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2 Pro Options - Your Thoughts Please

C

CDA

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 5, 2014
9
0
I have 2 options in relation to an upcoming Pro purchase.

I would really appreciate any advice and feedback.

I will be using the Pro for my upcoming studies in advanced Web Development and Photoshop. Initially learning and later hopefully producing my own websites.

I have some website ideas that I would like to see through to finish and have decided to educate myself instead of asking others to get involved.

There are 2 options I am considering:

1.

13" Pro Retina i5 2.4GHz 8GB 256GB
2 x Samsung 24" LED HD Monitors
Docking Station
Apple Keyboard & Track Pad.


2.

15" Pro Retina i7 2.3GHz 16GB 512GB GeForce Graphics.
No extras - use laptop as is without docking.


Thank you
 
CDA said:
I have 2 options in relation to an upcoming Pro purchase.

I would really appreciate any advice and feedback.

I will be using the Pro for my upcoming studies in advanced Web Development and Photoshop. Initially learning and later hopefully producing my own websites.

I have some website ideas that I would like to see through to finish and have decided to educate myself instead of asking others to get involved.

There are 2 options I am considering:

1.

13" Pro Retina i5 2.4GHz 8GB 256GB
2 x Samsung 24" LED HD Monitors
Docking Station
Apple Keyboard & Track Pad.


2.

15" Pro Retina i7 2.3GHz 16GB 512GB GeForce Graphics.
No extras - use laptop as is without docking.


Thank you
Click to expand...


I think (2) is better because the intel i7 core and bigger ram and storage also it has a bigger screen :)

BTW : how much are them ?
 
$M.H$ said:
I think (2) is better because the intel i7 core and bigger ram and storage also it has a bigger screen :)

BTW : how much are them ?
Click to expand...

Thanks for your advice.

The cost for all items new would be:

1. £1500

2. £1600

Thank you
 
You definitely get a lot more use cases out of the first option having two screens and a dock. Ask yourself how demanding the work is and whether you are going to regret not having the portability of the 13".

With the monitors, you can of course save up and buy them later.
 
I see your point.

However i find myself worrying more about not having 16gb of ram.

With that i believe i would be safe for at least 3 years before needing to upgrade.
 
Personally I'd go with the 2nd option and buy the other items slowly as time goes by, if possible. The extra specs are certainly very welcome.

If that's not possible, then you should consider how necessary the other stuff really is. No use having a super-powerful computer if you need other things you do not have.
 
Blues003 said:
Personally I'd go with the 2nd option and buy the other items slowly as time goes by, if possible. The extra specs are certainly very welcome.

If that's not possible, then you should consider how necessary the other stuff really is. No use having a super-powerful computer if you need other things you do not have.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this.

I agree with you. The topline 15" really has my attention.

I'm going to sleep on it and then make my order tomorrow morning.

Thanks again
 
Seems very cheap! Guessing you get some sort of added discount? The 15" you mentioned is still £2000 with my Uni discount.
 
CDA said:
I have 2 options in relation to an upcoming Pro purchase.

I would really appreciate any advice and feedback.

I will be using the Pro for my upcoming studies in advanced Web Development and Photoshop. Initially learning and later hopefully producing my own websites.

I have some website ideas that I would like to see through to finish and have decided to educate myself instead of asking others to get involved.

There are 2 options I am considering:

1.

13" Pro Retina i5 2.4GHz 8GB 256GB
2 x Samsung 24" LED HD Monitors
Docking Station
Apple Keyboard & Track Pad.


2.

15" Pro Retina i7 2.3GHz 16GB 512GB GeForce Graphics.
No extras - use laptop as is without docking.


Thank you
Click to expand...

I'd go for Option 2 just for the power alone.

You can always buy extras later, but a Mac cannot be upgraded later (everything except the SSD is soldered) :)
 
None of that stuff is very GPU intensive. I'd go for a base 15" rmbp and an external monitor. A bit of a compromise I suppose.
 
I'm partial to the 15" model.

What is your mobility needs, since you're looking to buy 2 monitors with the 13" model - that seems very un-mobile like in one sense. How often will it be used out and about.

The reason why I ask, is because 2 24" monitors is better then a single 15" display and if the laptop is going the sitting on a desk for the majority of the time, the 2 monitors will be better.
 
MattZani said:
Seems very cheap! Guessing you get some sort of added discount? The 15" you mentioned is still £2000 with my Uni discount.
Click to expand...

Amazon have them on offer at 1600 pounds with free prime delivery.
 
Yeah I think you have to figure out which configuration will fit your work flow best. Would a 27'' iMac work?

I recently moved to a 13'' rMBP. I have a 15'' MBP at home and a 21'' iMac at work, so this purchase was optimised for mobility. However as single machine I would go for the 15'' instead, so I can have a quad core.
 
Personally, I'd go for the 13" in your situation. I'm a software developer and went with the 15" just because when I go contracting having a little more real estate is nice, plus I have some added oomph for the VM's I may need to run. None of what you are doing is particularly CPU intensive and you would get much more productivity out of having the 2 external monitors, plus you have the added benefit of the 13" form factor which is slightly more portable. I wanted to like the 13" but since I can be without a monitor sometimes when I work, I needed the extra real-estate, the 13" seemed to squatty.
 
Barney63 said:
The 15/2.3/16/512/750 is £1869.60 with Uni discount.
I've just bought one :)
Click to expand...

Hey Barney.

Would you mind telling us something about the perceived difference between the 13" and the 15" Late 2013? According to your signature you own both. I know benchmarks and all this (more or less) objective stuff but I'd like to hear some of your subjective experiences. Does the 15" feel way more snappy in every day usage etc.?

Thanks
 
domemvs said:
Hey Barney.

Would you mind telling us something about the perceived difference between the 13" and the 15" Late 2013? According to your signature you own both. I know benchmarks and all this (more or less) objective stuff but I'd like to hear some of your subjective experiences. Does the 15" feel way more snappy in every day usage etc.?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I don't own any of them but I've played extensively with both the 13" rMBP, 15" rMBP with GT750M and for comparison I've also played with the 13" MBA. In everyday use you won't see much different across those three, but if you're going to be doing any intensive content creation (photo/video/audio) you'll want the 15" since it's the best for such with its quad-core i7 CPU. Clock speed doesn't really matter unless you're doing crazy 3D rendering that'd benefit from the 2.6 GHz model. I was playing with those three since they're all prospective purchases for me once I have the money, and I think I'm leaning toward the 15" rMBP base high end (2.3 GHz/16GB RAM/512GB SSD/GT750M+Iris Pro) via refurb vs paying $2600 for it for longevity/futureproofing of sorts, and because I like the screen real estate.

Here's how I've come to my conclusions once I obtain the funds: I went on each of the three laptops and I downloaded some clips off my YouTube channel. I dropped them into FCP X (not my preferred editor, but I worked with what was available) and I set it up to export 30 mins of my own footage. On the 15" it took like 5-7 mins to export since it was using the GT750M. On the 13" laptops (rMBP and MBA) it was estimated to take over 30 mins for 30 mins of footage. The 13" and MBA basically have the same GPU. The Iris (non pro) is basically an HD 5100, where as the MBA has an HD 5000. Neither is a slouch, but there's no replacement for a dGPU if you want to do some higher level hobby video stuff like I like doing.

Finally, CDA, sorry for thread-jacking if I ended up doing so... I was just trying to help with decision making etc. lol.

I hope that helps....
 
Last edited:
domemvs said:
Hey Barney.

Would you mind telling us something about the perceived difference between the 13" and the 15" Late 2013? According to your signature you own both. I know benchmarks and all this (more or less) objective stuff but I'd like to hear some of your subjective experiences. Does the 15" feel way more snappy in every day usage etc.?

Thanks
Click to expand...

The 15" appears to be quite a bit faster, I don't do any 3D work or anything so don't really get the full benefit of the quad core.

The 15" screen seems huge compared to the 13". It is comparable to a *normal* 17".

I notice little difference in size and weight, they are both very portable.

Although the 15" has a hour less battery life, this isn't important as a day at Uni is only 4 hours or so, so I don't need the extra hour of the 13".


Barney
 
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