Hey guys, I’m Roland the Techusiast. I’ve been using the 15” 2015 Macbook Pro as my
daily driver since July 2019. Today, I want to tell you if it’s still worth buying in
2020, or perhaps you should consider a more recent device. Let’s take a look.
The design of the 2015 MacBook Pro in my opinion is still really good looking in 2020. Sure,
it doesn’t look as catchy as a newer ’16-19 model, but I still love it as it doesn’t
look outdated too much.
The metal frame, curvy top lid and rounded edges still give it a reason to make you feel
like you are carrying a device that is high-end and has power for all of your needs – except
gaming. It’s still a Mac after all.
While the design does look dated when compared to a newer, modern MacBook Pro, it still expresses
what Apple is known for, that is high quality and precision.
The hinge is rock solid and shows little to no flex, it’s a high quality metal build
and I doubt you could easily flex it to a level where it would break, without applying
too much force, of course.
As you are already aware, this is the last MacBook to have the keyboard that is actually
loved by the majority of its users. I sure agree, the tactile feel, key travel and overall
typing experience is excellent. The only nitpicky issue I would have to mention is that it’s
fairly loud, if I’m on a lecture typing up a new script for a future video, nearby
people will certainly hear you typing. This is of course not a deal breaker, but
if you are someone who loves a stealth keyboard, this isn’t it, in my opinion.
The 2015 MacBooks are the last devices from Apple to have the small trackpad, and as you
have now seen, the old keyboard layout. While the trackpad might be tiny by today’s standards,
it works as you would expect from a Mac. It has Force Touch, its precise, it’s a pleasure
to work with.
This has got to be my favourite trackpad so far, so much so, that often I even prefer
using it over my Logitech Master 2S mouse, but it’s important to mention that its small
size could certainly be a deal breaker, if you move a lot of files, or do certain tasks.
Just like this is the last MacBook to feature the much beloved last gen keyboard, this also
features the last generation of much beloved and useful ports. It has a 3.5mm headphone
jack, a full-size SD card reader, 2x USB 3.0 ports, a HDMI port and of course, a pair of
now fairly useless Thunderbolt 2 ports.
Sure, I could utilize the Thunderbolt 2 ports to hook up a monitor or connect via an ethernet
cable, but the Wi-Fi performance is plenty fast in my experience. Even when the WIFI
isn’t fast enough, I can just plug in an ethernet adapter that has 3 additional USB
3.0 ports which gets the job done perfectly. The laptop also has Bluetooth 4.0 which is
now rather old, but it hasn’t yet let me down by not being compatible with any of my
devices.
The 15.4” 2880 x 1800 resolution display is colourful and in general, very beautiful,
even by today’s standards. (~220 ppi) The colour accuracy and viewing angles are perfect
and I honestly cannot complain about the display, it’s even better than some 2018-2019 high-end
Windows running laptops which may also only have a full HD panel.
If I have to be nitpicky, I find that the display gets very dirty, very quickly. The
glossy display is beautiful for sure, but every small fingerprints, smudges and dust
can be very easily noticed on it, so it could potentially trigger your OCD and make you
clean it on a daily basis.
The specs of my MacBook Pro are nothing special, in fact, fairly old and the most basic 15”
model for the 2015 version. It has an Intel I7 2.2GHz quad-core 4th gen processor and
16GB of DDR3 memory.
The processor can Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz and I found it more than enough on a daily
basis to get all of my tasks done very easily.
My model has 256GB of PCI-e flash storage that I found to be enough in terms of size,
but that’s only because I keep my important personal data backed up on an external drive.
The speed of the SSD is also very fast, it will boot up, allow you to get things done
very quickly, without any issues. The weight is also an important factor when
carrying around a laptop. It weights roughly 2kg or 4.49 pounds and it’s fairly compact.
I have never found it too heavy while carrying it around, all day long.
The 720p camera is usable, but just like on 99% of the laptops, I can’t recommend using
it for anything other than some quick calls.
The stereo speakers are located below the grille, right next to the keyboard. These
might not be the loudest and or the best speakers, but I definitely enjoy them more than the
one found in my Dell Inspiron 7577. The speaker is more clearer and the fact that it faces
upwards allows you to hear it better, making the overall experience more enjoyable.
The software experience on this 2015 Macbook is still really great and I did not come across
any major issues. I’ve only had a few small bugs here and there, but those were really
quickly fixed once I restarted the device. Now, it’s important to keep in mind that
Apple does not support features such as True Tone on older Macbooks, but from my experience,
it’s not a deal breaking feature.
Siri on the other hand is available and it can be useful at times, however you cannot
automatically trigger it by saying the hotword, instead you always have to use a keyboard
shortcut, or click on its icon to ask something.
As someone who recently started using MacOS as a daily driver, I can already tell you
that the Mac operating system is much more fluid, optimised and far more stable than
Windows – but I’ll dedicate a whole new video regarding my own experiences and transition
over another platform. All in all, the software is up to date and
it works beautifully – I mostly only have complaints about features missing in MacOS
and a few third party apps not working properly. MacBooks are known for performing great under
pressure, although they are also very well known for their throttling issues. From my
experience, this 2015 MacBook Pro was able to accomplish everything I threw at it. I
edited some of my previous reviews on this machine and it was always blazing fast, having
used Final Cut. Of course, I did have a few fps drops while navigating very quickly, however
anywhere outside of editing an actual video, I did not come across any issues whatsoever.
I had more than 40 tabs open in Chrome and 10 in Safari and I have to say, 16GB of RAM
really come in handy during those times as it provided a very fast performance. I had
multiple applications open in the background while doing work, and yet again, I have never
experienced any slow downs and no bugs have ever occurred. I do however have issues with
OneDrive syncing in the background as it usually makes the CPU run at 100%, which of course
makes the fans run fast and loud. Microsoft Word has also caused me some issues, but all
of these are known issues at this point that Microsoft seemingly ignores to fix.
The battery isn’t the best, considering the fact that I expected it to last 6-7 hours
when browsing the web with Safari. I have a fairly new battery inside my MacBook,
however it only seems to last at best 5 hours, when the brightness is set at 50% and the
keyboard’s lights are turned off. When the keyboard’s lights are left on, using Safari
for browsing the web usually gives me 4-4.5 hours of battery life. This isn’t the worst,
but I genuinely expected the battery life to be a little higher than this. I always
made sure to close down unnecessary applications and any running services, yet my results ended
up being the same over and over again.
Of course, at times I edited a few photos here and there and had to prepare a presentation,
as well as take some notes in Word, or code a little – yet, even with all of these,
I would still get anywhere between 4-4.5 hours of battery life. It’s usable, but you’ll
definitely have to carry around a charger to stay juiced up on a normal workday, or
studying.
Speaking of studying, my ageing Acer Chromebook provided me all of these features for a price
of $200 or £150, and it would provide me a battery life of 7-9 hours. If you only need
a laptop for a few very basic things to get done, you should definitely consider a Chromebook
more than a MacBook. Overall, I am very satisfied with the performance
of this 2015 MacBook Pro, and can still highly recommend it to pretty much everyone.
So, conclusion. I believe that this 2015 MacBook Pro would be the most beneficial to new creators,
who are only just getting started or are looking for a fairly cheap, yet very powerful device.
I think it’s also a great choice for both students and those who want a reliable work
machine, as it allows you to use Professional software, yet it also manages a ton of other
things on the side.
However, if you only want to get a few basic tasks done like writing an essay, browsing
the web or watching movies, I would still highly recommend a ChromeBook as it has a
much better battery life, not to mention that it costs a quarter of this MacBook Pro.
So, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed this review of the 15” MacBook Pro 2015.
If you have, don’t forget to leave a like on this video and Subscribe to my channel.
I’m curious, how well does the 2015 MacBook Pro work and perform with the stuff you throw
at it, be sure to share your experience in the comments down below.
All that said, thank you for watching, I’ll see you next time.