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Admin MacBook Pro

  • June 5, 2018
  • 4 replies
  • 20 views
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A bit off topic here, but my boss has agreed to replace my 2011 MacBook Pro and my old desktop Mac with a single MacBook as beefy as I choose with a good docking station of my choice.

A great problem to have for sure...three catches:

  1. has to last 5 years
  2. I’ll obviously need it to run the latest macOS versions for a few years
  3. I don’t like the current MacBook Pro with touchbar as the “butterfly” keyboard is weird to type on and ideally I’d like more than 16 gb of ram.

Implied: I do heavy graphics and video work as well as managing our district’s Mac/iPad fleet. Given Apple’s ultrabook strategy, I probably won’t be able to do hardware updates later. Right now, I have a late 2011 model that is still somewhat zippy today running High Sierra on an SSD and 16 GB RAM. I want my new machine to be wicked speedy now but still reasonably useful in early 2023. My current model will likely NOT run Mojave.

Again a great problem to have and I’m not bragging, but it’s serious as I want to have my new machine online and ready to build toward Mojave when it ships. I’d love to hear “credible” rumors about when other admins expect a revision or whatnot or advice on what others might do in this situation.

Good battle tested docking station thoughts welcome too.

    4 replies

    C
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    • CapU
    • Honored Contributor
    • June 5, 2018

    My previous lappy was handed down and was almost 5 years old.
    After replacing my 4 year old 27" iMac, they then got me:

    It has the touch bar but I dont mind. I dont do any video work but I do have several VM's installed to do
    package testing. It's sweet

    M
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    • millersc
    • New Contributor
    • June 5, 2018

    I run a 2015 27" iMac on the desk (always on and UPS protected) and a 2011 13" MBA for on the run. I can always remote into the desktop if I'm on the run for something, but not vise versa. My MBA does have an upgraded SSD to help with everything that is stored in the OneDrive world and sync'd. Should the MBA die, grab a new one, image and log in. All docs will sync up with time.

    I also remote into my Win10 running on 2011 13" MBA also for those trivial PC only tasks. But could carry it with the other and only have to carry one set of cables/brick, etc.

    All my VM's are on a server in the racks, so can reach them from anywhere.

    T
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    I'd see if you can hold off a bit and see if Apple releases any new hardware AFTER WWDC. A little surprised that nothing was mentioned at the keynote, but I wouldn't be surprised if some silent updates pop up in the next week or two, and rumors of 32gb RAM are one of the more consistent ones.

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    • blackholemac
    • Author
    • Valued Contributor
    • June 5, 2018

    @CapU seems like you have the best one out there in terms of what Apple is shipping now. Problem in my case is I’m somewhat vicious in my typing style and I don’t want to stare down the barrel of a top case replacement one day out of warranty. In terms of VMware suggestions I use VMs now quite liberally but I don’t control the VMware cluster in our district. I hate asking every time I want to spin one up. I also have to contend with the letter of Apple’s EULA in that I can only install macOS on Apple-labeled hardware. I guess if something new does not come out before the general release of the next macOS, I’m going to have to use a MacBook Air in the staff fleet, until something does come out. I just hope they replace that keyboard though as it doesn’t look very sturdy. I hope the mythical 32 GB ram MacBook Pro comes soon. I would live with the keyboard if it did

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