[Video] 13" Retina VS 15" Retina - Speed Test

[The Samurai]

So here it is, enjoy

[Laco]

I enjoyed watching your video. I was pleasantly surprised that the 13inch was faster than I expected.

[Orlandoech]

Cool video, thanks!

[entatlrg]

Thanks Samurai, as always great video!

Are you keeping your 13" rMBP and using as your main machine?

If not, what notebook did you decide on? If I call correctly at one point you where undecided between the 15" rMBP one of the Air's?

[Seiko4169]

thanks for the video, the 15 isn't even breaking a sweat. 13 is nice but will feel like a compromise the harder you push it.

[The Samurai]

Originally Posted by entatlrg

Thanks Samurai, as always great video!

Are you keeping your 13" rMBP and using as your main machine?

If not, what notebook did you decide on? If I call correctly at one point you where undecided between the 15" rMBP one of the Air's?

Thanks everyone

I'd love to keep the 13" - but heres why im not keeping it:

- I need 256gb storage
- Going by the above, I would need to get the high end 13" Retina
- I'd rather spend the extra £100 and get a 15" which has a quad core processor, dedicated GPU, better audio and bigger screen.

I say I would love to keep the 13" purely due to the weight - no doubt we'll be seeing retinas making their way to Airs next year / prices of 13" Retinas coming down... I may pick one up then but I seriously can't justify the price VS spec here in the UK.

I think to sum it up - The Verge had a good anaology in their review of the 13" Retina whereby they compared the 13" Retina with the 1st Gen Macbook Airs... low spec, high price, mixed feelings

[M5RahuL]

Nice video... oooof !!!

[Maczor]

The 13" is clearly slower when it comes to raw power... as the AE test clearly showed ( no surprise there ). Other than that, there's really no significant difference. If someone does video encoding all day or plays games, the 13"-er is clearly not the right pick, but otherwise, it's a really nice machine.

[Km133]

Nice one!

Good to see a Scottish presence on here! (Im in Edinburgh myself).

My 13" rMBP arrived last Thursday and I couldn't be happier. I can't see I'll be doing anything heavier than Photoshop with it, so pleased that it performs almost on a par with the 15". Whilst the baseline 15" would have made better financial sense, portability was ultimately key in my decision!

[entatlrg]

Originally Posted by The Samurai

Thanks everyone

I'd love to keep the 13" - but heres why im not keeping it:

- I need 256gb storage
- Going by the above, I would need to get the high end 13" Retina
- I'd rather spend the extra £100 and get a 15" which has a quad core processor, dedicated GPU, better audio and bigger screen.

I say I would love to keep the 13" purely due to the weight - no doubt we'll be seeing retinas making their way to Airs next year / prices of 13" Retinas coming down... I may pick one up then but I seriously can't justify the price VS spec here in the UK.

I think to sum it up - The Verge had a good anaology in their review of the 13" Retina whereby they compared the 13" Retina with the 1st Gen Macbook Airs... low spec, high price, mixed feelings

That's the conclusion I'm coming to also. They did a better job on the 15" rMBP.

Do you think you'll go with the larger foot print and heavier 15" or use the Air, I think you had a 2012 i5 13" Air on one of your video's, it performed pretty good.

That's what I'm going to do, coming from a 2011 Air the 8 gb ram improvement will be nice, but still I wish the 13" had of wow'd me more, was expecting too much I guess.

[The Samurai]

Originally Posted by entatlrg

That's the conclusion I'm coming to also. They did a better job on the 15" rMBP.

Do you think you'll go with the larger foot print and heavier 15" or use the Air, I think you had a 2012 i5 13" Air on one of your video's, it performed pretty good.

That's what I'm going to do, coming from a 2011 Air the 8 gb ram improvement will be nice, but still I wish the 13" had of wow'd me more, was expecting too much I guess.

My ideal machine would be a Retina Screen, Quad Core processor, 8GB ram min and 256gb flash min, beastly audio like the 15 Retina has... all packed into a 13" Air lol. I don't mind if it runs Intel HD 4000 (could give them a break on this angle) but this machine would be a dream.

[0x000000]

Not sure what I was expecting... Photoshop (for me) isnt so much about applying filters but pushing pixels; and unless the retina screen sucks so much performance that it can't keep up with photoshop, the greatest boost in performance comes from whether you have an SSD or not.

It'll be fine.

----------

Originally Posted by The Samurai

I think to sum it up - The Verge had a good anaology in their review of the 13" Retina whereby they compared the 13" Retina with the 1st Gen Macbook Airs... low spec, high price, mixed feelings

The 2008s air had seveeere cuts in everything... performance, disk space and it was riddled with bad hardware like breaking hinges etc. It had the worst Mac performance you could get at that time, for a steep price.

The 13" Retina is also expensive, but that's about all there is to it. It's on par with the other 13"ers, be it performance or whatever.

[GarrFar]

I'm glad to see that the 15" was slightly faster in the photoshop actions!

[Maczor]

Originally Posted by GarrFar

I'm glad to see that the 15" was slightly faster in the photoshop actions!

Or maybe his right hand was slightly faster than the left when clicking.

[SDAVE]

Adoob Phootooshoop

I love the Scottish accent.

[The Samurai]

Originally Posted by Maczor

Or maybe his right hand was slightly faster than the left when clicking.

Originally Posted by SDAVE

Adoob Phootooshoop

[SDAVE]

Originally Posted by The Samurai

[AlvinNguyen]

Originally Posted by SDAVE

[The Samurai]

Full review below:

[Maczor]

Just to note: An equally equipped 13" MBA is £1,079.00 ( don't forget about the 8GB Ram... also, comparing the 11" MBA to the 13" rMBP is silly... want a "fair" comparison? Then compare the 13" MBA to the 13" rMBP please ). Sure, the difference is still £370 from the base 13" rMBP, but then again, for people who want an IPS panel, a HDMI port ( quite handy for presentations / connecting to projects and HDTVs ), an additional TB port and a non-ULV CPU ( yes, I am aware that the difference between the two CPUs is not HUGE, but the non-ULV CPU still has a slight edge ), then well, it might just be worth the money. If by any chance you want to say: "yeah, but you can use adapters with the MBA", then do please first add the cost of those adapters to the final price of the MBA as well ( I don't even want to go into: "how badly certain people hate carrying a crap-load of wires / adapters with them wherever they go" - that's for a different discussion ).

Sure, many people were expecting the 13" rMBP to blow the MBA out of the water so they can run around shouting: "What?! MBA?! Get the 13" rMBP cause it's 10x faster and cooler!" Well, it doesn't clearly blow the MBA out of the water, but it is still a valid option for users who need the stuff I have mentioned above ( and who are planning to stare at a small screen on a daily basis for quite a while... I've had a 13" MBA before but sent it back because I just simply couldn't get used to the screen and resolution... my eyes were constantly tired and my head was about to explode after a week of usage - I'm a software engineer so I stare a freaking lot at text every day... around 12-14 hours each and every day ( most likely quite a lot more than fellow colleagues, but that's not the point ) ).

Traveling-wise, there's no HUGE difference between the 13" MBA and the 13" rMBP ( anyone stating differently is just exaggerating and being silly )... But well, I don't really think it's worth going too deep into such comparisons... we'd just end up in an endless debate, trying to convince each other of our subjective truth. Fact: both are small enough to fit easily into small bags and light enough to be carried around without having to service your arm on a weekly / monthly basis.

Thanks for sharing your experience ( and the tad bit dirty keyboard ). Although I don't really agree with your conclusions, it's definitely nice to hear what other people have to say about things as well.