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Building a MacBook to last # of years

  • 21-01-2016 7:42pm
    #1
    tomob666
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 51 ✭✭


    Hi all,

    I am looking to buying a Macbook that will need to last me about 5 years without becoming insufferably slow. I'm not very tech-savvy.

    The highest my budget will go is €1500/£1200 area.

    I had been looking at purchasing the 13" MBP from mid 2015, and upgrading the RAM to 16GB (I have been told that this would extend the life of the computer by a couple of years).

    I have an external drive so was planning to go for the 128gb storage, upgrading it to 256GB would be just too out of my price range.

    A friend has also told me I should wait until March/April when Skylake is rolled out, I'm not sure if I should wait a few months or not.

    Could I get some advice as to whether I am on the right lines or not?


Comments

  • #2
    AlmightyCushion
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 35,125 Mod ✭✭✭✭AlmightyCushion


    128GB isn't a lot of storage. It's probably only 100GBs free out of the box. Once you start installing applications you could find that your usable free space is feck all. I know you have an external but it's not the same. I'd seriously look at getting more storage otherwise you could spend a lot of time managing it. What do you plan to use the laptop for?


  • #3
    Boskowski
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,361 ✭✭✭Boskowski


    Beware with the new Macbook Pros that you need to make the RAM decision when you buy it as it can't be extended. Not sure when they switched to that but I bought a brand new one in October 2015 with retina and its definitely the case with my one.

    As for the hard disc 128GB would be the absolute minimum, but at least you can swap that for a bigger one later.


  • #4
    tomob666
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 51 ✭✭tomob666


    AlmightyCushion wrote: »
    128GB isn't a lot of storage. It's probably only 100GBs free out of the box. Once you start installing applications you could find that your usable free space is feck all. I know you have an external but it's not the same. I'd seriously look at getting more storage otherwise you could spend a lot of time managing it. What do you plan to use the laptop for?

    It will mostly for work, video-editing, obviously internet browsing and light gaming. It will be my main machine.

    The storage is definitely a concern for me then. The next storage up is about 250, I think that would be more manageable, I guess I may end up forking out the extra


  • #5
    tomob666
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 51 ✭✭tomob666


    Boskowski wrote: »
    Beware with the new Macbook Pros that you need to make the RAM decision when you buy it as it can't be extended. Not sure when they switched to that but I bought a brand new one in October 2015 with retina and its definitely the case with my one.

    As for the hard disc 128GB would be the absolute minimum, but at least you can swap that for a bigger one later.

    Yeah I noticed that the RAM is actually soldered onto the board so it's not possible to upgrade it at a later date so I think no matter what I'll be going for the 16GB

    How are you finding your MBP?


  • #6
    Alanstrainor
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,157 ✭✭✭✭Alanstrainor


    tomob666 wrote: »
    Yeah I noticed that the RAM is actually soldered onto the board so it's not possible to upgrade it at a later date so I think no matter what I'll be going for the 16GB

    How are you finding your MBP?

    I've been pondering this question for a while now.

    My 6 year old machine has 16GB of RAM, so it seems bonkers to me to go with 8GB in such an expensive machine.

    Also, although the PCIe SSD is technically replaceable, it is far from cheap from what I can see. So it may not be feasible to upgrade at all.

    And the 3rd thing to be aware of... generally new macbooks are announced in March, so to buy one now at full price may not be the wisest of decisions. It depends on how badly you need it I suppose!

    Also, at the moment, for stock macbooks, Amazon.co.uk is a good bit cheaper than apple Ireland.


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  • #7
    ED E
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,170 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    tomob666 wrote: »
    It will mostly for work, video-editing, obviously internet browsing and light gaming. It will be my main machine.

    Dont think the target (1500, 5yrs) is reasonable.

    Right now the €350 smartphone in my pocket shoots 4k. Its 18months old. Within 2yrs 8k will be standard and god knows what at 5yrs.

    Lithium cell will be knackered at 3yrs, pain to replace. No hardware H265 decoding. If you're using a laptop for work you should aim to replace it on 3yr cycles.


  • #8
    Boskowski
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,361 ✭✭✭Boskowski


    tomob666 wrote: »
    Yeah I noticed that the RAM is actually soldered onto the board so it's not possible to upgrade it at a later date so I think no matter what I'll be going for the 16GB

    How are you finding your MBP?

    Find it very good, its my second one now. Its a hefty price tag but build/hardware quality, OS quality, software, attention to detail, everything is top notch. Holds its value too. My first one (late 2010) was passed on to herself but it would still fetch 400-500€ which is what most new Windows laptops go for.

    I'm an IT professional plus I happened to have the cash at the time so I had no problem justifying it either. I use it to keep up-to-date on software technology, dabbling into the latest buzzword stuff, but also for every day use and it does all that very well.
    Probably overkill, could get that from a cheaper make I guess, but I like quality tools. Don't see myself going anywhere else for the foreseeable future.


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