First macbook! Need help!

If 4K is your goal, the 2015 15" with integrated graphics is the only thing within your budget. You could probably find a 2015 15" with the dGPU for not far outside of your budget

The 2016 15" got a pretty good bump in graphics performance. If your budget isn't firm and you want better 4K performance, shoot for a 2016. I agree that it's a bit over priced, but welcome to Mac.

I would stay away from a 13", again if 4K is your goal.

Now, I just have to ask, do you need a laptop? You get more performance for your buck out of an iMac or custom PC.

 

2015 15" with the AMD graphics is what I'd get (and what I actually got). It has a quad core processor and a dedicated GPU, these thing are not found in any 13" model. 4K editing can be done on a 13" (probably), but I'd want the best performance. I got mine second hand though, because they don't sell them new anymore (only with integrated graphics).

Final Cut Pro X vs Premiere; I'd choose Final Cut. It's just faster. Rendering is done in the background while editing and when you're done it's probably much quicker to render than Premiere would.

And hey, if you're not sure about spending this much money you could always edit 4K on a 12" MacBook

 

You'll probably be very happy with the mid-2015 15".

Bear in mind that Apple has had a spotty record with discrete GPUs in their MacBook Pro line -- too many failures over the long-term.

For reliability, the integrated GPU "beats the discrete", at least insofar as Apple is concerned.

 

There's been a lot of misinformation in reviews of the new MBPs, so it's best to stick with the ones that use hard numbers. The base model 15" 2016 with 512 GB is $100 more than the comparable 2015 was when it came out. The 2015 is cheaper than that now, naturally. For the difference in cost you get a much more capable dGPU--important for editing 4K, a screen with 50% more brightness and contrast, a wider color gamut (useful if you edit in P3 color, but not so much otherwise), Touch ID, touch bar, better speakers, faster SSD, better external monitor support, better heat management--which can be a big issue editing video, all in a smaller, lighter package.

You can certainly edit 4K video on the 2015 15", though. Best to look for the one with the dGPU. Be aware there have been reports of the 2015 throttling (slowing itself down) due to heat while editing video.

Refurbs of either the 2015 or 2016 are a good deal, and Apple currently has some of the latter:

http://www.apple.com/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_pro/15

There are also open box deals at Best Buy that have full warranties.

FCP is a lot faster than the Adobe alternatives on the MBP, and faster than Adobe is on Windows machines too. But there are things people prefer about the Adobe software. Might be worth looking around the forums that deal with that, including the one here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/forums/digital-video.80/

 

On final cut vs Premier, I would avoid premier on the MacBook. Numerous people have had less than acceptable experiences on MacBook Pros and Premier with 4K.

This is a killer for some us that have Adobe CC subscriptions and are not going to learn FCP and switch all our assets, so we can use the entire adobe suite, except for Premier.

See this video for a recap.

 

Helpful video on video editing. The part about 4K in Premiere starts around 7:50, through to 13:30. Adobe software is optimized for Windows, and that comes out clearly at the end of that part, where his problems go away when he's running Premiere on Windows in Boot Camp. He blames the "weak" video card, despite the fact that it works fine in Boot Camp, which is odd. (Not sure why he isn't happy about how well it works in Boot Camp!)