Recently, I had to start using my old 2015 15-inch MacBook Pro after letting go of my maxed-out 2024 16-inch MacBook Pro. At first, I wasn’t sure how I would survive such a drastic downgrade.
The first thing I did was make a list of the tools I use daily to figure out what I actually need a computer to handle:
- Brave Browser
- 1Password
- Terminal
- Plaintext Editor
- Note-taking app (currently Standard Notes)
- PHPStorm (rarely)
- Zoom / Teams (rarely)
After reviewing my list, I started loading everything onto the ten-year-old MacBook Pro. I set up my browser profiles, configured my SSH keys and settings using the built-in Terminal, logged into my notes app, tweaked the default text editor to plaintext, increased the font size, and imported my PHPStorm settings.
What I Noticed
The system does heat up and slow down when using PHPStorm, Zoom, or Teams—but after a couple of days of use, I realized something surprising:
- My productivity stayed the same.
- The speed of my workflow didn’t feel significantly different.
This made me realize that over the past decade, my workflow hasn’t changed or grown drastically. Most of the upgrades I’ve made were driven by new hardware coming out, rather than an actual increase in my computing needs.
The Takeaway
Sometimes, we chase the latest hardware, thinking it will transform how we work. Often, it’s not the tools that limit us—it’s how we use them. Downgrading forced me to focus on what truly matters in my workflow, and it turns out I didn’t need nearly as much computing power as I thought.