Apple has made many great laptops, but the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro (2012–2015) is the epitome of usefulness, elegance, practicality, and power for an overall package that still hasn’t been (and may never be) surpassed.
Like me, Marco formerly had a Thunderbolt 3 MacBook Pro and sold it out of frustration. He picked up a 2015 15-inch model, while I returned to a Late 2012 13-inch machine. As he writes, this generation of MacBook Pro is one for the ages:
At its introduction, it was criticized only for ditching the optical drive and Ethernet port, but these were defensible, well-timed removals: neither could’ve even come close to physically fitting in the new design, very few MacBook Pro users were still using either on a regular basis, and almost none of us needed to buy external optical drives or Ethernet adapters to fit the new laptop into our lives. In exchange for those removals, we got substantial reductions in thickness and weight, and a huge new battery.
There were no other downsides. Everything else about this machine was an upgrade: thinner, lighter, faster, better battery life, quieter fans, better speakers, better microphones, a second Thunderbolt port, and a convenient new HDMI port.
I would love having an SD card slot again, too. After reading this, I’m tempted to find a 2015 on eBay and run it as long as I can. Since my notebook is my secondary computer, I can totally get away with it.