$1299 vs $1799 2020 MacBook Pro 13" - Full Comparison!

[AppleMan2015]

Have to admit, I am very impressed with the 13 inch. It's size makes it much more portable and even though it is a bit heavier than I would like (I LOVE the lightweight-ness of the air) it's significantly lighter than the 15 inch.

The machine is fast. Honestly, I think it handles everyday tasks so much easier than my 15 inch. It's much more snappier and crisp.

I've had this 13 inch on for the last 2 hours, connected to a remote desktop, music playing and browsing the web on both the remote desktop and chrome on this mac. The machine is warm, but not too hot. I haven't heard the fan at all. The machine hasn't struggled at all with anything and I feel like the remote desktop is faster than it was on my 15 inch, even though it probably doesn't make too much of a difference.

Very pleased. And this is the base 13 inch model. I can't imagine how fast the maxed out 13 inches or 16 inches are.

Edit: A cool little tid-bit... I have a vizio wireless subwoofer w/ surround sound wireless speakers. With my 15 inch, the connection to the speakers never was sustained past 1 minute. I swear, something was wrong with the Bluetooth. I can connect my phone and iPad, no problem. Laptop couldn't handle it. I don't know the exact make/model of the speakers, but they can't be more than 5 years old.

I just connected the 13 inch to the speakers and am listening to them now- almost a full 20 minutes into it! I know it's not much, and obviously, I didn't exactly factor this into a major reason why I wanted an upgrade, but it's a nice cherry on top, if you will.

 

[unoporfavor]

Have to admit, I am very impressed with the 13 inch. It's size makes it much more portable and even though it is a bit heavier than I would like (I LOVE the lightweight-ness of the air) it's significantly lighter than the 15 inch.

The machine is fast. Honestly, I think it handles everyday tasks so much easier than my 15 inch. It's much more snappier and crisp.

I've had this 13 inch on for the last 2 hours, connected to a remote desktop, music playing and browsing the web on both the remote desktop and chrome on this mac. The machine is warm, but not too hot. I haven't heard the fan at all. The machine hasn't struggled at all with anything and I feel like the remote desktop is faster than it was on my 15 inch, even though it probably doesn't make too much of a difference.

Very pleased. And this is the base 13 inch model. I can't imagine how fast the maxed out 13 inches or 16 inches are.

Edit: A cool little tid-bit... I have a vizio wireless subwoofer w/ surround sound wireless speakers. With my 15 inch, the connection to the speakers never was sustained past 1 minute. I swear, something was wrong with the Bluetooth. I can connect my phone and iPad, no problem. Laptop couldn't handle it. I don't know the exact make/model of the speakers, but they can't be more than 5 years old.

I just connected the 13 inch to the speakers and am listening to them now- almost a full 20 minutes into it! I know it's not much, and obviously, I didn't exactly factor this into a major reason why I wanted an upgrade, but it's a nice cherry on top, if you will.

Thanks for your experience so far! Very useful to know about the fan and being silent. Big requirement of mine!
Can I ask why you went with the 8th Gen processors? Not asking to justify yourself or to flame you - I'm having trouble seriously justifying the increase in price to the 10th Gen. Even maxed out 8th gen with same RAM and storage specs the extra expense is hard to rationale... I'm looking at base spec with possible 16GB memory increase.
Thanks!
👍

 

[rosyapple]

Can I ask why you went with the 8th Gen processors? Not asking to justify yourself or to flame you - I'm having trouble seriously justifying the increase in price to the 10th Gen. Even maxed out 8th gen with same RAM and storage specs the extra expense is hard to rationale... I'm looking at base spec with possible 16GB memory increase.
Thanks!
👍

If you just want to upgrade the RAM and don't need the extra Thunderbolt ports, then 8th gen is likely the better choice for you.

Most people who prefer 10th gen likely already know what they will use it for. It also depends on your financial situation i.e. in Europe, the price of a MacBook Pro is about 300-400 USD difference than the same model in the US. If you are a student though, student discount will cover the difference.

In any case, 8th gen is a good model anyway.

 

[unoporfavor]

If you just want to upgrade the RAM and don't need the extra Thunderbolt ports, then 8th gen is likely the better choice for you.

Most people who prefer 10th gen likely already know what they will use it for. It also depends on your financial situation i.e. in Europe, the price of a MacBook Pro is about 300-400 USD difference than the same model in the US. If you are a student though, student discount will cover the difference.

In any case, 8th gen is a good model anyway.

Good comment - and yes I won't need the 10th gen for video/graphic intense workloads, it's more should I get for the slight horsepower increase. The price is a bit less between the 8th and 10th gen with equivilent specs here (around USD$260), but it still seems unnecessary. If you don't need the storage it's even bigger gap! Cheers

 

[rosyapple]

Good comment - and yes I won't need the 10th gen for video/graphic intense workloads, it's more should I get for the slight horsepower increase. The price is a bit less between the 8th and 10th gen with equivilent specs here (around USD$260), but it still seems unnecessary. If you don't need the storage it's even bigger gap! Cheers

Yes, you just have to decide the best model for you based on your own (predicted) use. I bought i5 10th/16GB/1TB because I needed the extra RAM and space. Counting other factors such as this would be my main computer (I don't have another computer/iMac at my current place), student discount which covered some of the difference, the length of time I would be keeping it (at least 3 years), the types of jobs I would be doing on it as my main computer (coding, school work etc), the accessories I would be attaching to it, I could justify my decision to purchase the high end model.

 

[unoporfavor]

Yes, you just have to decide the best model for you based on your own (predicted) use. I bought i5 10th/16GB/1TB because I needed the extra RAM and space. Counting other factors such as this would be my main computer (I don't have another computer/iMac at my current place), student discount which covered some of the difference, the length of time I would be keeping it (at least 3 years), the types of jobs I would be doing on it as my main computer (coding, school work etc), the accessories I would be attaching to it, I could justify my decision to purchase the high end model.

Sounds like you made the right choice for your requirements and are happy with the decisions - good stuff! 🤝
I've never really understood the 'student discount' comment as it's valid across the range so the price difference still exists, just a lower price point. Purchasing the lower-end 8th model actually gives you a larger student discount - 8% - as opposed to the newer 10th Gen which only gives you 5.5%.
🤷‍♂️

 

[rosyapple]

Sounds like you made the right choice for your requirements and are happy with the decisions - good stuff! 🤝
I've never really understood the 'student discount' comment as it's valid across the range so the price difference still exists, just a lower price point. Purchasing the lower-end 8th model actually gives you a larger student discount - 8% - as opposed to the newer 10th Gen which only gives you 5.5%.
🤷‍♂️

I look at the student discount difference more as the difference between purchasing with and without student discount. In Europe the student discount is around 10% but our VAT ranges between 15 to 23%. The price of i5 10/16GB/1TB with student discount is more or less the same price as i5 8/16GB/1TB without student discount.

Of course we also have other options such as purchasing from Amazon (i.e. UK) which currently has 96 uk pounds off for their i5 10/16/512GB which when converted to Euros, works out to about the same price as when you purchase the same spec in my country from Apple online store with student discount (Apple online stores are local and the prices sometimes differ by 50-100 euros in different Europe countries, the only common point where almost all Europeans can purchase certain products at around the same price is Amazon).

 

[KPOM]

Good comment - and yes I won't need the 10th gen for video/graphic intense workloads, it's more should I get for the slight horsepower increase. The price is a bit less between the 8th and 10th gen with equivilent specs here (around USD$260), but it still seems unnecessary. If you don't need the storage it's even bigger gap! Cheers

The 8th gen CPU is still very quick. If you know you won’t need to connect to a 6K display (and about 99.9% of us won’t), or need the higher speed GPU (e.g. you don’t do video editing), and don’t need the other perks of the higher end model (more ports, better speakers), then by all means get the 8th gen version. I think too many tech writers lose sight of the fact that real world usage doesn’t correspond well with benchmarks.

 

[unoporfavor]

I look at the student discount difference more as the difference between purchasing with and without student discount. In Europe the student discount is around 10% but our VAT ranges between 15 to 23%. The price of i5 10/16GB/1TB with student discount is more or less the same price as i5 8/16GB/1TB without student discount.

Of course we also have other options such as purchasing from Amazon (i.e. UK) which currently has 96 uk pounds off for their i5 10/16/512GB which when converted to Euros, works out to about the same price as when you purchase the same spec in my country from Apple online store with student discount (Apple online stores are local and the prices sometimes differ by 50-100 euros in different Europe countries, the only common point where almost all Europeans can purchase certain products at around the same price is Amazon).

Totally get it with pricing and the very high VAT (Spain is even worse!) - I lived in UK and Europe for over 8 years.
If you compare your like-for-like laptop specs - the 10th Gen is still £180 more. That's all I'm saying. Obviously it meets your needs, but you still pay more even if you get a discount. Hope that makes sense ✌
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The 8th gen CPU is still very quick. If you know you won’t need to connect to a 6K display (and about 99.9% of us won’t), or need the higher speed GPU (e.g. you don’t do video editing), and don’t need the other perks of the higher end model (more ports, better speakers), then by all means get the 8th gen version. I think too many tech writers lose sight of the fact that real world usage doesn’t correspond well with benchmarks.

Thanks for your insight - you make a good point. Sorry if this has been asked elsewhere - can the 8th gen support 4k and 5k monitors?
Benchmarks are all a bit silly - but I guess with all the processors generations and clock cycles and TDP, it's a way (even if flawed) to somehow measure performance. Totally agree with you though on it not replicating in any way real-life usage!
cheers

 

[KPOM]

Totally get it with pricing and the very high VAT (Spain is even worse!) - I lived in UK and Europe for over 8 years.
If you compare your like-for-like laptop specs - the 10th Gen is still £180 more. That's all I'm saying. Obviously it meets your needs, but you still pay more even if you get a discount. Hope that makes sense ✌
[automerge]1589853466[/automerge]

Thanks for your insight - you make a good point. Sorry if this has been asked elsewhere - can the 8th gen support 4k and 5k monitors?
Benchmarks are all a bit silly - but I guess with all the processors generations and clock cycles and TDP, it's a way (even if flawed) to somehow measure performance. Totally agree with you though on it not replicating in any way real-life usage!
cheers

Yes, the 8th gen chips support 4K and 5K monitors. Just not 6K.

 

[rosyapple]

The 8th gen CPU is still very quick. If you know you won’t need to connect to a 6K display (and about 99.9% of us won’t), or need the higher speed GPU (e.g. you don’t do video editing), and don’t need the other perks of the higher end model (more ports, better speakers), then by all means get the 8th gen version. I think too many tech writers lose sight of the fact that real world usage doesn’t correspond well with benchmarks.

I agree. I think YouTube reviewers are biased towards 10th gen because they really need all the power anyway i.e. video editing. We need more YouTube videos of how 8th gen perform for people with normal usage, maybe even without comparison, because of course if you compare with 10th gen, it would win because of all the extra features.

If you compare your like-for-like laptop specs - the 10th Gen is still £180 more.

Yes, I totally agree. Since it's my main computer though, I'd figured I'd justify the extra costs spread over at least the next 3 years and I get all the nice extras.

 

[unoporfavor]

Yes, the 8th gen chips support 4K and 5K monitors. Just not 6K.

Thanks for that - brilliant.
I don't think I'll be shelling out for 6k monitors anytime soon anyway!
You have the 10th gen right - how have you found the external display as far as lag and responsiveness?

 

[KPOM]

I agree. I think YouTube reviewers are biased towards 10th gen because they really need all the power anyway i.e. video editing. We need more stories of how 8th gen perform for people with normal usage.


Yes, I totally agree. Since it's my main computer though, I'd figured I'd justify the extra costs over at least the next 3 years and I get all the nice extras.

This YouTube reviewer gave his opinion that the $1299 model is a better deal than the $1799 model.

He also dispelled the notion that the MacBook Air “overheats,” so although he does express exasperation at some of Apple’s design choices, he doesn’t seem instinctively anti-Apple.

We purchased the base 2019 13” MBP (boosted to 512GB) for my mother for Christmas, and I liked it a lot while setting it up for her (it was a significant upgrade from the 2015 12” MacBook). Perhaps the 2020 13” Ice Lake isn’t that much faster, but I like the extra ports, and the $200 price difference wasn’t that significant to me. But I have no problems recommending the base model at $1300 for most people.

 

[KPOM]

Thanks for that - brilliant.
I don't think I'll be shelling out for 6k monitors anytime soon anyway!
You have the 10th gen right - how have you found the external display as far as lag and responsiveness?

I’ve found the 10th generation to work well with my 4K monitor.

 

[unoporfavor]

I’ve found the 10th generation to work well with my 4K monitor.

Thanks for that. Did you use the 4k with anything else before the 10th MBP?

 

[the future]

With the much better iGPU the 10th gen machines also make more sense if you want to run a 4K/5K display with a scaled resolution as macOS needs quite a lot of graphics power to do this smoothly.

 

[KPOM]

Thanks for that. Did you use the 4k with anything else before the 10th MBP?

Briefly with the 2019 13” MacBook Pro. It also handled 4K content well.

 

[Supra Mac]

Can someone with the 2 port model and 4 port model confirm their max wifi transmission rate? Trying to figure out if it is 2x2 and also confirm if 10th gen has 3x3 wifi. Thanks.

 

[KPOM]

Can someone with the 2 port model and 4 port model confirm their max wifi transmission rate? Trying to figure out if it is 2x2 and also confirm if 10th gen has 3x3 wifi. Thanks.

I don’t have the 2 port model anymore, but the 4 port model goes up to 1300 MB/s so it appears to have 3x3. The Air has 2x2.

 

[Supra Mac]

I don’t have the 2 port model anymore, but the 4 port model goes up to 1300 MB/s so it appears to have 3x3. The Air has 2x2.

Thanks for the reply, I have 10th gen coming in today. But I see post suggesting the two port pro is still 2x2 like my nTB model.