Current rMBP without dGPU or last year's with?

[booyah2014]

I'll try and keep this simple. I need a new rMBP as my 2012 isn't up to the job anymore.

I have a budget which includes the sale of my old one. I can afford to either:

a) Buy the current 15" rMBP without the dedicated nVidia card (so Iris Pro only)

-or-

b) Buy the late 2013 model with the gt650m with 1gb gddr5?

Both around the same price.

I used to just shoot, edit in FCPX and render 1080p but these tasks in my 2012 rMBP are just long and drawn out affairs especially rendering.

I potentially need something that will be futureproof to a certain degree, perhaps even involving 4k footage.

Is the Iris Pro in itself capable of any of these tasks at a reasonable pace? Or should I look at the dedicated 650m? 1gb of ddr5 doesnt seem a huge enhancement over Iris Pro.

 

[sarthak]

Variants:
Mid 2012: If you're already running a rMBP 15" (Mid-2012) model, it has the NVIDIA GT650M 1GB graphics.
- Early 2013: Not to be confused (iteration of 2012) has the GT650M 1GB.

Late 2013: This model of the rMBP 15" comes with Iris Pro graphics.
- Mid 2014 (current generation, iteration of Late 2013) has Iris Pro graphics as standard.

I've owned the Mid 2012 and currently have the Late 2013 base model Iris Pro unit.

Graphics: The Iris Pro provides nearly the same performance as the NVIDIA GT650M.
- The Iris Pro is substantially faster with 2D perf. in some ProApps (ex. QuickTime exports or media encoding).
- You will not have NVIDIA CUDA which may be useful for DaVinci Resolve (if you can get it to run), Raytracing plug-ins and Adobe suite but, most applications are releasing updates to better support OpenCL.
- Bottom line is if you do not plan to rely on CUDA, the Iris Pro provides nearly the same performance as a dedicated NVIDIA chip with much longer battery life and in general usage does not have the same "UI lag" in Yosemite as the Intel HD4000 (used when the NVIDIA chip is not activated to save power on the Mid2012/Early2013 models).

Other Things to Consider:
SSD: The Late 2013/Mid 2014 models have a substantially faster SSD (~710R/W) based on PCI-E whereas, the Mid 2012/Early2013 units have SATA drives (~420R/W).

Battery life: In my experience ranges from 5 hours to 7 hours on the Mid2012/Early2013 models (due to graphics switching and overall inefficiency) whereas, the Late 2013 model can provide 7 to 10 hours (longer battery usage rating to start with, Iris Pro is highly efficient when not in use and delivers performance when needed).
- The Iris Pro delivers similar performance without compromising on battery life when it's not being used as well as removing the frustration of GPU switching due to iGPU/dGPU on-demand.

Your Scenario:
As you did not specify which 2012 model you are using, I assume it is the 15" rMBP.
- In such a case, you will not see much of a difference at all using either Late 2013 or Mid 2014 with Iris Pro as standard. It is possible, on the GPU side to see a decrease in performance over the 650M that you already have.
- FCPX relies on background rendering and should work "fairly well" on a GT 650M.
- The GT650M or Iris Pro will be able to handle 4K however, I would not expect either of these to be "future proof" or handle the workload anywhere near as well as they can with 1080p footage.

Overall: If you already have the rMBP 15" then it includes the 650M however, if you have the 13" (HD4000) then considering which rMBP to get is up to you after evaluating the aforementioned factors. Personally, I would go with the Early 2013 Model with NVIDIA GT650M graphics as depending on the specific task, it may not be up to par with the Iris Pro (Intel QuickSync transcoding) but, certainly has an edge in many others including 3D or CUDA related tasks (whether as a plug in or in other pro apps).

However, there are certain cases where the Iris Pro even in FCP X doesn't cut it.
See here (pure perf test, 750M vs Iris Pro) -> http://blog.alex4d.com/2013/10/30/brucex-a-new-fcpx-benchmark/

 

[blooperz]

the late 2013 model has the gt750m with 2 gig of ddr5, not the 650m

 

[Meister]

The current rmbp and the 2013 rmbp are the same except for a 0.2 ghz cpu bump.
The 2013 with dgpu is the obvious choice.

----------

And this:

the late 2013 model has the gt750m with 2 gig of ddr5, not the 650m

 

[leman]

I'll try and keep this simple. I need a new rMBP as my 2012 isn't up to the job anymore.

The current rMBP is barely any faster than the 2012 one. If the old does not do the job, the new probably won't.

 

[maflynn]

I'll try and keep this simple. I need a new rMBP as my 2012 isn't up to the job anymore.

Sounds like you need the 15" dGPU equipped MBP, the iGPU doesn't sound like a good fit for your needs.

If you can wait, until summer when Broadwell is reported to be released, then I recommend that, just for the sake of getting the most performance for your money.

 

[mcarling]

I can afford to either:

a) Buy the current 15" rMBP without the dedicated nVidia card (so Iris Pro only)

-or-

b) Buy the late 2013 model with the gt650m with 1gb gddr5?

The 2.3GHz or 2.6GHz late 2013 MBP with the GT650M will outperform the current 2.2GHz 15" MBP in every way except battery life and reliability.