Which 15" MBP?

DannyBres said:

Hi,

iOS dev here with a 13" Air (2011, 4GB, 1.7 i5). The machine struggles with:
- iOS simulators,
- mutliple instances of flash,
- photos a little,
- multitasking (xCode, Safari, Transmit, Photos, Pixelmator, Finder, Sketch),
- iMovie alittle.

Will I benefit from the discrete GFX card in the 'Best' 15MBP option?

BTW, 256GB Storage is fine.

Click to expand...

I would say you need a quad core processor and more RAM far more than you need improved graphics.

DannyBres said:

Thought so, wasn't too sure though!

Click to expand...

Of course the 15 inch is the only mobile quad core apple do, they all come with 16gb of RAM and the IRIS Pro graphics anyway.

To be honest with that work flow I think the thing you'll love most will be increased screen real estate!!!!

I am keen to hear if people with the rMBP rate the Intel Iris Pro graphics. I do lots of development (like the OP) and home lab stuff and whilst I could really do with the 512GB SSD, I am really not interested in paying the Apple tax if the GPU won't benefit me. I hear mixed reports that the non-discrete version runs cooler and generally has more battery life, has this been your experience?

theEconomist said:

I hear mixed reports that the non-discrete version runs cooler and generally has more battery life, has this been your experience?

Click to expand...

I have both the 2.5 and 2.2 15" models. The Iris Pro 2.2 base model does run cooler and have better battery life than the 2.5/512/750m model.

DannyBres said:

Noticeably different battery life?

Click to expand...

Only if the dGPU is activated all the time in the 2.5GHz variant. I've a late-2013 15" 2.6/16/1TB/750M variant (almost identical to the 2.5GHz), and with gfxcardstatus disabling the NVIDIA card, I get about 7.5 hours on average, which is pretty long.

Discrete graphics would be overkill. I'm opting for the base 15" after researching.

DannyBres said:

Noticeably different battery life?

Click to expand...

I can't speak to ultimate battery life, because I don't run them to exhaustion, but after a typical work day (web, Office, Keynote presentations) the base model shows about 50% battery while the 2.5 GHz model shows about 37-40% battery life.

Hope that helps!

I find I prefer the base for what I do - I just wish the upgrade to 512 GB was more reasonably priced.

DannyBres said:

Hi,

iOS dev here with a 13" Air (2011, 4GB, 1.7 i5). The machine struggles with:
- iOS simulators,
- mutliple instances of flash,
- photos a little,
- multitasking (xCode, Safari, Transmit, Photos, Pixelmator, Finder, Sketch),
- iMovie alittle.

Will I benefit from the discrete GFX card in the 'Best' 15MBP option?

BTW, 256GB Storage is fine.

Click to expand...

Well, as a fellow developer, the only advantage I can see on the discrete GPU for you is the support of 5K external monitor (5120x2880 at 60Hz), as it only works with the radeon model. It should be nice to have all that screen space. Running the 6+ on the simulator with small screens is a pain

But.. Do we even have monitors like that on the market? Probably Apple will release on WWDC..

puelocesar said:

Well, as a fellow developer, the only advantage I can see on the discrete GPU for you is the support of 5K external monitor (5120x2880 at 60Hz), as it only works with the radeon model. It should be nice to have all that screen space. Running the 6+ on the simulator with small screens is a pain

But.. Do we even have monitors like that on the market? Probably Apple will release on WWDC..

Click to expand...

Dell does have a 5120x2880 display on the market, but they're about as expensive as the retina iMac itself, and it uses a two cable solution.