MacBook Pro 13” (2011) Upgrade - Buying advice sought

[homelesskitty]

Hi there everyone

I currently have the following set up;

MBP 13” - Early 2011 - High Sierra
Upgraded to 8GB RAM
1TB SSD (Main HD bay)
2TB HDD (Optical bay)

I use the MacBook for mainly Photoshop, Illustrator, writing, watching movies, some emulation of old consoles, watching streaming content online, djing occasionally and general browsing/email/messaging etc.

I have had no problem with my current set up, regarding it being able to handle anything I have thrown at it, and have had no issues with it for what I need it to do running Photoshop, Premiere etc and doing all the things I need it to be able to do; no notions of upgrading to a new machine, and kind of proud to get so much life out of a decade old machine with a few choice upgrades at the right times over the years.

I recently have been having some performance issues with it (see my other threads), that I think I have pretty much exhausted my capabilities of being able to solve, so figured I might upgrade.

Basically, I do all the things above and I...

• Like the ability to repair/upgrade/replace components
• Like having an SDXC slot
• Like having USB ports
• Would like to drop in at least one of my existing storage solutions, if not both, into a new machine (physically I mean, I will probably do a fresh install anyway)
• I’m not a power user, but I don’t like being restrained by only being able to install from the App Store or have full control over certain elements of my system

I would however like...

• Bluetooth 4.0
• Catalina (like above, so I can further utilise iOS integration working between my Mac and my iPhone etc. although preferably not at the expense of having my OS dumbed down a shade/be unable to have full control over my OS)
• USB 3.0 (I have fairly humble dreams.. )

I was looking at a MBP 15” 2012, as that seems to add a lot I would like to gain without sacrificing the things that more recent MBPs have done away with. I don’t mind going bigger than 13”, I figure that will be more useful to me now than it was at the time of purchase, when portability for djing regularly was more of a priority, however I’m not fussy. I just thought; performance improvements are probably going to be neglible, so I’d be as well getting something out of the replacement to make it feel more value-for-money.

Anyone have any advice? I have done my own research to a degree, but find Apple’s model numbering/naming/dating conventions to be difficult to figure out when certain functionality is added/phased out etc. so would be eager to hear anyone’s advice on what I should maybe do?

Haven’t even thought about a budget, not that money is no object, it’s just... what I’d be willing to spend would vary depending on how much I feel it’d be worth it.

Is it fallacy to invest a few hundred in a machine only a year newer than my current one?

Thanks in advance!

 

[chscag]

How about the new 13" MacBook Pro that Apple announced yesterday? Has everything you need, however, may be a bit over your budget at $1799.00.

 

[homelesskitty]

How about the new 13" MacBook Pro that Apple announced yesterday? Has everything you need, however, may be a bit over your budget at $1799.00.

Haha! Thank you for your reply, chscag! Mm yeah, maybe just wee bit over my budget.. although they do 24 months interest free credit on the Apple store here so... haha, yes perhaps! It’s not like I’ll have to pay it back if this is indeed the apocalypse, I’d be as well going out in style I guess.

I am just apprehensive about making a major purchase because I know there are always certain people who SWEAR by some perfect generations of MBPs and would avoid certain ones at all costs, so. Basically just sanity checking my rationale and making sure I’m not entering into purchasing one that’s some cursed model with heavy known issues etc.

Maybe I’ll just end up persevering with this thing a little longer, see if it behaves itself.

I wouldn’t be hesitant about a new MBP if I knew I was potentially getting another decade out of it, but... them’s the breaks, I guess. I have consoles for gaming, so as long as it can do the creative stuff I like to do on it, my needs and demands on it don’t really increase terribly; once I get revisions of software I like and work for me, I don’t necessarily need the latest versions of everything.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

You want a 2012 MacBook Pro in part to get the latest macOS (Catalina), and you are wondering if it's a fallacy to spend a few hundred on this? Let me ask you this: come this time next year, if the 2012 MBP can't run the next version of macOS, are you going to want to upgrade again? I don't know what the rumor mill is on the next version, so the 10.16 may well run on a 2012 MBP, but the greater point here is that you are looking to spend a fairly non-trivial amount of money for relatively incremental improvements that won't last you long. As for your desire to maintain a certain level of self-service, port access, etc, look... that ship has sailed. Like it or not, that's NOT the future of this platform. It's entirely your prerogative to accept or adapt to it as you see fit or as your needs require, but Apple isn't going to change course here. If your budget can accommodate it, and you have no NEED to maintain 32-bit app compatibility, my advice would be to embrace the future and get a new one. Barring that, have at the 2012, but know that you are at a dead-end given your self-imposed limits, and that's OK if it's what you truly want.

 

[homelesskitty]

You want a 2012 MacBook Pro in part to get the latest macOS (Catalina), and you are wondering if it's a fallacy to spend a few hundred on this? Let me ask you this: come this time next year, if the 2012 MBP can't run the next version of macOS, are you going to want to upgrade again? I don't know what the rumor mill is on the next version, so the 10.16 may well run on a 2012 MBP, but the greater point here is that you are looking to spend a fairly non-trivial amount of money for relatively incremental improvements that won't last you long. As for your desire to maintain a certain level of self-service, port access, etc, look... that ship has sailed. Like it or not, that's NOT the future of this platform. It's entirely your prerogative to accept or adapt to it as you see fit or as your needs require, but Apple isn't going to change course here. If your budget can accommodate it, and you have no NEED to maintain 32-bit app compatibility, my advice would be to embrace the future and get a new one. Barring that, have at the 2012, but know that you are at a dead-end given your self-imposed limits, and that's OK if it's what you truly want.

Aye, it’s more whether I would get longevity out of a model of my choosing than anything else. As I said, I have been happily using my current machine without issue, and it does everything I need it to. I am not particularly clamouring for the very latest OSX at every opportunity, tbh, and I do not frequently upgrade my iPhone, usually only making a jump if something physically happens to my old one, so if I could get to a level of workflow between the two which I’d get from later revisions of OSX, that’d have be a bonus. I get what you’re saying, though, thank you.

I guess I kind of like some of the directions/choices Apple are taking/making but not others, in no means in a “having my cake AND eating it” kind of way, just looking for a machine that is in the golden section of my requirements. But. Again. Them’s the breaks, I guess. I think I’ll mull over any decisions for a while anyway.