So interested in thoughts really
2014 Mid MBP 2.5Ghz i&, 16Gb, 512SSD, all in excellent working order
Battery states service = replace, which makes sense as last short periods only on battery.
MBP will trade in for £366 with apple, maybe more bay etc
Battery replacement costs £199
So that’s either £565 towards a new laptop
Also can get 10% discount on new machine
So replace battery and hope nothing else fails or replace
Interested in what others would or have done
Trade-in would get you almost half way to a new MacBook Air, a really nice machine that would be under full warranty (I recommend AppleCare+ too). But more realistically, even the low-end MBA, with 16Gb RAM, upgraded SSD and AppleCare+, would run you £1800. (Minus 10%? They don’t have that in the USA!)
If everything works well enough for you it might not be worth the considerable extra expense for a new Mac…
£200 (~$250 equivalent)! When I had my 2014 battery replaced in the US it was something like $100. Wow.
Anyway, I would wait a bit on the battery replacement until after the 2019 hardware is released. There’s no need to rush to replace even though it says replace unless you are feeling the effects of it, and it sounds like you aren’t. I lean towards keeping the laptop as long as it’s working well unless you really like the 2018 (or 2019) models.
If the situation isn’t too desperate, I’d wait till the next refresh and buy new.
It sounds like the current keyboard is much more reliable, but I’ve been bitten by the keyboard defect and it sucks. I’d hope the next iteration will be almost bullet-proof.
Last year my 2012 Retina MacBook Pro had battery issues to the point where it would randomly shut down under load. I decided to go ahead and get the battery replaced. In part, this was because because I wasn’t enamored with the Mac laptop options available at the time. And in part it was because I was doing most of my mobile work on my iPad Pro and wasn’t eager to pay $2000 for a new laptop that I’d only use a very small portion of the time (I’ve got an iMac and Mac mini, so I only used the laptop when I was on the road and couldn’t get by with the iPad).
With the MacBook Air and the 2018 MacBook Pros, Apple’s laptop lineup is looking better than it was in early 2018, so going for a replacement is more tempting. The other part of the equation is your own circumstances. Is this your primary machine or one that you use a lot? Or is it a purely secondary (or tertiary) machine? The more you use it, the more you’ll get out of a new laptop rather than extending the life of your old one.
I would spend the money on a new battery rather than a new MBP, unless you had plans to purchase a new computer in the next 90 days. The battery is the one consumable part on every notebook that everyone should expect to have to replace. At 4-5 years old, yours falls into the expected timeline of usefulness.
That battery replacement cost sounds way too high. A kit from iFixit that includes tools and battery is only $80. Installation is a bit difficult due to the battery being glued in and the additional components that have to be removed. Far easier on my 2011.
Decided on the new MBP - great laptop and have to say keyboard is fine, different but absolutely fine.
Decided to also get new batteries for old laptop and sell it - which has worked out well in terms of resale.