Which MBP will be faster and better overall?

[hotxmess]

- MacBook Pro 13" 2017. 3,1 Ghz processor Dual Core i5 8gen. 16gb ram, 512ssd. Intel Iris Plus 550 GPU

- Macbook Pro 15" 2014. 2,5 Ghz Quad Core processor i7 4gen. 16gb ram, 512 ssd. Intel Iris Pro + NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M

I'm trying to decide between these two secondhand MBPs as my laptop recently died. It will be used mostly for video editing and music production.

I know the 2014 model have better specs like GPU (i don't know much about processor speeds), but it's also older.

What are your thoughts? Any help will be appreciated

 

[uller6]

This isn't a great choice to be honest. It's hard to recommend the 2017 MBPs because of the butterfly keyboards. They will break. But the 2017 is much newer so should have a few more years of software support left. The specs you are considering are pretty good.

I still have my old late 2013 15" MBP, which is the same hardware as the 2014 you are considering. It works, and is still reasonably fast. However, the machine is limited to Big Sur, and the battery is only a crummy 2 hours at this point. Plus my screen antiglare coating is peeling off, and the screen has dim spots.

What's your price point? You could get a base M1 air for ~$800 USD online, which would not only be faster than either of these machines (yes, even with 8 GB RAM, but 16 GB RAM is better) but would also have a longer period of software support.

 

[MBAir2010]

i would be concerned with the GPU (graphics card) on the 2014 MBP than speed.
the 15 macbook pros from that era reported some failures.

if you (or anyone else) is looking for a model from that era,
i would get, well recently purchased a i7-16ram Mac mini which is very fast

therefore the - Macbook Pro 15" 2014. 2,5 Ghz Quad Core processor i7 will kick Beethovens ass!
while fulfilling your music production needs!

 

[hotxmess]

This isn't a great choice to be honest. It's hard to recommend the 2017 MBPs because of the butterfly keyboards. They will break. But the 2017 is much newer so should have a few more years of software support left. The specs you are considering are pretty good.

I still have my old late 2013 15" MBP, which is the same hardware as the 2014 you are considering. It works, and is still reasonably fast. However, the machine is limited to Big Sur, and the battery is only a crummy 2 hours at this point. Plus my screen antiglare coating is peeling off, and the screen has dim spots.

What's your price point? You could get a base M1 air for ~$800 USD online, which would not only be faster than either of these machines (yes, even with 8 GB RAM, but 16 GB RAM is better) but would also have a longer period of software support.

The problem is I’m not from the USA, so the base MacBook Air model here is 1300€ (around $1500). Even in the second hand market it’s impossible to find a used one with less than 6-7 years for less than 600-700€.
I’m from Spain btw, technology prices here still sucks...

 

[Fishrrman]

DON'T buy a 2017 MacBook Pro. It will have the awful butterfly keyboard that is very prone to failure.

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.

 

[sb in ak]

For a Mac laptop in this era I'd probably look for a 2015 MBP (or earlier based on budget), which was the high water mark for retina MBPs before the slew of problematic changes in 2016. I have my late 2013 15" MBP still which was a good computer before it started to crash randomly. I never did figure out what was up. It does have the Nvidia dGPU which some people have had issues with. When it isn't crashing, it's still a really capable machine.

 

[internetrando]

Not sure I'd be willing to purchase either one of those.

The 2017 is an absolute no. The keyboard alone is reason enough to avoid it. I had multiple failures and replacements under AppleCare+/repair program. They're horrendous in plenty of other aspects, too.

The 2014 is probably the better option, but at that point you're purchasing a laptop that is seven years old. The battery, if original, is trash. The GPUs from that era are known to fail. The software support is likely to have already ended (or will in the near future), and good luck getting service for it if something goes wrong. This unit is certainly already on the vintage list, if not the obsolete list.

I'm not sure what your budget is, but I would recommend saving to get a used 2019+ MBP or a new base model.

 

[MBAir2010]

I’m from Spain btw, technology prices here still sucks...

But the football is top rate!

there are a lot of members here whom use 2010-12 MacBooks with no problem, if that helps

my friends from costa rica use apple g4 everyday in medical facilities and anything G5 is golden
Indonesia citizens are still using early 2000 computers while there is a  factory next door in Sulawesi
no mater how much the world is connected with this high speed internet
some countries, even rich in culture and history will still not get the latest tech
no mater how much Microsoft and apple brag and congratulate themselves about computing the world.