rMBP i5 2.4gz vs i5 2.6gz

The general consensus is that you'd never notice the difference between two processors that are so similar. If anything you may notice slightly reduced battery life with the faster clock speed, though again it would be very minimal.

As you pointed out, the true difference would be jumping to quad core on the 15". It's a sacrifice of some portability for a lot more power at a higher price. If you're locked in on the 13" your best upgrade is ram - make sure it has at least 8gb and put it up to 16gb if you want to keep the computer for a long time.

I think the sweet spot is the mid-range model - 2.4/8/256.

While true that you might not notice a major difference, it's also worth considering that the Iris GPU clock speeds in the 2.6ghz i5 can clock 100mhz higher than in the 2.4ghz i5.

jonisign said:

While true that you might not notice a major difference, it's also worth considering that the Iris GPU clock speeds in the 2.6ghz i5 can clock 100mhz higher than in the 2.4ghz i5.

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Completely negligible.

Fair!

The Iris is clocked higher on the 2.6, which is a good thing to consider.

I would suggest the 2.6 GHz personally. Since there is no Discrete GPU in the 13" model, all the CPU clock speed boost you can get will benefit you on the CPU and GPU side because they are on the same die. Overall it won't be a HUGE difference but a difference is a difference especially since you cannot upgrade down the road.

Another added advantage which made me spend $ 300 more for the 2.6 model was the added storage: 512 GB SSD instead of 256 GB.

Plus of course the 8% faster processor and video...

This was my sweet spot - but of course personal to everyone.

BuCkDoG said:

I would suggest the 2.6 GHz personally. Since there is no Discrete GPU in the 13" model, all the CPU clock speed boost you can get will benefit you on the CPU and GPU side because they are on the same die. Overall it won't be a HUGE difference but a difference is a difference especially since you cannot upgrade down the road.

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All true points. Spending more money will always result in a better machine. The argument for me, however, comes down to value: I don't think the difference is large enough to warrant the extra $100. I would rather put that money towards doubling the ram.

I really don't think it matters much, i went with the 2.6/8/265 mainly because it was only going to take 1-3 days compared to 3-5 days of the stock 2.4/8/256. Crazy i know

I did also think the slight boost in clock speed may help ever so slightly with my data processing... as i occasionally process large amounts of text data in a program that only supports single core processing.

As for the machine, i'm thrilled. My MBA has been stunning since 2011, the power, retina screen and slim form of the new rMBP is truly remarkable. For not much more than a MBA you get a great screen more power with only a slight tradeoff in palm rest thickness and slightly more weight.

I love them both but the rMBP is now my favourite machine to work on.

IJBrekke said:

All true points. Spending more money will always result in a better machine. The argument for me, however, comes down to value: I don't think the difference is large enough to warrant the extra $100. I would rather put that money towards doubling the ram.

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I agree. I mean its all personal preference on what you ultimately decide with your money