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Wanting a newer Macbook Pro

jdebuhr

jdebuhr

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 21, 2007
41
2
Chicago area
My current MBP is a late 2006/early 2007, pre unibody.. 15" Core 2 duo.. I have it maxed at 3Gig of ram and just installed a 256 SSD to make the machine useable

I would like to move up to a newer MBP 13 or 15" with capacity for 8-16 gig of ram and allowing me to install a SSD drive.. I would love a retina display but not required.. I run Virtual machines so a better processor would help me too. my Win 7 x64 struggles but is ok on this machine..

Any suggestions on years/ models to look for? would like to get a budget machine.. I don't need the SSD or lots of ram as I can add it myself (I hope)

Thanks
 
2011 13" MacBook Pros are lower priced due to their age, with a SSD and 16 GB RAM they should run great. Although Apple doesn't explicitly say that it can support 16 gigs of RAM, it can. I should be getting a SSD and the RAM sooner or later and it should be a good investment.
 
MacCubed said:
2011 13" MacBook Pros are lower priced due to their age, with a SSD and 16 GB RAM they should run great. Although Apple doesn't explicitly say that it can support 16 gigs of RAM, it can. I should be getting a SSD and the RAM sooner or later and it should be a good investment.
Click to expand...

Suggestions on good places to look/buy (other than eBay)?
 
jdebuhr said:
My current MBP is a late 2006/early 2007, pre unibody.. 15" Core 2 duo.. I have it maxed at 3Gig of ram and just installed a 256 SSD to make the machine useable

I would like to move up to a newer MBP 13 or 15" with capacity for 8-16 gig of ram and allowing me to install a SSD drive.. I would love a retina display but not required.. I run Virtual machines so a better processor would help me too. my Win 7 x64 struggles but is ok on this machine..

Any suggestions on years/ models to look for? would like to get a budget machine.. I don't need the SSD or lots of ram as I can add it myself (I hope)

Thanks
Click to expand...

Refurb 15" rMBPs would do you fine.
 
yjchua95 said:
Refurb 15" rMBPs would do you fine.
Click to expand...

Yes it probably would. heck the SSD was a major improvement in my current MBP.. it was a drive in my Dell XPS, but when my wifes PC died, I swapped the HD in the XPS for a 500 Gig model and she is happy..

I struggled with the 500 gig in the MBP then decided to swap in the SSD.. much better so if I upgrade to a 2011 or 2012 for a reasonable amount and stuff it full of ram and a SSD, it will last a while too..

for heavy hitting stuff I can use my work I7
 
get refurbs or if you are getting pre-used, skip the 2011 ones.
RadeonGate will kick in eventually and you will lose your investment.
 
Samuelsan2001 said:
For the radeon gate issue any 15 or 17 inch MBP from 2011 with the AMD graphics card is affected....
Click to expand...

Got it.. so a 13" MBP from the same era is a non-issue?

I am leaning towards a 13" , I don't NEED the retina, It basically is for email web surfing, Arduino programming and some windows stuff (through VMWare)

My 2007 MBP works fine, I just want to have the ability to give the VM more RAM.. the Hardware limitation of 3gig hurts..
 
jdebuhr said:
Got it.. so a 13" MBP from the same era is a non-issue?

I am leaning towards a 13" , I don't NEED the retina, It basically is for email web surfing, Arduino programming and some windows stuff (through VMWare)

My 2007 MBP works fine, I just want to have the ability to give the VM more RAM.. the Hardware limitation of 3gig hurts..
Click to expand...

Any 13 inch from 2010 onward will probably serve you well then.
 
Found this: http://support.apple.com/kb/sp619

So the 13" uses internal Intel HD 3000 graphics. Which means it's safe from RadeonGate. Do check out the specs and see if you will hit any limitations for your setup / VM usage. If not, you're safe to go ahead.

My apologies for not being clear earlier on. I didn't realize there were 2011 MBPs without RadeonGate issues.
 
jdebuhr said:
Got it.. so a 13" MBP from the same era is a non-issue?

I am leaning towards a 13" , I don't NEED the retina, It basically is for email web surfing, Arduino programming and some windows stuff (through VMWare)

My 2007 MBP works fine, I just want to have the ability to give the VM more RAM.. the Hardware limitation of 3gig hurts..
Click to expand...

Why not go for mid-2012 13" cMBP? The lack of USB 3 on the 2011 models is a big letdown.
 
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