Buying a Mid-2015 Macbook Pro

[leo22]

I'm replacing a 2012 Macbook Air, and I've been considering a few options. Initially, I was going to go with a base model M1 Air, but I recently came across a Mid-2015 15" Macbook Pro for $750. Cosmetically it's in excellent condition, and the specs are 2.5 ghz i7, 16gb ram, dual graphics cards, and a 1TB SSD. Also the battery only has 380 cycle count.

I've got analysis paralysis, so I need some outside input. I most do a lot of writing and web research and some photo and video editing. What do you folks think?

 

[KaliYoni]

My household has one of those MBPs. It's a fine machine. It has survived a lot of heavy loads: grad school when it was new and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, daily professional use as a work-from-home computer. Plus it was the last Apple laptop to have lots of ports and MagSafe charging.

So I'd say if the MBP offered for sale passes the Apple Diagnostic Test and you feel the seller is trustworthy, it could be a great Mac that will let you postpone spending big $$$ until the second generation M1 laptops are released.

Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support

Apple Diagnostics, formerly known as Apple Hardware Test, can check your Mac for hardware issues.

support.apple.com

 

[Thirio2]

My 2015 15” mbp runs just fine, although I am still on Mojave. One thing I will mention is that mine was recalled fo a battery change (done free by Apple), but it is quite expensive if you have to pay for it on your own. I would check to see if the battery replacement was done or if that one was not subject to the recall.

 

[CoastalOR]

Battery could be an issue. I have a 2015 15” MBP and I had Apple replace the battery a couple of weeks ago. The MBP is still supported. I called Apple and told them the battery was starting to swell (which it was because I left it plugged in too much). It costs $199 + shipping. The total was $218.

 

[dogslobber]

2015 is 6 years old and ripe to be cast adrift by Apple. Typing this on a 2014 MBP.

 

[diggy33]

Get the M1. The 2015 is a great machine, but thats a lot of scratch for a machine that is 6 years old (depending on date of purchase, as I believe Apple still sold these as new up until 2017/2018).

 

[razmanugget]

I recently had a 2015 15" and loved it, but there were some downsides... the fans would regularly run (I was connecting to an external monitor at all times) and the speakers were great for their time, but don't compare at all with the latest notebooks. I ended up upgrading to a 2020 13" Intel MBP and super happy with this one. If I could do it again, I'd get the M1 Air though.

 

[QCassidy352]

I run a 2015 13” and it’s still very good, but $750 is too much money for a 5 year old machine, IMO.

 

[ls1dreams]

Way too much money for a 6 year old machine. These 2015 15" models were going for about $800-$900 even 2 years ago - the pandemic is making pricing even worse. Maybe worth it at $400 or less.

Plus, OSX will lose support for intel in 2 years. It's just not worth it. Buy a cheap M1 air if you don't want to spend ~$2500 on a M1x 16" later this year.

 

[Fishrrman]

A 2015 MacBook Pro is still usable and should be for another 2-3 years at least.

You may have to consider a battery replacement - $199 from an Apple Store, with OEM battery, labor costs, and a short warranty.

IMPORTANT:
BE SURE THAT IT DOESN'T HAVE A FIRMWARE PASSWORD on it.
I -think- the following routine can determine whether or not there is one:
(others please correct me if I'm wrong)
1. Power down, ALL THE WAY OFF
2. Press the power on button
3. IMMEDIATELY HOLD DOWN "command-R" to boot from the recovery partition
4. If you get the "enter password" box, it indicates that a firmware password is installed.

If you see this, politely say "no" and WALK AWAY.
It's difficult to impossible to get a firmware password removed if one is installed, YOU DO NOT WANT THIS.
The computer could also be stolen.

 

[Nozgog]

A 2015 MacBook Pro is still usable and should be for another 2-3 years at least.

You may have to consider a battery replacement - $199 from an Apple Store, with OEM battery, labor costs, and a short warranty.

IMPORTANT:
BE SURE THAT IT DOESN'T HAVE A FIRMWARE PASSWORD on it.
I -think- the following routine can determine whether or not there is one:
(others please correct me if I'm wrong)
1. Power down, ALL THE WAY OFF
2. Press the power on button
3. IMMEDIATELY HOLD DOWN "command-R" to boot from the recovery partition
4. If you get the "enter password" box, it indicates that a firmware password is installed.

If you see this, politely say "no" and WALK AWAY.
It's difficult to impossible to get a firmware password removed if one is installed, YOU DO NOT WANT THIS.
The computer could also be stolen.

I know a friend who was able to have Apple remove his firmware password (Apple Store couldn't do it but via remote connection to Cupertino engineer) after he proved that he was the legitimate owner.

I'm replacing a 2012 Macbook Air, and I've been considering a few options. Initially, I was going to go with a base model M1 Air, but I recently came across a Mid-2015 15" Macbook Pro for $750. Cosmetically it's in excellent condition, and the specs are 2.5 ghz i7, 16gb ram, dual graphics cards, and a 1TB SSD. Also the battery only has 380 cycle count.

I've got analysis paralysis, so I need some outside input. I most do a lot of writing and web research and some photo and video editing. What do you folks think?

It is a great machine. Good thing it has the 2.5 Ghz CPU because 2.8 Ghz gets hot and loud for no reason.

1 TB SSD is great if it is the original Apple one.

If you are using an external monitor, note that the AMD graphics is then always on and you will get fan noise for that. If your external monitor isn't super high-resolution, getting just an iGPU model is fine and has no noise.

Before buying I would open up the machine and see how clean it is inside. For me that tells sometimes a story about how it was treated in the past.

Check SSD wear with DriveDX and run the serial number: maybe you get a free battery.
Check screen for Staingate or if it was replaced under warranty.

Even with a new battery, battery life on the go isn't great. 5-6 hours.

 

[jeyf]

for a MBP; the butterfly keyboard disaster started late 2016.

 

[Fishrrman]

Nozgog wrote:
"I know a friend who was able to have Apple remove his firmware password (Apple Store couldn't do it but via remote connection to Cupertino engineer) after he proved that he was the legitimate owner."

This almost certainly won't work for "second owners".

 

[Nozgog]

Nozgog wrote:
"I know a friend who was able to have Apple remove his firmware password (Apple Store couldn't do it but via remote connection to Cupertino engineer) after he proved that he was the legitimate owner."

This almost certainly won't work for "second owners".

I believe he was the original buyer. For second owners I would recommend doing a written contract with serial number etc. That should convince Apple as well in this very very edge case of a lost firmware password.

But it is freaky to know that Apple has a backdoor to this.

 

[MBAir2010]

i would purchase a MBP 2015 in a heartbeat!
but fisherrmen is 100% correct that firmware password will bite ya' in the long run
and the battery is very hard.....well, tedious to replace.
The M1 have faulty hard drives i think which i'm hoping is a software issue.
im sticking with my MacBook air 2010 for the time being.

 

[pshufd]

I'm typing right now on the same system though I only have the 500 GB SSD instead of the 1 TB. It's a great system that I bought in 2018 for $1,100. I also recently bought a MacBook Air 16/1TB and played with it for about 30 minutes. The Air/M1 is a much better machine but we paid around $1,800 for it so lots more $$$ for the 16 GB and 1 TB SSD.

If I needed a new machine right now, I'd get the Air/M1. The battery life alone would make it very useful to me but the stellar performance is an absolute bonus. Touch ID and the weight are further factors.

The 2015 will give you the ports - if you have a lot of stuff, and, right now, my 2015 is hooked up to a 4k display, a QHD display, keyboard, mouse, speakers, Ethernet and sometimes my Time Machine disk. You get the nice SD slot if you need additional storage that's removable. That said, it is a six-year-old machine. My 2008 MacBook Pro 17 served me for ten years before too many things died on it. I'm still using a Late 2009 iMac 27. But you're always living on borrowed time after about five years.

I bought the 2015 MacBook Pro 15 as a backup for my 2014 MacBook Pro 15. I can't afford to be down and my 2014 was getting old so I bought a used 2015 for backup. If either dies, I can just get any data off Time Machine for either system and use the one that works and then get a hold of another backup or primary system. If you earn your living from your computer, you should have a backup.

Apple's going to release a bunch of M1X systems this year and next year and there is a tremendous amount of progress in the second generation systems. So that further complicates the decision.

The 2015 I bought had dings and dents in it. It has scratches on the bottom cover. I really don't care how it looks - it just gets the job done and that's all I care about. Laptops are meant to be used and cosmetic issues never bother me.

The 2015 is a workhorse; I think that mine will last a full ten years though I'm pretty sure that I will either sell it or it will be a backup when I get an M1X MacBook Pro or Air.

 

[Macbookprodude]

The 2015 with dual graphics and 2.5 processor is an excellent machine. Apple can't track me and can't track what I do, as it does not have that disgusting TPM chip like the rest of them do. If I were to get an M1, Apple could track my every move.

 

[cwwilson]

The 2015 you're looking at is a great one from the sound of things. Owning one myself I can tell you that even at $750 it's a good value if you can swing it. The 2015 15" was Apple at its peak when it came to design, power, and it still to this day has the best keyboard not to mention it also was the first MBP with the Force Touch trackpad. Plenty of ports to around as well as the lovely MagSafe connector. There's no doubt Apple has regretted going in other directions since then which is why the all new MBP's coming out will be based on the 2015 version by bringing back MS charging, more ports, no Touch Bar etc.

I bought mine a few months back only difference was mine had a new battery installed (0 cycles), new keyboard and mine is a 512GB and I paid $530. If I spent the money on a 1TB SSD to switch into it it'd probably cost another $250 or so to get the kit so it'd put it right in line with your's price wise.

The only downside I've noticed in running Big Sur is that the screensavers are choppy at times but I mark that up to a software issue that can be resolved. Mine has dual graphics as well so it has more than enough power to run it lol.

 

[pshufd]

The 2015 you're looking at is a great one from the sound of things. Owning one myself I can tell you that even at $750 it's a good value if you can swing it. The 2015 15" was Apple at its peak when it came to design, power, and it still to this day has the best keyboard not to mention it also was the first MBP with the Force Touch trackpad. Plenty of ports to around as well as the lovely MagSafe connector. There's no doubt Apple has regretted going in other directions since then which is why the all new MBP's coming out will be based on the 2015 version by bringing back MS charging, more ports, no Touch Bar etc.

I bought mine a few months back only difference was mine had a new battery installed (0 cycles), new keyboard and mine is a 512GB and I paid $530. If I spent the money on a 1TB SSD to switch into it it'd probably cost another $250 or so to get the kit so it'd put it right in line with your's price wise.

The only downside I've noticed in running Big Sur is that the screensavers are choppy at times but I mark that up to a software issue that can be resolved. Mine has dual graphics as well so it has more than enough power to run it lol.

Big Sur is the issue. I am running Mojave on my 2014 and 2015 MacBook Pro 15s and they are both great. I am putting off upgrading to Big Sur until they get the performance and UI issues fixed. That might be quite a while. I am hoping that the M1X comes out before I have to update to Big Sur. The M1s don't have a problem with Big Sur other than the SSD write issue. They may just be so fast that you don't see the UI issues that you see with older Intel Macs.

 

[savagewatts]

I'm replacing a 2012 Macbook Air, and I've been considering a few options. Initially, I was going to go with a base model M1 Air, but I recently came across a Mid-2015 15" Macbook Pro for $750. Cosmetically it's in excellent condition, and the specs are 2.5 ghz i7, 16gb ram, dual graphics cards, and a 1TB SSD. Also the battery only has 380 cycle count.

I've got analysis paralysis, so I need some outside input. I most do a lot of writing and web research and some photo and video editing. What do you folks think?

The last of the great models. 2014 and 2015 were great. Buy it.

 

[StrollerEd]

Vote of confidence in the mid-2015 15" MBP 16gb RAM which I bought on special offer from Apple in August 2017 and never regretted the choice. Personally, I'm waiting on the M2 16" MBP and then will pass on my m/c to a relative with every confidence it will make someone happy

 

[tis]

If you want a bigger machine, and don't want to spend more money later this year for the most current model, then the 2015 15" MBP should still serve you well. However, if you don't need the larger display, buy the M1 Air. The new air has a better display, better keyboard, faster chip, and a longer lasting battery. It really comes down to display size, and how much it matters to you.

Personally, I would just hold off a few more months, and buy one of the redesigned updated models soon to be released with a larger display. You have a 2012 machine now, so spending a little more money on a machine that you will keep for close to 10 years seems justifiable.

Cost, display size, or performance. Which aspect are you willing to compromise?

 

[lixuelai]

Suggest you just get the M1 unless you need the RAM and storage. Overall user experience is just better. I had a late 2013 MBP 15 (little performance difference 2013-2015). It was very capable still but its definitely not as smooth as the M1.

 

[pshufd]

Suggest you just get the M1 unless you need the RAM and storage. Overall user experience is just better. I had a late 2013 MBP 15 (little performance difference 2013-2015). It was very capable still but its definitely not as smooth as the M1.

I'm a bit worried about Apple having to pull Rosetta 2. I do not know why the put the possible removal in the beta code but not being able to run Intel macOS code would be an issue for me. I'm going to keep at least one Intel Mac around for a while, even when I do go to M1X.

 

[Macbookprodude]

The 2015 you're looking at is a great one from the sound of things. Owning one myself I can tell you that even at $750 it's a good value if you can swing it. The 2015 15" was Apple at its peak when it came to design, power, and it still to this day has the best keyboard not to mention it also was the first MBP with the Force Touch trackpad. Plenty of ports to around as well as the lovely MagSafe connector. There's no doubt Apple has regretted going in other directions since then which is why the all new MBP's coming out will be based on the 2015 version by bringing back MS charging, more ports, no Touch Bar etc.

I bought mine a few months back only difference was mine had a new battery installed (0 cycles), new keyboard and mine is a 512GB and I paid $530. If I spent the money on a 1TB SSD to switch into it it'd probably cost another $250 or so to get the kit so it'd put it right in line with your's price wise.

The only downside I've noticed in running Big Sur is that the screensavers are choppy at times but I mark that up to a software issue that can be resolved. Mine has dual graphics as well so it has more than enough power to run it lol.

Never had this issue. Describe to me in detail what you mean ?