I’m considering updating my Late 2013 Retina MacBook Pro (8GB RAM, i5, 256GB SSD). Honestly, it still runs somewhere in fine-to-good. However, I’m starting grad school (statistics) next month and I thought now might be a good time to buy due to student discounts / incentives. Interested in knowing whether now is a good time to upgrade, or if waiting is wiser.
For a quick summary, I’d consider myself a moderate user across the board (more on that below). In terms of budget, I’d say $1,600 (pre-tax), *maybe* $1,700, at most. I’d like to get at least 4 years out of it. Probably could be swayed into spending a bit more if it’d really help get a few more years out of it.
I’d appreciate your thoughts on whether it’s worth me upgrading (and what specs you’d recommend). If you’d like my specific uses/wants, keep reading.
In terms of my general usage...
I’m not locked into any spec list, but here’s my initial thoughts:
For a quick summary, I’d consider myself a moderate user across the board (more on that below). In terms of budget, I’d say $1,600 (pre-tax), *maybe* $1,700, at most. I’d like to get at least 4 years out of it. Probably could be swayed into spending a bit more if it’d really help get a few more years out of it.
I’d appreciate your thoughts on whether it’s worth me upgrading (and what specs you’d recommend). If you’d like my specific uses/wants, keep reading.
In terms of my general usage...
- I mostly use mine for web browsing, where I’ll have several (20-50) tabs open at once. In the past, I’ve had a couple hundred tabs open at once, and it slowed to a crawl. However, I’m trying to cut back.
- With grad school, I expect to use “heavier” apps, especially statistical / coding applications like R, SAS, MatLab, etc. I’m not worried about PC-only applications like SAS since I know about workarounds (e.g., Wine, Bootcamp).
- I do some (minimal) video editing, maybe up to a couple times a month. Better/faster video editing would be nice, but certainly not a dealbreaker.
- I’d consider myself a moderate (e.g., between light and heavy) user of Microsoft Excel. Some basic VBA macros and multi-page sheets workbooks.
- I’m an avid console gamer (Xbox One, PS4, Switch, Wii U), but I never really got into PC gaming. Some of that’s because my laptop’s not really great for gaming, though not sure I’d do a lot of PC gaming with a better GPU
- In terms of ports, I use my HDMI port at least weekly, and my 128 GB USB-A stick is always plugged in... sounds like I’ll need dongles for anything non-USB C...
- Other than that, I’d consider myself a fairly average Mac user
I’m not locked into any spec list, but here’s my initial thoughts:
- RAM: At least 8 GB. Really interested in 16 GB, especially if it’d help me keep it around longer
- Storage: 256 GB at least. Between my USB stick and SSD, I’m currently using about 350 GB. Probably could save 50+ GB with some cleaning. Open to 512 GB, depending on cost-to-benefit and projected increases in file sizes in the next 5 years or so.
- CPU: Base (i5?) is probably fine. If real-world performance is better with faster clockspeed / i7, it’d be nice but not high priority I’d think
- GPU: Base is probably fine, unless an upgrade is really worth it
- Ports: at least 2 ports. I think the new ones only have USB-C, but if there are any with HDMI that’d be big point for me. Hate dongles as much as the next guy.
- Touch pad: cool if I could afford it, but probably better if I spent that money elsewhere
- Battery life: Generally I only use my laptop in class or when waiting at bus stop / etc. Battery life has never been an issue in the past.
