MacBook Pro - early 2015 advice

OverDrive · 8 Apr 2021 at 16:10

Hi everyone,

My cousin’s friend has offered to sell her a 13-inch early 2015 MacBook Pro for £325. She has asked me if I think she should buy it.

https://support.apple.com/kb/sp715?locale=en_LK

Unfortunately I don’t really have any experience with Macs! Really hoping you guys can help.

Is this a good price for this model and is there anything that she should look out for?

I have already asked her to check that everything she needs (MS Office and SPSS) are available on the Mac - which they are. I know she can run Windows via Parallels if she needs to.

Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you.

Biz.Kid09 · 8 Apr 2021 at 16:15

What spec is it?

MrRockliffe · 8 Apr 2021 at 16:17

As above, will need to know which storage and CPU spec it is :-)

RAM will likely be 8GB which is fine

OverDrive · 8 Apr 2021 at 16:33

Thanks both. I’ll ask her for more details and report back

OverDrive · 8 Apr 2021 at 19:19

Hello again, I’ve just been told that it’s the 2.7GHz i5 with 256GB storage and 8GB of RAM.

Biz.Kid09 · 8 Apr 2021 at 20:13

£325 doesn't seem too bad, you can check the bay etc and that seems around right. I would want to check the battery health mainly as that would annoy me more than anything. You can use something like https://coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/

alex24 · 8 Apr 2021 at 20:27

Seems a reasonable price but not a great price. Good if it has a decent battery (low cycles, good health) and is in nice cosmetic condition.

EDIT: Depending on budget, the new MBA or 13" MBP with the M1 chip is a great deal even though it's several times the price as it would likely last many more years than the 2015. However I'm typing this from a Mid-2014 15" that's still working great (with i7 and 16GB).

OverDrive · 9 Apr 2021 at 09:54

Thank you for the info/advice guys, this is really helpful. I’ve asked her to check the condition carefully and make sure the battery is in good order. Unfortunately her budget won’t allow her to get one of the new ARM based machines, so hopefully this will meet her needs. I’ve also suggested she offers closer to £300 if possible.

tom_nieto · 9 Apr 2021 at 11:10

Not sure if the early 2015 13” machines came with retina screens, but I think these are really excellent laptops. I still have my 2015 rMBP 15” and it’s brilliant even now (i7 + 16Gb). I honestly can’t believe how well it’s lasted considering it’s age. I’ve never had a computer so long.

Saying that, you’re stuck with 8Gb RAM which could be better.

OverDrive · 9 Apr 2021 at 13:32

That’s good to know, the MacBook Pro looks like very well built laptop.

I’m not sure if it’s Retina. The display spec is 2560x1600, 227PPI. That sounds like quite a sharp display for a 13” computer, especially so for 2015.

alex24 · 9 Apr 2021 at 13:39

Yes, that will be a retina model. They are very nice screens and well built laptops.

I think these may have been affected by the screen coating issue (aka Staingate), may be worth checking the state of the screen.

EDIT: The link doesn't say, but the coating can be easily removed to bring it back to a decent standard, albeit more reflective. I think the replacement programme (if the laptop wasn't already fixed through that) is now over.

OverDrive · 9 Apr 2021 at 14:02

Thank you @alex24

I’ve asked my cousin to check the screen carefully before she buys it and I’ve sent her the link above.

explicit4u · 13 Apr 2021 at 14:29

Make sure she doesn't need SPSS Amos as that isn't supported on mac!

OverDrive · 14 Apr 2021 at 16:52

explicit4u said:
Make sure she doesn't need SPSS Amos as that isn't supported on mac!

Thank you, I’ve let her know

Jimmy Weirdarms · 22 Apr 2021 at 16:58

alex24 said:
Yes, that will be a retina model. They are very nice screens and well built laptops.

I think these may have been affected by the screen coating issue (aka Staingate), may be worth checking the state of the screen.

EDIT: The link doesn't say, but the coating can be easily removed to bring it back to a decent standard, albeit more reflective. I think the replacement programme (if the laptop wasn't already fixed through that) is now over.

Huh! I never knew that was a thing! My late 2013 MBP retina had a touch of that in the upper left, on the bezel rather than over the screen itself. If I'd known I could get the screen replaced for free...

Back to the topic at hand - someone just paid £300 for that old 13", i5, 8GB/256GB 2013 rMBP a couple of weeks ago. So I guess £325 for a 2015 model is probably fine.