2016 ntb MBP vs 2015 MBP - help me choose!

[Sun Salute]

Hi!
It's my last day in New York, and (since the laptops are SUPER CHEAP here) I was drawn to go to an Apple store and look at the Macs, and now I want to buy one

I am considering the 2016 13'' non-touchbar version and the 2015 13'' version (potentially maxed out), so the choice is between these two. I won't consider the touchbar option since I completely disliked not having the ESC key, and overall it seems to be not very useful at the moment, which includes the battery drain and the potential bugs that I've heard people experience with it.

Arguments for 2016:
Awesome screen, I absolutely loved it
Awesome speakers, I guess the best 13'' speakers I've seen so far
Better SSD
A little bit faster CPU and the graphics card
Lighter

Neutral:
Trackpad - not sure if I need it this big, the palm rejection seemed to be OK though
Keyboard - I've tried typing on it in an apple store and it feels very unusual at the moment (I come from a dell XPS, so I'm pretty used to short key travel), but I've heard it gets much better when you get used to it

Arguements for 2015:
20% bigger battery - I do a lot of work on the go, so this is very important for me
Port selection - even though USB3 might be the future, the future is not yet now, and just 2 usb-c ports is kind of a joke (but again, it seems to be completely solved with one dongle)
price - obviously, it's around $500 cheaper (although not that important to me, quality & experience > price)
more refined overall, since it's not the first iteration model



So which one do you think I should buy? The kind of work I do usually involves quite a bit of audio/video editing, which was an issue for me as using premiere on the go with dell XPS is too slow, so I'm looking into switching to FCP.

 

[ambientdaw]

My friend is a major typer. He says he loves the keyboard on the 2016.

 

[casperes1996]

My friend is a major typer. He says he loves the keyboard on the 2016.

I've only used it in Apple Stores, but compared to the old models, and especially to my daily use Apple Extended Keyboard, I feel it's pretty annoying, and hard to find keys. I don't mind the key travel that much, and the tactile feel is better than the old model, but the distance between keys is just a bit too short.

So which one do you think I should buy? The kind of work I do usually involves quite a bit of audio/video editing, which was an issue for me as using premiere on the go with dell XPS is too slow, so I'm looking into switching to FCP.

I live in Apple's video apps, such as FCPX and Motion. On the same hardware, FCPX is a hell of a lot faster than Premiere. In fact, and this is ridiculous, my MacBook Pro (15" 2.2GHz Haswell i7 with Iris Pro only), on the same project, beats my iMac (4.0GHz Haswell i7 (desktop so more cache too) + R9M295X) running Premiere. I had tried doing exactly the same things to the footage in both FCPX on the MacBook, and Premiere on my iMac, but obviously it's hard to make it exact with two different apps, but the final footage looked nearly identical, with minor colours adjustment differences. I nearly exported the project twice with FCPX on a weaker machine, compared to the export time on the iMac with Premiere.

If you can get an upgraded version of the 2015 model, it'll be faster then the new 2016 base model. And the difference in GPU, as far as I know, is very small - especially with the non-TB model that runs 100 MHz slower than the TB model on the GPU. All 2015 13" models ran at the same GPU speed as far as I remember.

My vote goes to an upgraded 2015 model. I recommend going to 16GB of RAM, since the iGPU will take up a good chunk, so you won't have 8GB of CPU application memory, and if you want to use FCPX, the GPU will need a bit of memory to run well, and the system will need a good chunk too. Any extra money you're willing to spend should go towards storage if you think you might need more, and lastly CPU if you feel the storage option is good enough for your capacity needs. In terms of SSD speeds, the 2015 model's SSD is fast enough for 4k video already. Oh and the screen is nearly as brillant as the new ones, and for most content, exactly as brillant, since sRGB is still the standard for nearly all things

 

[Sanpete]

Oh and the screen is nearly as brillant as the new ones, and for most content, exactly as brillant, since sRGB is still the standard for nearly all things

I believe the new 13" also has improved contrast, which will be noticeable for most content. (I know the the 15" has about a 50% improvement in contrast.) The broader color space will become more common, especially for video, where most contest is already created in P3 or rec 2020, which is even bigger..

 

[ZapNZs]

Which one do you like more overall?
If the answer is the 2016, do you like it as much more as the price premium you would pay?
Are you planning to use external displays with the computer?
Do you use the speakers a lot?

If you can get a 2015 with more CPU, more RAM, and more SSD space for the same price as you can a 2016, then this could be the deciding factor if your workload could utilize such things.

 

[CaptRB]

I own the 13" and 15" Touch Bar. I just sold my 2015 15" rMBP, but still have the Air and an older 15" MPB.

I think you may come to regret skipping the touch bar as I believe it will be nicely integrated into a lot of software. It has a minimal effect on battery life. My Touch Bar machines do just fine for battery life after the updates.

If you pay attention to owners, rather than people who typed on it briefly, you'll usually hear that it's a BIG improvement on the wobbly keyboards of old. Nor is it any louder, because you learn to type with less force, get less fatigue and so on.

The 15" rMBP has a inferior screen, speakers, trackpad, keyboard and it's slower...why buy 3 year old tech? I think the sweet spot is the 13" Touchbar. The size and capability is perfect. Though lately I've been using the 15" tMBP because I admit the bigger screen is easier on my eyes.

FYI: At the moment I'm at 57% with 5:11 remaining. Screen brightness is at 75%, but if I bring up Photoshop and run a video things will drop much faster. I have NO problem getting 10 hours, but I've gotten 4 hours running a bunch of apps and FCP will also tax the battery fast. This is no different from my older machines and generally a bit better.

Best of luck,


R.

 

[casperes1996]

I believe the new 13" also has improved contrast, which will be noticeable for most content. (I know the the 15" has about a 50% improvement in contrast.) The broader color space will become more common, especially for video, where most contest is already created in P3 or rec 2020, which is even bigger..

Fair enough - shouldn't have said "exactly". But, to my eyes at least (and under minimal comparison), the difference isn't great enough to be observable.
Rec. 2020 will only really get proliferated through new Blu Ray discs and content for TVs. P3 will be what we'll see the most of on the internet on whatnot, at least for the foreseeable future. Whilst I admit a P3 capable display would be a nicety, i feel it's far from something that would personally make me upgrade. Of course you also gain the ability to edit video for P3, but until it's more common in general, I don't feel the need to make P3 content myself either.

 

[CaptRB]

I just sold my 2015 rMBP 15" as I know have the Touch Bar, but we had them side-by-side and put up clips from The Fifth Element and Fast and Furious Seven, as well as B&W content such as Treasure of Sierra Madre.

The difference in IQ is INSTANTLY noticeable as the new screen has greater contrast and handles reds better.

For photography, the brighter screen, better contrast and color....again instantly viewable using files from Nikon D500 and D810 cameras.

When it comes to IQ, photographers like to say "better IS better" and every degree of improvement matters. The new tMBP screens improve in several areas. If you're not all that into image quality, then it won't matter much, but a great screen was one of the reasons why I have the tMBP and the rMBP is gone.


R.

 

[casperes1996]

When it comes to IQ, photographers like to say "better IS better" and every degree of improvement matters. The new tMBP screens improve in several areas. If you're not all that into image quality, then it won't matter much, but a great screen was one of the reasons why I have the tMBP and the rMBP is gone.

I suppose it's probably making a rather big difference that my comparisons haven't been side by side with the same content, but just "I remember this looking the same on the other one" when looking at specific content.
In essence what I'm saying here, is that from personal experience, I stand by my earlier comments, but as my experience is so lacking, this/your comment is more credible than my experiences

 

[CaptRB]

I suppose it's probably making a rather big difference that my comparisons haven't been side by side with the same content, but just "I remember this looking the same on the other one" when looking at specific content.
In essence what I'm saying here, is that from personal experience, I stand by my earlier comments, but as my experience is so lacking, this/your comment is more credible than my experiences

Same with TVs...you really need to see them at same settings with same content to evaluate IQ.

And watching a video comparison doesn't tell you the whole story either. The screen comparison sent my rMBP straight to craigslist.



R.

 

[casperes1996]

And watching a video comparison doesn't tell you the whole story either. The screen comparison sent my rMBP straight to craigslist.

That big a difference? My daily driver is the 2014 rMBP 15". How is the new one relative to that, if you've seen those side by side? Going to an Apple Store to see the new ones, I don see a massive difference, but again, haven't checked side by side with sRGB content on both. (No sRGB vs. P3 comparison. Just sRGB v. sRGB)