MBP now, or later ...

[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?

[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...

[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.

[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

[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.

[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

[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]

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. :/