Technology MacBook Decision

[rafanadal7]

Hey guys,

Trying to decide on a macbook pro 2012 vs the 2015 version for the upcoming school year (i'll be starting as an m1). the macbook pro 2012 will have 4 gb ddr3l, 500 gb hdd, i5 processor, and it will be refurbished from the apple store ($829). the macbook pro 2015 will have 8 gb ddr3l, 128 gb flash/ssd, i5 processor, and it will also be refurbished from the apple store ($929). here are the pros and cons of each (as i see them).

pros for 2012:
upgradability (i think i would want at least 8 gb ram and potentially ssd)
cheaper

cons for 2012:
most likely needs to be upgraded
no retina display
a three year older model (as compared to the 2015)

pros for 2015:
8 gb ddr3l already in place (couldn't do anything about it if i was unsatisfied since its soldered on)
retina display
newer parts/graphic cards/thinner

cons for 2015:
128 gb flash/ssd just seems like too little even with an external (I'm looking into buying a 240 gb upgrade kit from like macsales.com or whatever that fairly reputable site is that offers upgradable parts for the retina macbook pros, but thats gonna cost a good 330 bucks).

i think i'm leaning towards the 2015 just since it is newer, but at the same time, i really like the 2012 machine. btw, the school i'm going to isn't really particular on capabilities (really just that your OS checks out and that its not like a chromebook).

Thanks guys, really appreciate the feedback!

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[Stroganoff]

@rafanadal7: Super late reply, and school's likely started and you've already made a decision.

Newer is generally better simply due to the obsolescence factor. The price difference you listed is negligible. The 2015 i5 CPU is likely several generations newer and faster than the 2012 i5. I'd just get something that can last all 4 years and just be done with it instead of dealing with the hassle of migrating to a new machine and moving all your stuff over.

I'm not up-to-date with the Mac release cycles. I know they're generally very far behind. Mac Pro line-up is a good example.

In your post, even 2015 seems super old in 2017, no? [Edit: I take it they're both refurbished from Apple and at a huge cost savings. I see where you're going with this. Just something "good enough" for school that will get the job done.]

I'd definitely get the 2015 between the two options you listed.

I agree with you on the 128 GB flash storage being on the small side on the 2015 model. I'm not sure how much space OS X takes up and all the critical applications, but it doesn't leave you much room for your music collection, personal files, and any materials needed for school like all those PDFs and PowerPoints and course packs. Would definitely need to swap the internal drive for something bigger or make use of external storage like flash drives and maybe a home NAS. Or throw all school stuff on Google Drive / Microsoft One Drive assuming you don't have any privacy issues with having all your school stuff in a public cloud that 3rd parties can access.

I'm still using an ancient 2007 Dell, but I swapped out the 160 GB HDD with a 256 GB SSD and wouldn't go any smaller especially on modern computers.

 

[GIS_FNP]

Wal-Mart sells the 2012 MacBook Pros for $450. That's a lot cheaper than the latest models.

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