Before buying a MacBook Pro 15"

[malren]

Hi everyone,

I want to get the macbook pro 15 this week and I have a big dilemma between all the options:

First I will describe my use:
1. Surfing the web - facebook, news, video streaming, etc..
2. Using regular software (Word, Excel, Outlook, VLC player, SVN, dropbox, uTorrent, popcorn time etc...)
3. Watching videos on the computer and on TV via hdmi cable.
4. Programming using Eclipse and Visual Studio ( which means I Will need to use Parallels Desktop in order to program with visual studio)

What is important for me?
1. Performance - I like my computer to FLY, Hate when something gets stuck.
2. Display quality - also on the computer itself and also when watching on TV via hdmi
3. Good wifi signal absorption.
4. Having good hardware even in the near future, I mean right I am not a gamer or something but I love technology and I always seek to the best so as long as I can feel the difference somehow but on the stuff that I use I would like to have it.

As you can tell I am moving to Mac for my first time but that doesnt bother me at all as I heard only good stuff and that I am going to get addicted to it.

So I am looking to buy the macbook from Apple and I am talking about the new mid 2014 models.

Considering all this:
Processor - I pretty much understood that for my use the basic 2.2 Ghz is good enough and that I won't feel the difference between it and the others, but still I am thinking about going with the 2.5 Ghz. what do you guys think?

Ram - well there is no options here there is only the 16 GB.

Hard Drive - I got a big dilemma on this side as I dont know if I should choose the 256 GB or the 512 GB from the matter of size, until now I had the 500 GB but I always felt that I am not using half of it, but I am scared investing so much into a computer and regretting in a couple of months that I did not get the 512. On the other side I read a couple of articles saying that the 1 TB is EXTREMELY fast in fact it is twice faster then the 256 and 512 versions which really got me confused because as I said 500 GB is more then enough but I love the idea that it is so fast with the 1 TB. The question is if it is worth spending on it around 450 - 700 $ for the 1 TB only for the performance side?

Graphic - Here I really need help, I do not understand the difference between the version with the Nvidia graphic card and without? How will I feel it in my use? on this topic it really isn't a matter of money I just don't know what is better for me. I heard stuff about battery drain with the Nvidia and I did not understand if the performance is better or not with or without I am very confused on this side. will it effect watching movies quality? or even generally
display quality?

That's pretty much it where I can choose the options.

I would really appreciate your help.

Jon

 

[eezacque]

A MacBook Air is probably good enough for what you need to do, it is running Visual Studio through Parallels that may need a MacBook Pro. Personally, I wouldn't go for MacBook Pro, just for Visual Pro, and look for alternatives...

 

[illusionx]

As you can see, there is nothing you can change beside the size of the storage and if you want the nvidia graphics or not.


i would say, get it without, you won't see a difference in your day to day usage.

If you played games, then the Nvidia graphics would be more beneficial.

 

[maflynn]

Graphic - Here I really need help, I do not understand the difference between the version with the Nvidia graphic card and without? How will I feel it in my use?

Based on your needs I don't think you need a discrete GPU. I'd not spend the extra $$ on a component that won't be really used.

a dGPU can process image data much more efficient then an iGPU. This is more noticeable on games and apps that leverage the GPU. Surfing, email, streaming and programming are types of uses that won't stress the GPU so the integrated GPU will be fine imo.

 

[Meister]

A MacBook Air is probably good enough for what you need to do, it is running Visual Studio through Parallels that may need a MacBook Pro. Personally, I wouldn't go for MacBook Pro, just for Visual Pro, and look for alternatives...

Well put! The OPs needs can be fullfilled by any iPhone.

 

[Freyqq]

Hi everyone,

I want to get the macbook pro 15 this week and I have a big dilemma between all the options:

First I will describe my use:
1. Surfing the web - facebook, news, video streaming, etc..
2. Using regular software (Word, Excel, Outlook, VLC player, SVN, dropbox, uTorrent, popcorn time etc...)
3. Watching videos on the computer and on TV via hdmi cable.
4. Programming using Eclipse and Visual Studio ( which means I Will need to use Parallels Desktop in order to program with visual studio)

What is important for me?
1. Performance - I like my computer to FLY, Hate when something gets stuck.
2. Display quality - also on the computer itself and also when watching on TV via hdmi
3. Good wifi signal absorption.
4. Having good hardware even in the near future, I mean right I am not a gamer or something but I love technology and I always seek to the best so as long as I can feel the difference somehow but on the stuff that I use I would like to have it.

As you can tell I am moving to Mac for my first time but that doesnt bother me at all as I heard only good stuff and that I am going to get addicted to it.

So I am looking to buy the macbook from Apple and I am talking about the new mid 2014 models.

Considering all this:
Processor - I pretty much understood that for my use the basic 2.2 Ghz is good enough and that I won't feel the difference between it and the others, but still I am thinking about going with the 2.5 Ghz. what do you guys think?

Ram - well there is no options here there is only the 16 GB.

Hard Drive - I got a big dilemma on this side as I dont know if I should choose the 256 GB or the 512 GB from the matter of size, until now I had the 500 GB but I always felt that I am not using half of it, but I am scared investing so much into a computer and regretting in a couple of months that I did not get the 512. On the other side I read a couple of articles saying that the 1 TB is EXTREMELY fast in fact it is twice faster then the 256 and 512 versions which really got me confused because as I said 500 GB is more then enough but I love the idea that it is so fast with the 1 TB. The question is if it is worth spending on it around 450 - 700 $ for the 1 TB only for the performance side?

Graphic - Here I really need help, I do not understand the difference between the version with the Nvidia graphic card and without? How will I feel it in my use? on this topic it really isn't a matter of money I just don't know what is better for me. I heard stuff about battery drain with the Nvidia and I did not understand if the performance is better or not with or without I am very confused on this side. will it effect watching movies quality? or even generally
display quality?

That's pretty much it where I can choose the options.

I would really appreciate your help.

Jon

I assume you are looking only at the rmbp 15. With those tasks, you would likely never engage the nvidia 750M anyway. The iris pro would be fine.

 

[malren]

Ok thank you, but what about the hard drive?
When they see the 1 TB is twice faster then the 256 and 512 GB is it something that one day ill feel and regret I didnt get the 1 TB and I am talking only about the speed side. As I said on size side 512 is enough for sure

 

[illusionx]

Ok thank you, but what about the hard drive?

When they see the 1 TB is twice faster then the 256 and 512 GB is it something that one day ill feel and regret I didnt get the 1 TB and I am talking only about the speed side. As I said on size side 512 is enough for sure

You won't see the difference in you day to day life.
But if you are always transferring large file.. Then you might see a difference depending on your target disk...

 

[Rizvi1]

I'm sort of on the same boat. I need to get a 2014 15" MacBook Pro Retina asap, but I Don't know which one.

I don't think I'll notice the difference between the 2.2Ghz, 2.5Ghz or 2.8Ghz, so I'm cool just staying with the 2.2Ghz.

And From what I'm reading in here, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M with 2GB GDDR5 memory is really for gamers. I've never gamed on my laptop. I've had this window open on my FireFox for many months now, but that's just because I'd like to start playing some old SNES RPGs on my MBP via an emulator. I doubt I need real graphics power.

But I do know that 256GB is not going to be enough for me. If I get the $1999 2.2Ghz w/ the 256GB PCIe-based flash storage and add on the 512GB 512GB PCIe-based flash storage, it's $300 more.

I'd love a 1TB HD but I can't swing $800 on top of that $1999. Are Hard Drive / Solid State Drive upgrades do-able on your own with the rMBP? If so, any ideas on how much a good SSD costs that's 500GB, 750GB, or 1TB?

I could just go with the 2.2Ghz, get their 256GB, and then upgrade on my own. Maybe with the 256GB that I pull out, I can throw it into my wife's MacBook Air 1.7GHz i5 (I can't remember if it's a 2011 or 2012). I'm pretty sure her HD size is only 128GB. (Assuming the MBA's hard drive is upgradeable).

The reason there's kind of a hurry is that my mid-2010 MacBook Pro's Applecare is going to expire at the end of the month. I really want to sell it with the Applecare still active to help me net a little more and not worry about the person buying having issues.

 

[RTbar]

I'm sort of on the same boat. I need to get a 2014 15" MacBook Pro Retina asap, but I Don't know which one.

I don't think I'll notice the difference between the 2.2Ghz, 2.5Ghz or 2.8Ghz, so I'm cool just staying with the 2.2Ghz.

And From what I'm reading in here, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M with 2GB GDDR5 memory is really for gamers. I've never gamed on my laptop. I've had this window open on my FireFox for many months now, but that's just because I'd like to start playing some old SNES RPGs on my MBP via an emulator. I doubt I need real graphics power.

But I do know that 256GB is not going to be enough for me. If I get the $1999 2.2Ghz w/ the 256GB PCIe-based flash storage and add on the 512GB 512GB PCIe-based flash storage, it's $300 more.

I'd love a 1TB HD but I can't swing $800 on top of that $1999. Are Hard Drive / Solid State Drive upgrades do-able on your own with the rMBP? If so, any ideas on how much a good SSD costs that's 500GB, 750GB, or 1TB?

I could just go with the 2.2Ghz, get their 256GB, and then upgrade on my own. Maybe with the 256GB that I pull out, I can throw it into my wife's MacBook Air 1.7GHz i5 (I can't remember if it's a 2011 or 2012). I'm pretty sure her HD size is only 128GB. (Assuming the MBA's hard drive is upgradeable).

The reason there's kind of a hurry is that my mid-2010 MacBook Pro's Applecare is going to expire at the end of the month. I really want to sell it with the Applecare still active to help me net a little more and not worry about the person buying having issues.

I was in the same exact boat and went with the base 15" model (integrated graphics, 2.2, 256gb) with intentions of swapping the 256 for a 512 if I need it, which will probably be within a year or two... the logic being that ssd prices are dropping like rocks, however, the rMBP uses a custom PCIe SSD that isn't even out yet, so I would upgrade to 512 now if I were you, especially if you need to run a bootcamp partition

 

[Rizvi1]

I was in the same exact boat and went with the base 15" model (integrated graphics, 2.2, 256gb) with intentions of swapping the 256 for a 512 if I need it, which will probably be within a year or two... the logic being that ssd prices are dropping like rocks, however, the rMBP uses a custom PCIe SSD that isn't even out yet, so I would upgrade to 512 now if I were you, especially if you need to run a bootcamp partition

Thanks for the reply. I just replied in another thread with a similar convo ( https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=19632942#post19632942 ) but thought I'd comment here too:

Yes, I agree I need to get a 512GB HD in the 2014 rMBP I want to get. If you can use the student discount, the cost to add on the 512GB SSD is $270 on the $1900 2.2GHZ base model. The price difference between the 2.2GHZ and the 2.5GHZ model w/ the 512GB AND the better NVIDIA is $400.

I'm thinking I may as well go with the better model. Like I mentioned, I probably won't need the NVIDIA and the extra .3GHZ, but for an extra $130 seems it would be worth it.

Usuallly the Refurbished mac is a bit cheaper than the student discount so maybe I'll get lucky and one will come in stock soon and I can save another $100