Buying Macbook Pro 13

[Rob_F]

Hi,

Never had a mac before, but my current laptop has always been a bit of a dog since i got it around 2 years ago and recently thinking about buying a new one. Windows 10 has done nothing for me since i installed it earlier so i went to the apple store and liked the Macbook Pro.

So, here are two questions I'd be greatfull for thoughts on:

1) Is the bog standard, MD101 13 inch macbook pro (non-retina) with Intel 4000 graphics good enough to edit 1080p video in iMovie / is it worth the money to upgrade?

2) Are there any downsides in buying a US model from ebay at a greatly reduced price - e.g: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Apple-Macbook-Pro-MD101-...

Thanks,
Rob

[Rob_F]

Du1point8 said:

If brand new, get the largest RAM and HD you can afford, since Q2 2013 Apple have soldered in the Memory and HDs into the laptops making the after market upgrades impossible.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/04/surprise-ifix...

The advantage i suppose of buying the obsolete machine is that I believe from what I've read it is the last of the macbooks to be upgradable so it's possible to swap out ram/hdd etc.

Overall I'm torn. If buying at the store prices it seems well worth going for the newer model - although i'd want the 256gb version so that makes the price difference £300 rather than £100. 128gb of storage seems rather restrictive and not that future-proof. I already use more storage than that now so it also mandates the use of a external drive as storage rather than just backup.

Argh! Thanks for the comments

[Rob_F]

T5SOR said:

I'm looking at a Windows laptop alternative to the Mac. Anyone recommend one? The Dell XPS 13 looks comparable, but £800+

This Asus Zenbook got a reasonable review in a magazine this month and I must say it looks nice - bit of a rip off really of the macs! http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/lap...

Thanks for the advice on the macbooks, like any classic thread on a forum I may ignore it all and buy the older model anyway. I just can't face paying £1200 for a laptop, and the 128gb one feels like it would be irritatingly short of storage, so if I can get the old model for £650 I think that will fit the bill for a few years.

Thank you for taking the time though - appreciate it,
Rob

[Rob_F]

So, I popped into John Lewis after work mainly to convince myself that the old model was all i needed. Am now typing away on a Mid-2014 Retina model with 256gb SSD and 8gb RAM. It's not quite the latest and greatest but got a significant discount (similar price to the US-sourced ebay 'old' models) as it was some sort of ex-display, ex-return model and I still get the JL 2 year warranty.

Very pleased with it - thanks for the advice!

Rob