13" MacBook Pro Retina - Intel Iris Graphics Photoshop Performance?

[goodquestionmma]

I am considering buying a 13" MacBook Pro Retina for my sister who will primarily be using it for everyday tasks but as she gets older she will be doing more and more photoshop work, I can't see her using it full time for Photoshop but none the less it is a consideration. Considering that the options really lie between a 13" model - intel iris graphics or a 15" model with dedicated or intel iris pro graphics at a far higher cost I am quite torn between the two models.

When I spoke to Apple they said that she would definitely need the dedicated graphics card in the 15" model, which seems silly.

Will someone with some experience of using Photoshop / iPhoto / Graphics programs on 13" retina, intel iris graphics please tell me their experience, if it's slow etc how slow? Manageable or is it quite useable?

She won't be doing any gaming of any description, she will be watching films, though of course I'd expect any mac to be up to that. I would expect imovie to be the upper limit of any video editing works.

Hugely grateful for any feedback I get from this given the cost implications and utility hopefully created by choosing the correct model.

 

[leman]

The dual-core vs quad-core will probably make a much bigger difference for Photoshop than the GPU. If she is doing professional photo editing, the 15" is much better choice.

 

[goodquestionmma]

The dual-core vs quad-core will probably make a much bigger difference for Photoshop than the GPU. If she is doing professional photo editing, the 15" is much better choice.

Thank You, for instance I had 2.53 Ghz macbook pro late 2008 with a dedicated 512mb graphics card chip, admittedly it was running snow leopard but it ran photoshop absolutely fine unless I was doing something tremendously intensive, what I am trying to get a sense of is how weak or powerful this intel iris chip really is, details all seem a bit vague about what it is capable of. Photoshop in my mind is not that intensive for everyday tasks, after all she is not doing simulation work!

 

[leman]

Thank You, for instance I had 2.53 Ghz macbook pro late 2008 with a dedicated 512mb graphics card chip, admittedly it was running snow leopard but it ran photoshop absolutely fine unless I was doing something tremendously intensive, what I am trying to get a sense of is how weak or powerful this intel iris chip really is, details all seem a bit vague about what it is capable of. Photoshop in my mind is not that intensive for everyday tasks, after all she is not doing simulation work!

The current 13" will be around 2 times faster than the 2008 model, maybe more.

 

[goodquestionmma]

The current 13" will be around 2 times faster than the 2008 model, maybe more.

I have decided on a 13" 2.6ghz retina macbook pro, I spoke to somebody at the apple store he had the same model and said he ran photoshop with no problem at all.

 

[crawler1975]

I have decided on a 13" 2.6ghz retina macbook pro, I spoke to somebody at the apple store he had the same model and said he ran photoshop with no problem at all.

Good choice. I have the 13" rMBP as well and I am running both Photoshop CC and Lightroom CC on it. I haven't experienced any hiccups yet.

 

[blooperz]

photoshop will run fine on either machine...the quad core in the 15" will certainly be faster than a dual core as adobe software can utilize multiple cores. Photoshop can't even utilize the dedicated GPU except for a few rarely used tasks so the dedicated card won't help there in any way...just another example of apple 'geniuses' not knowing what they are saying.

 

[bengiefons]

Macbook Pro Retina Iris Pro Graphics is Great!!!

I am considering buying a 13" MacBook Pro Retina for my sister who will primarily be using it for everyday tasks but as she gets older she will be doing more and more photoshop work, I can't see her using it full time for Photoshop but none the less it is a consideration. Considering that the options really lie between a 13" model - intel iris graphics or a 15" model with dedicated or intel iris pro graphics at a far higher cost I am quite torn between the two models.

When I spoke to Apple they said that she would definitely need the dedicated graphics card in the 15" model, which seems silly.

Will someone with some experience of using Photoshop / iPhoto / Graphics programs on 13" retina, intel iris graphics please tell me their experience, if it's slow etc how slow? Manageable or is it quite useable?

She won't be doing any gaming of any description, she will be watching films, though of course I'd expect any mac to be up to that. I would expect imovie to be the upper limit of any video editing works.

Hugely grateful for any feedback I get from this given the cost implications and utility hopefully created by choosing the correct model.

Hi Everyone,

I just want to leave my 2 cents!

I'm a full time Graphic Designer and I'm using a 15 Inch Mid 2014 Macbook Pro Retina with Iris Pro Graphics about 10 hours a day. This Mac is awesome and really fast. The software that I use is Indesign, Illustrator and Photoshop for magazines, brochures and other complicated designs and all I can tell is that the Macbook Pro with just the Iris Pro Graphics works extremely well. Now if you are going to use it for example Cinema 4D with heavy 3D graphics, I will go with the Macbook Pro with Discrete Graphic Card instead.

 

[tLustej.miCin]

For already three days in total I am a fresh owner of 15 inch MBP with Iris Pro. My purpose is raw editing, composited, graphic design. I had some issues regarding zooming function in Photoshop - at a certain zoom distance it gave me black or white square artifacts.
My solution was that I changes Use of the GPU Unit from Advanced to Normal and it works like charm. I can recommend Iris Pro version as well.

 

[RoboWarriorSr]

My step-dad uses his 2012 rMBP for photo editing his company's images (Zuilily) and according to him works very well for the job. He used to use an old Toshiba (equivalent to the 2009 15" MBP with 9400m) which also worked for him as well. I have the 2015 13" rMBP and it flies while using Photos app, same with using Final Cut Pro (though once in a while lag when looking at transitions but very minor).