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2016 vs 2015 for Photographer

F

fpenta

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 30, 2016
231
126
Hey guys

I'm a photographer and travel a lot. I need a new 15" for intensive works with Photoshop and programs for stitching panos.
I'm using my old and huge early 2009 17" and need absolutely to upgrade.


I can benefit of the 12% educational discount.

Here in Europe we don't have deals from Amazon or Best Buy so I need to buy it exclusively from Apple.
The refurbished products are excluded because the educational discount can't be applied to those products and having the discount it's not even convenient. Also, they come with 1 year warranty (if I buy it new I have 2 years with no Apple Care).

For these reasons I can only buy from Apple the 2015 with Iris Pro or a 2016 model.

What would you choose between:

- MacBook Pro 15" Mid 2015
CPU 2,8 ghz (fastest)
16 GB RAM
1 TB
GPU Iris Pro

Total: € 2940

- MacBook Pro 15" 2016
CPU 2,6 (slowest)
16 GB RAM
1 TB
GPU Radeon 450

Total: €3100

I'm a little concerned about the new model for the insane price and for the problems many people have experienced (battery first) being a first generation and transitional product.

I don't think I need a dGPU for using Adobe Photoshop so for the tasks I do probably the 2015 would be even faster?
I don't care about the SD slot because I use always adapters for CF cards.


Thanks in advance!
 
Last edited:
fpenta said:
Hey guys

I'm a photographer and travel a lot. I need a new 15" for intensive works with Photoshop and programs for stitching panos.
I'm using my old and huge early 2009 17" and need absolutely to upgrade.


I can benefit of the educational discount of 12%.

Here in Europe we don't have deals from Amazon or Best Buy so I need to buy it exclusively from Apple.
The refurbished products are excluded because the educational discount can't be applied to those products and having the discount it's not even convenient. Also, they come with 1 year warranty (if I buy it new I have 2 years with no Apple Care).

For these reasons I can only buy from Apple the 2015 with Iris Pro or a 2016 model.

What would you choose between:

- MacBook Pro 15" Mid 2015
CPU 2,8 ghz (fastest)
16 GB RAM
1 TB
GPU Iris Pro

Total: € 2940

- MacBook Pro 15" 2016
CPU 2,6 (slowest)
16 GB RAM
1 TB
GPU Radeon 450

Total: €3100

I'm a little concerned about the new model for the insane priceand for the problems many people have experienced (battery first) and for being a first generation and transitional product.

I don't think I need a dGPU for using Adobe Photoshop so for the tasks I do probably the 2015 would be even faster?
I don't care about the SD slot because I use always adapters for CF cards.


Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
According to this guy, photographers need not bother with Apple anymore - http://petapixel.com/2016/12/03/im-leaving-apple-microsoft-switching-photographer/

I read the whole article and realised he could have just said 'I fancied a change'.

But in answer to your question, if you can afford it, get a 2016 MBP - fast, thin and OS unique. Otherwise get a 2015 model if form and/or the TB don't impress you.

Take the criticisms of the 2016 MBP with a pinch of salt. My model is free from the issues reported here; specific defects do not render a whole generation of MBPs faulty.
 
Last edited:
WhiteWhaleHolyGrail said:
According to this guy, photographers need not bother with Apple anymore - http://petapixel.com/2016/12/03/im-leaving-apple-microsoft-switching-photographer/

I read the whole article and realised he could have just said 'I fancied a change'.

But in answer to your question, if you can afford it, get a 2016 MBP - fast, thin and OS unique. Otherwise get a 2015 model if form and/or the TB don't bother you.
Click to expand...

Yeah many words without saying anything in particular.
How is your battery life? It seems to be a serious problem.
I really can't believe they created a machine with efficient components sacrifying the performance and not even reach the results of the previous generation.
 
I'm looking for the 2015 model with the 370x dgpu used for about 2k here in the USA. I think it's better than the new iris 2015 model
 
Photography is half my business. I have been shooting tethered to my 2011 MacBook Pro 17" since 2011.

I decided to replace mine with one of the new 15" models and was waiting for several months for the 2016 release. After watching many reviews carefully for several weeks, I finally decided on the 2015 15" identical to the first configuration mentioned in the OP's post and ordered it from B&H about 10 days ago. It came in with Sierra pre-installed and it does everything I need - just miss the 17" size.

I make my living on my Macs, but I don't do any "serious" creative/paying work on my MacBooks - just preview/transfer photos from the cameras to my MacPro where I have 3 large color calibrated screens and the real estate to make detailed edits quicker with all my application palettes open. Otherwise just use the MacBook for Safari and Mail.

While the Touch Bar was a cool feature on the 2016, I could not see it being of much real use over keyboard shortcuts. The expanded gamut screen would have been the only selling factor for me (over the 2015 model), but since this is not my main workstation computer I gave that up.

In the end, I decided to go with the 2015 for the following reasons:
  • Liked the fact that it had most of the ports I use built-in
  • Liked the MagSafe built-in (even though I have never needed it, it is nice to know it is there and included)
  • Liked the previous keyboard implementation
  • Liked the Apple Logo that lights up (obviously not a heavily weighted item, but prefer to have it)
  • Looking at all the threads with everything from GPU Screen issues to reduced battery life, etc. on the 2016's, they just did not look like they were ready for prime time
  • Even the 2015 model is a bit thinner/lighter than I would prefer for my table set-up - the 2011 fit perfectly. The fact that every model gets thinner and lighter is no selling point for me, I could care less. In fact even the 2015 model I just got wants to pick the bottom up off the table every time I open the lid! So I am guessing the 2016 would be even worse.
Cost was not a deciding factor for me. I just felt like I was going to pay more for a 2016 to get a bunch of features I didn't need or would use and with my luck get one of the lemons I am seeing on all these threads and have to do the back-and-forth getting one that worked (and I am hundreds of miles from an Apple Store). The 2015 model just had more features that I wanted.
 
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WhiteWhaleHolyGrail said:
According to this guy, photographers need not bother with Apple anymore - http://petapixel.com/2016/12/03/im-leaving-apple-microsoft-switching-photographer/

I read the whole article and realised he could have just said 'I fancied a change'.
Click to expand...
@WhiteWhaleHolyGrail, you owe me 5 minutes of my life for reading that article. Completely uninformative about anything technical. My summary: MBP's are douchey laptop of choice, and I'm going to out-douche them by getting a PC.
 
choreo said:
Photography is half my business. I have been shooting tethered to my 2011 MacBook Pro 17" since 2011.

I decided to replace mine with one of the new 15" models and was waiting for several months for the 2016 release. After watching many reviews carefully for several weeks, I finally decided on the 2015 15" identical to the first configuration mentioned in the OP's post and ordered it from B&H about 10 days ago. It came in with Sierra pre-installed and it does everything I need - just miss the 17" size.

I make my living on my Macs, but I don't do any "serious" creative/paying work on my MacBooks - just preview/transfer photos from the cameras to my MacPro where I have 3 large color calibrated screens and the real estate to make detailed edits quicker with all my application palettes open. Otherwise just use the MacBook for Safari and Mail.

While the Touch Bar was a cool feature on the 2016, I could not see it being of much real use over keyboard shortcuts. The expanded gamut screen would have been the only selling factor for me (over the 2015 model), but since this is not my main workstation computer I gave that up.

In the end, I decided to go with the 2015 for the following reasons:
  • Liked the fact that it had most of the ports I use built-in
  • Liked the MagSafe built-in (even though I have never needed it, it is nice to know it is there and included)
  • Liked the previous keyboard implementation
  • Liked the Apple Logo that lights up (obviously not a heavily weighted item, but prefer to have it)
  • Looking at all the threads with everything from GPU Screen issues to reduced battery life, etc. on the 2016's, they just did not look like they were ready for prime time
  • Even the 2015 model is a bit thinner/lighter than I would prefer for my table set-up - the 2011 fit perfectly. The fact that every model gets thinner and lighter is no selling point for me, I could care less. In fact even the 2015 model I just got wants to pick the bottom up off the table every time I open the lid! So I am guessing the 2016 would be even worse.
Cost was not a deciding factor for me. I just felt like I was going to pay more for a 2016 to get a bunch of features I didn't need or would use and with my luck get one of the lemons I am seeing on all these threads and have to do the back-and-forth getting one that worked (and I am hundreds of miles from an Apple Store). The 2015 model just had more features that I wanted.
Click to expand...


I think exactly the same and that's why I just placed an order for the 2015 model with 2,8 Ghz, 1TB and Iris Pro.
I wish I could have the dGPU for resale value tho.
Only things I'll miss will be the screen and portability of the 2016!
 
Last edited:
From what I've read, and watched on YT, the 2016 is not any faster (processor wise), then the 2015 MBP, though thanks to the fast SSD the overall performance is. The battery life seems to be a major sticking point for people, and it is for me. I'm not in the market for a new laptop, but prior to the announcement I was getting caught up in the excitement and thinking I'd take the plunge - no more. I'm happy with what I have.
 
Sorry for invading this thread but I'm in the same dilemma as the OP. I'd max out the 2015 model but the Intel Iris Pro makes me hold back on my decision, is this iGPU even capble of running most apps smoothly or it will lag like in the 2016 MBP?
 
apppen1 said:
Sorry for invading this thread but I'm in the same dilemma as the OP. I'd max out the 2015 model but the Intel Iris Pro makes me hold back on my decision, is this iGPU even capble of running most apps smoothly or it will lag like in the 2016 MBP?
Click to expand...


The Iris Pro is very powerful and much more capable than the iGPU of the 2016.
Unless you do Video editing or gaming the dGPU won't be used at all.
Fortunately 90% of Photoshop tasks
are made by the CPU so I don't really need one.
 
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