Why I'm not buying the newest and most powerful MacBook Pro anymore

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Why I'm not buying the newest and most powerful MacBook Pro anymore

Earlier this year, I faced a conundrum where my old 2012 MacBook Pro was still so good that I found it hard to justify buying a newer model.

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Indeed, I bought the most powerful 15-inch MacBook Pro in 2012 because I knew its Core i7 processor would keep up for several more years than a MacBook Pro with a less powerful Core i5 processor.

The concept is called "future-proofing." Basically, I buy a device that's way more powerful than necessary for my current needs in anticipation for the future when operating systems and apps will require more horsepower. 

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2012 macbook pro

Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider

My trusty 2012 MacBook Pro won't let me upgrade because it's still too powerful.

And this machine is truly a monster, especially after I replaced its slow old hard drive with an incredibly fast SSD drive and upgraded its RAM from 4GB to 16GB. My plan worked. My five-year-old laptop still ran incredibly well, even by today's standards, and I had no need to spend a couple thousand dollars on a new laptop. In fact, I could probably squeeze out another couple years out my trusty old 2012 MacBook Pro.

"What could possibly be the problem," you might ask. Well, future proofing has one big drawback. 

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You see, I didn't really want my five-year-old MacBook Pro anymore; not when I saw all the cool new and improved features on newer models.

In the end, I finally did upgrade, but I didn't go for the newest, most powerful model. 

Here's why I upgraded and which model I bought: