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Comment by mstudio | Hacker News Reader

Totally agree. After reading so many reviews panning the new MBPs, I ended up replacing my ancient 2011 MBP with a 2015 model. You can still find new/unopened or relatively unused models on eBay. I love this laptop. i7, 16GB memory, AMD Radeon R9, great keyboard with F-keys... plus, it has all the standard ports I need: USB, HDMI, Thunderbolt. All for much less money than a new machine from Apple. No complaints at all.

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This. Funny last time I wrote about the same large trackpad issue on HN I was heavily downvoted.

And despite how many have said this new magic keyboard is better. I still dont get it. It felt exactly the same as the previous butterfly keyboard, and to me it felt awful. The 2015 scissors keyboard is still million times better. 1.5mm of Key Travel, 60g grams of actuation force was the perfect combination. The newer Keyboard is meshy. I haven't heard anyone that hate the older one, so switching back wouldn't actually cause any issues. And I cant be the only one who dislike the new keyboard.

I wish Apple just make a MacBook Pro Classic. Remake the 2015 MacBook Pro with a faster processor. That's it. Nothing more. Dont touch anything else. Same Screen, MagSafe, No Touch Bar, Perfect Keyboard and TouchPad. While I would love to have the new speaker I could do without it incase Apple mess things up again. And if even a new CPU is too much to ask, just give me the old 2015 MacBook Pro with Maxed out Config for the same price.

At the moment I am worried once I have to replace my 2015 MacBook Pro I would left with no choice.

And for what is worth, Apple stop mentioning their Mac user satisfaction in their Investor meeting.

Honestly, compared to the 2007(?) 17" macbook pro and especially to the pismo... I find that my 2015 15" Macbook Pro already had an unpleasant keyboard, with wobbly keys and too little travel.

I think the pismo and the 17" where the only macs that I have ever owned that I really liked...

Definitely agree on wobbly keys and that is something better on the newer Butterfly / Magic Keyboard. I just wouldn't trade it with Key travel though.

I think the pre 2015 / 17" Macbook Keyboard had 1.8mm Key Travel. And 1.5mm felt different but not bad. I tried the Surface Pro which said it had 1.3mm Key Travel. And to me that is about as low as it can go before the typing experience deteriorate rapidly. I remember reading somewhere there are certain laptop with 1.1mm Key travel but they compensate it with higher actuation force, so instead of 60g it was something like 70g to make up for the difference.

> I wish Apple just make a MacBook Pro Classic.

I could get behind this, but I'd like the touch ID button added too, not the whole touch bar, just the power button / fingerprint scanner.

Exactly what I did. I loved my used 2015 but I ordered a 16" 2019 on day one. While I like it and it's my "daily driver", it was surprisingly low on wow factor.

The biggest win on the 16" are the speakers. I didn't consider them at all but they've basically eliminated my use of external speakers. Touchbar is very underwhelming. USB-C is a tossup. I got to buy new dongles, chargers, cables, etc. which I actually enjoy but in the end I'm mostly plugging USB-A devices in with adapters.

I really miss having a big microSD in a flush adapter as spare space. I miss having tiny USB 3 flash drives nearly flush in USB-A ports.

The speakers really are amazing. They're good enough that the MBP can be used as a standalone cordless TV without headphones.

I bought the 2015 MBP back when it came out and basically maxed out all the specs, it was very expensive for me at the time but in hindsight it was the best purchase ever...

I think there are 2 versions of the 2015 model, the Mid-2015 one has a trackpad with 'force click/touch' which is a minor plus, so make sure you buy that one if you have the choice :)

I bought one of these as well, it got me through university and was a terrific development machine for side projects as well. It survived having water and coffee spilled on it, which is incredible.

My brother just started college a year ago, and is now using it with no issues. If it lasts another 3-4 years I'll be seriously impressed, and it'll go to show how great those machines truly are.

Do you have any recommendations on what to look for and how to avoid laptops with issues? I have a family member who is going to college and insistent on getting an Apple laptop. This will be her only machine and so my concern is that if anything happens, she won't have a fall back, while when I buy laptops for myself I'm fine taking a gamble as I have other options.

I suggest that you buy on eBay and filter by "New", which is what I did with mine. I verified that it was unused by going to Apple > About This Mac > System Report. Then select "Power" and look for the "Cycle Count" under "Battery information". This will tell you how many times the battery has been recharged. It should be a very low number. I think mine was 0 or 1 when I bought it. eBay is also pretty good about returns if anything is wrong with the laptop. Good luck!

The 2015 maxed out model was my first MacBook and it's served very well so far. Lately, it does slows to a crawl when running docker, VSCode, and half a dozen electron apps :(, but after reading about the latest builds I'm honestly not sure whether to upgrade or go back to running ubuntu or elementary.

Ahh man that's a tough call! My personal laptop is a 2014 that I bought in 2015 (or was it 2016?) for dirt cheap because it was on clearance. So I totally agree with you there! On the other hand, my biggest issue with the 2016-18 keyboard is the lack of inverted T arrow keys. It drives me nuts!

Doesn't have thunderbolt 3 though.

> 16GB memory

Nice for a laptop but I wouldn't mind 32GB+... guess that's gonna be expensive though :p

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