Buying Advice? Please and Thank you

[happypeople]

Hello Everyone!

I am looking for some buying advice on the rMBP and would appreciate any opinions or tips anyone is wiling to share with me.

I am currently using a mid 2009 13" MacBook Pro
2.53 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo,
4GB ram,
480 GB transcend SSD that I installed,
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256MB).

I am interested in getting the 15" rMBP in one of these configurations:

2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz
16GB 1600MHz memory
512GB PCIe-based flash storage (upgrade from 256GB)
Intel Iris Pro Graphics

or

2.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz
16GB 1600MHz memory
512GB PCIe-based flash storage
Intel Iris Pro Graphics
AMD Radeon R9 M370X with 2GB GDDR5 memory


My use is extremely varied. I am a university student doing physics & energy science and Political Science looking to do a teaching degree after my undergrad is complete. So my computer will be used everyday for school work. Microsoft 360 Suite of OneNote, Word, Outlook, etc.

I also use the Adobe Photoshop CC, Lightroom, and Bridge daily as well as other less intensive photography software such as Neat Image. (Note that I will be using external drives to store my raw and edited images. If anyone has any recommendations on any reliable usb 3 or thunderbolt 1 or 2 portable external drives that are not super expensive, I would appreciate the feedback.)

I would like to do some minor occasional video editing and rendering in 720p and 1080p. Just GoPro & iPhone clips now and then.
I would like the ability to run 1 display at 1920 x 1080 at 60-120Hz if possible. This is not a necessity though.

Very light and extremely infrequent gaming, nothing more than Civilization 5, minecraft and maybe portal every now and again.

I also primarily use my computer for my movie viewing and music listening - my entire music collection will be stored on the machine and not on external drives. I do not use iCloud for my iPhone or iPad backups, nor do I use Apple Music for streaming.

I always have at least 4 desktops running at once. The ability to have multiple browsers, Photoshop, Lightroom, iTunes, pages, one note and any other software running smoothly all at once is ideal as I usually have 20-30 tabs going at a time. Having Adobe Creative Cloud and Dropbox running in the background is a must for me.

I probably won't upgrade this machine for another 5-7 years if not longer, so I would like to future proof myself as much as possible as this will be my primary computer. I am in no rush to make a purchase and am seriously considering waiting till the Skylake refresh if my machine can hold out that long. I am just looking for other people's opinions on what I should do and if these specs seem like a good choice for my needs. If you have another suggestion, I am open to any and all suggestions.

Thank you!

 

[almehairi13]

I would suggest you get the AMD edition to help some for your usage. Adding around $200 is great investment for the time you are willing to keep the laptop for.

otherwise if you feel your current Mac doing your job then its better to wait, more than half of the period for skylake refresh elapsed. If you go with this option you could start saving for the time it released and take the max specced one.

 

[happypeople]

Going by the MacRumors buying guide, the rMBP is nearing the end of its cycle. My only concern with waiting is the uncertainty of when we can reasonably expect the next update.
Could it be possible that the rMBP will be updated in January, or will the wait be into April?

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Going by the MacRumors buying guide, the rMBP is nearing the end of its cycle. My only concern with waiting is the uncertainty of when we can reasonably expect the next update.
Could it be possible that the rMBP will be updated in January, or will the wait be into April?

It could be any time between january and april we just don't know.

 

[maflynn]

It could be any time between january and april we just don't know.

Could even be longer to be honest. I mentioned this in another thread, but this waiting period is very similar to when I was waiting for the new models in 2011/2012. For what ever reason, Apple isn't always the first out of the gate when Intel rolls out the new chipsets. In 2012, everyone thought the same thing (april) but we didn't see it until June. I'm not saying that will be the case but rather be prepared for a good wait and be patient.

 

[happypeople]

Could even be longer to be honest. I mentioned this in another thread, but this waiting period is very similar to when I was waiting for the new models in 2011/2012. For what ever reason, Apple isn't always the first out of the gate when Intel rolls out the new chipsets. In 2012, everyone thought the same thing (april) but we didn't see it until June. I'm not saying that will be the case but rather be prepared for a good wait and be patient.

That would be quite the wait if they do not roll out an update until June. That being said, I think I am going to try and hold out until the refresh happened unless something happens to my current machine, in which case I will either purchase the top spec rMPB or pick up something to hold me over until the refresh happens. The wait also gives me the opportunity to save my pennies so that I am able to get exactly what I want to used for the next 6+ years. Fingers crossed that the wait will be as worth it as I am hoping it will be.

Thank you for the help and opinions everyone, I really appreciate having some input!

 

[maflynn]

I'm in a good situation myself, in that if they do, delay a rollout, I'm ok, since my 2012 rMBP is running fine. I'm on the fence of what to do for its replacement so the longer they take the more time I have to mull things over