Resolved 13" RMBP: 4gb haswell or 8GB i5?

[ll PiStoNs ll]

Hey everyone,

I've been using my personal 13" i5 air for work in favor of the windows laptops my company would have provided. They finally agreed to buy me a mac now that our ecommerce software is fully compatible with mac, but gave me a firm $1,200 max budget to work with, and I can't put forth my own money towards the difference and it has to be portable. I've been pushing my 4gb 2011 air to its limits lately with some light graphic design work and marketing work with multiple tabs open at once, so the 13" RMBP appears to be the way to go.

With this $1200 budget, my options are limited, but I wanted to see what you guys thought. I Primarily use photoshop, mail, and 7-10 safari tabs at once while I'm working. Would I be better off with the base haswell MBP with 4gb ram or last years i5 model with 8gb ram?

The i5 seems obvious to me, as most of the issues I encounter on my air are to lack or memory, but maybe the haswell processor manages memory more efficiently. If so, is it enough to select a 4gb haswell over the 8gb i5?

Thanks for your input everyone!

-Terry

 

[Beezy253]

Hey everyone,

I've been using my personal 13" i5 air for work in favor of the windows laptops my company would have provided. They finally agreed to buy me a mac now that our ecommerce software is fully compatible with mac, but gave me a firm $1,200 max budget to work with, and I can't put forth my own money towards the difference and it has to be portable. I've been pushing my 4gb 2011 air to its limits lately with some light graphic design work and marketing work with multiple tabs open at once, so the 13" RMBP appears to be the way to go.

With this $1200 budget, my options are limited, but I wanted to see what you guys thought. I Primarily use photoshop, mail, and 7-10 safari tabs at once while I'm working. Would I be better off with the base haswell MBP with 4gb ram or last years i5 model with 8gb ram?

The i5 seems obvious to me, as most of the issues I encounter on my air are to lack or memory, but maybe the haswell processor manages memory more efficiently. If so, is it enough to select a 4gb haswell over the 8gb i5?

Thanks for your input everyone!

-Terry

Purchase a refurb?

 

[ll PiStoNs ll]

Purchase a refurb?

The "refurb" is the last gen with 8gb (probably new tho). The newest gen probably won't have refurbs for a few months.

 

[Beezy253]

The "refurb" is the last gen with 8gb (probably new tho). The newest gen probably won't have refurbs for a few months.

If you only have $1200 to spend (I assume including tax), you can't afford the newest computer.

 

[raptor402]

Whatever you end up buying, don't buy a 4GB model. You'll be wasting money on a 4GB rMBP (the RAM's soldered and thereby non-upgradeable). I think you'll be better off with a refurb. You should wait for a few months for the Haswell refurbs to arrive.

Regards
Raptor

 

[fskywalker]

Whatever you end up buying, don't buy a 4GB model. You'll be wasting money on a 4GB rMBP (the RAM's soldered and thereby non-upgradeable). I think you'll be better off with a refurb. You should wait for a few months for the Haswell refurbs to arrive.

Regards
Raptor

Good advice, don't buy the 4GB rMBP, that memory level is just too small. I hate Apple for introducing such model for marketing a "lower cost" Haswell rMBP with the new line. Memory you cannot upgrade later, so go with at least 8GB or 16 if you can afford it.