Reply to: MBP now, or later ...

[davidbieder]

What do you use for the VMs?
I had virtual box on my none retina MacBook Pro for years and was quite happy with it, but just moved to the 15" touch bar version and virtual box performance seems much worse.
It seems to be a graphics issue but haven't found configuration that works.

I'm considering paying for Parallels or VMWare, but trying to find some reviews on newer MacBooks is like pulling teeth.....

I use virtual box as well. I heard of the issues with 15" MBPs and the graphic card. Fortunately, the 13 inches have no dedicated graphic card. I guess, most developers with 15" MBPs have to wait until these problems are solved by Apple or the virtual box guys ... or switch. :/

[blacjac]

Hi,

I recently purchased a new MBP with Touch Bar. I am a software engineer and have a couple of IDEs open at the same time and a few VMs running in the background. 16 GB have always been enough for me over the last 3 years.

What do you use for the VMs?
I had virtual box on my none retina MacBook Pro for years and was quite happy with it, but just moved to the 15" touch bar version and virtual box performance seems much worse.
It seems to be a graphics issue but haven't found configuration that works.

I'm considering paying for Parallels or VMWare, but trying to find some reviews on newer MacBooks is like pulling teeth.....

[davidbieder]

Hi,

I recently purchased a new MBP with Touch Bar. I am a software engineer and have a couple of IDEs open at the same time and a few VMs running in the background. 16 GB have always been enough for me over the last 3 years.
I think it's worth to consider that MacOS has a sophisticated Memory Compression Algorithm running in the background that allows you to load way more into the RAM than 16 GB. It depends of course on what you are planning to do with your machine.

When it comes to justifying the price, I have a few points you might want to consider:

• Is it for work? If yes, consider that you are using this machine potentially 8 hours every day (more or less). Would you save on an office chair if you are going to sit on it for 8 hours 200 days a year?
• If you appreciate the OS and the software and maybe even the Apple specific hardware features (I know, some might refer to them as limitations), ask yourself the same questions: Are you using the machine 8 hours every day or more?
• Finally do some math and calculate the cost per month. Example: I bought my last MPB (13 inch, Retina display, 16 GB RAM) late 2013. I sold it exactly 3 years later and got 885 GBP for it. After considering VAT (which I got back from HMRC), saved corporation tax (20%) and revenue from selling the device, it cost me 11.93 GBP a month over three years. Is that expansive? Answer for me: Definitely not - I was working for 3 years on one of the most advanced laptops for software developers in the world every day and never had any real issue!

Let me know what you think about that.

Cheers,
David

[Fred Bloggs]

I bought this rMBP in 2013, 16gb ram, 512mb SSD, same time bought the Mrs a Fujitsu lappy, 8gb ram, can't remember HDD but it wasn't SSD.

rMBP is like new, hardly a scratch apart from a few small dings bashing it against a wall by accident, battery still 100%, fans silent, all that's happened to it is one of the rubber feet fell off and I popped it back on, with a bit of superglue just in case.

Fujitsu long since expired but not before disk started wailing and several keys fell off. Dead as Dodo now, won't even boot.

That's what I pay for. I can't see me replacing it for another few years yet, cost per annum a lot less than the cheap shiite...

Not necessarily - My old ASUS Win 7 now upgraded to Win 10 for free may not be a class winner in the speed stakes but is now more than 6 years old (I think) and cost me a grand total of GBP 299. I might be wrong but I don't think I have ever experienced a BSOD in all that time of daily use. Now, that IS low total cost of ownership and reliability. < GBP 50 a year.

[Spoiler]

You missed out on 1 question:
What does my current device fail to do that I need?

"Current" device scores high on the light/easy to carry and under £0 questions. Doesn't do so well on the others though

[Spoiler]

The main problem is that you have already found a solution and are trying to justify it.

Start with the problem.

You need a new 'device' which has the following features

1) Light and easy to carry
2) Powerful processor
3) Much Ram
4) Under £x
5) Does it need an apple logo on it?

etc etc etc

then go out and find out what you can buy which meets your needs and your budget.

Well, I knew what I wanted. The problem was I started reading reviews (specifically reviews of what's supposedly coming to an Apple store later this year). Which made me hesitant. Similar to how I am when trying to pick a hotel and I make the mistake of looking on trip advisor.

[stek]

I bought this rMBP in 2013, 16gb ram, 512mb SSD, same time bought the Mrs a Fujitsu lappy, 8gb ram, can't remember HDD but it wasn't SSD.

rMBP is like new, hardly a scratch apart from a few small dings bashing it against a wall by accident, battery still 100%, fans silent, all that's happened to it is one of the rubber feet fell off and I popped it back on, with a bit of superglue just in case.

Fujitsu long since expired but not before disk started wailing and several keys fell off. Dead as Dodo now, won't even boot.

That's what I pay for. I can't see me replacing it for another few years yet, cost per annum a lot less than the cheap shiite...

[WTFH]

The main problem is that you have already found a solution and are trying to justify it.

Start with the problem.

You need a new 'device' which has the following features

1) Light and easy to carry
2) Powerful processor
3) Much Ram
4) Under £x
5) Does it need an apple logo on it?

etc etc etc

then go out and find out what you can buy which meets your needs and your budget.

You missed out on 1 question:
What does my current device fail to do that I need?

[original PM]

The main problem is that you have already found a solution and are trying to justify it.

Start with the problem.

You need a new 'device' which has the following features

1) Light and easy to carry
2) Powerful processor
3) Much Ram
4) Under £x
5) Does it need an apple logo on it?

etc etc etc

then go out and find out what you can buy which meets your needs and your budget.

[RonBW]

I guess with 64GB ram you are running VMs?

Yes. Normally only one at a time, but I might need more than one. And having my own Oracle instance that I can fire up when I need to takes a fair amount of RAM and disk space!

[sal]

Sorry, the analogy holds no water. As I pointed out up there ^^^^ the Core i7 CPU is exactly same whether you buy a BMW/Merc laptop or a Dacia laptop. I do understand what you say about the other stuff, but as I said earlier, the difference between GBP 399 and over GBP 2000 can't be justified by such misleading and simple analogies.

Well i guess Renault <> Dacia would have been a better analogy, giving the fact they use the same engine if you translate CPU to Engine in the analogy. One of them being twice the price of the other. Or comparing Audi A3 to A6 with the same engine and wondering why the later is more expensive.

The point is you can't compare £400 to a £2k laptop on CPU alone, the price difference goes into a number of other components, plus brand name "tax" and customer service.

CPU is by far the least utilized component unless you're doing something specific. Web browsing chews through RAM like crazy and HDD is just slowing everything down.

I'm sorry if you fell for a sale pitch that your £400 laptop is just a s good as the £2000 laptop because it has the same Core i7 inside, and the people buying the £2000 stuff are crazy/stupid.

[Fred Bloggs]

I don't think anyone needs to justify their laptops to other people on this forum.

I understand your point but don't get defensive.

Absolutely agree with you on that point.

Any impression of umbridge given by me is purely unintentional. As baffled as I might be, folks pay their money etc.....

[Spoiler]

I do NEED a laptop, as I don't have one that I can use for a new gig (using my own kit).

I would LIKE a MBP, as I PREFER OSX to Windows.

So I'm okay with paying £££ for one (but maybe not £££+ a bit more for one that *may* get some useful upgrades later this year).

The sensible thing to do would be to buy a cheaper Windows laptop. But if I have a choice to get what I prefer, I'll probably go with that.

[woohoo]

The Windows laptop that I'm using at the moment has 64GB RAM. I don't think I really needed to go that far, but better safe than sorry I guess.

I guess with 64GB ram you are running VMs?

[woohoo]

Sorry, the analogy holds no water. As I pointed out up there ^^^^ the Core i7 CPU is exactly same whether you buy a BMW/Merc laptop or a Dacia laptop. I do understand what you say about the other stuff, but as I said earlier, the difference between GBP 399 and over GBP 2000 can't be justified by such misleading and simple analogies.

I don't think anyone needs to justify their laptops to other people on this forum.

I understand your point but don't get defensive.