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Choosing one of the new MBP... help?

J

jezebel12345

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 28, 2016
12
1
I currently have a mid 2010 MacBook Pro 13",
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce 320M 256 MB

I've been ready to upgrade for 6 months, as I am finding it a bit sluggish, even when just browsing. My most resource intense thing I do is play World of Warcraft, but I wouldn't call myself a "gamer", and am quite happy to play on my laptop.

I'm completely confused with all the options available with the new MBPs, and what will suit my needs. I'm looking for:
- longevity (5-6 years),
- portability (I prefer the 13", but the 15" has bigger, faster, "better?", processor and graphics)
- playing WoW casually
- browsing, email, the usual

I'm leaning toward:
  • 3.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
  • 16GB 2133MHz memory
  • 512GB PCIe-based SSD
Is the upgraded processor worth it?

Then I look at the 15" and this config; $1000 price difference:
  • 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz
  • 16GB 2133MHz memory
  • 512GB PCIe-based SSD
  • Radeon Pro 460 with 4GB memory
 
jezebel12345 said:
I currently have a mid 2010 MacBook Pro 13",
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce 320M 256 MB

I've been ready to upgrade for 6 months, as I am finding it a bit sluggish, even when just browsing. My most resource intense thing I do is play World of Warcraft, but I wouldn't call myself a "gamer", and am quite happy to play on my laptop.

I'm completely confused with all the options available with the new MBPs, and what will suit my needs. I'm looking for:
- longevity (5-6 years),
- portability (I prefer the 13", but the 15" has bigger, faster, "better?", processor and graphics)
- playing WoW casually
- browsing, email, the usual

I'm leaning toward:
  • 3.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
  • 16GB 2133MHz memory
  • 512GB PCIe-based SSD
Is the upgraded processor worth it?

Then I look at the 15" and this config; $1000 price difference:
  • 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz
  • 16GB 2133MHz memory
  • 512GB PCIe-based SSD
  • Radeon Pro 460 with 4GB memory
Click to expand...

Personally if we're talking 5-6 years and your use cases, you'd probably be better served looking at the 'cheaper' (lol) end of the new macbooks.
 
Haha, "cheaper" is funny. Can you be more specific regarding configs? Or are you suggesting even the non-touchbar version?
 
Personally, having read your use case, I would go for the $1799 macbook with touch bar. If you ever plan on reselling, the touchbar will likely be a visual indicator that the item is 'newer-gen', and hey, its one of the only forward-facing changes the new macbook pro has so you may as well grab it if you've waited this long. Aside from that, it has better graphics, better cpu, slightly faster memory, and a couple more thunderbolt 3 ports which I'd say overall is worth $300 more. From there, I can't specifically touch on whether or not you really need 512GB vs 256GB or 16GB ram vs 8GB ram.

From personal experience, I don't have the storage problems are folks seem to have and I think the 8GB RAM vs 16GB RAM is an overblown issue on Mac since its largely pretty RAM efficient to begin with. $200 is an insane premium for 8GB more ram personally.
 
I use my MBP as a secondary machine. I primarily use it for business travel (several times per month) and around the house if I don't want to be stuck in my office where i use a 27" MBP. I plan on ordering the 13", 2.9Ghz model, with the only upgrade being to 16GB RAM as I do occasionally use the MBP for editing large RAW image files.
 
I already have a 512G. At first it felt like way too much storage for me, but I now have half of it filled, and don't feel like wanting to clean up in order to squeeze into a newer computer with smaller storage. So I will spring for the bigger storage.

As for RAM, I'm undecided, not really knowing what felt experience more RAM would give me. Any thoughts?

Still stuck on processor as well. Again, what might a person notice with the different processors, keeping in mind looking toward 5-6 years of use?

Thanks so much for the wise input!
 
jezebel12345 said:
As for RAM, I'm undecided, not really knowing what felt experience more RAM would give me. Any thoughts?

Still stuck on processor as well. Again, what might a person notice with the different processors, keeping in mind looking toward 5-6 years of use?
Click to expand...

definitely upgrade the ram to 16gb. its not an upgradeable piece so in 1-3 years when 16gb could be the standard, you wont have to sell the computer for a device with more ram.

as for the processor, I went with the 2.6 on the 15" Macbook. The 2.9 is theoretically 10% faster, but will it be noticeable day to day? no. Your call on that one.
 
jezebel12345 said:
I currently have a mid 2010 MacBook Pro 13",
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce 320M 256 MB

I've been ready to upgrade for 6 months, as I am finding it a bit sluggish, even when just browsing. My most resource intense thing I do is play World of Warcraft, but I wouldn't call myself a "gamer", and am quite happy to play on my laptop.

I'm completely confused with all the options available with the new MBPs, and what will suit my needs. I'm looking for:
- longevity (5-6 years),
- portability (I prefer the 13", but the 15" has bigger, faster, "better?", processor and graphics)
- playing WoW casually
- browsing, email, the usual

I'm leaning toward:
  • 3.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
  • 16GB 2133MHz memory
  • 512GB PCIe-based SSD
Is the upgraded processor worth it?

Then I look at the 15" and this config; $1000 price difference:
  • 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz
  • 16GB 2133MHz memory
  • 512GB PCIe-based SSD
  • Radeon Pro 460 with 4GB memory
Click to expand...
If i were you, i would go with the base 15in but upgrade the SSD and the Graphics
  • 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz
  • 16GB 2133MHz memory
  • 512GB PCIe-based SSD
  • Radeon Pro 460 with 4GB memory
according to my research, the Pro 460 is comparable to the GTX 965m, which is aprox 1,300% faster than your current 320m.
The 13in config comes to 2,499
My proposed 15in config comes to 2,799
Your 15in config comes to 3,099
That is a 300$ price delta rather than a 1000$ price delta, which actually looks more like a 600$ price delta.

if you have any questions please ask me
 
So much good advice here! Sounds like across the board, people are not really recommending upgrading the processor once the model is chosen, but moreso choosing a model that best fits. There seems to be a general recommendation to upgrading the RAM and storage (which is in line with my feeling too).

Another piece of info regarding price... I'm in Canada. So, prices are a bit different.

This is what I'm looking at for 13" config $2,789.00 CDN:
  • 2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
  • 16GB 2133MHz memory
  • 512GB PCIe-based SSD
  • Intel Iris Graphics 550
compared to the 15" $3,479.00 CDN config (recommended by Clint):
  • 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz
  • 16GB 2133MHz memory
  • 512GB PCIe-based SSD
  • Radeon Pro 460 with 4GB memory
edit:
Or, I think Clint's 13" config is with upgraded processor, comes in at $3149 CDN
  • 3.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
  • 16GB 2133MHz memory
  • 512GB PCIe-based SSD
  • Intel Iris Graphics 550
 
Last edited:
Whoops, made a mistake in my wording. I was more looking at the specs that you picked for the 15in and making my recommendation to allow for pretty much the same performance as your choice but for less money. i truly dont think that there is really that much difference in the clocks of the processors. and the graphics, ram, and ssd are far more worth the price than the tiny processor spec bump
 
I wish I could have saved my $200 upgrading to i7 if I knew I probably won't see the performance increase... lol. For your use, those two configs seem good. Since you play WoW, maybe go with the 15" for the extra screen real estate. Do you use an external monitor?
 
Smoovejayy said:
I wish I could have saved my $200 upgrading to i7 if I knew I probably won't see the performance increase... lol. For your use, those two configs seem good. Since you play WoW, maybe go with the 15" for the extra screen real estate. Do you use an external monitor?
Click to expand...
did you buy a 2016 machine?
 
Clint, you were right in your first assumptions. I don't know enough about computers to know if my type of use warrants upgrading a processor for the model I choose. Adding to the confusion is that comparing the processors and graphics of the 13" to 15" are automatically different. If it were *just* about screen size, I'd go for the 13". However the 15" automatically has different (better?) processors and graphics, so I'm exploring that option for the processor/graphics reason, less so about the screen size reason.

No, I have not purchased yet. And no, I do not use any external monitors, and my laptop is my only computer... has always been for as long as Apple laptops have been around :)
 
I wouldn't bother with the processor upgrade, as others have said. Doesn't sound like you'd notice it, and you never get back that much back on upgrades when you resell, as people looking at second-hand devices are probably budget-concious and not as spec-concious.

The RAM upgrade may be more worthwhile, but if your use cases don't change in the 5 odd years you'll keep it, again, may be of limited benefit to you.

Personally, I'd go with the 13" Touch Bar model with 512GB storage, and upgrade the RAM at your discretion. I was already over budget so kept it at 8GB, just hope I won't regret that in a few years! The non-Touch Bar one would probably suffice, but for the sake of a couple of hundred dollars, plus double the ports, a more powerful processor and faster RAM, I'd go for the one with it included.
 
jezebel12345 said:
Clint, you were right in your first assumptions. I don't know enough about computers to know if my type of use warrants upgrading a processor for the model I choose. Adding to the confusion is that comparing the processors and graphics of the 13" to 15" are automatically different. If it were *just* about screen size, I'd go for the 13". However the 15" automatically has different (better?) processors and graphics, so I'm exploring that option for the processor/graphics reason, less so about the screen size reason.

No, I have not purchased yet. And no, I do not use any external monitors, and my laptop is my only computer... has always been for as long as Apple laptops have been around :)
Click to expand...
Yes, even the base 15 has fundamentally a more powerful processor, as it is a quad core. the graphics are actually negligible between the 13in's iris 550 and the 15in's Radeon Pro 450. My research indicates that the performance between the base Radeon pro 450 and the out going R9 M370X on the 2015 15in MBP is negligible. that is where i came up with those numbers (source: http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Iris-550-Mobile-Skylake-vs-AMD-R9-M370X/m129148vsm30774)

to be honest, if you go with the 15in, it is pretty much a no brainer to get the Radeon Pro 460, as it vastly improves the graphics performance
 
Made the plunge! Thank you for all your advice!

15-inch MacBook Pro - Space Grey
computer+USB-C/USB adapter+taxes=$4000 *faint*
With the following configuration:
• 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz
• 16GB 2133MHz memory
• 512GB PCIe-based SSD
• Radeon Pro 460 with 4GB memory
 
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