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Which Macbook Pro did you order, and why?

7 years ago from , Designer

I'm thinking of the 15" 2.6GHz 16GB 512GB build, curious what other developers and designers chose and how you weighed your options. I mostly use ST3, Affinity Designer, and a couple virtual machines running for dev stuff..

25 comments

  • Ernest Ojeh, 7 years ago (edited 7 years ago )

    None.. Why? My current MBP is perfectly fine and I have no issues with it. And it's in many ways better (More ports / I don't need to carry dongles)

    Also, I'm broke :(

    5 points
  • Sam SolomonSam Solomon, 7 years ago

    Quite frankly, I'm not sold. I thought I would be.

    I've got an early 2012 Macbook Air and an LCD Cinema Display. I've considered a few options. The first one is punting and keeping it another year.

    The second is getting the mid-tier iMac $2,100-$2,400 and keeping the Air for travel, coffee shop work. I don't really want to have two computers though.

    If I were to buy the new Macbook Pro I was thinking the same model. The problem is I'm either looking at a bunch of dongles and wires or purchasing a new monitor. In either case I'm out much more than I had expected.

    5 points
  • Bowen LiBowen Li, 7 years ago

    Just ordered a 13" Macbook Pro (2015-gen) for work today. Since the components are not upgradeable, always buy as much RAM as you can afford. Hard drive size will depend on your usage.

    I'm already invested with a Thunderbolt Display, a ton of charging bricks, and USB devices, so the new USB-C ports are a no-go.

    4 points
  • Jacob BoetterJacob Boetter, 7 years ago

    I ordered the 15" 2,9 Ghz quad-core i7, Radeon 460 4GB and 1 TB SSD, top of the line except for the SSD which could have been larger (and much more expensive).

    I actually don't agree with all the critics, I believe it's an excellent set of components, especially considering power and portability. When people claim that it's not Pro enough, try and compare a bit more than just CPU-GPU-RAM. Most of the laptops they'll point you to actually don't exist in the market yet.

    That said, if the market (and Apple) accepted the laptop be a bit heavier, we could probably have 32GB ram and same battery life – but it would probably be 1 kg heavier considering everything. My guess is Apple is waiting for battery tech to keep on improving, so they can squeeze in 32 GB ram in 6-12 months without compromising on size or battery life.

    3 points
    • Sacha GreifSacha Greif, 7 years ago

      I ordered the exact same thing, except for the processor upgrade. I've had my current MBP for 4 years, and I do all my work on it, so upgrading was a no-brainer.

      I hesitated a bit with the hard drive upgrade but decided it was worth it for peace of mind. The only downside is that if I do end up filling up the 1TB, backing all that up with time machine will require a pretty large external drive…

      2 points
      • Ryan Snowden, 7 years ago

        I have 1TB in my late 2013 blinged out one and I struggle to fill it because I have thunderbolt 2 external storage. So I went 512 and maxed out the rest. To be honest the main bottle neck of my current one is the GPU struggling to drive 4K displays without making it's own wind tunnel.

        0 points
  • Spencer JSpencer J, 7 years ago

    The processor upgrade is too expensive for what you get, and comes at the cost of battery life, so it's a no-go unless you're primarily a desk-jockey, in which case you should just get the retina iMac and a Macbook for traveling.

    The videocard upgrade makes sense—Apple limits their 15" machines to 85W, so their videocards aren't cutting-edge. If you'd like it to last for 4-years and still be comfortable you should go for the 460 upgrade ($200)

    If you really can't stash most of your archive in the cloud then an HD upgrade also makes sense.

    Unless money's no object in which case spec it out except for the processor.

    If you really need CPU performance, they're not using Kaby Lake yet, so you should just wait for the upgrade that's sure to come after the holidays.

    3 points
    • , 7 years ago

      Is Kaby Lake expected to be a major upgrade over the current? I have lost track of where CPUs are at right now. Would Apple increase the price of their offerings if they switch to Kaby Lake?

      4 points
      • Adam RasheedAdam Rasheed, 7 years ago

        I'd also like an answer to this.

        1 point
      • Mike Sarcone-Roach, 7 years ago

        The previous intel chips were all 2 cores in their mobile variants that Apple used, while Kaby lake has 4 cores.

        This is the biggest difference on paper, in practice I would imagine they would have quite similar performance. Apple stuck with the old chips so long because CPU's haven't evolved much in the last few years.

        More RAM, faster SSD's and beefier GPU's are where the performance margins exist these days.

        0 points
      • Spencer JSpencer J, 7 years ago

        Kaby Lake is only slightly faster, but has an architecture that supports more RAM, and Low Power DDR4.

        Skylake (current architecture) only supports LPDDR3, so they can only support up to 16GB.

        Kaby's sufficient for the MBP aren't ready yet, which is why Apple is going to have to start making their own Desktop chips as well. More info here:

        https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/59yrxg/the_true_reason_the_mbp_doesnt_come_with_ddr4_or/

        0 points
  • Vision 229Vision 229, 7 years ago

    I upgraded my 2016 15" i7 with r9 370m to a SurfaceBook, and man that rocks! Thanks to Figma i don´t need osx anymore

    2 points
    • Kris Barratt, 7 years ago

      Me too. Sold my MacBook Pro and bought a surface book. I love it.

      1 point
    • Andy MerskinAndy Merskin, 7 years ago

      I'm really glad to hear the line between platforms is blurring for designers. How would you rate the build quality and overall experience of the SurfaceBook versus your previous Macs? @Mr Happy and @Kris Barratt

      3 points
  • Doug OrchardDoug Orchard, 7 years ago

    Just ordered a 2016 13" pro to replace the 2013 Air I have. Love the Airs size and was wanting the same with a better monitor but seems the Air is no no longer...

    Also w/o the gimmicky touchbar. I tend to use my laptop on a stand when working at home or at the office so that extra money for something I wont use, is stupid.

    1 point
  • Luke Bugbee, 7 years ago

    Just ordered a maxed out new MBP for work and the thing costs more than both my cars combined (no joke). The way I see it is a single bad crash can cost hundreds of dollars in lost work. When I think of how many times I've had programs freeze on me with my 8gb RAM 2013 MBP it's hard realizing that I've more than surpassed the cost of an upgrade in the amount of lost work. So i'd rather pay that price up front and save myself frustrations in the future.

    Also changing to USB-C is about as annoying having to replace horseshoes with tire wrenches back in the day. Yes there are growing pains but it's the future and once we get past this hump it'll be amazing to have universal ports.

    0 points
  • Michael FMichael F, 7 years ago

    I ordered the base 15" space grey (256/16) I have the last gen 512/16 so i'm taking a disk space cut, however i've never actually used over 200GB on my mac so i'm not forking the extra cash this year.

    A lot of my stuff is in the cloud and on NAS drives.

    0 points
  • Yay N, 7 years ago

    Went with the 13" 2.9 Ghz, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB. My MacBook Air from 2013 would still be doing a pretty good job except for the constant lack of disk space (128 GB only) so I decided to upgrade from the standard 256 GB this time around. Using an external hard-drive has also been out of the question with slow USB 2 ports only. Might be a viable option now actually with USB-C if disk space starts to run low again.

    0 points
  • Andrew SmithAndrew Smith, 7 years ago

    I think this will be my last mac, the 2014 mbpr

    0 points
  • Cory MalnarickCory Malnarick, 7 years ago

    I'm one of those privileged few that a.) just entered the professional design industry, and b.) can afford it.

    I intend to get the fully max'd 15" and built my station around the USB-C as best as I can.

    0 points
  • Nitin GargNitin Garg, 7 years ago (edited 7 years ago )

    New lineup is a disappointment. Will be getting last gen 15inch in few weeks.

    As someone invested in lot of USB devices (midi controllers, storage) and external displays - I just can't find a single reason to look for new upgrade.

    0 points
  • dave fdave f, 7 years ago

    2.6 Ghz , upgraded to 512gb because 256 is too hard to work with these days. The gfx card and CPU upgrades didn't really seem worthwhile at the expense of battery life (and cost). I tend to upgrade every 2 years so will be plenty.

    0 points
  • Nemanja NenadicNemanja Nenadic, 7 years ago

    Ordered top tier 15" touchbar one with extra GFX power 'cus my company is paying it. Otherwise not sure what would I order.

    0 points
  • Norm Sheeran, 7 years ago

    I went for the 15" space grey, top spec with the exception of the HD, just kept that at the standard 256GB, it's my 'work from home' machine so I don't need my life on it. The workhorse (iMac) handles that.

    Can't wait to stroke this sexy piece of aluminium!

    0 points