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I’m a software engineer doing mostly iOS work these days. I recently purchased a 2015 MacBook Pro for $750 on eBay. It’s fine. I’m in Xcode, the browser, or a t

I’m a software engineer doing mostly iOS work these days. I recently purchased a 2015 MacBook Pro for $750 on eBay. It’s fine. I’m in Xcode, the browser, or a terminal most of the day. I’m sure a newer computer would seem faster, but I couldn’t imagine spending 3x for a newer version of this thing that’s working just fine for my needs. Some people reading this probably have processor-intensive tasks they routinely perform. But most of us don’t, even developers. There’s a limit to this, but it’s further back than you might think. I also have a 2012 quad-core Mac Mini that’s still in regular use. It’s also fine!

ogre_codes 6y ago
> It’s fine. > Some people reading this probably have processor-intensive tasks they routinely perform. But most of us don’t, even developers. I stick to newer systems. For me, sluggish IDEs and slow builds are disruptive to my workflow. I can usually either resell or gift my older still useful systems.
hh3k0 6y ago
> There’s a limit to this, but it’s further back than you might think. I also have a 2012 quad-core Mac Mini that’s still in regular use. It’s also fine! No recent version on Xcode would work on this one, though.
- dionidium 6y ago
  That’s not entirely correct. Mine’s running Catalina and was running the latest version of Xcode as of late summer, which is the last time I powered it on. Big Sur just dropped support for this model. See: https://eshop.macsales.com/guides/Mac_OS_X_Compatibility https://eshop.macsales.com/guides/Mac_OS_X_Compatibility But you’re right that this means this particular model’s days are numbered. Shame! The quad-core Mini from this era still works quite well!
cehrlich 6y ago
I bought the same model recently. Got it for a real bargain because the battery was getting old and one of the two speakers had broken. Those two things took a combined €110 and 2 hours of work to repair. I initially bought this just to hold me over until the ARM 16” comes out in a few months, but now I think I might hold onto it longer. It does everything I need, is very repairable, has good IO, and doesn’t suffer from some of the issues that newer models have. Other than a few obvious improvements like moving from Thunderbolt 2 to 3 and shrinking the bezels a bit, the 2015 15” is pretty close to the perfect laptop.

ogre_codes 6y ago

> It’s fine. > Some people reading this probably have processor-intensive tasks they routinely perform. But most of us don’t, even developers. I stick to newer systems. For me, sluggish IDEs and slow builds are disruptive to my workflow. I can usually either resell or gift my older still useful systems.

hh3k0 6y ago

> There’s a limit to this, but it’s further back than you might think. I also have a 2012 quad-core Mac Mini that’s still in regular use. It’s also fine! No recent version on Xcode would work on this one, though.

dionidium 6y ago
That’s not entirely correct. Mine’s running Catalina and was running the latest version of Xcode as of late summer, which is the last time I powered it on. Big Sur just dropped support for this model. See: https://eshop.macsales.com/guides/Mac_OS_X_Compatibility https://eshop.macsales.com/guides/Mac_OS_X_Compatibility But you’re right that this means this particular model’s days are numbered. Shame! The quad-core Mini from this era still works quite well!

cehrlich 6y ago

I bought the same model recently. Got it for a real bargain because the battery was getting old and one of the two speakers had broken. Those two things took a combined €110 and 2 hours of work to repair. I initially bought this just to hold me over until the ARM 16” comes out in a few months, but now I think I might hold onto it longer. It does everything I need, is very repairable, has good IO, and doesn’t suffer from some of the issues that newer models have. Other than a few obvious improvements like moving from Thunderbolt 2 to 3 and shrinking the bezels a bit, the 2015 15” is pretty close to the perfect laptop.