Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Do I really need a macbook with a quad core and a dedicated gpu?

C

chad.petree

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 2, 2013
569
259
Germany
I was thinking about getting a macbook pro 13" since is more portable to bring it with me to the university ( as soon as apple releases the refresh) but I'm shocked to see that the 13" model maxes out at dual core i5, and at 8 gb and no dedicated gpu whatsoever , I have a 2012 15" model with a dedicated gpu , I can't believe that a 4 year old laptop could be better, the question is , do you think I need all that power?

I study design, so I use the adobe suite, photoshop, indesign , illustator and every now and then after effects / premier , and I watch series in 4k / youtube videos in 4k and yes I use chrome, which is known to be a ram /resource hog, apart from that I don't push the laptop that much but I was thinking of getting an hdtv in october and installing windows 10 in a different partition to play games on the tv, what do you think?
 
Last edited:
chad.petree said:
I was thinking about getting a macbook pro 13" since is more portable to bring it with me to the university ( as soon as apple releases the refresh) but I'm shocked to see that the 13" model maxes out at dual core i5, and at 8 gb dedicated gpu , I have a 2012 15" model with a dedicated gpu , I can't believe that a 4 year old laptop could be better, the question is , do you think I need all that power?

I study design, so I use the adobe suite, photoshop, indesign , illustator and every now and then after effects / premier , and I watch series in 4k / youtube videos in 4k and yes I use chrome, which is known to be a ram /resource hog, apart from that I don't push the laptop that much but I was thinking of getting an hdtv in october and installing windows 10 in a different partition to play games on the tv, what do you think?
Click to expand...
Actually it maxes out at a dual-core i7 and 16GB of RAM. You are looking at the pre-configured models but you need to customize it on the website to get the maximum specs. Despite that, you are almost definitely going to benefit from the quad-core and dedicated graphics that the 15" has. if you are going to upgrade with the refresh, then the 15" will be thinner and lighter anyway so it may be better to go for that (although it may not have dedicated graphics).

Unless you are 100% settled on macOS then the Razer Blade is slightly more compact that the current 15" MacBook Pro and you could check it out as an alternative as it has an identical design to the MacBook Pros and has quad core as well 16GB of RAM and a more powerful GTX 970M GPU, it is now a much better deal as the price has been reduced.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Queen6
I have the max default 15 inch model.

I had to buy a 13 inch dual core for a week while my 15 inch quad core got repaired and it was like night and day.

the 13 inch is capable but if you're spoiled by the 15 inch quadcore you'll notice the difference.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Fthree and arefbe
Appleaker said:
Actually it maxes out at a dual-core i7 and 16GB of RAM. You are looking at the pre-configured models but you need to customize it on the website to get the maximum specs. Despite that, you are almost definitely going to benefit from the quad-core and dedicated graphics that the 15" has. if you are going to upgrade with the refresh, then the 15" will be thinner and lighter anyway so it may be better to go for that (although it may not have dedicated graphics).

Unless you are 100% settled on macOS then the Razer Blade is slightly more compact that the current 15" MacBook Pro and you could check it out as an alternative as it has an identical design to the MacBook Pros and has quad core as well 16GB of RAM and a more powerful GTX 970M GPU, it is now a much better deal as the price has been reduced.
Click to expand...
I see , I was pretty sure that Intel i7 was exclusive for quad cores , was it always this way or did Intel change this recently?

I don't have to have a Mac I want to see also if Dell updates the XPS 15 to kaby lake this year .

I checked the razoeblade but wow 3.374 euros for the model with 512 GB , that's way way out of my league :(
 
chad.petree said:
so I use the adobe suite, photoshop, indesign , illustator and every now and then after effects / premier
Click to expand...
I think those apps would benefit from a quad core processor.

chad.petree said:
I don't have to have a Mac I want to see also if Dell updates the XPS 15 to kaby lake this year .
Click to expand...
It all depends on when Intel releases kaby lake. Intel's track record hasn't been all that stellar when it comes to releasing their chipsets lately. I agree the XPS laptop is a nice computer line, and one that can (and probably) is giving the Macs a run for their money.
 
chad.petree said:
I see , I was pretty sure that Intel i7 was exclusive for quad cores , was it always this way or did Intel change this recently?

I don't have to have a Mac I want to see also if Dell updates the XPS 15 to kaby lake this year .

I checked the razoeblade but wow 3.374 euros for the model with 512 GB , that's way way out of my league :(
Click to expand...
No, it has been an option for a long time. I believe it is the only model to have hyper-threading as well but I could be wrong. The Razer Blade have actually reduced their pricing for the new model, but unfortunately that is't out on the EU site. Im guessing the new Blade will be 2.999 euros (they haven't announced official pricing) for the 512Gb model. It is a really good deal compared to a 15" 512GB model which will likely rise to 2.999 euros with the new design, as they did when introducing the retina and then they lowered the price over time.

Kaby Lake is set to be released early next year I believe. Either way you go, it might be better to hold on to your 15" for university until there is a better, more updated choice.
 
chad.petree said:
I was thinking about getting a macbook pro 13" since is more portable to bring it with me to the university ( as soon as apple releases the refresh) but I'm shocked to see that the 13" model maxes out at dual core i5, and at 8 gb dedicated gpu , I have a 2012 15" model with a dedicated gpu , I can't believe that a 4 year old laptop could be better, the question is , do you think I need all that power?

I study design, so I use the adobe suite, photoshop, indesign , illustator and every now and then after effects / premier , and I watch series in 4k / youtube videos in 4k and yes I use chrome, which is known to be a ram /resource hog, apart from that I don't push the laptop that much but I was thinking of getting an hdtv in october and installing windows 10 in a different partition to play games on the tv, what do you think?
Click to expand...


If you were buying today I would suggest the 15" rMBP with dGPU. But, since we don't know the specs of the new 13" and you are willing to wait, who knows. Anything else at this point is speculation.
 
jesusplay said:
I have the max default 15 inch model.

I had to buy a 13 inch dual core for a week while my 15 inch quad core got repaired and it was like night and day.

the 13 inch is capable but if you're spoiled by the 15 inch quadcore you'll notice the difference.
Click to expand...
i was just thinking about this, this am. Ive had my maxed out 15 for about a year now and wonder what would be different with less
 
chad.petree said:
I was thinking about getting a macbook pro 13" since is more portable to bring it with me to the university ( as soon as apple releases the refresh) but I'm shocked to see that the 13" model maxes out at dual core i5, and at 8 gb dedicated gpu , I have a 2012 15" model with a dedicated gpu , I can't believe that a 4 year old laptop could be better, the question is , do you think I need all that power?

I study design, so I use the adobe suite, photoshop, indesign , illustator and every now and then after effects / premier , and I watch series in 4k / youtube videos in 4k and yes I use chrome, which is known to be a ram /resource hog, apart from that I don't push the laptop that much but I was thinking of getting an hdtv in october and installing windows 10 in a different partition to play games on the tv, what do you think?
Click to expand...

Almost every single 13 inch thin light laptop is dual core, in fact most of them max out at 15watt processors and lower power graphics, the 13 inch rMBP has rarely used 28 watt CPUs and better Iris graphics than almost any other ultra book. Even the surface book with is only dual core 15 watt but you do have the option of a pretty poor dGPU if you want to pay for it. I have no understanding of why you would be shocked.

For your use a quad and dGPU is probably going to be a must, you really don't seem to understand the limitations that are needed on a thin light laptop.
 
Samuelsan2001 said:
Almost every single 13 inch thin light laptop is dual core, in fact most of them max out at 15watt processors and lower power graphics, the 13 inch rMBP has rarely used 28 watt CPUs and better Iris graphics than almost any other ultra book. Even the surface book with is only dual core 15 watt but you do have the option of a pretty poor dGPU if you want to pay for it. I have no understanding of why you would be shocked.

For your use a quad and dGPU is probably going to be a must, you really don't seem to understand the limitations that are needed on a thin light laptop.
Click to expand...
I should stick to 15 inches if I want quad core and dedicated GPU , the thing is that to me it doesn't like there's a huge size /thickness difference between a 15" model and a 13" , but in technology a pair of mm can make a notable difference
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back