New Mac Advice

[Todzilla]

So, my once trusty late 2011 tricked out 15" MBP bit the dust (logic board). I'm broke as hell, but I need to replace it. My budget is $2000.

Looks like I can wrangle a 2016 unit, but it only has 512GB SSD and the 1TB upgrade is hideously overpriced. I loved that my old guy was upgradeable and I did so, putting 16G of RAM and a 1TB Drive in it. At least the new MBPs have 16G of RAM standard.

Can folks convince me that having an external USB-C enclosure for all my DP songs won't suck horribly? I've gotten spoiled over the years with my 1TB, which held the OS, all my gigantic virtual instrument files and all my songs over the years. I would rather not have to decide on which songs to have local and which to have on archive, so I'm wondering if it would just be okay to always attach to an external SSD drive running through USB-C. Performance should be at least as good as my old local SSD, yes? Any other downsides other than the persistent dongle crap hanging off my slick new MBP?

[HCMarkus]

So, my once trusty late 2011 tricked out 15" MBP bit the dust (logic board). I'm broke as hell, but I need to replace it. My budget is $2000.

I just put together a 12 core 5,1 for a very modest sum:

Computer $500 (8 core 2010) included 32 gigs of RAM...an excellent price, Craigslist monitoring paid off.
2 X5680 CPUs $150 (eBay)
SSDs mostly from old MP, but they are cheaper than ever now. I found brand new EVO 860 for $259.00 on eBay. (No sticker, bulk purchase break out).

Long in the tooth... yes. Unbeatable value... YES!
May be worth your consideration.

[mikehalloran]

Street on a 2T Crucial MX500 is $499. The differences between it and an 850 EVO don’t justify the cost differences, IMO. 1T is less expensive, of course.

[Todzilla]

Sorry, I should have specifically noted I need a 15" Macbook Pro.

BandH Photo has both 2015 and 2016 models around $2000 with a 512G SSD. I want a 1TB, but their prices are so ridiculous, I'll just use my old 1TB Crucial SSD as an external.

So, I'm leaning towards the 2016 model. It has 2.7 i7 processor, 16GRam and the 512 PCIe-based SSD. The only big question is the USB-C ports. Will dongles and/or docking stations work fine to interface with old Firewire devices (including 400FW ones), USB Apogee Symphony I/O, Old USB-B drives, etc...?

I'm hoping to hit the ground running once I get it and I would hate to have to do a bunch of troubleshooting if the port dongle thing gets messy.

Thanks!

[mikehalloran]

Some are having issues with FW and USC C. Not having it either, I don’t know if it’s real or misunderstanding on the user end. If any of your FW devices are MOTU, I’d call and get the correct info.

Apple stopped supporting FireWire in 2011. TB has never passed the full FW spec but most devices work as long as they are externally powered. I don’t know how much of it is supported in USB C.

Come to think of it, my wife’s Air has USB C. Not buying adapters and hooking my 828mkII to it—life’s too short.

[Tobor]

Does it have Thunderbolt. My OWC Thunderbolt dock has been incredibly useful, it's got a lot of old stuff and new stuff plugged in all the time.

[Todzilla]

UPDATE:

I use DirecTV's Equipment Protection Plan. It covers any device (except phones) you watch DirecTV on. I filed a claim on my MBP. They put in a new refurb logic board and it works like a champ. AND, if that fails, they'll fix it again.

I was thinking they'd just credit me $2,000 toward a new Mac, but this is better. A new Mac would cost more, would likely not have a 1TB drive without exorbitant cost and I would be in Dongle City for a long time.

So excited to have it back and (apparently) working like a champ!

Yay! Hooray for DirecTV!

[mikehalloran]

Does it have Thunderbolt. My OWC Thunderbolt dock has been incredibly useful, it's got a lot of old stuff and new stuff plugged in all the time.

This just in:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=64732

[Todzilla]

Three cheers for DirecTV's Protection Plan!

I had to wait to get grandfather'ed in (a tortuous 60+ days before making a claim), but they fixed my MBP! As I suspected, it was a logic board failure. They probably put in a refurb, but it's covered too.

This is even better for me than getting a new Mac, as mine was a great year (2011) that straddles the FW/T-bolt/Ethernet ports world. Otherwise, I would have to buy a bunch of dongles, extra power adapters, etc... Plus, I couldn't afford a 1TB SSD drive like I have in the old reliable.

I spent the 60+ days plotting the work I would do when I got it back (and watching basketball).