
Ask HN: What best alternatives for Macbook Pro 2015? - niuzeta
I&#x27;ve never actually purchased a Macbook - Companies I&#x27;ve worked at mostly provided it to me. I&#x27;ve been using Macbook without actually buying one.<p>Lately, I feel that my usage on this machine has advanced beyond work that it warrants purchasing it for my own.
1) Personal writing
2) Personal development&#x2F;research for fun.(I haven&#x27;t done this on company&#x27;s laptop for obvious reasons, but the desire has been growing)
3) &quot;the&quot; laptop of the house - it&#x27;s the central hub that most of my bluetooth devices connect, I do my e-mails on it, I manage my NAS on it, etc.<p>Essentially I&#x27;m looking for a lifestyle laptop - one you take to the coffee shop. to The issue is that I don&#x27;t feel like purchasing any of the newer model beyond the 2015 (one with lightning ports and USB-2.0 ports). To me, that was the peak macbook - both in build quality and usability. I strongly dislike the touch bar, flimsy keyboards, lack of ports, magsafe, and so on. It would need to be durable and supportable.<p>The issue is the alternative and the longevity of it after 3-4 years. I clearly do not agree with the Apple&#x27;s philosophy with their new line of products and I doubt they&#x27;ll change course.<p>1) What current alternative to Macbook Pro(2017) do I have at the similar price point?<p>2) Has Linux improved substantially since 2016 in terms of usability?<p>- Obviously yes, but how much of &quot;hand-wrangling&quot; do I need to go through to make it usable?<p>3) I can&#x27;t imagine I&#x27;m the only one in this shoe. What has everyone&#x27;s experience been?<p>4) Specifically, I&#x27;m looking for this spec - 
https:&#x2F;&#x2F;support.apple.com&#x2F;kb&#x2F;SP715<p>Is there a version that is more recent than this version, while maintaining the same quality(ports,  good keyboard, no touch bar, etc)? Also, is it worth getting a 15 inch?<p>I&#x27;ll leave the previous discussions from HN as a postscript and my thoughts why I felt the need to post a new question.
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niuzeta
Postscript - Previous discussions on this topic that I found useful while
posting this question -

1)"Ask HN: Is Dell XPS Developer Edition a Good Replacement of Macbook Pro?"
\-
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12820778](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12820778)

I decided to discard this one as this was posted in 2016 - 3 years old and
most products mentioned were outdated.

2) "Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for
developer?" \-
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16785507](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16785507)

I felt many of my frustrations echoed in the thread. There were a lot of
mentions of Thinkpad and Lenovo series with linux - As a proud Dell owner for
7 years(may its rusty soul rest in peace) I am certainly intrigued and wanted
to get a fresh take on it.

3) "Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?" \-
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17894252](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17894252)

This thread essentially re-affirmed my aversion to the latest Macbook Pro
models. I saw new hires using the later versions and I can repeat most
sentiments expressed in that thread in my voice.

4) "Ask HN: Best robust laptop for everyday software development" \-
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18022809](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18022809)

PascLeRasc's comment
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18024812](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18024812))
pretty much echos my sentiment and my reasoning to get a 2015. I wanted to see
if there were other alternatives or if it makes sense to get a 4-year-old
model in 2019.

Thanks

~~~
duiker101
I have a late 2014 MBP and I am also looking at changing soon. The new XPS
(7590) came out recently and the reviews are pretty good. It seems to be well
compatible with Linux too[1]

[1][https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/cec0vr/experience_run...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/cec0vr/experience_running_linux_on_dell_xps_15_7590/)

