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After using the latest Macbook Pro 13" for over a year I have recently had my 2015 Macbook Pro 13" repaired. Both are max specs. It was a $600 bill, but it has

After using the latest Macbook Pro 13" for over a year I have recently had my 2015 Macbook Pro 13" repaired. Both are max specs. It was a $600 bill, but it has been so worth it. The keyboard just works, it doesn't run hot and the fan doesn't blast under the slightest load, the performance is much better, the battery lasts longer and the external screen + keyboard and mouse are detected every single time without having to re-plug the USB-C or open and close the computer lid. Also, no dongles required to connect USB-A or SD cards. Yes, it does look a bit clunky and not as elegant as the newer one, but seriously it actually just works. I almost can't believe how much shit I put up with on a daily basis for over a year. If you replaced a dying 2015 Macbook Pro with a new one, I very much urge you to reconsider getting it fixed at pretty much any price. It is so very worth it.

save_ferris 7y ago
I'm still rocking my 2015 MBP as well, and having the luxury of working on newer models through various jobs, I'm still not convinced to upgrade 5 years later. That said, the new 16" MBP has been the best Apple laptop experience I've had in a while.
- climb_stealth 7y ago
  The 16" looks great! But I really don't want to lug it around every day. I'm hoping some of it will carry over to the smaller form factors.
Traster 7y ago
I'm in a similar position, bought a 2019 13" Pro. I've got to say, I'm really happy with my 2020 Thinkpad Carbon X1 and won't be looking to upgrade again for a long time.
GrumpyNl 7y ago
For that price i buy a descent laptop.
- hombre_fatal 7y ago
  Anything past 1995 can play Descent.
  - IggleSniggle 7y ago
    This. This right here. This is what matters. The only questions are: Joystick, joystick with keyboard, or keyboard with n-key rollover
  - copperx 7y ago
    Descent is my favorite game of all time. Are there any modern alternatives?
tarasmatsyk 7y ago
Ha-ha, reading this from the 2015 MPRO 13", exact same experience. I've tried to move to DELL XPS 13 2 years ago on Linux, did not work for me, however with a new line of Dell's I am starting to thinking about repeating this experiment. Apple's 2016-2019 laptops were pretty unusable, hope they revert the touchbar too.. A question, has anybody tried System76 comparing to Dell/Apple?
- ziftface 7y ago
  I'm actually thinking of doing the same thing. Why didn't it work for you the first time around?
  - tarasmatsyk 7y ago
    Meh, the camera was on the left bottom side of the screen. On every online meeting, I was looking like a parent talking to kids from the corner :D Also, I had a windows edition which works pretty bad with linux. A friend of mine got a new Linux edition with fixed camera and I think perfect XPS is 15" 32Gb for linux. That's my alternative #1
    - vetinari 7y ago
      Aren't all XPS 15 models nvidia-only? That would an extra roadblock on the way to just-works linux experence.
- duiker101 7y ago
  I am thinking of going to Dell from an 2014 MBP, what did not work with Dell on your last experiment? The latest XPSs look very nice.
  - marcus_holmes 7y ago
    I tried dual-booting an XPS15, which did not go well [0]. I understand the 13's are more Linux-compatible, but I got so badly annoyed by Dell Support I'm never buying Dell again. [0] the drive management software didn't like GRUB, and would complain that there was no drive if GRUB was installed. Repeated reboots later, it would suddenly say "oh look, a hard drive!" and boot into Windows, removing GRUB in the process. Dell Support were worse than useless at diagnosing the problem, let alone fixing it (still unfixed, the machine is now a rather shitty games machine)
validuser 7y ago
I'm still using my 2012 macbook pro and doubt I will buy Apple's new Impossible to repair™ "Gree[nd]™" machines when it finally dies.
stickfigure 7y ago
Last year I upgraded my main development machine - a 2013 11" Air (yes, seriously) to a new-to-me maxx'd out 13" 2015 MBP. I do "heavyweight" local development - IntelliJ, Java, Typescript, React, Postgres, etc. It's faster than my Air, mostly from going 8 -> 16GB of RAM, and the high-resolution screen is great. But it still feels pretty slow and IntelliJ can get sluggish at times. The MBP has a 3.1GHz i7 so at least on paper it doesn't seem materially slower from the current gen of processors. Maybe memory speed is the issue? 1867 MHz DDR3 vs 3733MHz LPDDR4X in the new Air? I miss the 11" form factor, but I guess that's a lost cause. The 2015 MBP bought me (cheap) a couple years while Apple sorts out their keyboard issues, but I'm already looking forward to a replacement. It's just ok.
- bluedino 7y ago
  You would benefit from a 4-core machine. Even the dual core current models are a good 20% faster than what you have now, but you'd be amazed at how much better the 4 core models feel.
- climb_stealth 7y ago
  I very much feel your pain about the form factor. Apple seems to be moving away from the smaller form factors which is a shame. I like the look of the new 16" MPB but there is no way I'm lugging that around everywhere. Hmpf.
binarysolo 7y ago
I wish I got this advice! I just replaced my 2015 MBP 15" max spec with a Mid-2019 version and that touch bar is annoying the heck out of me. At least it has a physical escape key I guess (I keep hitting F1/brightness controls on the Bootcamp side of things for everything). Fortunately so
- robbintt 7y ago
  You get used to it. But it's worse. But you get used to it. I would go back.
- climb_stealth 7y ago
  Hah! I'm not sure what the situation is like for the current 15" MPB. The specs are quite different compared to the 13" one. It may not be as severe as my experience. I think I'd try to hold on to that 2015 model just in case. Good luck!
sequoia 7y ago
So happy to hear this! I just dropped CAD~800 to have the logic board on my late-2014 MBP replaced. I figured "it still works, why spend 3k on a new one?" Plus the new ones with those stupid bar things (I have one for work I never open because I always use workstation).
ant6n 7y ago
Will these new mac books support the older mac os which runs 32 bit Software? (Or does wine have a workaround)
kart23 7y ago
If anyone's looking for a 13 inch 2015 mbp with one battery cycle count, let me know. :) Its a dual core 8GB though.
chairmanwow1 7y ago
I recently got a 2019 MBP for work (with the ESC key!!!), and I have to say that a lot of the things you are encountering with your 2013 I encounter quite a bit with this new one. Overall, I found the speed of this model far exceeded my 2017 MBP from my last job, but it's kinda surprising how frequently the monitors / keyboard / mouse encounter connection issues. That being said, I feel like I'm being a little picky, especially when I think of how nightmarish it was to get any of this shit to work with my Windows machines. It's the exception rather than the rule that anything would work the first time as expected (monitors / keyboards / mice / printers / programs).
- climb_stealth 7y ago
  > That being said, I feel like I'm being a little picky, especially when I think of how nightmarish it was to get any of this shit to work with my Windows machines. It would be different if it had always been like this with Apple. The older models show that it used to work pretty much flawlessly. It is such a big step backwards and just because other manufacturers are crap at it doesn't make it okay. :) I feel like I could live with the performance issues. But I'm doing a lot of switching between offices and having external screen/mouse/keyboard not working straight away is such a major pain. Even sometimes during the day after walking off with the laptop and coming back to the desk it doesn't work. It could be my specific setup but then Apple doesn't sell any official docking setups either AFAIK.
ksec 7y ago
I have had every single MacBook Pro update since the 2015 and had either been returned or sold off. It was simply crap. I cant believe they have been making that crap for 5 years. Although judging from the 7 years of Mac Pro I guess MacBook Pro already got a better treatment. At the end I stuck to my MacBook Pro 2015. Perfect Size Trackpad with Zero false positive. Most people put up with a few false positive on the larger TrackPad. But I dont see any reason why this have to be this way. The keyboard felt way better, even the new Magic Keyboard on MBP 16 felt exactly the same as butterfly. Touch Bar is Junk, again it sometimes freeze. And some people put up with it thinking it is a non issue. The old Apple and its users used to be perfectionist. Nowadays a lot of people settle for mediocre. I just wish they make MacBook Pro Classic. Just throw in a new CPU will do.
bonestamp2 7y ago
Or maybe a thinkpad, depending on your budget. I normally use a maxed out macbook pro but I didn't want to bring a $5k machine on vacation. So, I bought a $600 dell laptop last summer. The wifi range/reception was dreadful. Sitting beside my wife on the couch in the hotel and she was on her $1000 macbook air getting perfect reception, me wishing I had spent the extra $400. I'm not sure if it was the wifi chipset or the antenna design, and maybe some of the higher end Dells with better radio chipsets would perform better, but I returned the laptop to Dell and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy that was. At least they're doing something right. After that, I picked up a $700 ThinkPad T-series for travel and the reception is great on it.
- Ghjklov 7y ago
  I don't know specifically about your dell laptop, but Dell XPS's nowadays use the Killer wifi chip instead of Intel's like Apple and Lenovo.

save_ferris 7y ago

I'm still rocking my 2015 MBP as well, and having the luxury of working on newer models through various jobs, I'm still not convinced to upgrade 5 years later. That said, the new 16" MBP has been the best Apple laptop experience I've had in a while.

climb_stealth 7y ago
The 16" looks great! But I really don't want to lug it around every day. I'm hoping some of it will carry over to the smaller form factors.

Traster 7y ago

I'm in a similar position, bought a 2019 13" Pro. I've got to say, I'm really happy with my 2020 Thinkpad Carbon X1 and won't be looking to upgrade again for a long time.

GrumpyNl 7y ago

For that price i buy a descent laptop.

hombre_fatal 7y ago
Anything past 1995 can play Descent.
- IggleSniggle 7y ago
  This. This right here. This is what matters. The only questions are: Joystick, joystick with keyboard, or keyboard with n-key rollover
- copperx 7y ago
  Descent is my favorite game of all time. Are there any modern alternatives?

tarasmatsyk 7y ago

Ha-ha, reading this from the 2015 MPRO 13", exact same experience. I've tried to move to DELL XPS 13 2 years ago on Linux, did not work for me, however with a new line of Dell's I am starting to thinking about repeating this experiment. Apple's 2016-2019 laptops were pretty unusable, hope they revert the touchbar too.. A question, has anybody tried System76 comparing to Dell/Apple?

ziftface 7y ago
I'm actually thinking of doing the same thing. Why didn't it work for you the first time around?
- tarasmatsyk 7y ago
  Meh, the camera was on the left bottom side of the screen. On every online meeting, I was looking like a parent talking to kids from the corner :D Also, I had a windows edition which works pretty bad with linux. A friend of mine got a new Linux edition with fixed camera and I think perfect XPS is 15" 32Gb for linux. That's my alternative #1
  - vetinari 7y ago
    Aren't all XPS 15 models nvidia-only? That would an extra roadblock on the way to just-works linux experence.
duiker101 7y ago
I am thinking of going to Dell from an 2014 MBP, what did not work with Dell on your last experiment? The latest XPSs look very nice.
- marcus_holmes 7y ago
  I tried dual-booting an XPS15, which did not go well [0]. I understand the 13's are more Linux-compatible, but I got so badly annoyed by Dell Support I'm never buying Dell again. [0] the drive management software didn't like GRUB, and would complain that there was no drive if GRUB was installed. Repeated reboots later, it would suddenly say "oh look, a hard drive!" and boot into Windows, removing GRUB in the process. Dell Support were worse than useless at diagnosing the problem, let alone fixing it (still unfixed, the machine is now a rather shitty games machine)

validuser 7y ago

I'm still using my 2012 macbook pro and doubt I will buy Apple's new Impossible to repair™ "Gree[nd]™" machines when it finally dies.

stickfigure 7y ago

Last year I upgraded my main development machine - a 2013 11" Air (yes, seriously) to a new-to-me maxx'd out 13" 2015 MBP. I do "heavyweight" local development - IntelliJ, Java, Typescript, React, Postgres, etc. It's faster than my Air, mostly from going 8 -> 16GB of RAM, and the high-resolution screen is great. But it still feels pretty slow and IntelliJ can get sluggish at times. The MBP has a 3.1GHz i7 so at least on paper it doesn't seem materially slower from the current gen of processors. Maybe memory speed is the issue? 1867 MHz DDR3 vs 3733MHz LPDDR4X in the new Air? I miss the 11" form factor, but I guess that's a lost cause. The 2015 MBP bought me (cheap) a couple years while Apple sorts out their keyboard issues, but I'm already looking forward to a replacement. It's just ok.

bluedino 7y ago
You would benefit from a 4-core machine. Even the dual core current models are a good 20% faster than what you have now, but you'd be amazed at how much better the 4 core models feel.
climb_stealth 7y ago
I very much feel your pain about the form factor. Apple seems to be moving away from the smaller form factors which is a shame. I like the look of the new 16" MPB but there is no way I'm lugging that around everywhere. Hmpf.

binarysolo 7y ago

I wish I got this advice! I just replaced my 2015 MBP 15" max spec with a Mid-2019 version and that touch bar is annoying the heck out of me. At least it has a physical escape key I guess (I keep hitting F1/brightness controls on the Bootcamp side of things for everything). Fortunately so

robbintt 7y ago
You get used to it. But it's worse. But you get used to it. I would go back.
climb_stealth 7y ago
Hah! I'm not sure what the situation is like for the current 15" MPB. The specs are quite different compared to the 13" one. It may not be as severe as my experience. I think I'd try to hold on to that 2015 model just in case. Good luck!

sequoia 7y ago

So happy to hear this! I just dropped CAD~800 to have the logic board on my late-2014 MBP replaced. I figured "it still works, why spend 3k on a new one?" Plus the new ones with those stupid bar things (I have one for work I never open because I always use workstation).

ant6n 7y ago

Will these new mac books support the older mac os which runs 32 bit Software? (Or does wine have a workaround)

kart23 7y ago

If anyone's looking for a 13 inch 2015 mbp with one battery cycle count, let me know. :) Its a dual core 8GB though.

chairmanwow1 7y ago

I recently got a 2019 MBP for work (with the ESC key!!!), and I have to say that a lot of the things you are encountering with your 2013 I encounter quite a bit with this new one. Overall, I found the speed of this model far exceeded my 2017 MBP from my last job, but it's kinda surprising how frequently the monitors / keyboard / mouse encounter connection issues. That being said, I feel like I'm being a little picky, especially when I think of how nightmarish it was to get any of this shit to work with my Windows machines. It's the exception rather than the rule that anything would work the first time as expected (monitors / keyboards / mice / printers / programs).

climb_stealth 7y ago
> That being said, I feel like I'm being a little picky, especially when I think of how nightmarish it was to get any of this shit to work with my Windows machines. It would be different if it had always been like this with Apple. The older models show that it used to work pretty much flawlessly. It is such a big step backwards and just because other manufacturers are crap at it doesn't make it okay. :) I feel like I could live with the performance issues. But I'm doing a lot of switching between offices and having external screen/mouse/keyboard not working straight away is such a major pain. Even sometimes during the day after walking off with the laptop and coming back to the desk it doesn't work. It could be my specific setup but then Apple doesn't sell any official docking setups either AFAIK.

ksec 7y ago

I have had every single MacBook Pro update since the 2015 and had either been returned or sold off. It was simply crap. I cant believe they have been making that crap for 5 years. Although judging from the 7 years of Mac Pro I guess MacBook Pro already got a better treatment. At the end I stuck to my MacBook Pro 2015. Perfect Size Trackpad with Zero false positive. Most people put up with a few false positive on the larger TrackPad. But I dont see any reason why this have to be this way. The keyboard felt way better, even the new Magic Keyboard on MBP 16 felt exactly the same as butterfly. Touch Bar is Junk, again it sometimes freeze. And some people put up with it thinking it is a non issue. The old Apple and its users used to be perfectionist. Nowadays a lot of people settle for mediocre. I just wish they make MacBook Pro Classic. Just throw in a new CPU will do.

bonestamp2 7y ago

Or maybe a thinkpad, depending on your budget. I normally use a maxed out macbook pro but I didn't want to bring a $5k machine on vacation. So, I bought a $600 dell laptop last summer. The wifi range/reception was dreadful. Sitting beside my wife on the couch in the hotel and she was on her $1000 macbook air getting perfect reception, me wishing I had spent the extra $400. I'm not sure if it was the wifi chipset or the antenna design, and maybe some of the higher end Dells with better radio chipsets would perform better, but I returned the laptop to Dell and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy that was. At least they're doing something right. After that, I picked up a $700 ThinkPad T-series for travel and the reception is great on it.

Ghjklov 7y ago
I don't know specifically about your dell laptop, but Dell XPS's nowadays use the Killer wifi chip instead of Intel's like Apple and Lenovo.