an editor for network TV, and I use Premiere, Resolve, After Effects and Photoshop constantly, and have no problems, performance-wise (I have the dGPU model, a must-have for any serious work).The only downside is the TB2 port, so an eGPU is not "officially" supported... but you can type one line into terminal and it works. I use a Vega 56 in an enclosure, and it works seamlessly.
The ONLY way I'd "upgrade" at this point is if the new screen is much bigger... and they do something about the dongle-hell port issue.
Returning that 2018 and keeping my 2015 may have been the best computing decision I've ever made.
By the way, I'm an editor for network TV, and I use Premiere, Resolve, After Effects and Photoshop constantly, and have no problems, performance-wise (I have the dGPU model, a must-have for any serious work).The only downside is the TB2 port, so an eGPU is not "officially" supported... but you can type one line into terminal and it works. I use a Vega 56 in an enclosure, and it works seamlessly.
The ONLY way I'd "upgrade" at this point is if the new screen is much bigger... and they do something about the dongle-hell port issue.
I just switched from a 2015 MBP 13" to the new 2019 MBP 13" and so far I'm very happy about it.
I sold my previous MBP to an happy buyer , but I wouldn't buy one for me, unless you are planning to replace the battery with a new one.
Mine was at 82% battery health...
I sold my previous MBP to an happy buyer , but I wouldn't buy one for me, unless you are planning to replace the battery with a new one.
Mine was at 82% battery health...
I bought my 13" 2015 MBP just after the 2016 keynote when the new MBPs were launched. I was very unimpressed with the new offerings. Fortunately, a local retailer was offering an across the board discount, which I could stack with a cashback so got it for less than even the refurb store.
Apple jacked up the price of the same notebook by £250. I noted that supplies of the same notebook on Amazon from all sellers vanished rapidly within 48hrs to zero. I suppose others decided that newer wasn't necessarily best and Apple was profiteering.
What is nice about the 2015 MBPs is that you still can upgrade the hard drive yourself for very little. That gives you some flexibility and peace of mind if your logic board dies. At least you can extract the hard drive and keep your data rather than hope Apple can do something with it while you wait and pray.
Apple jacked up the price of the same notebook by £250. I noted that supplies of the same notebook on Amazon from all sellers vanished rapidly within 48hrs to zero. I suppose others decided that newer wasn't necessarily best and Apple was profiteering.
What is nice about the 2015 MBPs is that you still can upgrade the hard drive yourself for very little. That gives you some flexibility and peace of mind if your logic board dies. At least you can extract the hard drive and keep your data rather than hope Apple can do something with it while you wait and pray.