GPU advice for 4k / ZWIFT

[Fireball Dragon]

I preordered a 13" MBP with TB after the Apple conference 2 weeks ago. These are the specs I got:

• 2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
• Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
• 8GB 2133MHz memory
• 512GB PCIe-based SSD1
• Intel Iris Graphics 550

Okay, so I don't know much about GPUs. Portability is not a huge concern as I have a 12" MB and could rock that for when I am on the road. I have just preferred smaller notebooks, which is why I went for the 13". The most power hungry tasks I will be doing are occasional video editing and playing ZWIFT (does anyone know what this is?). Basically, an online cycling MMO video game, but instead of using a control pad, you use you turbo trainer and road bike. Anyway... I was thinking of cancelling my order and going for a 15" with the following specs:

• 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor
• Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz
• 16GB 2133MHz memory
• 512GB PCIe-based SSD1
• Radeon Pro 450 with 2GB memory

I think the price difference is around £500. Will I notice a huge performance boost for 4k video editing and gaming? And how much of a difference is there?

 

[jjjoseph]

I preordered a 13" MBP with TB after the Apple conference 2 weeks ago. These are the specs I got:

• 2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
• Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
• 8GB 2133MHz memory
• 512GB PCIe-based SSD1
• Intel Iris Graphics 550

Okay, so I don't know much about GPUs. Portability is not a huge concern as I have a 12" MB and could rock that for when I am on the road. I have just preferred smaller notebooks, which is why I went for the 13". The most power hungry tasks I will be doing are occasional video editing and playing ZWIFT (does anyone know what this is?). Basically, an online cycling MMO video game, but instead of using a control pad, you use you turbo trainer and road bike. Anyway... I was thinking of cancelling my order and going for a 15" with the following specs:

• 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor
• Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz
• 16GB 2133MHz memory
• 512GB PCIe-based SSD1
• Radeon Pro 450 with 2GB memory

I think the price difference is around £500. Will I notice a huge performance boost for 4k video editing and gaming? And how much of a difference is there?

I preordered a 13" MBP with TB after the Apple conference 2 weeks ago. These are the specs I got:

• 2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
• Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
• 8GB 2133MHz memory
• 512GB PCIe-based SSD1
• Intel Iris Graphics 550

Okay, so I don't know much about GPUs. Portability is not a huge concern as I have a 12" MB and could rock that for when I am on the road. I have just preferred smaller notebooks, which is why I went for the 13". The most power hungry tasks I will be doing are occasional video editing and playing ZWIFT (does anyone know what this is?). Basically, an online cycling MMO video game, but instead of using a control pad, you use you turbo trainer and road bike. Anyway... I was thinking of cancelling my order and going for a 15" with the following specs:

• 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor
• Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz
• 16GB 2133MHz memory
• 512GB PCIe-based SSD1
• Radeon Pro 450 with 2GB memory

I think the price difference is around £500. Will I notice a huge performance boost for 4k video editing and gaming? And how much of a difference is there?

These computers are speced for lower power consumption, not exactly for GPU performance. I wouldn't recommend any MacBook Pro for video editing, especially not 4K. That being said. Your gonna have to max the computer out to get close to anything like 4K. So the 460 minimum.

 

[leman]

These computers are speced for lower power consumption, not exactly for GPU performance. I wouldn't recommend any MacBook Pro for video editing, especially not 4K. That being said. Your gonna have to max the computer out to get close to anything like 4K. So the 460 minimum.

I don't know a thing about video editing but I can find a lot of positive reviews about 4K video editing on the 2015 MBP. If the 2015 model can deal with that kind of task, then surely the 2016 one's are — they are faster and more capable in every single regard.

 

[jjjoseph]

I don't know a thing about video editing but I can find a lot of positive reviews about 4K video editing on the 2015 MBP. If the 2015 model can deal with that kind of task, then surely the 2016 one's are — they are faster and more capable in every single regard.

Not sure what kind of 4K your talking about. Playing back 4K media? I have a cubix expander with 3x GTX 980ti That's 3 gpus and I crash rendering 4K media all the time. I run out of GPU Ram. Maybe your talking about opening a 4K QuickTime and playing it back on a laptop. That's diff then editing.

 

[jerryk]

I think the 15" is better for 4K video. But do expect it to struggle a bit. My 2015 15" with dGPU struggles with 4K, and the fans are running wide open most of the time.

My deskside systems has no issues with the same videos. It is cool and the fans barely run even when rendering. I use Premier and perhaps it runs better under Windows 10. Or perhaps it is 6 core processor, 32 GB of memory and GTX 1070.

 

[jjjoseph]

I think the 15" is better for 4K video. But do expect it to struggle a bit. My 2015 15" with dGPU struggles with 4K, and the fans are running wide open most of the time.

My deskside systems has no issues with the same videos. It is cool and the fans barely run even when rendering. I use Premier and perhaps it runs better under Windows 10. Or perhaps it is 6 core processor, 32 GB of memory and GTX 1070.

Yes. The last part.

 

[leman]

Not sure what kind of 4K your talking about. Playing back 4K media?

Again, I don't know a first thing about video editing but there are apparently plenty of people editing 4K video content on the 2015 model and being happy with it. A quick google search shows as much.

 

[Fireball Dragon]

Thanks for the replies. With reference to 4k, I simply mean videos that I shoot using a 4k camcorder (or maybe later the iPhone 7 or 8 *once out* which I believe already supports 4k?).

Another way of looking at it, there will be an £850 price increase if I go with the 15". But I get a 2.6 Quad Core i7, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD and a dedicated GPU, plus the extra screen real estate. Worth it?

 

[jerryk]

Thanks for the replies. With reference to 4k, I simply mean videos that I shoot using a 4k camcorder (or maybe later the iPhone 7 or 8 *once out* which I believe already supports 4k?).

Another way of looking at it, there will be an £850 price increase if I go with the 15". But I get a 2.6 Quad Core i7, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD and a dedicated GPU, plus the extra screen real estate. Worth it?

Assuming you are editing these videos, and producing files others can watch, .mpg, etc., then yes the 15" is better and faster.

If you want to see what the non-touch 13" 2016 mpb can do, take a look at Dave 2Ds youtube review of the unit.

And then watch his 2015 15" rMBP video. He does a little bit of video editing with the units in each review. According to apple you can assume the fully loaded 2016 15" is considerably faster video editing than the 2015 15" Dave reviews.

The second option, is just to wait a couple of weeks until people start getting their 2016 13" and 15" MBPs and posting some reviews on the machines. No doubt there will both video and game reviews.