
A used 2015 Retina MacBook Pro might be the best MacBook you can buy today - miles
https://www.cultofmac.com/664886/used-2015-retina-macbook-pro/
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daniel-cussen
I believed this and that's exactly what I did, I bought a 2015 15" rMBP used.
It went for $700, but you can get them for even less.

The most obvious part of the decision was the lack of magsafe connector. How
could Apple have made such an obviously anti-Steve Jobs decision? Nobody gives
a shit if all the connectors on the sides are uniform. You don't get points in
real life for making them that way. It's a point against, not a point in
favor, they should be heterogenous.

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kiddico
I went out of my way two years ago to get a 15" 2015 MBP after coming to the
same conclusion.

Last 'good' keyboard, replaceable storage, built like a tank , etc. And you
don't need to calibrate the trackpad every time you open the damn thing.

It also happens to be the model/year I fixed the most at my uni's (super duper
apple certified) repair shop, so I'm confident I can keep it alive for a
while.

~~~
ph2082
IN 2017, after going through my filters > 16GB RAM, 15 inch, and ease of use,
*nix (have worked on Suse/Ubuntu for like 10 years), I settled on same. At
that time new 12 inch MacBook was already out, but didn't like that touch
thing at the top and seemed overpriced.

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inspector14
Found a brand new/sealed 2015 MBP on eBay about 3 months ago.. top of the line
i7, 32gb ram, 512gb SSD, still the best laptop that exists IMO.

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raincom
Are you sure about 32gb ram? Max configs on Mid 2015 laptop: i7-4980 2.8Ghz,
1TB, 16gb ram.

~~~
someonehere
That’s not possible. The chip used in that model was limited to 16GB. I worked
in IT at that time and DB admins begging me to get them a 15” at that time
with 32GB of RAM. I told them the chip from Intel was the limiting factor.
When Apple updated a year or two ago, they moved to the next version of the
chip which allowed 32GB. So yeah, 32GB in 2015 was not possible.

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ivanmaeder
Old MBPs are mentioned a lot on HN; I want to give a shout out to the MacBook
Air.

At home I'm still using an 8GB, mid-2012 MBA, and it feels just as responsive
as my brand new 16GB MBA at work. I'm obviously not doing much to push it, but
I'm getting away with web dev (Docker, multiple containers), browsing,
watching movies, playing music, multiple desktops, etc without a problem.

If this breaks before they fix the keyboard issue I'd seriously consider the
last MBA with the classic keyboard, even if it's missing the retina display or
Touch ID.

~~~
amoeba
My 2012 Air feels, in many ways, a lot more performant than my 2016 Pro. The
Air is the best computer Apple has made in over a decade.

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srge
That’s what I have. Great laptop. Only recently it started to freeze for a few
seconds a couple of times per week though.

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PetahE
I too have been having this issue as of late on my mid 2015.

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fbi-director
Me too, mbpro 2013 or 2015 I'm not sure. Music or video keeps playing, input
freezes. Very rare, but not rare enough to not notice.

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tonyedgecombe
I've seen it on my Mac mini a couple of times. I thought it might have been a
bluetooth issue as both the keyboard and mouse were unresponsive but perhaps
there is something else going on.

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Apocryphon
The 2015 rMBP can do some light modern gaming. I was able to run Prey (2017)
just fine, as well as the new Disco Elysium.

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toomuchtodo
Can the battery, RAM, and hard drive be serviced by the end user easily?

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SpikeDad
RAM is soldered. SSD uses a proprietary connector - fortunately a low cost
adapter is now available. Battery is glued to the chassis but there are
removal kits available from iFixit which includes adhesive remover and new
adhesive.

I've replaced my SSD with a new one using the adapter and it's working
perfectly. It's about 2x as fast as the original drive.

It's not the best MacBook Pro by any stretch of the imaginative. I've also
used a 2016 MBP and 2018 MBP both with Touch Bar and both are far superior.

Those were work devices and the 2015 is my personal device which I purchased
due to cost. I've been very happy - it's running Catalina Beta perfectly and
I've also run Window 10 using Bootcamp and recently have removed that and
switched to Parallels running both W7 and W10.

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AlEinstein
“no Touch Bar” is listed as a con. I consider physical keys to be a pro.

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FabianBeiner
Unless you want to use it on any flight, I've been flying a lot lately, with
different airlines - every single one of them completely bans every 15"
MacBook from 2015.

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clay_the_ripper
Do you actually own a 2015 and had it taken away?

I own a 2015 mbp and fly with it all the time - no issues. (flown probably 12
times since the ban, primarily United)

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WildGreenLeave
I can second this, I've brought my laptop on multiple flights after the ban
and nobody cared. Amsterdam - Krakow with KLM and Dusseldorf - Moscow with
Aeroflot and they all just accepted the laptop. Took it out of my bag at all
airports except Amsterdam. (You don't have to take out your stuff from your
bag anymore, you can also bring filled bottles of fluid)

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caseyf7
If you haven’t done a fresh install since 2015, I highly recommend it. It will
free up a lot of space and generally run better on a drive reformatted with
APFS and fresh Mojave.

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skinnymuch
Yeah I haven’t. Does this mean not to restore with Time Machine? Instead move
things over temporarily somewhere else, reformat and reinstall Catalina (I
don’t have any issue with the 64 bit limit), then move data back?

~~~
caseyf7
That's what I ended up doing. I don't know Time Machine well enough to know if
it would free up as much space on your drive.

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TurkishPoptart
My friend and I swear by these MBPs, but we disagree on updates I reliably
update the firmware because I'm terrified of viruses. He, OTOH, _never_
updates, because he's afraid of planned obsolescence gradually bricking his
machine. P.O. is no longer a tin foil hat thing, it's proven. But is he going
about it the right way?

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retrac98
This article is utterly fucked on my phone. Content disappearing right off the
edge of the viewport that you can’t scroll to.

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FullyFunctional
Surprised - I thought it was going to be about MBPs that can run Mojava, the
last good macOS. It's my understanding that new hardware isn't (generally)
compatible with older OSes. Apple killing my legacy (32-bit) apps officially
ended my love-affair with macOS - typing this on a Ubuntu laptop.

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SpikeDad
Your understand is incorrect. Catalina runs perfectly on my 2015 rMBP and can
run on machines as old as MBA 2012.

Apple has been notifying developers for 3 macOS versions that 64bit
applications would be deprecated. Do you really want to use software that a
developer can't take the time to update it having several years notice?

In any event progress marches on. Apple isn't shy advancing their hardware and
software deprecating old code. That's how the state of the art advances.

Funny that Apple is almost alway correct when they make these sorts of
decisions.

~~~
lostgame
>> Apple has been notifying developers for 3 macOS versions that 64bit
applications would be deprecated.

And for 3 MacOS versions I’ve said when they enact this is when I jump ship.

>> Do you really want to use software that a developer can't take the time to
update it having several years notice?

Yes, because I would like to use software I paid for.

Certain music plug-ins, utilities and games I have purchased won’t work.

The update _removes_ value from the OS - greatly.

Your question effectively asks if you’d like to continue using something you
paid for just because it’s several years old. Let’s say the company just went
defunct so an update is out of the question, yes, if I paid for that software
I’d still like to use it.

I will be hackintoshing, buying a Lenovo and gradually start my move to
Ubuntu.

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villgax
A windows version of that is a Razer Blade 15.

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sjcoles
If you don't need the GPU another good option is the Dell Latitude 5400
(2019). I am loving the hell out of my higher tier model (8565u, 32gb ram, 1tb
nvme).

Yeah it's a business laptop and not very pretty but that just means you can
literally repair any part on it with only one or two sized Phillips head
screwdriver. No having to remove fragile ribbon cables to upgrade RAM like on
the razer blade :|.

