Should I upgrade from my MacBook Pro?

asdfguy · 18 Feb 2021 at 15:12

So I have a 2012 Retina MacBook Pro 15" and I was wondering if I should upgrade from it? I mostly use it for writing, social media and watching Netflix or YouTube. I replaced the ageing battery last year, and it seems to be working fine without any issues, but it's still a 9-year old machine.

Any thoughts? Here are the specs for my MacBook Pro

CPU: I7-3615QM @ 2.3 GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1 GB
RAM: 8 GB
SSD: 256GB
Battery cycle: 220

Thanks

Feek · 18 Feb 2021 at 15:14

The bottom line is that if it does everything you want at a speed you're happy with, don't bother.

shiver · 18 Feb 2021 at 15:17

Whilst your usage requirements definitely do not require an upgrade, the new M1 Macs would wipe the floor with it. Especially with battery life.

Another thing to consider is that your model does not support the latest version of macOS. Again, not necessarily an issue.

I have hovered over the buy button for a new Mac since the M1s launched but the more I think about it is my 2015 rMBP is still just fine. The only thing it suffers from is reduced battery life but I have other Macs for work so it's never an issue.

visibleman · 19 Feb 2021 at 12:55

Along the same lines as @Feek - save the pennies for when you actually need to upgrade, especially as Apple Silicon systems will only continue to improve.
Plus you can upgrade the ram and hdd on the 2012 15@ MBP, so you can always eek out a bit more performance.

pingwing · 19 Feb 2021 at 22:57

I had that exact Mac book pro till last April, honestly the only thing I found it struggled with was Civ6 when they released the New Frontier Pass. Everything else I needed it for was easily handled, I did find avoiding the update to the first os that used metal helped with its performance but again probably Civ related.

My little sister is now the owner of my old MacBook Pro and is getting plenty of milage out of it with a similar usage and it sounds like you're in the same sort of boat, you might as well enjoy the 15 inch screen and all the other mbp benefits until it can't go on then look at your options when they do an ARM 16 inch mbp.

DireEmblem · 20 Feb 2021 at 13:28

1) Why did you start this thread - you are clearly thinking about it, but does your MacBook not do anything you want it to do?
2) Do you have everything on it backed up?

Feek · 20 Feb 2021 at 13:36

DireEmblem said:
2) Do you have everything on it backed up?

I would hope that every Mac user is backed up. Time Machine is so simple to use that it’s literally set it and forget it.

Reuben klang · 21 Feb 2021 at 21:12

Feek said:
The bottom line is that if it does everything you want at a speed you're happy with, don't bother.

Pretty much this, I'm on a 2014 and have no plans to upgrade it as still fast enough for what I need it for.

shiver · 22 Feb 2021 at 04:49

shiver said:
I have hovered over the buy button for a new Mac since the M1s launched but the more I think about it is my 2015 rMBP is still just fine. The only thing it suffers from is reduced battery life but I have other Macs for work so it's never an issue.

And just like that, my old 2015 Mac has started powering off randomly, I suspect the battery is on the way out