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Opinion on older vs newer rMBP

N

Neykon

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 11, 2009
52
6
Hi, people of MacRumors

I need a buying opinion from you guys.

In a month, I'll begin studying software sciences, and I need a rigthteous replacement of my late-2007 MBP 15" (high end model, back in the days).

I am really happy for the 15" screen size for a lots of reasons, still, I can't justify paying about 2700 dollars for the newest rMBP, so I naturally thought of downgrading screen-wise. Until I saw some pretty good offers on the previous rMBP 15" model with half the RAM (8GB - fair amount?) and lesser processor (i7 2.0 instead of 2.2).

So now, I am confused between whether I should grab a newer, 13" model - or the just outdated 15" to get the screen size I love.

Any opinions on this matter would be greatly appreciated,

N

EDIT:

To clarify which models I am directly comparing, I'm quickly gonna list the two underneath.

The new, 13" rMBP:
2.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
8GB 1600MHz memory
256GB PCIe-based flash storage
Intel Iris Graphics
Built-in battery (9 hours)

The older, 15" rMBP:
Intel Quad Core i7 processor (2.0 GHz)
256GB PCIe-based flash storage
8GB 1600MHz memory
Intel Iris Graphics
Built-in battery (9 hours)
 
Last edited:
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,481
43,406
Neykon said:
I am really happy for the 15" screen size for a lots of reasons, still, I can't justify paying about 2700 dollars for the newest rMBP,
Click to expand...


Why not get the base 15"?
You get 16Gb off ram, 256GB SSD, Iris Pro GPU. I'd go with that over the new 13" rMBP, especially since you like the 15" form factor.

rMBP2.2GHz.png


The education pricing will bring this down further as well.
 
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,481
43,406
anthorumor said:
rMBP 13' can give you lots of screen real-estate if you move the slider towards 'more space'.

Image
Click to expand...

At the expense of size, the screen is small enough as it is, and it may be unreadable for the OP. I'm not knocking the suggestion but just pointing out that works for some, but not everyone :)
 
N

Neykon

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 11, 2009
52
6
Thanks for your input, guys! Appreciated!

The reason I compare the older to begin with, is that Apple products in general are a tad expensive, but even more so in Denmark. The new, 15" rMBP is for instance $2700 WITH student discount whereas you can grab it for $1999 before discount in the US (and other locations).

I could step up my game and go for the new, base 15", but right now I'm not sure it's worth it compared to the prior generation. Any thoughts on that? The processor is a bit quicker and it got twice the RAM.
 
SarcasticJoe

SarcasticJoe

macrumors 6502a
Nov 5, 2013
607
221
Finland
If you can grab a late 2013 machine with a good discount I can't see why you shouldn't go for it. The only differences are that the CPU got bumped by 200MHz and they upped the standard RAM to 16GB.

One thing you should always know when comparing European to U.S prices is that due to how wildly sales tax varies within the U.S (it literally goes from nothing to over 20%) they don't include tax in listed prices. So for comparison you should remove tax from European prices, which usually brings those prices pretty close to the U.S ones.
 
N

Neykon

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 11, 2009
52
6
Thank for the reply, Joe. Hope it wasn't meant too sarcastic.

I guess you could upgrade the RAM yourself (if needed at all) - and really, what is 200 MHz in the year of 2014? I mean, we got self-driving cars and stuff.
 
N

Neykon

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 11, 2009
52
6
Ouch, thanks for making that clear. Completely unaware they removed that option.
 
capathy21

capathy21

macrumors 65816
Jun 16, 2014
1,418
617
Houston, Texas
Neykon said:
Ouch, thanks for making that clear. Completely unaware they removed that option.
Click to expand...

Everything is pretty much locked down tight on the newer MB's. That being said, if I were you, I would go with the refurbished 2013 15 inch. 8GB paired with flash storage is more than enough for most any tasks for some time to come.
 
Meister

Meister

Suspended
Oct 10, 2013
5,456
4,310
If you can get a very good offer on the 2013 15" base go for it!
:apple: used to sell that model for about 1800,- here but at retailers it now goes for 1400,-
thats less than the same specs on the 13" used to be.
 
N

Neykon

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 11, 2009
52
6
Sounds cool, Meister.

Since you seem like a guy in the knowing what comes to prices, would you say $2,160 for an older rMBP 15" is a good price - compare that to the new $2,520?

It's essentially a tad faster processor and 16GB of RAM you are paying for.
 
Last edited:
Meister

Meister

Suspended
Oct 10, 2013
5,456
4,310
Neykon said:
Sounds cool, Meister.

Since you seem like a guy in the knowing what comes to prices, would you say $2,160 for an older rMBP 15" is a good price - compare that to the new $2,520?

It's essentially a tad faster processor and 16GB of RAM you are paying for.
Click to expand...
I am in Germany. Those were german prices.

BUT: I noticed prices are the same they just exchange the $ for a €.
Best Buy prices correlate with similar store prices here.

If your prices quoted above are for the 15" with dgpu then I would say those are good prices.

There really is no difference between those 2013 and 2014 models.

The only relevant difference between the 15" base is double the ram.
I think everyone will try to get a hold of the new 15" with the 16gigs. 15" will be a steal then.
 
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G

Giev

macrumors member
Aug 20, 2013
94
7
I am not how much development your work involves and what you plan to do, but if use VMs you will regret not getting the 16GB of RAM. You can add secondary storage (USB, TB, etc) but not RAM.

I am bout to get a new rMBP, and I am going for the base 15 model. That is of course assuming taht you can live with 256 GB SSD.
 
T

taelan28

macrumors regular
Jan 15, 2014
130
6
I have the 13 inch and I can say that this retina screen makes it feel like a 15 inch. I've used standard res 15 inch windows machines and they dont feel very big. This 13 inch screen may feel big because I came from a 11inch machine, but without a doubt he retina resolution makes it feel bigger than it is.
 
N

Neykon

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 11, 2009
52
6
I'll end the thread and thank you for all of your opinions.

I ended up with buying a new, older generation 15" rMBP (i7 2.0, 8GB) and a warranty, that gives me the freedom to pour boiling hot latté into the machinery or drop it from a cliff at any given time within 3 years for a total of $2600 all included.

I am satisfied beyond words.
 
N

nostresshere

macrumors 68030
Dec 30, 2010
2,708
308
anthorumor said:
rMBP 13' can give you lots of screen real-estate if you move the slider towards 'more space'.

Image
Click to expand...

Okay. I moved my glass of beer from one side of my 13" MBP out of the way. Moved the popcorn bag from the other side. Now I have more room on my desk.

Then, I moved the slider like it says, but my screen did not get bigger. I am under Applecare still. Should I take my MBP into Apple to see what's up? Or is this the "screengate" everyone is talking about?
 
Y

yjchua95

macrumors 604
Apr 23, 2011
6,725
233
GVA, KUL, MEL (current), ZQN
nostresshere said:
Okay. I moved my glass of beer from one side of my 13" MBP out of the way. Moved the popcorn bag from the other side. Now I have more room on my desk.

Then, I moved the slider like it says, but my screen did not get bigger. I am under Applecare still. Should I take my MBP into Apple to see what's up? Or is this the "screengate" everyone is talking about?
Click to expand...

I tip my hat off to you, sir, you just made my day :D
 
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