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2.0 vs 2.3

D

Dentifrice

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 27, 2008
448
85
Hi,

I'm going to buy a rMBP 15in dispite de price (was looking for the 13in but 4k support is something I may look in a near future so...)

do you think the upgrade of cpu to 2.3 worth it ? Lightroom and light photoshop is the more cpu intense things I'm doing on a daily basis.

I know the upgrade is not pricey but nevertheless i'm way over my budget.

And I suppose it's impacting the battery too ? 2.3 ghz must drain more battery.

Thanks!
 
hi

I just got my 2.3 512 750m in the mail today. bought it on ebay for $2200 shipped, came with receipt for warranty, and new in wrap. there's no reason not to buy off of ebay. it saved me over $700 after tax, and I didn't even have to go to the apple store. Just make sure you buy from someone who has good feedback. A lot of people will flame me for this but seriously, I couldn't afford this computer if I bought it straight from apple. In my eyes you gotta get the upgrade. Studies show that the 2.3 has the same battery life and it's much better for gaming, and high intensive tasks. I wouldn't have it any other way. the 2.6 on the other hand, some people say that burns through the battery but i'm not sure. let me know if I can help you more. btw this is my first post on my ME294LL/A. Awesome machine bro! you gotta get it!
 
I have the 2.3 and the battery life is terrible compared to the 2.0. On the 2.0 I was getting 10 hours of safari and iTunes. On the 2.3 I get 7.5 hours if I'm doing nothing. using safari drops it down to 5 hours and if I use iPhoto it's barely above 3 hours.

I will return it and just get the 2.0 and upgrade the hard drive
 
It usually takes a 20% change in CPU speed to see a difference. Anything less might show up on benchmarks but you won't notice the difference.
 
Dentifrice said:
Hi,

I'm going to buy a rMBP 15in dispite de price (was looking for the 13in but 4k support is something I may look in a near future so...)

do you think the upgrade of cpu to 2.3 worth it ? Lightroom and light photoshop is the more cpu intense things I'm doing on a daily basis.

I know the upgrade is not pricey but nevertheless i'm way over my budget.

And I suppose it's impacting the battery too ? 2.3 ghz must drain more battery.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I have a 2.6/16/1TB/750M version and battery life is around 8 hours with the 750M card disabled.

There is no difference in power consumption between the 2.0, 2.3 or 2.6 processors as they all have similar TDPs.

The upgrade to 2.3GHz is worth it, because you're not only getting a speed bump; you're also getting double the RAM and double the SSD.

If you configure both Iris-only and Iris+750M models to 2.3/16/512, both are priced identically, so the 750M is practically a freebie.

Battery life of the 750M variants is identical to that of Iris-only models, as long as the 750M is disabled via gfxcardstatus.
 
997.2 said:
I just got my 2.3 512 750m in the mail today. bought it on ebay for $2200 shipped, came with receipt for warranty, and new in wrap. there's no reason not to buy off of ebay. it saved me over $700 after tax, and I didn't even have to go to the apple store. Just make sure you buy from someone who has good feedback. A lot of people will flame me for this but seriously, I couldn't afford this computer if I bought it straight from apple. In my eyes you gotta get the upgrade. Studies show that the 2.3 has the same battery life and it's much better for gaming, and high intensive tasks. I wouldn't have it any other way. the 2.6 on the other hand, some people say that burns through the battery but i'm not sure. let me know if I can help you more. btw this is my first post on my ME294LL/A. Awesome machine bro! you gotta get it!
Click to expand...

If my gaming you mean solitaire then okay.

rMBP is not built to be gamed on. Go ahead, try TF2, CS GO or something along those lines and you'll be able to cook a steak where your fingers go.
 
thanks guys

I'm not gaming anyway

I read some other web sites and I think the upgrade does not worth it. The 2.0 seems to be a pretty good machine. I'm going to save this money for a usb3 or TB external drive for my photos.

This lead to another question :

If I understand correctly, the 15in rMBP can output 4k@60hz using MST.

From my understanding, this means that the gpu will output "two screens on the same screen". So if this rMBP can output 3 displays, connecting a 4k@60 will use two. Right ?

Is the image quality the same on SST vs MST ?

If I connect a 4k@60, will the display on the rMPB continue to work ? I suppose so because I would be of total of three.

Remember, the model I want to buy has only the Iris Pro, NO NVIDIA. Price is too high for me.

Thanks !
 
Dentifrice said:
thanks guys

I'm not gaming anyway

I read some other web sites and I think the upgrade does not worth it. The 2.0 seems to be a pretty good machine. I'm going to save this money for a usb3 or TB external drive for my photos.

This lead to another question :

If I understand correctly, the 15in rMBP can output 4k@60hz using MST.

From my understanding, this means that the gpu will output "two screens on the same screen". So if this rMBP can output 3 displays, connecting a 4k@60 will use two. Right ?

Is the image quality the same on SST vs MST ?

If I connect a 4k@60, will the display on the rMPB continue to work ? I suppose so because I would be of total of three.

Remember, the model I want to buy has only the Iris Pro, NO NVIDIA. Price is too high for me.

Thanks !
Click to expand...

anyone ?
 
Dentifrice said:
anyone ?
Click to expand...

I don't think there's enough people running 4K displays to comment, let alone running a 4K display plus a third display. I'd imagine it would work though since I'm pretty sure you can run a 4K display plus the built in Retina display, you may have to run it in clamshell mode to make it work though.

----------

I just picked up my 2.3 / 512 / 750M model for $2200 on Craigslist. No way I'd spend this much only to cheap out on the 2.0 and no dedicated GPU. I'd look at refurbs or Ebay or Craigslist and get an upgraded model that will last longer. You can always disable the dedicated GPU to save battery life and turn it on if you ever need it. The battery on the 2.3 is identical to the 2.0, they both use the same wattage.
 
With the rMBP you can output to the computers screen plus 2 additional monitors - making for 3 screens total.

With a 4k monitor it takes the equivalent of 2 monitors spaces on the system to display onto at 60Hz. So if you were in the 4k monitor situation you would be able to run the internal monitor and 1 4k display simultaneously.
 
Dentifrice said:
do you think the upgrade of cpu to 2.3 worth it ? Lightroom and light photoshop is the more cpu intense things I'm doing on a daily basis.
Click to expand...

I'd rather spend the money of such upgrade on more RAM – which I find more useful for Lightroom and Photoshop.

When I buy a rMBP for myself, since the RAM is soldered, RAM will be maxxed out.
 
SVTmaniac said:
I don't think there's enough people running 4K displays to comment, let alone running a 4K display plus a third display. I'd imagine it would work though since I'm pretty sure you can run a 4K display plus the built in Retina display, you may have to run it in clamshell mode to make it work though.

----------

I just picked up my 2.3 / 512 / 750M model for $2200 on Craigslist. No way I'd spend this much only to cheap out on the 2.0 and no dedicated GPU. I'd look at refurbs or Ebay or Craigslist and get an upgraded model that will last longer. You can always disable the dedicated GPU to save battery life and turn it on if you ever need it. The battery on the 2.3 is identical to the 2.0, they both use the same wattage.
Click to expand...

Problem is, I'm a french canadian. All refurb computers at Apple canada have english keyboard. I need the french canadian one.

Second, Craiglist here isn't very popular, no much stuff to find

And third, I prefer to buy from Ebay canada because I don't want to pay the custom fees from the US. And there is not much rMBP on sale in canada on ebay (and good luck to find a french keyboard)

So I'm kind of screw with a brand new one.
 
Dentifrice said:
anyone ?
Click to expand...

This has been discussed before. On the 15, you can do 3 2k displays or 1 4k and 1 2k. I have the 15 with nvidia 750M, and I'm doing 2 1920x1200 and 1 1280x0124, in addition to the internal screen, with no issues.
 
Thanks to everyone

I received my brand new rMBP 15in with 16gb and quad i7 2.0ghz.

This is the fastest machine I ever had. And the retina screen...wow !

so happy !
 
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