Upgrade Advice / 2016 rMBP Price?

[soziblewuup]

Hi,

I currently own a 13" Mid-2012 cMBP, with an upgraded 500gb SSD and 16GB of Ram. I'm looking for some advice with regards to an upgrade. I really like my current MBP but feel as though It's time to upgrade to a Retina screen. It seems like a lot of money for that, but - I think - I'm willing to pay it.

The questions is should I be holding off until 2016 for the new rMBP or should I just get the May 2015 model. What do people think will be the price for the equivalent new 2016 model as the one spec'd below. £1699 is already more than I'd like to pay ideally and I'm assuming the new 2016 MBP will most likely be in excess of £2000 for a similar spec?

May 2015 15" rMBP Refurb (£1699):

Refurbished 15.4-inch MacBook Pro 2.5GHz quad-core Intel i7 with Retina display
May 2015
15.4-inch (diagonal) Retina display; 2880x1800 resolution at 220 pixels per inch
16GB of 1600MHz DDR3L onboard memory
512GB PCIe-based flash storage
720p FaceTime HD Camera
Intel Iris Pro Graphics and AMD Radeon R9 M370X


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[maflynn]

You don't define what you'll be using the Mac for, and whether your current machine is fitting your needs now.
To put it another way, can you wait and use your current machine or do you need to upgrade.

If you need to do it, buy it now, if you can defer the purchase wait.

I have no idea what Apple will do with the 2016 model, but looking at the iMac and rMB, I think we'll have a sealed computer (just like now) that may very will be thinner and less ports.

 

[soziblewuup]

You're correct, have no idea why I didn't state what I need.

Currently my cMBP fulfills my needs. With the upgrades I've installed it runs as fast as I need, and most probably, will ever need. I use my cMBP for work, and I run windows on a VM and within that VM I'll often be connecting to remote servers via VPN. This is the most stress my MBP ever encounters and it handles it without a problem.

The main reason for my upgrade is the Retina screen, and, in part, because I can still get a good return for my cMBP which will lower the price of my next purchase.

A part of me wants to pull the trigger and get the May 2015 model, but there's always that feeling that they could come out with something worth the wait with the 2016 model.

But as you rightly said, that's something we just don't know

 

[doitdada]

I'm in the same wagon. Have a Macbook Pro 2015 with M370X in the box, typing on a Macbook 12 and doing the heavy lifting on a desktop. I don't really need it, but love the idea of having one computer for everything. The weight is killing me, but the performance is impressive. If you don't mind the weight and need pure performance, keep it.

A part of me wants to pull the trigger and get the May 2015 model, but there's always that feeling that they could come out with something worth the wait with the 2016 model.

I am only waiting for a thinner and lighter Pro offering, still I hate the idea of using adapters for mouse, keyboards, external HDDs etc. for a year or two.

 

[maflynn]

A part of me wants to pull the trigger and get the May 2015 model, but there's always that feeling that they could come out with something worth the wait with the 2016 model.

I totally understand and the 2015 model is a fine machine, which is why I asked about how you'll feel when apple rolls out the MBP refresh early next year. Will you be kicking yourself over the purchase if you take the plunge now?

 

[soziblewuup]

I totally understand and the 2015 model is a fine machine, which is why I asked about how you'll feel when apple rolls out the MBP refresh early next year. Will you be kicking yourself over the purchase if you take the plunge now?

That's true, and this is where the price factor comes in. I probably won't feel as bad when a similar spec'd 2016 laptop is £500 more than the 2015 version, which obviously would make sense. Do we have any idea based on previous releases how the new MBP's might be priced?

 

[doitdada]

I didn't have buyers remorse back in 2012 when the retina hit the market, and I bought the early 2011 around october 2011. It took a long time for the web and developers to adapt to the screen. It will probably take a year or two for manufacturers to get onboard with USB C and Thunderbolt 3. If you get a good price on the current rMBP 2015 with M370X, keep it for a couple of years, then sell and upgrade some time early in 2017. Second generation is more often a fitter product than the first. I actually upgraded to the rMBP released in october 2013 after selling my cMBP early 2011.

 

[soziblewuup]

I didn't have buyers remorse back in 2012 when the retina hit the market, and I bought the early 2011 around october 2011. It took a long time for the web and developers to adapt to the screen. It will probably take a year or two for manufacturers to get onboard with USB C and Thunderbolt 3. If you get a good price on the current rMBP 2015 with M370X, keep it for a couple of years, then sell and upgrade some time early in 2017. Second generation is more often a fitter product than the first. I actually upgraded to the rMBP released in october 2013 after selling my cMBP early 2011.

That's interesting and the reasoning is sound. I think the second gen would be the ideal one to go for.

I'd imagine with the release of the new MBP the value of my mid-2012 would probably decrease as well. So might be worth cashing in now getting the May 2015 MBP and look to upgrade in a couple of years.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

That's true, and this is where the price factor comes in. I probably won't feel as bad when a similar spec'd 2016 laptop is £500 more than the 2015 version, which obviously would make sense. Do we have any idea based on previous releases how the new MBP's might be priced?

In general the prices on the rMBP have gone down since their introduction to get them in line with the old cMBP prices, they are now on a par with what they have been for the last 5 years I think they will stay the same.

 

[soziblewuup]

Thanks for the reply, that's good to hear.

My last question is 15" vs 13". I've been looking at the 15" but I could consider something like this for £250 less:

Refurbished 13.3-inch MacBook Pro 3.1GHz Dual-core Intel i7 with Retina Display


Originally released March 2015
13.3-inch (diagonal) Retina display; 2560-by-1600 resolution at 227 pixels per inch

16GB of 1866MHz LPDDR3 onboard memory
512GB PCIe-based flash storage
1
720p FaceTime HD Camera

Intel Iris Graphics 6100

What would I be looking at in terms of performance difference? I'm guessing the difference would be negligible.
Are there any other differences? This could be something to consider.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

It would be about half the performance of the 15 inch, All the 13 inch are dual core processors vs the quadcore in the 15 inch, the graphics in the 15 inch are 2x as good for the IRIS pro against the IRIS and the AMD dGPU is even better. The only bonus to the 13 inch is newer architecture and better battery life thats about it unless weight and size is a consideration.

 

[soziblewuup]

Ah, in that case I may discount the 13". The 15" is probably worth the price difference.

Thanks for all your help guys.

 

[Lexdexia]

Don't buy, wait for MBP refresh with processors and internals that are actually NEW if you want to get the MOST out of your MONEY.

I needed to buy a 15-inch MBP for school, only to realize I paid this year's money for 2-3 years old hardware.

Also from my experience, the AMD R9 M370X dGPU is mediocre at best. It's an old GPU that has been rebranded. Despite what Apple marketing claims, the GPU performs ever so slightly better than the NVidia GT 750M in real world usage.

The trick with buying Macs and pretty much every computer is to hold off as long as you can - until the product you want is updated with brand new internals that can confidently last half a decade down the road.

On a side note: the thermal design of this MBP turned out to be better than I expected. During light use the fan is not audible unless you place your ear literally on the keyboard to listen. During intensive use cases like gaming and editing it does get loud and the fans spins up fast, but they also spin down quickly after the work is done.

 

[doitdada]

The M370X is only slighter better in gaming benchmarks, still a lot better in production software. Most mobile graphics are in fact rebrands, and the one in the rMBP has faster GDDR5 memory than the older graphics you are referring to. Most mobile dGPU only pack about half the performance compared to their bigger name brothers for desktop due to heat.

The only thing old in the rMBP at the moment is the Haswell CPU, its motherboard and integrated GPU. SSD is twice as fast and new trackpad. CPU benchmarks between Haswell and Skylake report improvements around 5%, maybe less if you exclude improvements in the integrated GPU.

As long as you are getting the rMBP 2015 with M370X, you are going to have a pretty future proof computer. The new redesign of 2016 everybody is talking about will probably only use integrated graphics due to form factor. My advice is to wait if you already own a computer and are holding out for the model with Iris Pro graphics, else you should get the current one with discrete graphics.

 

[Lexdexia]

The M370X is only slighter better in gaming benchmarks, still a lot better in production software. Most mobile graphics are in fact rebrands, and the one in the rMBP has faster GDDR5 memory than the older graphics you are referring to. Most mobile dGPU only pack about half the performance compared to their bigger name brothers for desktop due to heat.

The only thing old in the rMBP at the moment is the Haswell CPU, its motherboard and integrated GPU. SSD is twice as fast and new trackpad. CPU benchmarks between Haswell and Skylake report improvements around 5%, maybe less if you exclude improvements in the integrated GPU.

As long as you are getting the rMBP 2015 with M370X, you are going to have a pretty future proof computer. The new redesign of 2016 everybody is talking about will probably only use integrated graphics due to form factor. My advice is to wait if you already own a computer and are holding out for the model with Iris Pro graphics, else you should get the current one with discrete graphics.

Rebrand isn't the problem, the problem is this dGPU dates back to as old as 2011. There's absolutely no reason to spend all that money and buy older hardware unless you absolutely need it for immediate reasons. The best way is to just wait until Apple updates their 15-inch MBP with faster Skylake CPUs and BETTER dedicated GPU. Which they will definitely do in 2016 since they have offered 'high-end' MBPs for Pro users for years.

 

[ABC5S]

We don't know of the price. Why don't you go onto Apples Store and price a current model and you should be in the ball park.

 

[doitdada]

The fan noise from the rMBP 2015 M370X when connected to external display is a deal killer if you own a silent Hackintosh with two GPUs and 32GB RAM. Wouldn't care if I didn't have a desktop...

It's not really loud, but louder than my Frankentosh.