2.2ghz or 2.5ghz for the base model 15 retina pro?

[rchip]

Hey guys!

Going to put my order in for the updated 15 inch retina pro tomorrow. I'll be using the education store, so it's only £68 to upgrade to the 2.5 processor. What do you think?

I don't expect I'd notice the difference but in a bench mark, but only a couple of days ago these machines were 2ghz base - thinking I can get 2.5ghz for actually less money because of the price drop and with 16gb of ram seems like a very good deal! Or is it just a waste of money?

Apart from all the normal stuff, I use Lightroom for Raw file editing and Garageband for recording guitar/bass and vocals. I know either the 2.2 or 2.5 would be good at it, but for £68 is it worth just getting the 2.5?!

Thanks guys, I know I'm babbling but just want to get my purchase right! The 256 ssd is fine for me, I have a USB 3 LaCie 3tb drive and another drive for back up.

Cheers!

 

[bennibeef]

The only moment I would buy a Macbook with 0.2-0.3 Ghz more is to maybe get a better resell value (which is in itself really good)

 

[EstebanLGJ]

I would get the better processor. If you have the money, do it

 

[Giev]

The only moment I would buy a Macbook with 0.2-0.3 Ghz more is to maybe get a better resell value (which is in itself really good)

I would say follow this advice if you are changing your laptop quite frequently.

I myself upgrade when its required, i.e when the laptop is reaching its limits (performance wise, or hardware issues etc.) and I would rather customize/optimize the laptop for myself rather than the next buyer.

Unless you do serious CPU intensive task on a regular basis, I wouldn't suggest spending on the CPU. Quad core CPUs with HT are more than enough for 99% of the users. I would spend the 70 pounds on an extra USB hard disk, or any other accessories that you would actually use rather than a CPU which you could "potentially" use at some time.

 

[rchip]

Thanks guys.

Good, helpful advice - I'l just order the base model!

Cheers,

Rich

 

[21385]

is it possible that 99% of people can't tell 2.2 vs. 2.5 now but in 4 years, it will be a much bigger difference in performance?

 

[Erphern]

is it possible that 99% of people can't tell 2.2 vs. 2.5 now but in 4 years, it will be a much bigger difference in performance?

Those values are a constant, so no.

 

[chaosbunny]

is it possible that 99% of people can't tell 2.2 vs. 2.5 now but in 4 years, it will be a much bigger difference in performance?

Would you notice the difference between a 2.2 and a 2.5 ghz Core2Duo now? No. These tiny jumps in mhz are not worth the money in my opinion.

 

[snaky69]

is it possible that 99% of people can't tell 2.2 vs. 2.5 now but in 4 years, it will be a much bigger difference in performance?

Unless you're making money with the laptop, doing large calculations or rendering or the sort with it, and every single second counts, a processor upgrade is nearly never worthwhile.

 

[jafca09]

Unless you're making money with the laptop, doing large calculations or rendering or the sort with it, and every single second counts, a processor upgrade is nearly never worthwhile.

I might be doing large calculations in Excel for Windows (using Parallels), because my grad school requires it. I also use Photoshop for pleasure. Do you think I'd be fine with the base 15" 2.2 GHz? What about the improved graphics on the 2.5?

 

[sprezz]

I might be doing large calculations in Excel for Windows (using Parallels), because my grad school requires it. I also use Photoshop for pleasure. Do you think I'd be fine with the base 15" 2.2 GHz? What about the improved graphics on the 2.5?

Those MHZ will "maybe" yield a performance improvement of a few percent, so let's just say 10% overall would mean an excel calculation that takes 0.5 seconds now takes 0.6 seconds with the cheaper CPU. Or the photo merge takes 11 seconds instead of 10.

You will hardly notice it. But for a developer who is constantly compiling and running unit tests on his machine, those extra seconds do add up quite fast...

 

[someoneoutthere]

What about the improved graphics on the 2.5?

I had been debating myself trying to choose between the high-end and the base 15" rMBP and just yesterday I ended up buying the high-end one. I have done some Photoshop and video-editing work; the iGPU has been more than capable of accomplishing those tasks - I did not see the dGPU kicking in.
So if you'll be doing light work graphic wise, the iGPU on the base 15" would be more than capable I think.

 

[snaky69]

I might be doing large calculations in Excel for Windows (using Parallels), because my grad school requires it. I also use Photoshop for pleasure. Do you think I'd be fine with the base 15" 2.2 GHz? What about the improved graphics on the 2.5?

You're already handicapping your calculation's performance by quite a bit by running it in a virtual machine. If you want to see a real gain in performance, run it in bootcamp instead of spending for a more powerful CPU.

 

[Dugi01]

The only moment I would buy a Macbook with 0.2-0.3 Ghz more is to maybe get a better resell value (which is in itself really good)

But if i want to play games as thief,etc via Parallels?

 

[snaky69]

But if i want to play games as thief,etc via Parallels?

You're crippling gaming performance by running 2 OS'es at once with virtualized hardware. Getting that extra processor speed will yield next to zero performance improvement. You want gaming performance, run bootcamp, period.

 

[bennibeef]

But if i want to play games as thief,etc via Parallels?

It will suck via a virtual machine, with the 0.3ghz or without them.

 

[Dugi01]

You're crippling gaming performance by running 2 OS'es at once with virtualized hardware. Getting that extra processor speed will yield next to zero performance improvement. You want gaming performance, run bootcamp, period.

Thanks. Is it free, can you advise me one?

 

[snaky69]

Thanks. Is it free, can you advise me one?

Bootcamp is just a fancy assistant that helps you partition your drive and load the necessary windows drivers on a USB key for you. It comes bundled with OS X, no purchase necessary.

You WILL need a copy of Windows to install it though.