Advice on spec needed for new MacBook Pro

MiM

My 2014 MacBook is getting slow and tells me the disk is full even though I've shifted nearly everything onto the Cloud, so I'm looking for a replacement. However, it's got 16gb memory and all the new ones in my price range only have 8gb. Will the newer spec in a basic Macbook Pro make up for the difference or am I downgrading?

My current spec is 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5, running Mojave 10.14.2, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, Intel Iris 1536 MB, 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5.


I'm not very technical so sorry if I've said any of that wrong. I use the Macbook all day at work plugged into monitors then bring it home. I'm happy with it but I just want it to work better and feel it's time to get a new one.

Any help much appreciated.

PS I use some software that only works properly on iOS so not interested in alternatives!

arciere

I am not very familiar with Macs, but if your only problem is disk space, why don't you just upgrade the drive with a bigger one? It's probably not going to be as straight-forward as with Windows laptops, but I would look into the option if you're otherwise happy with its performance.

DoaM

https://www.google.co.uk/search?&q=macbook+2014+replacement+drive

Chino

MiM wrote: »

that only works properly on iOS

Do you mean macOS?

almillar

My current spec is 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5, running Mojave 10.14.2, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, Intel Iris 1536 MB, 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5.

Well, you missed out the hard disk size, which is the park you were complaining about! How big is it, and how much free space? Did you empty the Trash? Did you 'copy' to the cloud or did you actually 'move' the stuff?

Does the 2014 have a DVD drive? If so, it's a simple SATA SSD to replace it, easy peasy, and there's no such thing as 'Mac compatible', they all are. If there's no DVD drive, it's a Retina MacBook Pro. You should still be able to replace the SSD on this one, but it's not SATA.

MiM

Hi all, thanks for the help and sorry for the missing info etc.

It's 256GB. I use Scrivener which I understand is better on Mac and doesn't work well on Windows, but only really mentioned that so people didn't say why bother with a Mac, they're overpriced etc...

Yes, I do mean MacOS.

I run Cocktail regularly, empty trash, as far as I know I haven't just copied files to the Cloud but I'll look into that.

I thought my MacBook was the later kind and the memory couldn't be upgraded because it was sealed, but I could (well) be wong!

tonyh66

MiM wrote: »

Hi all, thanks for the help and sorry for the missing info etc.

It's 256GB. I use Scrivener which I understand is better on Mac and doesn't work well on Windows, but only really mentioned that so people didn't say why bother with a Mac, they're overpriced etc...

Yes, I do mean MacOS.

I run Cocktail regularly, empty trash, as far as I know I haven't just copied files to the Cloud but I'll look into that.

I thought my MacBook was the later kind and the memory couldn't be upgraded because it was sealed, but I could (well) be wong!

memory is not the hard drive, the memory may be soldered onto the motherboard, but you have 16GB which is plenty, its the hard drive which needs replacing possibly with an SSD.

flashg67

Personally, I don't believe that a slightly more modern processor will make up for having 8gb less ram, and macbooks won't support more than 16gb anyway (even the latest ones AFAIK), 16gb should be plenty for most applications. Sounds like an SSD hard drive upgrade is worth looking at though, or invest in a combination of cloud storage and portable hard drive (better to have 2 separate back ups available, particularly if you're going to remove stuff from the macbook drive permanently

tempus_fugit

Another vote for upgrading the drive here, plus really looking at managing your storage and backups across devices and the cloud so that you are using it effectively. This would be much more cost effective than upgrading to a newer MacBook, and I'm not absolutely convinced that the newer ones are that much better anyway.

MiM

Thanks to everyone for your excellent advice – I'll look into upgrading the hard drive.

almillar

Important - does it have a DVD drive or not? If not, it's a 'Retina' MacBook Pro. That means it already has SSD, which you CAN upgrade, but it's not a standard SATA drive, so you'll need to do some research. If it's got a DVD drive, it'll be a SATA connector, and easily upgraded. As a side note, the RAM will also be easily upgradeable.

If you're already on a 256GB SSD drive, you need to work out what's taking up all that space if you don't already know. Cleaning everything up properly might be less time consuming than upgrading a Retina device.