Confused about which MBP is right for my workflow

[jackinthebox85]

Hello everyone, my first post here

I’ve tried to find a solution by scouring different forums with no luck, primarily because the focus mostly tends to be around creative workflows, which is why I’m seeking help here.

My issue is the following: I currently own a 2016 MBP with an i7 (6th Gen 2.7ghz), 16GB of ram, and a 512GB SSD. This setup doesn’t seem to be supporting my workflow sufficiently and I often get a lagging computer and in some cases get the two most critical apps I use freezing/crashing: Microsoft Excel and a Java-based Stock Trading Application (Interactive Brokers).

My typical workflow includes heavy Excel file (with heavy files and regular and iterative computations), the above mentioned Java trading platform, safari with 10–30 tabs, other MS Office apps (outlook, word, OneNote), and Windows 10 running in Parallels (sometimes).

I’m currently considering upgrading to the new 2019 MBP with 32GB of ram but I’m not sure whether an i9 will help with the above workflow or if I should just stick with an i7 (it seems from initial reviews that 2019 i9 MBP is somewhat better with thermals?). Cost of i9 vs i7 is not a factor for now.

I’d really like to stick with a Mac however, if consensus says Windows is significantly better for my workflow then I would also consider sacrificing my Mac in favour of efficiency

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

 

[iluvmacs99]

Hello everyone, my first post here

I’ve tried to find a solution by scouring different forums with no luck, primarily because the focus mostly tends to be around creative workflows, which is why I’m seeking help here.

My issue is the following: I currently own a 2016 MBP with an i7 (6th Gen 2.7ghz), 16GB of ram, and a 512GB SSD. This setup doesn’t seem to be supporting my workflow sufficiently and I often get a lagging computer and in some cases get the two most critical apps I use freezing/crashing: Microsoft Excel and a Java-based Stock Trading Application (Interactive Brokers).

My typical workflow includes heavy Excel file (with heavy files and regular and iterative computations), the above mentioned Java trading platform, safari with 10–30 tabs, other MS Office apps (outlook, word, OneNote), and Windows 10 running in Parallels (sometimes).

I’m currently considering upgrading to the new 2019 MBP with 32GB of ram but I’m not sure whether an i9 will help with the above workflow or if I should just stick with an i7 (it seems from initial reviews that 2019 i9 MBP is somewhat better with thermals?). Cost of i9 vs i7 is not a factor for now.

I’d really like to stick with a Mac however, if consensus says Windows is significantly better for my workflow then I would also consider sacrificing my Mac in favour of efficiency

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

It could be 2 things. Your 512Gb SSD is nearing full capacity with a few Gb to spare? If you're opening so many tabs with Safari, then with 16Gb of ram and your Java stock based trading software, you might start running out of physical ram and the system is heavily paging the SSD to offload the excess data.

I would check your SSD boot drive and make sure you have at least 20% of capacity (100Gb) being unused and should be reserved as unused. OSX needs 20% breathing room for paging effectiveness before you start experiencing crashes. Offload unused files onto a spare external hard drive to restore back your 100GB from your boot 512 SSD drive. Secondly, you might want to consider installing a memory management software like memory cleaner from Rocky and Studio. You can also see the pressure point where your memory needs lie. If you can not resolve the freezes after these remedies, then you need to look at doubling your RAM and storage needs on your next computer. Your issue is not really the processor as it has enough processing capacity with your applications. It's just memory and disk issues that forces you to deal with freezes and crashes.

https://rockysandstudio.com/support.html

 

[jackinthebox85]

It could be 2 things. Your 512Gb SSD is nearing full capacity with a few Gb to spare? If you're opening so many tabs with Safari, then with 16Gb of ram and your Java stock based trading software, you might start running out of physical ram and the system is heavily paging the SSD to offload the excess data.

I would check your SSD boot drive and make sure you have at least 20% of capacity (100Gb) being unused and should be reserved as unused. OSX needs 20% breathing room for paging effectiveness before you start experiencing crashes. Offload unused files onto a spare external hard drive to restore back your 100GB from your boot 512 SSD drive. Secondly, you might want to consider installing a memory management software like memory cleaner from Rocky and Studio. You can also see the pressure point where your memory needs lie. If you can not resolve the freezes after these remedies, then you need to look at doubling your RAM and storage needs on your next computer. Your issue is not really the processor as it has enough processing capacity with your applications. It's just memory and disk issues that forces you to deal with freezes and crashes.

https://rockysandstudio.com/support.html

Thanks, that's very helpful. You're spot on regarding the spare capacity on my SSD - I've been constantly having to free up space by shifting things onto external hard drives. I do need the extra space and so I'm looking at the 2TB SSD 32GB Ram 2019 MacBook Pro, but I'm still torn between going for the i9 or the i7. From the initial reviews it seems the i9 performs meaningfully better than the i7 version... Does the Excel computational work make use of the extra cores/threading?

 

[iluvmacs99]

Thanks, that's very helpful. You're spot on regarding the spare capacity on my SSD - I've been constantly having to free up space by shifting things onto external hard drives. I do need the extra space and so I'm looking at the 2TB SSD 32GB Ram 2019 MacBook Pro, but I'm still torn between going for the i9 or the i7. From the initial reviews it seems the i9 performs meaningfully better than the i7 version... Does the Excel computational work make use of the extra cores/threading?

Your issues are with RAM and disk space and not with the CPU. The i9 specs is geared towards more for video editing as it can be configured with a Vega dGPU and extra cores benefit applications that use them such as Final Cut ProX and Logix X which are creative applications. I think Excel benefits more from fast single core performance which the 6 core Macbook Pro does well and so is the i9. If this new Macbook Pro could allow upgrading to more than 32Gb RAM and more than 2Tb SSD which doesn't look like it does, then you might run the risk 3 years down the road of needing more ram and SSD space as web browsing and Java apps may require more memory resources. So paying more for i9 may not justify your cost/benefit needs as the i7. But it just depends on how you can justify the upgrade. Does the i9 allow you to trade more efficiently in the market that you could earn more yield on your investment return than using the i7. If it does, then go for the i9. If not, save the money and invest it and play a wait and see. If you need a new computer 3 years down the road, then just sell the i7 and get maybe an i10 at that time with more memory and SSD space. If you buy the i7 from the Apple store, you have 15 days to evaluate it. Play with it and see if it meets your needs well. If not, return it and upgrade to the i9 with the same memory specs.