I knew I was in need of a laptop soon, but my need is very sudden as of yesterday. I'm trying to decide between the models listed in the title, And with specs listed here: http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/macbook-pro. In both cases, I would get the baseline models. For the 15", Id wait for a refurbished 2014 to pop up. Im on a tight budget, since I'm using this computer for making art and writing lesson plans, both of which don't pay very well. My decision hinges on whether the extra $500-600 is worth it for my needs.
My needs:
I make illustrations on photoshop, with data heavy layers for textures, etc. I use an external display, so more screen size would be nice, but not essential. (This is where I notice a big slowdown with my current hp laptop, which runs on only an integrated gpu from 2010 and 4 gb ram and now overheats after five minutes.) Id also like to run some games, specifically those I purchased but was unable to run on my hp (bioshock infinite, arkham city, starcraft 2) and some light weight indie games (ftl, minecraft)
Reviews on the new 13.3" MBP model are in, but I tend not to understand benchmarks without a firm anecdote attached. I'm wondering if this can meet my needs for now, and for years to come. I especially worry about that iris gpu, which I've heard has improved this generation, but still causes the system to sputter from time to time.
With the 15", im getting a bigger ssd and twice the ram, a better gpu, and I imagine last year's quadcore haswell can still overpower this year's broadwell. However, it's a lot bigger and heavier, and obviously much more expensive. If that's what it takes to get the job done, I could shell out the extra cash for it. There are others in the refurbished store that are cheaper, but are also more than two years old at this point.
Unfortunately, I need my computer for work and can't afford to wait for broadwell to show up in the 15".
My needs:
I make illustrations on photoshop, with data heavy layers for textures, etc. I use an external display, so more screen size would be nice, but not essential. (This is where I notice a big slowdown with my current hp laptop, which runs on only an integrated gpu from 2010 and 4 gb ram and now overheats after five minutes.) Id also like to run some games, specifically those I purchased but was unable to run on my hp (bioshock infinite, arkham city, starcraft 2) and some light weight indie games (ftl, minecraft)
Reviews on the new 13.3" MBP model are in, but I tend not to understand benchmarks without a firm anecdote attached. I'm wondering if this can meet my needs for now, and for years to come. I especially worry about that iris gpu, which I've heard has improved this generation, but still causes the system to sputter from time to time.
With the 15", im getting a bigger ssd and twice the ram, a better gpu, and I imagine last year's quadcore haswell can still overpower this year's broadwell. However, it's a lot bigger and heavier, and obviously much more expensive. If that's what it takes to get the job done, I could shell out the extra cash for it. There are others in the refurbished store that are cheaper, but are also more than two years old at this point.
Unfortunately, I need my computer for work and can't afford to wait for broadwell to show up in the 15".
