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Can't decide what config to get for MBP

K

KateCao

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 4, 2015
10
0
Want to get an macbook pro 13 inch for personal use.

I am a Asp.Net programmer (new job , 4 months now), interested in iOS development as well. Thinking of doing something at my spare time. (So want to run both OS at the same time), never owned MBP, had an old model iMac.(2007 mid). 6Gb Ram is not enough, can't keep both running smoothly.

So i do desire a fast machine.
15 inch is too heavy and expensive
thinking of getting
13 inch pro with i7

preferred 16GB Ram , some said it's not necessary, so how do everyoen think as it's not upgradable?

and really struggle to decide whether to choose 256G or 512G SSD.
As if i don't need to use that much . it's such a waste. but thinking of have to carry an external hard drive, feel like adding extra pain of using it..

my old iMac now have 256G harddrive, I had 80G partitioned for Windows now Mac side I have 17G free (I think i also had a chunk of photos etc i can move to cloud services ), windows side has 40G free, but mostly becuase as it's too slow to run it parallel, i couldn't be bother to restart and switch to windows to use.

any suggestion will be appreciated :)

thanks
 
Hieveryone

Hieveryone

macrumors 603
Apr 11, 2014
5,627
2,339
USA
Get a 128GB or 64GB Micro SD card and a 256 SSD in your MBPr.

Get 16GB RAM.

Get an i7 processor.

Your work is done.

You're welcome.
 
acctman

acctman

macrumors 65816
Oct 26, 2012
1,332
881
Georgia
Start with your budget and realistic needs. My budget was $2k ... from what I read and my past experience 8gb RAM is enough for my needs. I already have a Mac Mini that does all my code debugging and I needed something portable that can handle PS, Xcode, Dev Apps, multi-task quickly, and hold the large graphic/app screen video files. i went with the configuration of rMBP 13" 2.8ghz 8gb RAM and 512gb SSD.

Everyone is different with needs some swear by the 15" maxed out, some people actually love the MB Air smaller screens.

Before purchasing check out BH and Amazon, I was about to save $300 ($1,709.99) by purchasing directly from Amazon and got my rMBP in 2 days with Prime.
 
K

KateCao

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 4, 2015
10
0
OH. really

yjchua95 said:
Seconded, but without the i7.

The i7 and the i5 in the 13" are both dual cores. The difference between both of them are almost nonexistent.
Click to expand...


Oh, really, so the performance improvement wouldn't be noticeable? Or in other way, the i5 performance wouldn't be noticably worse. I know very little about it.

My ideal use is: run OS, parralle windows at the same time and may switch to use applications in each side frequently, may alternatively develop in Visual Studio Or Other IDE (XCODE), Database Server, music is always on (I like listen to online, so not from local music files), mail always on, Chrome 10-20 tabs. Evernote always on.

Do you think i5 will be able to run the tasks very smoothly
If that's the case I may can opt for the 2.8 i5 to save some money.:)

Thanks very much
 
Y

yjchua95

macrumors 604
Apr 23, 2011
6,725
233
GVA, KUL, MEL (current), ZQN
KateCao said:
Oh, really, so the performance improvement wouldn't be noticeable? Or in other way, the i5 performance wouldn't be noticably worse. I know very little about it.

My ideal use is: run OS, parralle windows at the same time and may switch to use applications in each side frequently, may alternatively develop in Visual Studio Or Other IDE (XCODE), Database Server, music is always on (I like listen to online, so not from local music files), mail always on, Chrome 10-20 tabs. Evernote always on.

Do you think i5 will be able to run the tasks very smoothly
If that's the case I may can opt for the 2.8 i5 to save some money.:)

Thanks very much
Click to expand...

1. Don't use Chrome. It's a massive resource hog.

An i5 will do you fine. But if you run VMs all the time, get a 15" solely for the quad core alone.

A dual core i7 and i5 perform almost identically, but a quad core i7 is at least double the performance of a dual core i5.
 
K

KateCao

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 4, 2015
10
0
yjchua95 said:
1. Don't use Chrome. It's a massive resource hog.

An i5 will do you fine. But if you run VMs all the time, get a 15" solely for the quad core alone.

A dual core i7 and i5 perform almost identically, but a quad core i7 is at least double the performance of a dual core i5.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much. :)
So is a 2.2 quad Core i7 is much better than 2.8 dual core i5?
Can I work out by 2.2 * 4 is greater than 2.8*2 ....
Sorry for my ignorance...

In this case, with 16G ram and 256 ssd.
The price diff of the two mentioned above is about 300
One is bigger screen. One is lighter.

Hard call..
 
Y

yjchua95

macrumors 604
Apr 23, 2011
6,725
233
GVA, KUL, MEL (current), ZQN
KateCao said:
Thank you so much. :)
So is a 2.2 quad Core i7 is much better than 2.8 dual core i5?
Can I work out by 2.2 * 4 is greater than 2.8*2 ....
Sorry for my ignorance...

In this case, with 16G ram and 256 ssd.
The price diff of the two mentioned above is about 300
One is bigger screen. One is lighter.

Hard call..
Click to expand...

2.2*4 is way faster than 2.8*2.

http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/compare/662379?baseline=1391815

This is between the 2.2GHz quad core i7-4770HQ in the 15" and the 2.8GHz dual core i7 late-2013 13".
 
K

KateCao

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 4, 2015
10
0
yjchua95 said:
The 13" non-retina and the 15" retina are exactly the same weight :)

That's how light the 15" really is.
Click to expand...

Oh. Yes, I meant the 13 ich with Retina display, isn't it 1.5kg and the 15 inch is 2kg ?
 
G

Giev

macrumors member
Aug 20, 2013
94
7
KateCao said:
Oh. Yes, I meant the 13 ich with Retina display, isn't it 1.5kg and the 15 inch is 2kg ?
Click to expand...

I suggest to decide on the form factor and screen size alone rather than weight.

When you compare the weight alone, 0.5 kg is 25% of the total weight, but you would probably never carry the laptop alone. Normaly, a laptop backback with accesories etc would be around 5Kg (just and example) where this 0.5 becomes just 10%.

With regards to the processor, the 13 inch i5 (dual-core) is more than capable for what you described and can easily run parallels. I would suggest to save the money on the processor upgrade and spend it on a larger SSD and 16 GB of RAM (or perhaps upgrade to the entry level 15 inch model). VMs will consume alot of space and that SSD storage will serve you much more than the idle CPU which will peak every now and then.

Also if you code alot on your Macbook, you will really apprecite the bigger screen on the 15 inch (side by side windows, etc) - unless you are planning to use an external monitor

HTH,
 
MrGimper

MrGimper

macrumors G3
Sep 22, 2012
8,733
12,419
Andover, UK
Giev said:
I suggest to decide on the form factor and screen size alone rather than weight.

When you compare the weight alone, 0.5 kg is 25% of the total weight, but you would probably never carry the laptop alone. Normaly, a laptop backback with accesories etc would be around 5Kg (just and example) where this 0.5 becomes just 10%.

With regards to the processor, the 13 inch i5 (dual-core) is more than capable for what you described and can easily run parallels. I would suggest to save the money on the processor upgrade and spend it on a larger SSD and 16 GB of RAM (or perhaps upgrade to the entry level 15 inch model). VMs will consume alot of space and that SSD storage will serve you much more than the idle CPU which will peak every now and then.

Also if you code alot on your Macbook, you will really apprecite the bigger screen on the 15 inch (side by side windows, etc) - unless you are planning to use an external monitor

HTH,
Click to expand...

Sound advice

I am a good example of this...

I had a 2012 13" i7/8/512 Air. After I got my 5K iMac, I looked to upgrade the Air to a 13" Pro.

I originally purchased a new 2014 13" i7 3.0/16/512 from Apple. Due to dead pixels I returned this and decided to instead snap up a i5 2.8/16/1TB that had just appeared on the refurb store.

The i5 2.8 geekbenches about 150 points less than the i7, about 5%. I've not noticed this at all. I run parallels and fusion a lot and decided the increase in SSD space far outweighed an unnoticeable 5% speed deficit.

Also, note that the 2014 i5 2.8 actually has higher scores in geekbench than the 2013 i7 2.8

Edit: Just to add that I run my 13" at scaled 1920x1200 HiDPI all the time and it's still awesome
 
Meister

Meister

Suspended
Oct 10, 2013
5,456
4,310
I wouldn't fiddle with the various upgrades suggested here.
Get the mid-range 13" or the base 15".
Those are the best bang for the buck.
 
K

KateCao

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 4, 2015
10
0
Giev said:
I suggest to decide on the form factor and screen size alone rather than weight.

When you compare the weight alone, 0.5 kg is 25% of the total weight, but you would probably never carry the laptop alone. Normaly, a laptop backback with accesories etc would be around 5Kg (just and example) where this 0.5 becomes just 10%.

With regards to the processor, the 13 inch i5 (dual-core) is more than capable for what you described and can easily run parallels. I would suggest to save the money on the processor upgrade and spend it on a larger SSD and 16 GB of RAM (or perhaps upgrade to the entry level 15 inch model). VMs will consume alot of space and that SSD storage will serve you much more than the idle CPU which will peak every now and then.

Also if you code alot on your Macbook, you will really apprecite the bigger screen on the 15 inch (side by side windows, etc) - unless you are planning to use an external monitor

HTH,
Click to expand...

Good point. Yeah, the weight might be okay,but you also need a slightly bigger bad to carry it around. So I guess if portability is priority, then go for 13 inch, if doesn't need to carry around all the time then go for a base 15 inch.
 
K

KateCao

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 4, 2015
10
0
Thanks everyone.
I finally decided to go for 13inch 2.8Ghz i5, 16Gb Ram, 256SSD MBPr.
I think it will be good enough for my need. and if I ever run out of space I can purchase a micro SD card as suggested. :)
 
T

TRC-WA

macrumors regular
Sep 26, 2014
199
0
KateCao said:
Thanks everyone.
I finally decided to go for 13inch 2.8Ghz i5, 16Gb Ram, 256SSD MBPr.
I think it will be good enough for my need. and if I ever run out of space I can purchase a micro SD card as suggested. :)
Click to expand...

What'd you pay for it?
 
S

snaky69

macrumors 603
Mar 14, 2008
5,908
488
KateCao said:
Want to get an macbook pro 13 inch for personal use.

I am a Asp.Net programmer (new job , 4 months now), interested in iOS development as well. Thinking of doing something at my spare time. (So want to run both OS at the same time), never owned MBP, had an old model iMac.(2007 mid). 6Gb Ram is not enough, can't keep both running smoothly.

So i do desire a fast machine.
15 inch is too heavy and expensive
thinking of getting
13 inch pro with i7

preferred 16GB Ram , some said it's not necessary, so how do everyoen think as it's not upgradable?

and really struggle to decide whether to choose 256G or 512G SSD.
As if i don't need to use that much . it's such a waste. but thinking of have to carry an external hard drive, feel like adding extra pain of using it..

my old iMac now have 256G harddrive, I had 80G partitioned for Windows now Mac side I have 17G free (I think i also had a chunk of photos etc i can move to cloud services ), windows side has 40G free, but mostly becuase as it's too slow to run it parallel, i couldn't be bother to restart and switch to windows to use.

any suggestion will be appreciated :)

thanks
Click to expand...
I'd skip the processor upgrade. The performance difference is about 6% in artificial benchmarks. It's just not worth the price hike.
 
K

KateCao

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 4, 2015
10
0
TRC-WA said:
What'd you pay for it?
Click to expand...
The education price is $2059 for this

----------
snaky69 said:
I'd skip the processor upgrade. The performance difference is about 6% in artificial benchmarks. It's just not worth the price hike.
Click to expand...

Oh, really, cuz I can stilll cancel the order and make a new one.
it cost $110 to upgrad from $2.6 to $2.8, but $220 to upgrade from 2.8 to 3.0
 
T

TRC-WA

macrumors regular
Sep 26, 2014
199
0
KateCao said:
The education price is $2059 for this
Click to expand...

For 13inch 2.8Ghz i5, 16Gb Ram, 256SSD MBPr.?

Weird... I got 2.2 quad core i7 with same ram and SSD plus a 15" display for less... regular $1999... I got it for $1709 after discounts.

Your price doesn't make a lot of sense... Apple store shows a 13" 2.8 i5 16GB with a 512SSD for $1999...
 
K

KateCao

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 4, 2015
10
0
TRC-WA said:
For 13inch 2.8Ghz i5, 16Gb Ram, 256SSD MBPr.?

Weird... I got 2.2 quad core i7 with same ram and SSD plus a 15" display for less... regular $1999... I got it for $1709 after discounts.

Your price doesn't make a lot of sense... Apple store shows a 13" 2.8 i5 16GB with a 512SSD for $1999...
Click to expand...

Oh. ... maybe because I'm in Australia? That is AUD $2059

And your discount is quite decent!!
 
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