Welcome to the Treehouse Community
Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.
Looking to learn something new?
Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.
Start your free trial
Carlos Quivera
6,917 PointsHelp me decide between these Macbook Pro!
Hello guys! I made a post asking to help me choose a new laptop, after a few days thinking about it, I decided to go for a Refurbished Macbook Pro 15'' Retina display...
But I can't decide between these 2: Macbook Pro 15'' Retina Mid 2012 - Macbook Pro 15'' Retina Late 2013
The first one is and old model but it has a dedicated 1GB GPU and a better processor, it is cheaper but battery last a bit less. The second one is recent but it has an integrated GPU and weaker processor but battery last longer.
Do you think the 2012 one is too old? Physical differences? Does it has any defects? Are the screens exactly the same?
I would like to hear your opinions because since I'm spending a good amount of money I would like to have a solid decision.
Thanks!
4 Answers
Aleksandar Dimovski
45,031 PointsFirst how much cost the first one and how much the second one and how much you are ready to spend?
Atanas Sqnkov
14,981 PointsHello Carlos!
My advice would be - if you are on a budget, go for a different brand using windows or a linux based OS if you are into it. For the ammount of money you would spend on a Mac Book you can get a conventional Laptop like ASUS or Dell with double the power and half the price in some cases depending on the seller.
Also buying a "legacy" Mac Book from 2-3 years back is really not a good idea considering the specs and the price equation.
P.S. > I am not a fanboy or a marketing rat. I have been in the same positon as you are as a designer/developer myself when I was buying a laptop. I really wanted a Mac, but when I got to dig in deep I found out that this is not the right choice for me.
I hope you make the right choice that makes you happy! Cheers!
Carlos Quivera
6,917 PointsHello! It's not really a budget issue, I'm deciding on refurbished ones for the price and because they are know for having less issues because they have been tested more, it's more like wanting to know if there are any physical differences or any hardware issue like screen ghosting on the 2012.
On hte other hand, the price on the 2012 version alright considering they are not used, they come "like-new" and has really good specs. i7 Quad Core 2.3 GHz, 8 Mb ram, 256 SSD, Dedicated Geforce 650m 1GB and 15'' retina display.
Thanks Atanas!
Kevin Korte
28,149 PointsI've got a 13" Pro that is a late 2010 that is sitll going strong and is my main dev machine. My biggest grip with Mac is the planned obsolesce of the OS system. They do the same thing with the iPhones. I'd be tempted to get the newer on only because it'll go longer on OSX updates, but you should still have another 2 or 2.5 years of updates on the older one.
Battery life isn't a huge deal for me. I rarely find myself doing much without my external keyboard, mouse, and 23" monitor hooked up to it on my desk anyway. Even still, my 2010 mac has about 4.5 hours on a full charge, granted it also has a smaller screen so that helps. Batteries are replaceable though.
I know the whole Mac vs Windows marketing machine fanboy club, but I paid $1100 for it brand new in November of 2010. At a burn rate of about $250 a year of use, that isn't too bad. I have Windows computers too, but haven't had that kind of luck of cost of ownership per year as I have had with my mac.
Carlos Quivera
6,917 PointsThat's the kind of answer I was looking, you have made my decision easier!
Thanks Kevin!
Kevin Korte
28,149 PointsNo problem man. I went through the same thing back in 2010. Looked at a lot of Windows laptops at the time too, comparing prices, losing sleep over it all. Finally just pulled the trigger on the 13" mac and have't looked back since.
As far as I know, shells and screens should be the same. I'd probably just go with the older model that is a bit cheaper but has better specs. LIke I said, I'm coming up on 4 years of hard use on my 13" pro and it shows no signs of giving up yet. My biggest fear is that I may not be able to update to the next OSX, but even still I'll milk that computer for everything it's worth. Just run Time Machine a lot and you should be good to go.
ralphnoronha
6,638 PointsI have a Mac book pro 13" early 2011 model with i5, 2.3 Ghz processing speed. I know the specs aren't great even by that time standards but it met my needs. It was a big decision for me to shift to the mac but was a good decision made by me. I use a few softwares for my engineering work and used to run them on my Dell laptop similar specs which even had a graphics card but always lagged. Then i installed windows on Mac using bootcamp and ran those softwares only to find them running smoothly. Also i havnt had a single problem with my laptop till date.
I would recommend stretching your budget and going for the latest version which should suffice you for a long time. hope this helped you.
Carlos Quivera
6,917 PointsThat gives me peace of mind knowing I made the right decision, I already bought the 2012 version because I liked the dedicated GPU.
Thanks Ralph!
Carlos Quivera
6,917 PointsCarlos Quivera
6,917 PointsThe 2012 version costs around $1500 and the 2013 costs around $1600, there are 2 links posted with a more in-dept information.
Thank you!