Worth buying Macbook Pro Retina now?

[tacticaldrunk]

Hi, I have a little bit of money to spend and for a computer I'm currently using a Windows desktop machine for gaming (only thing they are good for).

I'd like to be more mobile now when using a computer and not spend all my time in front of the desktop machine.

Seeing that Skylake processors have been announced, are the current Macbooks still worth the purchase? I know it depends on everybody's individual situation, and as I said I'd really like to go mobile, but I wonder if there's any big NO NO that you guys know about that would stop me from making the purchase.

Also, which Macbook should I go for? Gaming is NOT something I want to do on the Macbook. Basic internet use, basic photo editing, very very basic video editing (maybe, I've never edited a video, but just in case )

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Hi, I have a little bit of money to spend and for a computer I'm currently using a Windows desktop machine for gaming (only thing they are good for).

I'd like to be more mobile now when using a computer and not spend all my time in front of the desktop machine.

Seeing that Skylake processors have been announced, are the current Macbooks still worth the purchase? I know it depends on everybody's individual situation, and as I said I'd really like to go mobile, but I wonder if there's any big NO NO that you guys know about that would stop me from making the purchase.

Also, which Macbook should I go for? Gaming is NOT something I want to do on the Macbook. Basic internet use, basic photo editing, very very basic video editing (maybe, I've never edited a video, but just in case )

Thanks for the help guys!

That use case will be fine on just about any computer you can buy new currently, waiting for skylake will make no difference to the performance for what you want to do. The current rMBP is just about the best compromise between portability, power, screen and battery life available at the moment. However you might want to take a look at the rMB, for that use case as a purely mobile machine it might well suit you better.

Unless you are thinking of spending $2000 on a 5K screen to output to then I would say go for it.

 

[tacticaldrunk]

Thanks! I'm assuming the Macbook Air is a no go because of the screen resolution. Then my only options are Macbook, rMBP 13 or 15.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Hi, I have a little bit of money to spend and for a computer I'm currently using a Windows desktop machine for gaming (only thing they are good for).

I'd like to be more mobile now when using a computer and not spend all my time in front of the desktop machine.

Seeing that Skylake processors have been announced, are the current Macbooks still worth the purchase? I know it depends on everybody's individual situation, and as I said I'd really like to go mobile, but I wonder if there's any big NO NO that you guys know about that would stop me from making the purchase.

Also, which Macbook should I go for? Gaming is NOT something I want to do on the Macbook. Basic internet use, basic photo editing, very very basic video editing (maybe, I've never edited a video, but just in case )

Thanks for the help guys!

I wouldn't buy a 15" Retina unless you actually needed the discrete graphics processor or quad-core processing. But even then, if a 15" is what you'd want, I'd wait as we're on the third release with Haswell and it's clear that Apple did that to tide themselves over until Skylake came out (as it looks like Apple is skipping on the CPUs for 15" Retinas and the iMacs).

Now's not the worst time to buy a 13" Retina now that they'll likely soon start shipping with El Capitan preloaded, though we're mid-cycle right now, so you might still want to wait. At the very least, you'd be using current processor technology (as Skylake CPUs for the 13" Retina, Mac mini and MacBook Air have yet to be released by Intel, whereas, aside from the Mac mini, those systems have Broadwell and not Haswell).

 

[tacticaldrunk]

I wouldn't buy a 15" Retina unless you actually needed the discrete graphics processor or quad-core processing. But even then, if a 15" is what you'd want, I'd wait as we're on the third release with Haswell and it's clear that Apple did that to tide themselves over until Skylake came out (as it looks like Apple is skipping on the CPUs for 15" Retinas and the iMacs).

Now's not the worst time to buy a 13" Retina now that they'll likely soon start shipping with El Capitan preloaded, though we're mid-cycle right now, so you might still want to wait. At the very least, you'd be using current processor technology (as Skylake CPUs for the 13" Retina, Mac mini and MacBook Air have yet to be released by Intel, whereas, aside from the Mac mini, those systems have Broadwell and not Haswell).

Thanks for the advice. I can get the base 13" rMBP for USD $1380, but I'm not sure if that model is good enough or if it precisely is good enough for now, since new Macbooks will come out around March 2016. It probably doesn't make sense to max it out with RAM and SSD if it's not right after launch, right?

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Thanks for the advice. I can get the base 13" rMBP for USD $1380, but I'm not sure if that model is good enough or if it precisely is good enough for now, since new Macbooks will come out around March 2016. It probably doesn't make sense to max it out with RAM and SSD if it's not right after launch, right?

Buy what you need for now and the foreseeable future, with your usage 8GB of RAM is overkill, and will be for years to come barring some serious changes in your computer use habits.

As for storage, how much do you use now?? How much do you want to store HD video etc, do you archive old files to an external or NAS drive?? I personally think 256GB is pretty good for most people with light use and no huge music video or photo library (your stated use is very light a $300 chromebook would do that fine).

If you want to get the price down buy off of the apple refurbished store for a 15% discount.

 

[tacticaldrunk]

Buy what you need for now and the foreseeable future, with your usage 8GB of RAM is overkill, and will be for years to come barring some serious changes in your computer use habits.

As for storage, how much do you use now?? How much do you want to store HD video etc, do you archive old files to an external or NAS drive?? I personally think 256GB is pretty good for most people with light use and no huge music video or photo library (your stated use is very light a $300 chromebook would do that fine).

If you want to get the price down buy off of the apple refurbished store for a 15% discount.

Yeah, 256GB should be enough, considering that cloud storage is pretty cheap nowadays. I think I'll go for it now and sell it when the new 15 inch comes out. Thanks!

Edit: Should I wait until they come preloaded with El Capitan?

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Yeah, 256GB should be enough, considering that cloud storage is pretty cheap nowadays. I think I'll go for it now and sell it when the new 15 inch comes out. Thanks!

Edit: Should I wait until they come preloaded with El Capitan?

No I wouldn't bother it's an hour or so to update tops, on a fairly decent internet connection.

 

[tacticaldrunk]

No I wouldn't bother it's an hour or so to update tops, on a fairly decent internet connection.

Ok cool. I just chatted to an Apple specialist and he told me that Macbooks are already shipping with El Capitan... Not sure though if he just wanted to reassure me so I'd buy the machine anyways.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Thanks for the advice. I can get the base 13" rMBP for USD $1380, but I'm not sure if that model is good enough or if it precisely is good enough for now, since new Macbooks will come out around March 2016. It probably doesn't make sense to max it out with RAM and SSD if it's not right after launch, right?

It makes sense to max out RAM at the time of purchase as that literally dictates the logic board you get (the RAM is soldered onto and integrated into the logic board). As for storage; presently, there aren't many (if any) aftermarket upgrades to the storage you get (OWC has upgrades for 2012 and Early 2013 Retinas but nothing past that point), so it makes sense to max that out as well. If you're buying one, don't use the metric of "since it's going to be phased out soon, I'll be fine with less" argument unless you plan on selling what you buy now when the new models come out (and are simply using this as a short-term interim). Though, even then, at that point, if all you want is an interim machine, you can definitely limp along fine on a used 2013/2014 MacBook Air.

 

[tacticaldrunk]

It makes sense to max out RAM at the time of purchase as that literally dictates the logic board you get (the RAM is soldered onto and integrated into the logic board). As for storage; presently, there aren't many (if any) aftermarket upgrades to the storage you get (OWC has upgrades for 2012 and Early 2013 Retinas but nothing past that point), so it makes sense to max that out as well. If you're buying one, don't use the metric of "since it's going to be phased out soon, I'll be fine with less" argument unless you plan on selling what you buy now when the new models come out (and are simply using this as a short-term interim). Though, even then, at that point, if all you want is an interim machine, you can definitely limp along fine on a used 2013/2014 MacBook Air.

Yeah, going for something like a last year Macbook Air to interim until spring 2016 seems like a good solution. The only problem is that the price I get from the education store of my uni, is just 200 Euros more expensive than a used Macbook Air. Most people sell their Macs taking into account how much it cost them and market prices. But that doesn't take into account any education discounts, etc. So in the end, I'll probably go for the lowest 13" rMBP, since the screen is much nicer than the Macbook Air and it get's twice the RAM and it's "only" 225 Dollars more expensive than the lowest spec 13" Macbook Air.

 

[omnimoeish]

Unless you're gaming or ACTUALLY a professional (even then...), all that really matters is what screen size you want because really any Mac with a processor made in the last 3 years are going to be splitting hairs in performance difference no matter what RAM or processor. I have a 5.5 year old Macbook Pro 15" with an SSD I put in and my girlfriend has top of the line discrete graphics 15" rMBP and functionally usage is no better on that thing besides the prettier resolution. The storage transfer rates are sick on all. Battery on all are more than enough, RAM on all is more than enough, I would never advise anyone get less than 256GB storage (at least that plans to actually use it store stuff on) but more than that is probably not necessary either unless you're trying to fit a massive photo library on the thing. I've got 100GB of movies and 50GB of music on my 256GB machine and I've still got more than enough.

I like the 15" models because they're great for watching movies on and I'd never get anything with less than 1080p screen resolution (looking at you Macbook Air) but that's just me.

I'm personally waiting for Skylake not so much for the processor improvements (which will be minimal) but just hoping that there's a an update in the body and my machine I have now is still rocking 4 hours of battery life on the original battery. Humming along with literally no hiccups in 5.5 years even after lugging it around in a backpack every day all through college and then some, I think I can wait a few more months, but if I was using a crappy windows machine I hated, now's not a bad time to get one.