Do I need the 750m?

[Orton99]

Hi guys, long time reader, first time poster...

I've been an iPad and iPhone user for years and think I'm finally ready to jump into OS X. I'm not a professional and don't need my laptop for employment, but I was wondering if I would still need the 750m anyway for what I want to do. What I'd be looking at doing with my Mac;

• Video editing - Short videos around 10-15 mins long. Maybe even longer one day. The ability to make some nice Youtube videos.
• Light photo editing. Probably just a little bit of iPhoto.
• Music creation. Again not too serious. Maybe just some parody songs on Garageband or something.
• Wordpress org - blog making etc.
• Gaming - I rarely game on a PC, I have a console for that. But I do like Guild Wars 2. I'm interested in performance rather than visuals. For instance I'd be happy on mid settings if I had decent FPS.
• A laptop that will last me at least 3 years.

Does it sound like the 750m is really needed? I think I would rather spend a few more minutes rendering a video than paying a few hundred dollars more for something I might not use too much. I don't know too much about the Iris Pro, so maybe that's enough.

Thanks for reading

 

[Bending Pixels]

If you were doing heavy duty video editing (i.e. using FCPX full time), then the nVidia 750m graphics chip would help. However, with the recent update to 16gb of RAM, you should be fine with the base model using Intel Iris Pro Graphics.

You can store all of your work on an external USB 3 drive.

 

[GoldfishRT]

It sounds like you'd be happier with the dedicated GPU than without. The Iris chips are good for what they are but if you want to do any gaming at all I'd still recommend the 750m.

 

[Freyqq]

Gaming will be a lot better, but Iris Pro may be enough on lower resolutions and settings. For the other tasks, Iris Pro is not going to make much of a difference.

 

[fenderbass146]

Gaming will be a lot better, but Iris Pro may be enough on lower resolutions and settings. For the other tasks, Iris Pro is not going to make much of a difference.

For your use I would just go Iris Pro, its not a dog, it will play it decent. It is on par with a 640M, unless of course you have an extra $600 laying around. If gaming is important you could get a refurb ivy bridge retina with a 650M which will be a little better for gaming.

 

[Orton99]

For your use I would just go Iris Pro, its not a dog, it will play it decent. It is on par with a 640M, unless of course you have an extra $600 laying around. If coming is important you could get a refurb ivy bridge retina with a 650M which will be a little better for gaming.

I'm not too bothered about gaming really. The only game that interests me is Guild Wars 2, which isn't worth solely upgrading for. Apart from that I just game on a console.

If the Iris Pro will serve me well for around 3 years or so at the other tasks I mentioned I'll be more than happy. No need to upgrade if I won't be using the 750m much.

Appreciate the replies guys thanks

 

[yjchua95]

I'm not too bothered about gaming really. The only game that interests me is Guild Wars 2, which isn't worth solely upgrading for. Apart from that I just game on a console.

If the Iris Pro will serve me well for around 3 years or so at the other tasks I mentioned I'll be more than happy. No need to upgrade if I won't be using the 750m much.

Appreciate the replies guys thanks

If you configure the new mid-2014 rMBPs to at least 2.5/16/512, both Iris-only and Iris+750M variants cost identically.

So the 750M is more or less a freebie.

 

[Vanilla35]

Your situation sounds perfect for the Iris Pro. Definitely do not spend the extra hundreds on the 750M.