Upgrading my 2015 15" Macbook Pro

gilbouk

gilbouk

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With my 2015 15" Macbook Pro being my primary and only machine for processing photos, I thought it might be a good idea to upgrade it soon. I do like the convenience and portability of a laptop but find it's starting to feel a bit slow with some of the tasks I'm chucking at it - particularly with my Nikon Z6 files (I'm shooting uncompressed).

Perhaps a decent 13" Macbook Pro with a decent external monitor would give me more portability when out and about and better display for when I get serious at home.

Not sure on whether I should aim for a 2020 Macbook Pro 13" with the problems many have described with the previous generation's butterfly keyboards.

Is it worth the money to upgrade as it would be a substantial outlay just for a slight faster machine?
 
andrewc said:
Is it possible to max out the memory and to fit a SSD to your current laptop?
Click to expand...

No, my one has 16GB ram and 512GB SSD with neither upgradable
 
How big is the storage on the machine? And how much free space is there?
What version of OSX is it running?

edit - just seen your reply. 16GB Ram is not bad. 512GB storage is a bit tight.
What is the processor*, and how much free space do you have on the SSD

*About This Mac from the Apple Menu...
 
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Pound Coin said:
How big is the storage on the machine? And how much free space is there?
What version of OSX is it running?

edit - just seen your reply. 16GB Ram is not bad. 512GB storage is a bit tight.
What is the processor*, and how much free space do you have on the SSD

*About This Mac from the Apple Menu...
Click to expand...

It’s an 4th generation i7 that’s in it which I think is a bit on the old side now. Dedicated AMD Radeon graphics. Around 150GB free on the SSD. It’s more subtle signs of slower performance like occasional delays with seeing changes to exposure when adjusting the slider in Capture One for example. Nothing major but with it being 5 years old it might be time to upgrade. It’s running the latest uptodate OSX
 
OK, yes i7 should be fine. and that's enough space on the SSD.

As for keyboards, I have the new 16" and the keyboard is fantastic. I deliberately kept away from the butterfly keyboards, buying the last generation of 15" (2015, 2.8GHz i7, 1TB SSD. only just now replaced it. It has become my back-up machine. The new one is wickedly fast.
 
gilbouk said:
Not sure on whether I should aim for a 2020 Macbook Pro 13" with the problems many have described with the previous generation's butterfly keyboards.
Click to expand...

You are a brave and generous man. The 13" comes with 8GB of RAM as standard and only an expensive upgrade will bring it to 16GB, or same as your old one. A chat with Adobe yesterday indicated they strongly recommend at least 32GB for photoshop work. I'm having lots of problems with 8 now, so much so they reverted my PS to 2019.
CPU is also nothing fancy. Graphics cards on all 13"s are all Intel basics, inadequate for most heavier work. So you get smaller screen, and new ports. That's about it. It's a nice travel and everyday use machine, but terrible choice for pro work.

That is before taking into account imminent Apple migration to ARM. On a positive side you will able to convert it to Windows laptop.

I can't advise on a better alternative because I too am looking for one. I think I am leaning towards some sort of desktop / self-build solution.

I looked into HP x360 spectre 15" and Acer Duo thing. Both get stupidly expensive with base 16GB ram. HP is probably only offered with 16, but I may be wrong. Desktop hopefully can be a lot faster for that price.
 
Must admit I've never had an issue with the keyboard on the laptop, although at home I mostly just use the magic keyboard and trackpad with external monitors.

With everything Apple there comes a time when you just have to bite the bullet and trade it in for a new model. I used to find upgrading every year with iPads could be quite cost effective as they held their value so well but that seems to be less of the case now.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
You are a brave and generous man. The 13" comes with 8GB of RAM as standard and only an expensive upgrade will bring it to 16GB, or same as your old one. A chat with Adobe yesterday indicated they strongly recommend at least 32GB for photoshop work. I'm having lots of problems with 8 now, so much so they reverted my PS to 2019.
CPU is also nothing fancy. Graphics cards on all 13"s are all Intel basics, inadequate for most heavier work. So you get smaller screen, and new ports. That's about it. It's a nice travel and everyday use machine, but terrible choice for pro work.

That is before taking into account imminent Apple migration to ARM. On a positive side you will able to convert it to Windows laptop.

I can't advise on a better alternative because I too am looking for one. I think I am leaning towards some sort of desktop / self-build solution.

I looked into HP x360 spectre 15" and Acer Duo thing. Both get stupidly expensive with base 16GB ram. HP is probably only offered with 16, but I may be wrong. Desktop hopefully can be a lot faster for that price.
Click to expand...

You are a bit behind the times. The 4 usb c port MacBook Pro 13 comes with 16gb ram as standard and a 512 SSD. Also the 2020 MacBook Pro has the magic keyboard which is based on scissor switches not the butterfly switches from before
 
Phil Maddocks said:
You are a bit behind the times. The 4 usb c port MacBook Pro 13 comes with 16gb ram as standard and a 512 SSD. Also the 2020 MacBook Pro has the magic keyboard which is based on scissor switches not the butterfly switches from before
Click to expand...

So that makes it at least 16GB (down from 24) too little, and still no video card to speak of. The keyboard is irrelevant as you will be using something external most of the time.

Don't get me wrong I would get this one for general use and travel, but not for serious photoshop work, unless you fancy having to go through this process again in 2-3 years time. Bear in mind that with ARM versions fully on sale this will receive far less interest on the 2nd hand market.

Also going from 15" to 13" you will be severely compromising your already limited ability to do even minor edits on the go. I can't do almost anything on mine.
 
If your Macbook is starting to feel a bit slow then the chances are it's suffering the same issues as my XPS 15 until I re-did the thermal paste. Quick video here:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUnm-korNUE


I was quite surprised at how much difference this made, and now the machine is perfectly happy under heavy load, whereas before it was plainly throttling.
 
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LongLensPhotography said:
So that makes it at least 16GB (down from 24) too little, and still no video card to speak of. The keyboard is irrelevant as you will be using something external most of the time.

Don't get me wrong I would get this one for general use and travel, but not for serious photoshop work, unless you fancy having to go through this process again in 2-3 years time. Bear in mind that with ARM versions fully on sale this will receive far less interest on the 2nd hand market.

Also going from 15" to 13" you will be severely compromising your already limited ability to do even minor edits on the go. I can't do almost anything on mine.
Click to expand...

100% with you - it is the worst time to buy a new Mac now with the ARM ones on the horizon. I've got the 2018 MacBook Pro 13 and I am holding on until the ARM ones come out before I think of upgrading.
 
I had an al singing all dancing MacBook pro 15 2019 with the touchbar.. 16gb, i7, 512gb etc...

But I'm back to MacBook air 11 inch as I much prefer its portability. This has a 512gb native HD. Then I bought this nifty thing off of amazon which allows you to mount a micro sd card in it - and it lives in your mac sd card slot or (in my case) a usb port. So why not check that out? I'm actually looking for the 2015 MacBook pro 15 as well, as I'd rather have something with value rather than all singing.. which is not what I need. On my air (2015, i5, 4gb ram) I can manage to run indesign, illsitraotor, and photoshop.. and myriad other marketing related work with very few issues..
 
stickytape said:
I had an al singing all dancing MacBook pro 15 2019 with the touchbar.. 16gb, i7, 512gb etc...

But I'm back to MacBook air 11 inch as I much prefer its portability. This has a 512gb native HD. Then I bought this nifty thing off of amazon which allows you to mount a micro sd card in it - and it lives in your mac sd card slot or (in my case) a usb port. So why not check that out? I'm actually looking for the 2015 MacBook pro 15 as well, as I'd rather have something with value rather than all singing.. which is not what I need. On my air (2015, i5, 4gb ram) I can manage to run indesign, illsitraotor, and photoshop.. and myriad other marketing related work with very few issues..
Click to expand...

If anything I’d want something faster than I’ve got, and with a descent display. I may consider getting something more portable and to have a desktop at home
 
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ancient_mariner said:
If your Macbook is starting to feel a bit slow then the chances are it's suffering the same issues as my XPS 15 until I re-did the thermal paste. Quick video here:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUnm-korNUE


I was quite surprised at how much difference this made, and now the machine is perfectly happy under heavy load, whereas before it was plainly throttling.
Click to expand...

I’m not sure I’d go down this route - I had a
new battery installed by Apple earlier in the year and they put it through its paces during the test they did on it
 
Phil Maddocks said:
100% with you - it is the worst time to buy a new Mac now with the ARM ones on the horizon. I've got the 2018 MacBook Pro 13 and I am holding on until the ARM ones come out before I think of upgrading.
Click to expand...

Are they the new processors by Apple? I’m not sure I’d be in the market for one of those as I’m sure they’ll be very expensive. Perhaps waiting until next year and getting a 2020 MacBook Pro might be a cheaper way to go
 
gilbouk said:
Are they the new processors by Apple? I’m not sure I’d be in the market for one of those as I’m sure they’ll be very expensive. Perhaps waiting until next year and getting a 2020 MacBook Pro might be a cheaper way to go
Click to expand...

I'd imagine they will simply replace the devices that are currently on the market and be no more expensive than the current ones. I've read rumours that the Macbook Air and Macbook Pro 13 will be the first to get them and we may see them end of the year/early 2021. You are probably looking in the £1799 range new. But the performance difference to a 2020 MacBook Pro 13 will be big. One of the other benefits is because these will be running 7nm chips which run cool even on passive cooling, you are likely getting a laptop that won't feel like you could fry an egg on it when you are using photoshop/lightroom!
 
TBH I wouldn't wait for an ARM machine, which is why I'm happy with my 16"

Two main reasons - any new processor/architecture takes a while to bed in and sort out glitches. I'd wait until the 2nd or third iteration.

Secondly, I can still run PC software on tried and tested software and hardware.

Gil, I use a laptop exclusively, and have an (old now!) Thunderbolt display in the two places I work, with accessory keyboard and mouse. I used to have a desktop, and laptop, but found that getting a faster machine meant I only had to have one. I think now, that the only desktop I'd consider, because of the horrendous cost of the Mac Pro, would be a Mac mini, and I'd not get any better performance than I get from the MacBook, and it wouldn't be standalone if I needed.
 
gilbouk said:
If anything I’d want something faster than I’ve got, and with a descent display. I may consider getting something more portable and to have a desktop at home
Click to expand...

How about an iPad Pro if you went down that route? If you use Lightroom for processing they're a fantastic on-the-go photo machine
 
RichardC27 said:
How about an iPad Pro if you went down that route? If you use Lightroom for processing they're a fantastic on-the-go photo machine
Click to expand...
I’ve started using my iPad Pro with affinity photo it works really well that’s my plan I’m using my desktop for most of my work and iPad for on the go
 
gilbouk said:
I’m not sure I’d go down this route - I had a
new battery installed by Apple earlier in the year and they put it through its paces during the test they did on it
Click to expand...
Putting it through its paces might just be to check it works as expected for a 5YO design. It's up to you, but it will cost you less than £5 and take 20min.

My 2 years older design Dell is still man enough for 50mb uncompressed Sony A7 files, so your MB should be up to the job to.

But if you're going to replace it with another Mac and want performance then you need to pay. That's the deal with Apple - there are no budget, upgradable options.
 
RichardC27 said:
How about an iPad Pro if you went down that route? If you use Lightroom for processing they're a fantastic on-the-go photo machine
Click to expand...
I just can't get on with how fiddly touch screens are, particularly with trying to tap and drag sliders. I'm too old school, and have to have a mouse. I just find a mouse and keyboard the fastest for trying to do things quickly and efficiently.
 
Going down the route of a second hand Mac desktop with a more portable laptop may be a good option for me, as I find along with my camera kit, the 15" is hefty to bring along too. Does anybody know whether a Mac Pro from yester-year might me a good budget option?
 
gilbouk said:
Are they the new processors by Apple? I’m not sure I’d be in the market for one of those as I’m sure they’ll be very expensive. Perhaps waiting until next year and getting a 2020 MacBook Pro might be a cheaper way to go
Click to expand...

do you realise that about 2022-23 app support will first slow down and eventually stop for current intel machines? Only alternative will be to install windows if they still let you at that time. Better load it today just in case. Anyone intending to stick with APPLE should plan the purchases well ahead, ideally 2nd or 3rd gen of the new kind.
 
RichardC27 said:
How about an iPad Pro if you went down that route? If you use Lightroom for processing they're a fantastic on-the-go photo machine
Click to expand...

Lightroom only use maybe, and admittedly ipad doubles great as a presentation / virtual porfolio device or on location camera monitor. However without real file system and appstore only ecosystem I find it entirely unacceptable proposition. I'd rather get a Samsung instead as this has a little bit more freedoms and ability to root.
 
I'm fairly certain my next computer will be Windows rather than Apple. Whilst there has always been a premium for Apple vs non-Apple, I'm feeling the gap in terms of specification has closed considerably in terms of build quality and Apples are less good value for money.
 
andrewc said:
I'm feeling the gap in terms of specification has closed considerably in terms of build quality and Apples are less good value for money.
Click to expand...

The gap was closed more than 10 years ago in terms of internals, but more recently for externals, cases etc. One of the key problems with windows machines is that people buy a windows laptop for £250 and compare it with a Macbook costing £1500 - of course there's no comparison. But a £1000-£1200 widows laptop will compare well with a £1500+ Macbook. The other issue is that Apple have made an excellent set of choices for the defaults they first offer a user, while Microsoft have made some extremely poor ones, making the user experience on first start horrible instead of enjoyable and cool. It only takes a few minutes to sort out and tidy up, but for someone either unfamiliar or non-technical it can make their computer use much less pleasant.

As a business user, I also loved the 3 years next day onsite warranty I got from Dell for less than the price of 3 years Applecare that required I took the Macbook back to the store.

I still take my old Macbook with me when I travel, but am glad not to be stuck in that ecosystem permanently. If Lightroom and On1 would run under Linux then I'd use that instead for photo work.
 
ancient_mariner said:
The gap was closed more than 10 years ago in terms of internals, but more recently for externals, cases etc. One of the key problems with windows machines is that people buy a windows laptop for £250 and compare it with a Macbook costing £1500 - of course there's no comparison. But a £1000-£1200 widows laptop will compare well with a £1500+ Macbook. The other issue is that Apple have made an excellent set of choices for the defaults they first offer a user, while Microsoft have made some extremely poor ones, making the user experience on first start horrible instead of enjoyable and cool. It only takes a few minutes to sort out and tidy up, but for someone either unfamiliar or non-technical it can make their computer use much less pleasant.

As a business user, I also loved the 3 years next day onsite warranty I got from Dell for less than the price of 3 years Applecare that required I took the Macbook back to the store.

I still take my old Macbook with me when I travel, but am glad not to be stuck in that ecosystem permanently. If Lightroom and On1 would run under Linux then I'd use that instead for photo work.
Click to expand...

Agree. My current MBP was £1700 but I managed to get it for £1500 in a John Lewis sale. At the time it was a mid range spec. Current base level 16” MBP is £2400...
 
You can buy a Kia and you can buy a Mercedes. Both get you from a to b, but some people prefer Mercedes.

there are probably equivalents in the camera world too..l
 
LCPete said:
I’ve started using my iPad Pro with affinity photo it works really well that’s my plan I’m using my desktop for most of my work and iPad for on the go
Click to expand...

I am similar though using LR & PS mainly. I am finding using an iPad Pro when out and about a good option especially with more of the desktop features being gradually added to the iPad versions of LR/PS. I am also getting to grips with using Affinity too. I think it cost me £18 in a sale.... stupid not to buy it and give it a go :)
 
Pound Coin said:
You can buy a Kia and you can buy a Mercedes. Both get you from a to b, but some people prefer Mercedes.

there are probably equivalents in the camera world too..l
Click to expand...
It's worth noting that the Kia is a lot more likely to get you there than the Mercedes!

More on topic, I run Capture one very nicely on my 2012 Dell desktop, to which I've upgraded to 16Gb and put in a new SSD and graphics card. It runs very quickly indeed.
 
Im in exactly the same boat at the moment, but with a 2013 Macbook Pro

One minute I think a dedicated desktop is the best route, the next minute wait for the new Macbook Pro to come out. I must admit the new IMac is looking appealing!
 
gilbouk said:
I just can't get on with how fiddly touch screens are, particularly with trying to tap and drag sliders. I'm too old school, and have to have a mouse. I just find a mouse and keyboard the fastest for trying to do things quickly and efficiently.
Click to expand...
Get the Apple Pencil as well, although iPads do have mouse, trackpad and keyboard support now so you don't have to use the touchscreen.
 
RichardC27 said:
How about an iPad Pro if you went down that route? If you use Lightroom for processing they're a fantastic on-the-go photo machine
Click to expand...
LCPete said:
I’ve started using my iPad Pro with affinity photo it works really well that’s my plan I’m using my desktop for most of my work and iPad for on the go
Click to expand...
RichardC27 said:
Get the Apple Pencil as well, although iPads do have mouse, trackpad and keyboard support now so you don't have to use the touchscreen.
Click to expand...

Having had a look at the latest iPad Pros and the new iPad Air that's just been announced with USB C, I'm impressed by the closeness in experience to a MacBook when it comes to use of the magic keyboard with trackpad built in. Certainly for browsing and emails it looks like a very easy to use combo ideal for on the move, and the ability to showcase photos to clients by handing them the iPad is appealing too.

I don't think I would do my hardcore editing on it mind you particularly if I went for the smaller size, but I might be interested in doing my initial culling on the iPad when I've got time to kill on the train / in a cafe etc.


I was impressed by how quickly you can move from photo to photo. Do you think I would be happy with how quickly it resolves photos for checking facial expressions and sharpness from photo to photo? Would it be capable and convenient? What apps would you recommend for culling say 600 photos down to 100

The last time I tried using an iPad Air 2 some time ago, importing from SD was problematic with failures half way through when loading large numbers of files. Sometimes some photos were missing, and the only easy way to rectify was to delete and try the import again which soon became tedious and annoying. Furthermore the necessity to then transfer the RAWs from the photo library to the Lightroom app was also slow and unreliable. Have these things improved? For example if I wanted to transfer my files from XQD to an iPad Pro, cull, and then later revisit the culled photos on my MacBook - is that easy to do? Can the culled RAWs be exported back onto an external drive?

If the iPad is useable for out and about, I may then sell my MacBook Pro with the idea of something more capable and desktop based with a better display for editing at home.

Cheers for any advice.
 
I vote not worth it

Wont be that long before a new version of RAM is released called DDR5.

Current DDR4 machines are already dead in the water like what happened with DDR3 machines on the release of DDR4.
Nobody wanted DDR3 machines, they were finished, All you heard about on forums was everyone talking about their glorious upgrade to DDR4.
 
If DDR4 has been good enough up until now, then why bother waiting for something that might or might not happen... might as well wait for ddr6....

I never get that argument Of “ but such and such will be out soon”....

Something new will always be out soon, if you keep waiting for the latest thing you’ll never have anything.
My 2015 MacBook Pro lasted me 5 years, I only changed it as it was struggling with 4k video, it’s quite likely my 2019 16 inch MacBook Pro will last me at least 5 years, by which time we will be on completely different hardware and chipsets again anyway.
 
gilbouk said:
Having had a look at the latest iPad Pros and the new iPad Air that's just been announced with USB C, I'm impressed by the closeness in experience to a MacBook when it comes to use of the magic keyboard with trackpad built in. Certainly for browsing and emails it looks like a very easy to use combo ideal for on the move, and the ability to showcase photos to clients by handing them the iPad is appealing too.

I don't think I would do my hardcore editing on it mind you particularly if I went for the smaller size, but I might be interested in doing my initial culling on the iPad when I've got time to kill on the train / in a cafe etc.


I was impressed by how quickly you can move from photo to photo. Do you think I would be happy with how quickly it resolves photos for checking facial expressions and sharpness from photo to photo? Would it be capable and convenient? What apps would you recommend for culling say 600 photos down to 100

The last time I tried using an iPad Air 2 some time ago, importing from SD was problematic with failures half way through when loading large numbers of files. Sometimes some photos were missing, and the only easy way to rectify was to delete and try the import again which soon became tedious and annoying. Furthermore the necessity to then transfer the RAWs from the photo library to the Lightroom app was also slow and unreliable. Have these things improved? For example if I wanted to transfer my files from XQD to an iPad Pro, cull, and then later revisit the culled photos on my MacBook - is that easy to do? Can the culled RAWs be exported back onto an external drive?

If the iPad is useable for out and about, I may then sell my MacBook Pro with the idea of something more capable and desktop based with a better display for editing at home.

Cheers for any advice.
Click to expand...

I use a 2018 iPad Pro 11 inch, 256GB and Lightroom. Importing is ok, not lightning fast but certainly not slow. You can import directly into Lightroom now and I'm sure it's the same for other photo apps too, no messing about having to go through Photos first and I've never had the process fail.

Resolving the 24MP RAW files from my EOS 80D is instant, no waiting for things to load when zooming to 100% to check sharpness etc it's a seamless experience. I use mine for culling and processing all the time. I mainly shoot motorsport and it's wonderful to be able to import and do my basic culling while still at the track, and then not be tied to a desk when at home. I've processed in the garden, on the sofa, in bed of a morning etc.

Exporting to external drives is easy, iPads support external SSDs and HDDs as long as they're formatted correctly (same formatting as a Mac). If i bought again I'd probably go for the 12.9 inch model but the 11 is fine.

They don't work the same as a laptop and trying to use one in that way will drive you mad, If you're willing to adapt your way of working a little and you're not into heavy Photoshopping an iPad makes a great processing machine. The Apple Pencil is a must, editing with your fingertips isn't comfortable for long
 
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I'm in a vaguely similar position to the OP with a 2014 15" MacBook Pro (16GB, 512GB SSD). The main differences are, I've got the "staingate" problem of a hazed area about 1" wide all around the edges of the screen, plus some bubbles in the middle of the screen, and I'm getting an increasing number of weird network issues and kernel panics (having to restart more often than once per week!). EDIT So I'm gonna have to upgrade sooner rather than later, I think.

I igure my options are upgrading to a 16" 2020 MBP with 1TB SSD (£2799 at Apple), or... a Retina iMac 21.5" with the i7, 16GB, 1TB SSD at £2199 plus an iPad with 128GB for £429 for portability (all Apple prices, probably cheaper elsewhere).

I've always used MacBooks, but presumably I'd get more performance from the iMac, a better screen and more sensible ports (albeit round the back which is a PITA). The question is, how would working off an iPad when away from home work out?

I'm a dedicated Aperture user, but trying to wean myself off onto Capture One Pro; it doesn't look like there's an iPad version (Capture One Pilot looks like a different thing). I guess for new photos there would be Photos, which I don't like, then import into C1P later. For all the usual social/email stuff that happens while you're away an iPad would be more convenient than a 16" MBP (and less expensive if lost or stolen too).

Does this seem like a good alternative?
 
LongLensPhotography said:
There is no such thing. They are still 2019 and Apple chips are coming to replace the whole lot.
Click to expand...
Yes, also dealing with a daughter trying to get a new phone. But it is the current model. As mentioned by some folks above I would be very wary of getting the first generation ARM version.
 
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