Considering canceling my 15 tbMBP order for 13 ntMPB

[Peptide]

At first, I placed an order for the 15 inch 2.9/16/1TB/460 mbp with touchbar, but as I went into my local store to try it out, I just couldn't get comfortable with the touch bar. It was only useful for navigating multiple tabs in Safari (for me personally). I didn't like how the touch bar needed to be expanded each time you wanted to use it (unless this can be changed). And, I'm a bit hesitant now due to the battery lifes being reported recently.

My type of usage would be for heavy student multitasking - multiple tabs open, multiple PDFs open in preview, and multiple word documents. I'm assuming the 13 inch nMBP with upgraded processor, ram, and storage can handle this. This would be coming from a 2013 13inch macbook air with upgraded processor and 8gb ram, and 128gb storage.

Though the extra screen real estate was one of the main drivers in ordering the 15 inch, I think getting the nMBP along with a 4k external monitor would give me the best of both worlds - portability and screen size. That being said, I'm quite uninformed when it comes to what setups can drive what monitors. If I'm understanding my research correctly, a 4k monitor can be driven at 60Hz with even the base 13 nMPB due to having thunderbolt 3? If so, what 4k monitors are suggested that won't result in a laggy experience?

 

[dk808]

You do know the 2015 15 inch is still being sold right? i wouldnt settle for the non touch 13 inch

 

[Peptide]

Yes, I was aware. Why wouldn't you settle for the 13 non-touch?

Does the 2015 15inch get substantial battery life?

 

[dk808]

Yes, I was aware. Why wouldn't you settle for the 13 non-touch?

Does the 2015 15inch get substantial battery life?

Isnt the 13 inch non touch really underpowered this year? its like a macbook now, not a macbook pro

 

[Peptide]

Underpowered relative to the 2015 13inch, but not significantly. I've heard the performance is similar to the 2015 15 inch.

 

[businezguy]

If you are worried about battery life, why not shut off the dGPU on the 15 inch? Doing so would lead to slightly better performance than the ntmbp 13 inch model. You'd always have the dGPU available for when you need it, not to mention more screen real estate.

 

[Peptide]

If you are worried about battery life, why not shut off the dGPU on the 15 inch? Doing so would lead to slightly better performance than the ntmbp 13 inch model. You'd always have the dGPU available for when you need it, not to mention more screen real estate.

I was totally unaware this was possible. Is this done in settings?

 

[dk808]

Underpowered relative to the 2015 13inch, but not significantly. I've heard the performance is similar to the 2015 15 inch.

The 2015 15 inch is way more powerful its not even close

 

[MartyCan]

At first, I placed an order for the 15 inch 2.9/16/1TB/460 mbp with touchbar, but as I went into my local store to try it out, I just couldn't get comfortable with the touch bar. It was only useful for navigating multiple tabs in Safari (for me personally). I didn't like how the touch bar needed to be expanded each time you wanted to use it (unless this can be changed). And, I'm a bit hesitant now due to the battery lifes being reported recently.

My type of usage would be for heavy student multitasking - multiple tabs open, multiple PDFs open in preview, and multiple word documents. I'm assuming the 13 inch nMBP with upgraded processor, ram, and storage can handle this. This would be coming from a 2013 13inch macbook air with upgraded processor and 8gb ram, and 128gb storage.

Though the extra screen real estate was one of the main drivers in ordering the 15 inch, I think getting the nMBP along with a 4k external monitor would give me the best of both worlds - portability and screen size. That being said, I'm quite uninformed when it comes to what setups can drive what monitors. If I'm understanding my research correctly, a 4k monitor can be driven at 60Hz with even the base 13 nMPB due to having thunderbolt 3? If so, what 4k monitors are suggested that won't result in a laggy experience?

Please do! It will move me up by 1 in the waiting list!

 

[wchigo]

At first, I placed an order for the 15 inch 2.9/16/1TB/460 mbp with touchbar, but as I went into my local store to try it out, I just couldn't get comfortable with the touch bar. It was only useful for navigating multiple tabs in Safari (for me personally). I didn't like how the touch bar needed to be expanded each time you wanted to use it (unless this can be changed). And, I'm a bit hesitant now due to the battery lifes being reported recently.

My type of usage would be for heavy student multitasking - multiple tabs open, multiple PDFs open in preview, and multiple word documents. I'm assuming the 13 inch nMBP with upgraded processor, ram, and storage can handle this. This would be coming from a 2013 13inch macbook air with upgraded processor and 8gb ram, and 128gb storage.

Though the extra screen real estate was one of the main drivers in ordering the 15 inch, I think getting the nMBP along with a 4k external monitor would give me the best of both worlds - portability and screen size. That being said, I'm quite uninformed when it comes to what setups can drive what monitors. If I'm understanding my research correctly, a 4k monitor can be driven at 60Hz with even the base 13 nMPB due to having thunderbolt 3? If so, what 4k monitors are suggested that won't result in a laggy experience?

Honestly if you aren't going to be doing much in terms of video/photo editing or using real intensive programs, you can probably get by quite easily with the base model. My use case is pretty similar to yours and I've been able to get by with a base model 2015 12" rMB for the last year and a half. The only reason I'm moving on to the 2016 13" nTB MBP is to hopefully be rid of the occasional UI lag, have a bigger battery and more storage (I chose to upgrade to 512 SSD on the 13" and no other upgrades).

If you don't want to use external storage then I would go ahead with getting a bigger SSD but I don't think you'll end up seeing much, if any, difference paying for a better processor and more RAM aside from a bigger hole in your wallet. If you really feel like you need a little more oomph, I would say go for more RAM and just leave the processor as-is.

Isnt the 13 inch non touch really underpowered this year? its like a macbook now, not a macbook pro

Well that depends on what you are comparing it to. Benchmarks put the 2016 13" nTB at being a little faster (negligible difference) than its 2015 counterpart. If you are going to compare it to a 15", then of course it's going to be underpowered, but it's not exactly a fair comparison. It's much more powerful than the 12" MacBook and if anything is more like the new MacBook Air, rather than a MacBook.

 

[Peptide]

Honestly if you aren't going to be doing much in terms of video/photo editing or using real intensive programs, you can probably get by quite easily with the base model. My use case is pretty similar to yours and I've been able to get by with a base model 2015 12" rMB for the last year and a half. The only reason I'm moving on to the 2016 13" nTB MBP is to hopefully be rid of the occasional UI lag, have a bigger battery and more storage (I chose to upgrade to 512 SSD on the 13" and no other upgrades).

If you don't want to use external storage then I would go ahead with getting a bigger SSD but I don't think you'll end up seeing much, if any, difference paying for a better processor and more RAM aside from a bigger hole in your wallet. If you really feel like you need a little more oomph, I would say go for more RAM and just leave the processor as-is.


Well that depends on what you are comparing it to. Benchmarks put the 2016 13" nTB at being a little faster (negligible difference) than its 2015 counterpart. If you are going to compare it to a 15", then of course it's going to be underpowered, but it's not exactly a fair comparison. It's much more powerful than the 12" MacBook and if anything is more like the new MacBook Air, rather than a MacBook.

The only programs that I can envision running at this time are chemdraw, pymol, and mestrenova, which programs used for research, but I don't think they are very demanding of the CPU. However, I can always use these programs on a school computer. I'm also experiencing minimal UI lag on my 2013 MBA. Do you think UI lag is inevitable?

 

[wchigo]

The only programs that I can envision running at this time are chemdraw, pymol, and mestrenova, which programs used for research, but I don't think they are very demanding of the CPU. However, I can always use these programs on a school computer. I'm also experiencing minimal UI lag on my 2013 MBA. Do you think UI lag is inevitable?

I think it depends but so far I've been hearing good things about the 2016 13" MBP. I remember getting some on my late 2013 13" rMBP but from what I can recall it didn't have a great GPU in it, and the current 2015 12" rMB I'm using is, across the board, much less powerful than my previous rMBP so UI lag/stuttering is a given (it occasionally happens even when just scrolling on web pages with not much else open in the background).

From the non-TB MBP thread here on this very forum, it sounds like the 13" non-TB works quite smoothly and doesn't have much, if any, UI lag when compared to older machines; at least, that's the impression I've been getting from others who actually own the device. I won't get my 13" until at least this weekend so I can't speak from personal experience, but if anything it's going to be a way smoother experience than I have currently.

I actually think it's going to be fine and honestly it's a GPU thing more than CPU or RAM, so the only way to try and avoid that is by going up to the TB model, which will come at the expense of battery life. I'm not sure how taxing those programs you mentioned will be on the machine (any 3D rendering?) but I think the base model, or just upgrading the storage, should be plenty for your needs. If you plan to keep the laptop long-term and want more "future proofing" then I would say go ahead and get more RAM too, but personally I think the CPU upgrade is unnecessary.

 

[Peptide]

I think it depends but so far I've been hearing good things about the 2016 13" MBP. I remember getting some on my late 2013 13" rMBP but from what I can recall it didn't have a great GPU in it, and the current 2015 12" rMB I'm using is, across the board, much less powerful than my previous rMBP so UI lag/stuttering is a given (it occasionally happens even when just scrolling on web pages with not much else open in the background).

From the non-TB MBP thread here on this very forum, it sounds like the 13" non-TB works quite smoothly and doesn't have much, if any, UI lag when compared to older machines; at least, that's the impression I've been getting from others who actually own the device. I won't get my 13" until at least this weekend so I can't speak from personal experience, but if anything it's going to be a way smoother experience than I have currently.

I actually think it's going to be fine and honestly it's a GPU thing more than CPU or RAM, so the only way to try and avoid that is by going up to the TB model, which will come at the expense of battery life. I'm not sure how taxing those programs you mentioned will be on the machine (any 3D rendering?) but I think the base model, or just upgrading the storage, should be plenty for your needs. If you plan to keep the laptop long-term and want more "future proofing" then I would say go ahead and get more RAM too, but personally I think the CPU upgrade is unnecessary.

Well, pymol would be the one that deals with anything 3D. You can download a structure of a protein and use pymol to visualize it in 3D, but you aren't actually creating a 3D image and exporting it.

And the i5 processor seems to be fine from what I've read as well. I'm assuming it'll run cooler? I upgraded my MBA to i7 and sometimes it just run real hot and I think the battery life suffered a bit from being i7.

Are you going to run an external monitor setup? For USB-C monitors, I understand it'll stay charged for as long as it's plugged in. Does that affect battery longevity? I remember reading that you want to have regular battery discharge.

 

[wchigo]

Well, pymol would be the one that deals with anything 3D. You can download a structure of a protein and use pymol to visualize it in 3D, but you aren't actually creating a 3D image and exporting it.

And the i5 processor seems to be fine from what I've read as well. I'm assuming it'll run cooler? I upgraded my MBA to i7 and sometimes it just run real hot and I think the battery life suffered a bit from being i7.

Are you going to run an external monitor setup? For USB-C monitors, I understand it'll stay charged for as long as it's plugged in. Does that affect battery longevity? I remember reading that you want to have regular battery discharge.

The i5 will likely run cooler but I've not looked into what it'll mean for battery life for the i5 vs the i7. I don't imagine it will have a huge effect unless you're running the machine at near max clock speeds for a prolonged period of time.

Maybe very occasionally but for the majority of the time, probably not. I have a work provided desktop that is connected to my company's intranet and there are certain programs I can only run on it and I have a Windows desktop at home for gaming. The MBP will be used for everything at work that doesn't require the company intranet and I do use it occasionally at home despite having an iPad Air 2 but lately when I've done that it's just using my MB untethered whereas I used to connect it to my TV via HDMI.

Being plugged in 24/7 for lengthy durations can have an effect on battery health but as long as you unplug it occasionally and let it run a bit on battery you'll be okay. As a student, will you be bringing your laptop around? If you unplug daily and let it discharge as you use it during the day, you'll be fine. I unplug when I bring my MB to work and usually plug it in right away when I get home up until I'm heading out to work the next day and I've never had issues with battery health. On the opposite side, if you're never going to unplug it then battery health won't really matter, will it?

 

[Peptide]

The i5 will likely run cooler but I've not looked into what it'll mean for battery life for the i5 vs the i7. I don't imagine it will have a huge effect unless you're running the machine at near max clock speeds for a prolonged period of time.

Maybe very occasionally but for the majority of the time, probably not. I have a work provided desktop that is connected to my company's intranet and there are certain programs I can only run on it and I have a Windows desktop at home for gaming. The MBP will be used for everything at work that doesn't require the company intranet and I do use it occasionally at home despite having an iPad Air 2 but lately when I've done that it's just using my MB untethered whereas I used to connect it to my TV via HDMI.

Being plugged in 24/7 for lengthy durations can have an effect on battery health but as long as you unplug it occasionally and let it run a bit on battery you'll be okay. As a student, will you be bringing your laptop around? If you unplug daily and let it discharge as you use it during the day, you'll be fine. I unplug when I bring my MB to work and usually plug it in right away when I get home up until I'm heading out to work the next day and I've never had issues with battery health. On the opposite side, if you're never going to unplug it then battery health won't really matter, will it?

I think I'm going to order from B&H. I'll post up a review once I use it for a while. Let me know what you think of your new MBP.

 

[xraydoc]

I was really close to buying the 15". In fact, even posted about wanting to move from the 2013 13" to the new 15".

Ultimately decided that portability was higher on the list than the big display.

Then thought honestly about my usage and requirements and decided that the 2.0GHz base processor was more than sufficient based on benchmarks and my app usage (mostly 'office' type work). And that battery life trumped a bit more processor performance in the 2.9GHz and 3.1GHz models.

So ended up bringing home a base 13" ntMBP.

And quite happy.

If I could have both the base 13" and the high-end 15", that would be one thing. But the Mrs. isn't too keen on that, lol.

 

[/V\acpower]

Isnt the 13 inch non touch really underpowered this year? its like a macbook now, not a macbook pro

Compared to 2015 13' MacBook Pro.

It's relatively similar in term of CPU performance. Significant GPU performance increase. (Better at pushing pixels to a 4K ext screen)

With better battery life, faster storage, smaller and lighter form factor, bigger trackpad, brighter screen. (and honestly, in my opinion, a bit better keyboard)

 

[wchigo]

I think I'm going to order from B&H. I'll post up a review once I use it for a while. Let me know what you think of your new MBP.

Can do. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts as well.

 

[jmebbk]

You do know the 2015 15 inch is still being sold right? i wouldnt settle for the non touch 13 inch

Why?

 

[Peptide]

I was really close to buying the 15". In fact, even posted about wanting to move from the 2013 13" to the new 15".

Ultimately decided that portability was higher on the list than the big display.

Then thought honestly about my usage and requirements and decided that the 2.0GHz base processor was more than sufficient based on benchmarks and my app usage (mostly 'office' type work). And that battery life trumped a bit more processor performance in the 2.9GHz and 3.1GHz models.

So ended up bringing home a base 13" ntMBP.

And quite happy.

If I could have both the base 13" and the high-end 15", that would be one thing. But the Mrs. isn't too keen on that, lol.

Making an honest decision was what I had to do as well. There is no way I would use all of the computing power of the 15inch nor would I even tap into the dGPU for anything reasonable. Mine comes in next tuesday - can't wait!

Also, how does one go about determining how much processing power they need? Is it processing power or ram that allows for smooth multitasking, or is it a combination of both?

Compared to 2015 13' MacBook Pro.

It's relatively similar in term of CPU performance. Significant GPU performance increase. (Better at pushing pixels to a 4K ext screen)

With better battery life, faster storage, smaller and lighter form factor, bigger trackpad, brighter screen. (and honestly, in my opinion, a bit better keyboard)

I'm definitely looking forward to the brighter screen. My MBA air screen is just too dim and I rarely set it to max brightness to conserve battery.

 

[Peptide]

just ordered the waterfield sleevecase in vertical conformation.