Is the MacBook Pro 2015 still a good choice?

[Aleks NE]

So, I have a £50 discount making the 2015 MacBook Pro only £950 (13” I5 8GB Ram 128GB SSD model), this is making me consider buying it over the Dell XPS 13”. Is the MacBook Pro 2015 still a sensible choice in 2017?

 

I’d be using it for writing college papers, some light 1080p video editing and I’d probably neeed to dual-boot Windows for Visual Studio. Any advise on which I should go for? Battery life and good build quality is something I’m looking for as I don’t want it to be as beaten up as my Pavilion after a few years of use.

[NelizMastr]

128GB isn't enough for both macOS and Windows. You'll need to step up to 256 at least. Great machine otherwise. Had one for almost 2 years without issues. 

[Aleks NE]

6 minutes ago, NelizMastr said:

128GB isn't enough for both macOS and Windows. You'll need to step up to 256 at least. Great machine otherwise. Had one for almost 2 years without issues. 

I normally upgrade my laptops after I buy them as I have a contact abroad making SSDs dead cheap to buy. How did the laptops body hold up after the 2 years? 

[79wjd]

13 minutes ago, said:

I normally upgrade my laptops after I buy them as I have a contact abroad making SSDs dead cheap to buy. How did the laptops body hold up after the 2 years? 

My 15" rMBP is a bit over four years old now and with 2300~ battery cycles (which is pretty much ridiculous). The body is basically in perfect condition and I get about 70% of the battery life I got on day one. The ONLY reason I would personally consider the XPS is if you could get a KL-R 4c/8t variant (compared to the 2c/4t Mac), but I also vastly prefer MacOS.

 

The 13" 2015 rMBP also uses a proprietary SSD, so just be aware of that.

[NelizMastr]

4 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

My 15" rMBP is a bit over four years old now and with 2300~ battery cycles (which is pretty much ridiculous). The body is basically in perfect condition and I get about 70% of the battery life I got on day one. The ONLY reason I would personally consider the XPS is if you could get a CL 4c/8t variant (compared to the 2c/4t Mac), but I also vastly prefer MacOS.

 

The 13" 2015 rMBP also uses a proprietary SSD, so just be aware of that.

The 8th gen Quad Core U chips are Kaby Lake refresh actually  

[mrchow19910319]

6 hours ago, <Aleks> said:

I normally upgrade my laptops after I buy them as I have a contact abroad making SSDs dead cheap to buy. How did the laptops body hold up after the 2 years? 

I would recommend against that when it comes to macbook pro. For windows laptop sure, almost anyone can do it. A modern mac(post 2012 non retina model)? Don't do it. 

 

I think a 256 GB one is more sensible. When it comes to specs, yeah those machines are still pretty fast. For your usage it is definitely good enough. Also my last laptop was the 2012 non retina one. After 5 years of usage, the machine itself looks like new. And without any sort of issues (both hardware and software). I sold it for 500$. It is decent when it comes to quality. after all you are paying top dollar for it.  

[NelizMastr]

11 hours ago, mrchow19910319 said:

I would recommend against that when it comes to macbook pro. For windows laptop sure, almost anyone can do it. A modern mac(post 2012 non retina model)? Don't do it. 

 

I think a 256 GB one is more sensible. When it comes to specs, yeah those machines are still pretty fast. For your usage it is definitely good enough. Also my last laptop was the 2012 non retina one. After 5 years of usage, the machine itself looks like new. And without any sort of issues (both hardware and software). I sold it for 500$. It is decent when it comes to quality. after all you are paying top dollar for it.  

These days, I don't feel that Apple computers have as much of a price premium anymore. With premium consumer class laptops like the XPS line and the likes, the delta has become very slim to a point where they're priced almost equally in the laptop landscape.