Comment by Matthias247 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Matthias247 | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

However it's highly doubtable if the current versions (with butterfly keyboards) will last for the same amount of time. They are also less future-proof than older revisions, due to non-exchangable RAM and storage.

I feel for the Macbook side my main concern wouldn't be the increasing prices, but the combination with the fact that those things haven't really gotten better for some years. The entry level models with 128GB SSD are not better than was sold 3 years ago. I bought a 2015 Macbook Pro with 256GB, and the newest variant would be within the same speed rate, has the same amount of storage, and is more expensive. I would also prefer the screen as well as the keyboard of the 2015. The only thing that might be nice on the 2015 would be an (additional) USB-C/TB3 port.

> "They are also less future-proof than older revisions, due to non-exchangable RAM and storage."

In my mind the most problematic thing that Apple does is make the batteries difficult to replace. Last I checked replacing a MacBook Pro battery through official channels also includes replacing the topcase, making it a nearly $400 repair.

Interestingly, if you can demonstrate that your keyboard has gone to shit and they thus have to do a top-panel replacement, they have to replace the battery, too.

At least that's what they did with my new Macbook Pro when a few of the keys came off with my fingers as I typed because I thought I could power through the crunches of debris that got under them.

Possibly the one (cheeky) advantage of a hard to replace battery: free battery replacement when something else fails. :)

Apple heavily discounts the top case replacement if the reason for replacing it is the battery, so the actual cost is between $130-200 [1]. I'm not sure what they do if your top case has other damage as well - if you break something in the top case, but also need a new battery, can you get a new case for the battery price?

[1] https://support.apple.com/mac/repair/service

Geekbench shows 2018 Macbook Pro is almost 200% better than 2015 MBP (20000 multicore vs 10000 multicore, and 4 cores vs 6 cores).

I think I compared the baseline models (lowest price 13" dual-core ones), and those had been very very close. The top models might be a different story, but the price gap there might be even bigger.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com