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General performance on 2015 Retina MBP - How is it for you?

Mr Baldman

Mr Baldman

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 7, 2008
81
3
Nottingham UK
I have an early 2013 Retina MBP (16GB ram, 2.7GHZ, SSD) running Yosemite, and use parallels for software development on windows (win8 & 10).

Performance doesn't feel great anymore, and the 2013 doesn't officially support 4K so i sometimes get a blank screen momentarily when using my external 4K monitor.

I am considering upgrading to a 2015 Retina MBP that has the improved Graphics and CPU.

I am interested to hear from anyone who has taken the plunge and gone for the 2015 model and is using it for heavy work (dev/ graphics / VMs etc.)...

Is there a noticable improvement in performance in comparison to the older MBP models?

if you use a windows VM, does it perform better?
 
Mr Baldman said:
I am considering upgrading to a 2015 Retina MBP that has the improved Graphics and CPU.
Click to expand...

The 15" is a real powerhouse. Yes, it has an old CPU, but there is nothing out there right now that competes with this machine in regards to performance. The speed of the SSD is the first thing you'll notice. Fast and furious. No waiting. Getting a dGPU with 4k and 5k support means it supports every display on the current market native.

My concerns was the weight and form factor. The screen is beautiful and everything on it is instant, but the portability is limited. I had similar problems with the 13 rMBP and "upgraded" to a rMB which I use as my only computer.

Owned the 15" for a week and though I miss it whenever I need to do heavy $#it, I'm content with the rMB because of lightness, thinness and portability. If you are allergic to millisecond beachballs and small hiccups, go for the rMBP 15.

The rMBP 15 is my ideal computer, if I could handle the weight better. Performance wise its the Apple laptop to buy.
 
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My 2012 MBP is still very fast, so I can only imagine how much faster the newer models are :)
 
maflynn said:
My 2012 MBP is still very fast, so I can only imagine how much faster the newer models are :)
Click to expand...

yeah my 2013 MBP is still decent. Its just when i have a VM running, VOIP call and screen share everything grinds to a halt which can be rather embarrassing in front of clients!
 
I previously had a 2011 15" MBP with a Samsung 830 SSD and 16GB RAM. It was quick, but over time it did slow down and I really wanted a Retina screen. I sold it and picked up a brand new top of the line mid 2015 MBP earlier this week and it's incredibly fast. I went with the highest end spec and actually bought it at Best Buy for $200 cheaper than Apple. 2.8 i7, 16GB RAM, and 1TB SSD. I went 1TB because you can't really upgrade the storage on these easily, and editing 4K video projects nowadays can easily take up tens/hundreds of GB's.

I think the biggest change is the speed of the SSD. I ran Black Magic Speed Test and it came in at about 2GB/s for reads/writes. That's insane.
 
The computer only lasting 2-3 years before slowdowns is worrisome.

Have y'all tried fresh installs?
 
I kept my exemplary mid 2012 15" MBPR as a spare when I upgraded to the 2015 model a few months ago. Performing very demanding resource intense tasks for work, I can always use all the speed I can get, one reason I always get the latest model annually. In my opinion MBP's are one of Apples best products. It's one of the reasons I tend to be critical of iOS stuff. My iPhones especially, simply don't live up to the incredibly great experience I get from all my Apple laptops. :D
 
Acejam2k said:
I think the biggest change is the speed of the SSD. I ran Black Magic Speed Test and it came in at about 2GB/s for reads/writes. That's insane.
Click to expand...

really? wow. Im getting 500MB/s with a transcend 1TB jet drive

DiskSpeedTest.png


David58117 said:
Have y'all tried fresh installs?
Click to expand...

yes, every 4 - 6 months

maxsix said:
I kept my exemplary mid 2012 15" MBPR as a spare when I upgraded to the 2015 model a few months ago. Performing very demanding resource intense tasks for work, I can always use all the speed I can get, one reason I always get the latest model annually. In my opinion MBP's are one of Apples best products. It's one of the reasons I tend to be critical of iOS stuff. My iPhones especially, simply don't live up to the incredibly great experience I get from all my Apple laptops. :D
Click to expand...

good to hear
 
It is super snappy.
Running both El Cap and a Win10 Bootcamp and performance is swish all round.
Both OS...s boot crazy fast, especially OS X, naturally.

My only gripes are the GPU and heat.

I swear throttling has actually gotten worse in Bootcamp after I upgraded to El Cap :confused:
Before El Cap Alien: Isolation and Metal Gear Solid V ran beautifully, but now the machine starts throttling like crazy.
Tried using GPU-Z and the log says that once the GPU hits about 94C the GPU throttles down from 800 to 300 MHz and performance nosedives.
I can't deny that the throttling really bums me out.

Can't say I've had throttling issues in El Cap yet, though I don't really use it to play games.
-Just a couple of "indie" titles and some other not-so-modern titles.
I mostly can't stand playing games in El Cap because the even games with seemingly low system requirements makes the Mac hot as hell and then the fans start blowing and everything turns sour.


Just proves the age old adage; don't buy a Mac for games. ;)
 
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Ovedius said:
It is super snappy.
Running both El Cap and a Win10 Bootcamp and performance is swish all round.
Both OS...s boot crazy fast, especially OS X, naturally.

My only gripes are the GPU and heat.
Click to expand...

interesting. the GPU is one of the main reasons for the upgrade, as i have a 4K external display.

i think the whole orchestration of each chosen component adds up to the overall performance, so its a no brainer to upgrade.

thanks for all the input so far, i'm now off to place an order for the highest spec one i can get on the apple website
 
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