13" MBP for After Effects?

[macjoshua]

I have a 2014 15" MBP, but am considering downsizing to the 13" whenever the 2017 models come out. I'm primarily a front end web/app developer, for which the 13" is plenty powerful. I plug into an external display when doing any serious work, so screen size isn't an issue.

However, I do occasionally have to use After Effects to animate and render short video clips. Does anyone have experience with the 13" and AE? Does it work well enough, or is it worth it to go with the 15" for the dGPU?

 

[keysofanxiety]

I always say buy the best hardware you can afford to ensure longevity. It's also important to consider that the footprint of the 2016 15" is much smaller than the previous generation. It's a completely different product and it'll feel like you're carting around a 2015 13", so that in itself would be a downsize.

Though AE itself should work on the 13", you'll really begin to hit the hardware bottlenecks when it comes to rendering, so resource intensive tasks would likely be a little slower than your current computer (depending on what type of content you're working with). As such I'd err on the side of caution and get the 15". The quad core CPU, 16GB RAM standard, and dGPU make it a mighty mean machine compared to the 13".

 

[jerryk]

The 13" might be too underpowered. I don't think the performance of 2015 15" is acceptable when I have multiple mpegs playing at the same time in AE.

 

[macjoshua]

Yeah, I've always maxed out my computers in the past, and I probably will again this time. Since it's a work machine, I don't want to have to worry about whether my computer can handle day-to-day stuff. I'm just staring at the $3k plus price tag and getting jealous of Windows users. lol

 

[jerryk]

Yeah, I've always maxed out my computers in the past, and I probably will again this time. Since it's a work machine, I don't want to have to worry about whether my computer can handle day-to-day stuff. I'm just staring at the $3k plus price tag and getting jealous of Windows users. lol

Definitely jealous of what Windows users get, especially deskside systems. I do most of my editing with a Hex core i7-level system with 32 GB or memory, Samsung 950 Pro drive, Nvidia 1070 video card. Less than $1700. And a couple of 24 inch monitors are $500 more.

I always bought 15" maxed out laptops. But now thinking of relegating my laptops to travel size, so 13", or smaller.