I already have an iMac (late 2012) 21.5 inch, and am now on the cusp of buying a used 15" MacBook to replace my ageing and pretty useless Windows 10 laptop. Any advice as to whether this model has a good reliability record? I haven't owned a MacBook before. Your observations welcome. Thanks in advance.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Buying a 15" MacBook.
- Thread starter 0rinoco
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Wow! Many thanks for that piece of information. Very much appreciated. I'd never heard of delamination, but did a Google search and came upon the Macdentro site. They have some pretty reassuring advice on there. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say.
Yeah screen delamination is a problem. It’s the best of the 15 inch models, in my opinion, but if I was buying now, I’d save for apple silicon. Even the air runs circles around my 2.8 GHz 15 inch.
My son-in-law has that exact model, and it meets his needs most of the time. He does complain about slowdowns with certain programs, so if you're doing anything beyond general use, consider that this is seven-year-old tech you're working with, and it might not play as nice with more resource-intensive programs. Just my two cents...
Fishrrman's rules for used MacBook buying:
DO NOT BUY:
MacBook Pro 13" -- 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
MacBook Pro 15" -- 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
ALL of these have the disastrous "butterfly keyboards" that are highly-prone to failure. Although Apple has a free replacement program running for 4 years "from new", when that time expires YOU will pay for the repair.
And it's NOT CHEAP -- $750 for even a single key gone bad.
That's because the entire top case has to be replaced... even for a single key failure!
DO BUY:
MacBook Pro 13" -- 2020
MacBook Pro 16" -- 2019 and later.
These have the new "magic" (scissors) keyboards, as did the 2015 and earlier MBPs. These keyboards have been very reliable.
DO NOT BUY:
MacBook Pro 13" -- 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
MacBook Pro 15" -- 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
ALL of these have the disastrous "butterfly keyboards" that are highly-prone to failure. Although Apple has a free replacement program running for 4 years "from new", when that time expires YOU will pay for the repair.
And it's NOT CHEAP -- $750 for even a single key gone bad.
That's because the entire top case has to be replaced... even for a single key failure!
DO BUY:
MacBook Pro 13" -- 2020
MacBook Pro 16" -- 2019 and later.
These have the new "magic" (scissors) keyboards, as did the 2015 and earlier MBPs. These keyboards have been very reliable.
This is a lot of money to invest in what is now a very old computer.
If you can afford £300 more, the Apple refurb store has M1 MacBook Airs for £850:
This will be better than the 15" you've posted on every metric - much more powerful, vastly better battery life, lighter and slimmer too.
Plus you get a warranty and it's new, not seven years old (well, pretty much new - Apple refurbs are customer returns mostly).
It'll also get software updates for much longer than that 15".
EDIT: Alternatively you can get a brand new one from John Lewis for just another £40 on top, and you get a 2 year guarantee that way too:
www.johnlewis.com
If you can afford £300 more, the Apple refurb store has M1 MacBook Airs for £850:
Refurbished 13.3-inch MacBook Air Apple M1 Chip with 8âCore CPU and 7âCore GPU - Silver
Originally released November 2020|13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2560x1600 native resolution at 227 pixels per inch|8GB unified memory|256GB SSD 1|Touch ID sensor|720p FaceTime HD Camera
www.apple.com
This will be better than the 15" you've posted on every metric - much more powerful, vastly better battery life, lighter and slimmer too.
Plus you get a warranty and it's new, not seven years old (well, pretty much new - Apple refurbs are customer returns mostly).
It'll also get software updates for much longer than that 15".
EDIT: Alternatively you can get a brand new one from John Lewis for just another £40 on top, and you get a 2 year guarantee that way too:
2020 Apple MacBook Air 13.3" Retina Display, M1 Processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Space Grey
Buy 2020 Apple MacBook Air 13.3" Retina Display, M1 Processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD from our View All Laptops & MacBooks range at John Lewis & Partners. Free Delivery on orders over £50.