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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > Macbook Pro upgrade time?

Macbook Pro upgrade time?
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Oct 15, 2018, 04:15 PM
 
Hi guys, I'm kind of at a crossroads. I've got a late 2013 15" Macbook Pro. 2.3 i7, 512 SSD. Basically one of the early Retina Macbook Pro's. I'm at the point where I need a second computer. Either buy my wife one, or give her this one and buy a new one. My problem is, I want at least 1TB drive, maybe more.

What I cannot for the life of me figure out, is what is better about a new MBP, that would give me a reason to upgrade. I use it for web-based work apps, light photo editing, and that is pretty much it. She uses it for internet, word processing, and school.

If I keep this, I'll upgrade the SSD to 2tb and get her a 12" MacBook.

If she gets this one, I'll probably go toward the top end of the 13" MBP, with 1 TB SSD.

Of course the problem is, this computer has a quad core i7 at 2.3ghz, 16gb of ram and dedicated Graphics ram. To get close to those specs, I'm well into the mid $2000 range, especially with 1tb SSD. Have we really not progressed that much in these things? This computer has been flawless, and now I'm more or less leaning toward keeping it and upgrading rather than blowing $2500 of something that specs out pretty much evenly.

Insight? Are the newer i5 processors equivalent to my i7? Is this thing in danger of being cut off at some time soon? I'm still using a 2009 Macbook too, but that is dying, which is prompting the upgrade.
     
reader50
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Oct 15, 2018, 07:13 PM
 
CPUs have not changed much. With AMD back in the game, that could change in the near future. Here are the things I've noticed with later designs.

• GPUs improve. If you want to game, a later model can be a big improvement.
• After 2015, new MBPs come with soldered-down SSD chips. If you want the option of storage upgrades, don't go past 2015 models.

There are assorted ports changes. To easily compare the specs of each model, I recommend MacTracker.
     
OreoCookie
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Oct 15, 2018, 08:40 PM
 
Reader is right, but I think you have to add one important asterisk here: while single core performance hasn't grown, the 13" models now feature 4 cores and the 15" models up to 6. So you do get a significant speed boost in certain circumstances, but only because you have more cores. Now in your specific situation, going from a 15" to a 13", the number of cores actually stays the same.

The most significant performance boost between your machine and today's machines has to come from SSDs being dramatically faster. But if I were you'd I'd hold on to your machine a bit longer and simply upgrade the SSD.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
   
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