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13" rMBP vs 15" rMBP - which is the best machine?

L

Liquinn

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Apr 10, 2011
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I'm wondering which is the best machine for Photoshop; would it be best to get the 15" rMBP for this? I intend purchasing a rMBP in the future and I was wondering which is the machine that will be better for Photoshop?

I have the 13" cMBP and the 15" cMBP and the screens suck and the 13" cMBP is a bit small... so should I grab a 15" rMBP with Haswell?

Thanks.
 
I've used photoshop with a 2010 13" MBP and its doable but to be honest the small screen was the most limiting factor. In fact I upgraded to a 15" MBP for this very reason.

The additional benefits of the 15" are the discrete GPU which PS can take advantage and the quad core i7. All around I'd say the 15" rMBP is a better machine and a better fit for photoshop.
 
The 15" is obviously much better in almost every way.

I still chose the 13" for price (especially after the drop) and portability but I would have preferred the bigger screen and Quad Core and GPU.
 
GekkePrutser said:
The 15" is obviously much better in almost every way.

I still chose the 13" for price (especially after the drop) and portability but I would have preferred the bigger screen and Quad Core and GPU.
Click to expand...
I can get the 2012 15" rMBP on Amazon for 1,400 pounds; is this a good buy?
 
If you need extreme portability the 13" is good. You can get a Intel Core i7 and 8-16GB of RAM, so Photoshop performance should be good on the go.

If you plan to buy a 15" you can always get a high res cMBP at the same price of the 13 r.
 
15" rMBP has the GT650M dGPU and i7-quad, both beneficial for Photoshop. So other than the smaller 13" chassis, the other performance advantage the 13" has over the 15" is Windows battery life. The 13" has the iGPU as the active video device whereas the 15" has the GT650M dGPU which consumes quite a bit more power. The same problem exists in the 15" cMBP. Not sure if Apple will fix the issue in Haswell so as to allow NVidia Optimus to engage (iGPU as primary video device).

EDIT: Found the 15" has a larger 74Wh capacity battery that negates the larger power draw of the dGPU. The 13" has a 60Wh battery.
 
15" rMBP, hands down. That laptop runs Photoshop like a dream. The 13" form factor is the perfect form factor IMO, but I find the screen size to be too much a compromise for photo-editing. And yes, I know you can toggle 1650x1050 on the 13", but the same resolution on the 15" is just so much more usable. At uni I do graphic design and we have a Mac lab with 27" iMacs. Great screen real estate and display, but not as good as the Retina of course. I'm sold as soon as Apple incorporates the Retina display into their 27" iMacs.

I've been spoiled for screen real estate and now I prefer nothing less than a 15" :D

I'd say the 15" rMBP is as fast as my 2011 Windows PC (which I seldom use anymore - the laptop has become somewhat of a desktop replacement) if not faster.

Go for the 15" - pricey, but worth it. Whether you buy now or wait for Haswell is up to you.
 
Liquinn said:
That's for the 2013 model. The 2012 model on Amazon is around 1,400-1,500 UK pounds.
Click to expand...

Oh yes I know but the speed bump on the 2013 model is negiligible. For the price difference I'd personally go for the 2012.

There's some rumours of internal changes as well but nothing substantiated yet as far as I know. I haven't heard whether the image ghosting issues etc are reduced now.
 
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