Should I Buy A New Macbook?

[poppopbangbang]

I've got a 2012 Macbook pro 13" - It's pretty battered but still works fine but I've had to have a massive dick around to get Mojave to work on it (as it has Raid 0 SSDs in it) which doesn't bode well for it updating easily in future..... so I thought I'd treat myself to a new one.

However the new ones don't appear to be any better/not as good in some areas. Spec of mine is:

- i7 something or other processor.
- 16GB Ram
- 1TB Storage with two 500GB Samsung Evo SSDs

I don't do anything very intensive on it, mainly run Serato DJ Pro, use it for a bit of browsing, play Civ on it when on the plane, view of odd bit of CAD etc. etc. and to be fair it breezes through that. I'm not in on the whole "Apple Ecosystem" thing and don't even use iCloud on it as we're all Dropbox at work. Everything else I have/use is a PC, I just have this because it's a really nice laptop and plays well with Serato.

It seems that for my two grand all I'd get is a better graphics card and a better screen but I would end up with no ports, no clever magnetic charger, no SSD card reader, half the RAM, half the storage and an i5 (which to be fair is probably quicker than the old i7 in mine).

Am I missing something or should I just order a new upper and lower case for mine and make it look new again?

[HRL]

I’m sure the newer model would outperform your old one by some margin but it’s a lot of cash for something that you could probably do on the latest MacBook Air instead.

Just picked one up for my daughter. £1224 from John Lewis for the 256Gb model. Will Bootcamp, put Win 10 and Office 2016 on it, which I already have. Best of both worlds then.

Should see her through her A-levels and then some hopefully.

Forgot to mention there’s a £20 adaptor on Amazon that has a MagSafe type USB-C converter.

Edited by HRL on Friday 1st March 22:08

[poppopbangbang]

Just had a look but max storage on an Air appears to be 256GB? I've got 400gb of FLAC files alone on mine so really need 1TB or so like I currently have or I'd end up carrying an external drive/USB keys everywhere.

[mikef]

You can spec the Air with up to a 1.5TB SSD. However, as you say it may be worth seeing about getting your MacBook refurbished if the cosmetics are your only problem with it

[tog]

I got a refurb 2018 13" MBP a few months ago and while it is a huge improvement over the 2010 it replaced, I really hate the touch bar. I wanted the newest machine to get the longest life out of it so went for the revised 2018 models, but wish I'd got the one without Touch Bar.

[poppopbangbang]

mikef said:

You can spec the Air with up to a 1.5TB SSD. However, as you say it may be worth seeing about getting your MacBook refurbished if the cosmetics are your only problem with it

Thanks just found the config bit on the website..... but a grand for 1.5TB! Ouch!

[thebraketester]

Do you really need 400gb of FLAC stored locally in your computer?

[poppopbangbang]

thebraketester said:

Do you really need 400gb of FLAC stored locally in your computer?

When one of said laptops jobs is to run a Pioneer DDJ and Serato then yes - can't really stop the party because the Wifi has gone down

[dmsims]

thebraketester said:

Do you really need 400gb of FLAC stored locally in your computer?

Yeah mate coz dem sound good in the Beats innit

[thebraketester]

poppopbangbang said:

thebraketester said:

Do you really need 400gb of FLAC stored locally in your computer?

When one of said laptops jobs is to run a Pioneer DDJ and Serato then yes - can't really stop the party because the Wifi has gone down

MP3s will work fine for a party ;-)

[poppopbangbang]

thebraketester said:

MP3s will work fine for a party ;-)

It's usually a big party

[thebraketester]

poppopbangbang said:

thebraketester said:

MP3s will work fine for a party ;-)

It's usually a big party

Well in that case you’ll be able to afford the 1k for the bigger SSD :-)

[Troubleatmill]

My 2011 Macbook Pro lasted until not long ago.

Year on year depreciation - cheaper than a Windows laptop.

When it finally dies.... it dies.


Best to just replace.

[poppopbangbang]

thebraketester said:

Well in that case you’ll be able to afford the 1k for the bigger SSD :-)

It's not a case of affording it, it's a case of feeling like I'm having the piss taken! The Samsung SSDs in the current one were less than 400 quid for the pair when they were new!

[HRL]

poppopbangbang said:

Just had a look but max storage on an Air appears to be 256GB? I've got 400gb of FLAC files alone on mine so really need 1TB or so like I currently have or I'd end up carrying an external drive/USB keys everywhere.

You could buy two 1Tb external drives, one for a backup, and still have plenty of change.

Don’t you only need the music when DJ’ing?

Entirely up to you but the MBA is a nicer form factor, has great battery life, and disk size aside would easily be up to the task.

I couldn’t bring myself to pay Apple for a 1.5TB internal SSD.

[ooid]

Nope.. they are definitely over-priced nowadays.

I have a similar use, CAD viewing annd slight modelling. Loads of MS office and Adobe use daily, in addition to browsing and leisure. Got rid of all apple products in 2015 including iphone. Lenovo and Dell have some really robust laptops much better spec than Apple, better value.

I used to be a Mac user since early 2000s, HTH.

[TheJimi]

The problem is, once you've used the MaxBook trackpads and gestures, it's VERY hard to switch over to anything else, coz no-one else can quite do it so well.

For me, that's a BIG thing.

Personally, I'd buy whatever new MacBook in whatever flavour works best for you use case.

[thebraketester]

TheJimi said:

The problem is, once you've used the MaxBook trackpads and gestures, it's VERY hard to switch over to anything else, coz no-one else can quite do it so well.

For me, that's a BIG thing.

Personally, I'd buy whatever new MacBook in whatever flavour works best for you use case.

Agreed re the track pad. Apples implementation of it is far better than any other. The trackpads on the new MBPs are huge.

[AJB88]

I miss 2 things from my 2010 MBP, the trackpad and the magnetic charging.

I now have a Dell XPS 13 Ubuntu, USB type C is fine because I have USB C phone as well.

[xeny]

poppopbangbang said:

Am I missing something or should I just order a new upper and lower case for mine and make it look new again?

Personally I'd order new case halves and a larger single SSD (to escape the RAID 0 arrangement without loss of disk space), because I hate the assortment of dongles I need with a new macbook to connect it to anything, and I like a keyboard with rather more travel than the new ones.