First time owner (2015 Macbook Pro)

[Deia]

Hey guys!

Recently took the plunge to buy a Macbook. I've personally never had a Mac before, but as a fan of the Iphone (and iOS) I figured I'd get one for various tasks. Web design, writing, some coding and perhaps some light music editing in the future

I did alot of research, and figured that the new MBP (2016 and 2017) had too many issues; keyboard, white balance / bleed in screen, dongle city and so forth..
This caused me to have second thoughts, especially considering the fact that many people still charged premium (2000$+ for a 2015 MBP)

Lo and behold, this saturday, as I was browsing for a used Macbook Air for my girlfriend, I stumbled upon a "store new in May 2017" MBP with reciept and warranty.

I ended up buying it, 850$ out of pocket.

I'm now the proud owner of a pristine 2015 13" MBP. It's specs are; 2,7GHZ, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD.

I have one single gripe with this setup; the storage.
I would like to dual boot with windows, but 128gb is a bit too little for such use.

I've done some research into what drives I could replace my original SSD with, and a few options come up:

• OWC drives from macsales.

I've heard that these drives are prone to failure, and that they are a bit slower than the original drives. So this has me on the fence.. They are also very expensive for what you get.

• Apple original Samsung SSD's (used)

This would be my safest bet i believe. But where would I go about buying one of these? Is Ebay my best choice?


Would be nice if someone could post what specific drives are compatible with my macbook, as there is alot of conflicting information about this out there.

 

[TokMok3]

Read that, the information that you need is there, those guys are doing a fantastic research on modern SDD drives, even theres a chart to pin point your machine to know fi those drives are compatible or not. Good Luck!

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/upgrading-2013-2014-macbook-pro-ssd-to-m-2-nvme.2034976/page-5

 

[Deia]

Ah, thanks for the reply. Somehow I missed that thread
I'll give it a read!

Any other tips to a newcomer to the Mac Ecosystem?

I'm just baffled by how smooth everything feels. The trackpad especially. That thing is magic.

 

[ZapNZs]

If it were me, personally, I would avoid the OWC SSDs in general based on the interactions that have occurred on this forum.

Transcend just released the Jet Drive 820 specifically for the PCIe MBP - however, it's not going to be as fast as the NVMe drives that TokMok linked to (but it is a direct-fit design not requiring any changes to firmware.)

 

[djnigelchung]

Ah, thanks for the reply. Somehow I missed that thread
I'll give it a read!

Any other tips to a newcomer to the Mac Ecosystem?

I'm just baffled by how smooth everything feels. The trackpad especially. That thing is magic.

I would suggest watching some introductory youtube videos on getting used to the work flow in Mac OS. Once you learn how to use it you will fall in love (ie virtual destops, swipe gestures), It has made my work efficiency go through the roof.
Have fun and enjoy your new device!

 

[Mr. Dee]

I bought an Early 2015 13 inch MacBook Pro back in 2015 with my 6s. I opted for the 256 GB though; I just knew the 128 GB was gonna be a bit cramped. Been going good so far although the display lamination is stripping. Hopefully next year when I visit the states I will be able to get it fixed. Its a solid device otherwise and its performance is superb, have a few Windows VMs running on it and it doesn't slow down.

The newer models are too polarizing right now; not that I would want to upgrade either. But I am seriously thinking of making a u-turn back to Windows notebook for my future upgrade until Apple sorts out their Mac strategy. The new Surface Books are starting to look really enticing, I was just hoping Microsoft would have embraced DDR4; especially since they are using 8th generation Intel processors.

I have a Surface Pro 3 which I dual boot with Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. So, dual booting macOS and Windows 10 should be workable. I would recommend the bare minimum for Windows 10 in a Boot Camp partition be around 40 to 50 GBs.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Ah, thanks for the reply. Somehow I missed that thread
I'll give it a read!

Any other tips to a newcomer to the Mac Ecosystem?

I'm just baffled by how smooth everything feels. The trackpad especially. That thing is magic.

Yep they really are just a pleasure to use, despite a few design decisions that some techy people hate, they are still the nicest computers to actually work on that I have ever used.

Tips

Use safari it is optimised for macs and gives great battery life over chrome.

Transcend Jetdrive can give you a a storage boost with far less hassle for all your movie and music files.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01BE0C2PU/ref=twister_B00S69ZPT8?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Deia]

Thanks for the replies!


I already use Safari, so that's no issue

The trackpad is, as everyone else says, amazing. It's basically the first laptop where I don't feel the need of an external mouse!
The battery is also very nice. Apple products really have amazing standby time. 0% battery lost in 24 hours standby in sleep.

Thanks for the tip on the Jetdrive! That thing looks like a nice addition. Especially since I don't use SD cards all that much!

Ive been reading through the SSD test thread, and so far this is my plan;

I've opted for buying the following;

• a Sintech adapter
  
• a Samsung EVO 960 (512GB)
• Kapton tape and 3mm rubber feet (for support and insulation)

I'll partition the EVO in two and have Windows 10 on one and MacOS on the other.
The BootRom is already upgraded to MBP121.0171.B00

I've read that there is still some issues with waking the laptop from sleep, but not everyone encounters it apparently. Not sure what to think of this issue yet..