Early (3.0 i7) vs late (2.4 i5) 2013 13" rMBP

[gametime10]

Does anyone know the difference in performance and features between the top-spec early 2013 13" rMBP and a mid-spec late 2013 rMBP? These are the two models I'm deciding on and the other specs are identical. Price is pretty similar too. I do some light gaming in addition to typical browsing and MS Office.

 

[Kevclark1985]

Given your uses (nothing very intensive), I don't think you will notice any real world difference between the 2 processors. Both are dual core and you may only notice a difference in very intensive tasks such as video encoding (must profess I do not know the exact benchmarks of each for comparison)

My advice would be that, for your needs, go for late 2013 for the following reasons:

Better graphics performance for light gaming
Better battery life
it's shiny and new and will have full warranty
Faster SSD (as its PCI-e)
It's newer so will hold it's value better whenever you choose to sell/upgrade

Even if the i7 in the early 2013 is faster (not sure if this is the case), you would get zero benefit given your usage.

FYI I have the mid range late 2013 and it's amazing and fast, I would def get that, you won't be disappointed.

 

[mac8867]

Actually, I can tell you personal experience, the performance difference, if there is one is not noticeable. I ran a late 2012 rMBP 13" i7 for about a year, and upgraded to the 2013 rMBP 13" i7 when it came out (for the 16GB of RAM, I run a lot of virtual machines).

Performance wise, there is 0 noticeable difference.

 

[gametime10]

Actually, I can tell you personal experience, the performance difference, if there is one is not noticeable. I ran a late 2012 rMBP 13" i7 for about a year, and upgraded to the 2013 rMBP 13" i7 when it came out (for the 16GB of RAM, I run a lot of virtual machines).

Performance wise, there is 0 noticeable difference.

Wow... Good to know. Especially since you run virtual machines. Any difference in terms of graphics/games?

 

[mac8867]

Wow... Good to know. Especially since you run virtual machines. Any difference in terms of graphics/games?

Uhm... considering the high caliber graphics users in this forum, both for gaming and professional design --- I have to be very careful answering. I do not play computer games (at all), and... ahem, really don't care about graphics -- personally that is, no judgments. I am a back end software engineer, I need a portable, lightweight, but strong config == rMBP 13 with max ram, cpu.

So for what it's worth, the pictures look the same to me..