The "Why do I always buy over-spec'd MacBook Pro's" Club thread

[lewisflude]

Funny thing about this thread, is one of my favourite machines ever was my 2012 MacBook Air. I used it to do front-end dev and Ruby-on-Rails stuff back in 2012-2013 before I moved to using MacBook Pros exclusively for work. Something about how simple it was, and how quiet/small. There's something to be said for buying as little laptop as you can get away with.

 

[AHDuke99]

For the first time in my life, I did not buy an overpowered Macbook Pro. 8 years ago, I bought the top of the line 2.3ghz quad coure i7 MBP with 8GB ram and the high end GPU. Outside of the occasional game, all I did was use it for internet and Microsoft word. I don't video edit. I don't play high end games (mainly a few Blizzard titles). I don't do any graphics design at all.

So today, I finally bought the low end 16 inch MBP. It is more than enough power for what I need, and it even comes with a GPU that beats the $3200 MBP from early 2019.
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There isn’t much that an i5 quadcore and 8GB of RAM can’t do these days.

Perhaps it is age, but my early 2011 MBP, a quad core i7 and 8GB of ram, can barely web browse. It does have 8 years of usage on it though.

 

[Pipper99]

For yourself:
- Do you have movies laying around that your iPhone doesn't support? Convert them to .mp4 using Handbrake!

That's the reason that I used to justify the 16", 32gb, i9, 5500 8gb, 2 TB model: Handbrake and Blu-ray movie conversions.

 

[mcvaughan]

Hi guys, my name is Itsedstech and for the past 3 MacBooks I have purchased, I've always over spec'd them for my needs. Lets begin with my late 2016 13 inch macbookp pro, I went all out except for the ssd which I stuck with 1TB. Anyways I figured, spend a lot now and use it for 6 or so years? All I ever really used it for was YouTube viewing, forum browsing, and for some social media viewing as well.
So late 2018 comes around and now I'm a little more into photo editing and doing some work related research here and there and since the toughbook they gave me at work is a pain in the ass I tried using the 13 inch but the screen just can't fit enough info for my needs. So I sell it to a buddy and pick up a maxed out 15 inch MacBook Pro (except for the ssd, stayed at 1TB again), I never imagined id spend so much on a laptop, it cost more than my first 3 cars combined lol. Anyway I honestly would be more than fine with the base model, but something about all that power in such a small package felt awesome, at the time I could swing it so why not? Once again, I made a pact that I would stick around with it for at least 5 years.
And now here we are, late 2019, new 16 inch MacBook Pro comes, and low and behold I want it! would I have been fine with me 2018? of course, but 64gb of ram in a laptop sounds so epic. So I sold the 2018 at quite a loss. but luckily the 2019 costing less to upgrade plus a chase cash back offer, ended up only costing me about $600 to upgrade. Which Isn't that bad compared to what I dropped on the 2018. So now here I am trying to actually make use of all this power. Spent all day yesterday setting up and figuring out how to run a virtual machine, and boy is it freaking awesome to be able to run 2 OS's side by side with no lag! anyway I really hope a redesign doesn't come out for at least another 2 years lol.

TLDR; Bought 3 nearly maxed out MacBook Pros, in the last 3 years. All I really do with them is watch YouTube, and do web browsing. Trying to actually put that power to use now with the 16 inch. I need help

If I didn't need anything more than what you use it for I'd much rather just use an iPad.

 

[Pipper99]

Actually, it is. Apple stores almost always carry a high end MacBook Pro in stores. They actually usually keep several of them. I purchased my i9/32GB/8GB/2TB model in store and they had others as well for sale in there in both silver and space gray.

Yes, that's how I got mine: walked into the store and bought it. The website shows that config available for pickup.

 

[-narcan-]

Well for anyone looking for a reason not to overspec, just remember the refreshed 16" MacBook Pro with Mini LED is just around the corner !

 

[PROFESS0R]

Same here. Having a Mac Pro at home and a MacBook Pro for the go ended up being a pain in the butt, if for no other reason than keeping the files synchronized. I inevitably found myself being on the road and missing the files I needed. Now with 8Tb and a single computer, that never happens.

Personally I can't stand needing to manage two computers. Just prefer to have the one that works in the majority of the cases. I tend to work between co working space, cafes, and home so feel MBP is essential. I had to work on my 12" MBP for a couple days and it drove me insane. At the office have two 5k LG displays, so don't feel missing out on screen real estate when at the desk.

But as you say, of course all depends on your specific work and needs!

 

[littlepud]

I'm currently on the base model (i7 2.6/16/5300/512) but I have a BTO on order (2.3/32/5500-8/1TB). I'm not sure which one I should ultimately keep.

 

[-narcan-]

I'm not sure which one I should ultimately keep.

I think you knew deep down the moment you purchased the new one !

 

[littlepud]

I think you knew deep down the moment you purchased the new one !

Well I'm really not so sure anymore, especially given this new info:

 

[AustinIllini]

It makes me happy so I buy it. I only bought the base but it's probably a little too much for me, anyway.

 

[Jws]

Buying the top of the line makes sense to me if you decide to keep it for 5 or more years. You want to future proof it a little since each new OS will incrementally slow it down just a little. But in your case, I think you just suffer from consumerism, in that you want the latest and greatest. I certainly have felt that myself too, and emotional purchasing as well. Maybe it's worth looking into figuring out the reason you feel compelled to upgrade when it isn't really necessary for your use case.

 

[-narcan-]

Well I'm really not so sure anymore, especially given this new info:

What's the new info though ? I don't think it's a huge surprise, given the balance of clock speed and cores, they're going to be similar in some tasks, and i9 will be better in other tasks.

All depends on what you're doing on the machine I guess, if you need multi threaded performance the i9 is a great upgrade.

Youtubers tend to focus their benchmarks on gaming and video editing, so 'performance reviews' tend to be skewed to those tasks. But if you're doing say development where compiling might utilise a bunch of cores, then i9 is a great upgrade.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

Some stores, yes. All stores, no.

Every Apple store carries the high end model.

 

[happyhippo1337]

Buying the top of the line makes sense to me if you decide to keep it for 5 or more years. You want to future proof it a little since each new OS will incrementally slow it down just a little. But in your case, I think you just suffer from consumerism, in that you want the latest and greatest. I certainly have felt that myself too, and emotional purchasing as well. Maybe it's worth looking into figuring out the reason you feel compelled to upgrade when it isn't really necessary for your use case.

No, even then it makes sense to buy the base model and sell it / buy a new one in two years. As seen in the video above. A maxed out version from two years ago is now slower than the base model. So in your example, it would be more beneficial to buy a base model, sell that after two years and buy a new one. That's less of a money loss, gives you more performance and a new machine overall.

 

[Jws]

No, even then it makes sense to buy the base model and sell it / buy a new one in two years. As seen in the video above. A maxed out version from two years ago is now slower than the base model. So in your example, it would be more beneficial to buy a base model, sell that after two years and buy a new one. That's less of a money loss, gives you more performance and a new machine overall.

I suppose that makes sense if you don’t mind the hassle of selling computers so often.

 

[||\||]

No, even then it makes sense to buy the base model and sell it / buy a new one in two years. As seen in the video above. A maxed out version from two years ago is now slower than the base model. So in your example, it would be more beneficial to buy a base model, sell that after two years and buy a new one. That's less of a money loss, gives you more performance and a new machine overall.

We can look around this site and see that most user don't need a new machine even every five years.

 

[happyhippo1337]

We can look around this site and see that most user don't need a new machine even every five years.

That might be true, I just wanted to state that future-proofing almost never makes sense unless you absolutely know that your use case will change significantly in the foreseeable future.

Like if you do smartphone photography know but plan to edit 48MP Raw images in a few months. Sure you would maybe opt for more storage / 32 GB Ram now.

In other cases, buy what you need now. Sell it with a drastically lower loss and get a new device in two/three years than six. It’s not that big of a hastle.

 

[Hazmat401]

I always go with the advanced off-the-shelf MBP for a few reasons,

• They fit my current and future 4-5 year needs best
• Much easier to return than BTO
• Faster delivery time than BTO
• Slightly better resale value than BTO
• Cheaper than BTO
• Now that Apple offers 1TB, this config is even more compelling

Unless you're a developer or some high-profile designer/ video editor, max'ed 16" MBP is just overkill IMHO.

This is how I was thinking, If I regret anything.... it would be the CPU

The i7 fits my needs better than the i9

 

[lowkey]

As to why you have over spec'd Id say that firstly its probably because you have more money than you require, or perhaps money is fairly easy for you to acquire. Secondly, the dopamine hit that is experienced by buying something new and exciting fills [albeit temporarily] a subconscious void in your life.

Please don't take it personally, because that is precisely what capitalism is designed to do.

If you had to desperately save for a laptop, you would likely settle for a more cost effective option to get the job done, rather than consider spending money on 64GB of ram that quite frankly you will not need.

 

[NeroAugustus]

I do video and photo editing, nothing too fancy, still went way overboard with i9/32GB/5500M 8GB. I might dwelve into 3D sculpting though.

My reasoning went like this: I'm already buying the most expensive prosumer laptop, no point going for specs a $1300 laptop would get me... and I'm a huge tech nerd so the more cores and GB the happier I am. Just comparing what I'll receive in 10 days to what I had 4 years ago on my Retina 15" makes me super excited. Literally twice the (multi core) processing power! Between these two laptops I've been a Windows user exclusively, went through two iterations of XPS 15 and a Blade 15 so I I've handled fast and recent hardware, but going back to a specced out (or close to) MBP feels special.

I do think that if you plan on keeping the laptop for a long time and you do heavy-ish work on it you should at go for 32GB of ram, as ram is the one component where not having enough is instantly felt.

But otherwise, the i7 is very much fine, the base GPU is great, it's a good package.

 

[PROFESS0R]

Wipe it and install the os from scratch. You will be pleasantly surprised.
‘’Joe

For the first time in my life, I did not buy an overpowered Macbook Pro. 8 years ago, I bought the top of the line 2.3ghz quad coure i7 MBP with 8GB ram and the high end GPU. Outside of the occasional game, all I did was use it for internet and Microsoft word. I don't video edit. I don't play high end games (mainly a few Blizzard titles). I don't do any graphics design at all.

So today, I finally bought the low end 16 inch MBP. It is more than enough power for what I need, and it even comes with a GPU that beats the $3200 MBP from early 2019.
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Perhaps it is age, but my early 2011 MBP, a quad core i7 and 8GB of ram, can barely web browse. It does have 8 years of usage on it though.

 

[redheeler]

Perhaps it is age, but my early 2011 MBP, a quad core i7 and 8GB of ram, can barely web browse. It does have 8 years of usage on it though.

Swap out that slow 5400 RPM spinner for an SSD and you'll be surprised how fast a 2011 can be.

 

[Pipper99]

Every Apple store carries the high end model.

Yep, the 2.4 i9, 32gb, 5500M 8gb, 2TB model is available for pickup at every store that I've checked in Texas, New York, Massachusetts, California, Florida, and Colorado. Perhaps some stores don't stock it, but there's widespread availability across the country. If I make a change to any of those specs, the pickup is delayed to mid December, but this particular configuration is available.

 

[Itsedstech]

Can I have your salary lol

Sure thing! if you wanna take all of these overtime hours as well haha

You're doing exactly as "they" want you to!!

Im a sheep lol

Your problem isn't that you overspec. Your problem is that you buy computers way too often. I'm pretty certain your 2016 would still work fine for what you're doing now. Then why did you buy a new one?

I've been tempted to buy new machines a lot, too. Like, every time a new one gets introduced. Even if it is lower spec than my late 2013 MBP (think, new MBA) The worst it got was when I was doing some serious development in an office without external screens. I really wanted a 15" instead of my 13". ButI got the job done and then the assignment finished. So I stuck with this one and I can't complain. I paid €2500 and in January or February, I'll have the machine for 6 years. It's working fine and I paid about €1/day for it.

Your totally correct, the 2016 would get everything done for me, only difference would be maybe not being able to run VMware as smooth as this one does or powering multiple monitors without breaking a sweat. I used to be all about portability but man once I got my hands on the 15 inch and tried using the 13 inch I couldn't go back.

I love seeing most of you splurge on a $2,500 MacBook when you could cop a $239 iPad and do the same thing for 6 years on it.

Something about iPads that just doesn't work with me, I had the latest gen pro for a couple months but I would always use my laptop instead, maybe its the keyboard and the fact that I can keep track of my 23 open tabs while doing pip on YouTube and being able to skip the ads with the Touch Bar, I'm not completely sure.
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Well for anyone looking for a reason not to overspec, just remember the refreshed 16" MacBook Pro with Mini LED is just around the corner !

FML who's trying to buy my MacBook at a steep discount in a year lol