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Help decide between the low end 15" MBP and the high end.

fel10

fel10

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Feb 2, 2010
2,340
3,944
Woodstock, GA USA
I'm going to be getting a new MBP tomorrow and I'm torn between the low end 15' MBP 2.2 GHz, and the high end with the 2.5 GHz and the graphics card.

I'm going to be using it mostly for browsing websites, Pixelmator, Apperture, iMovie, listening to music and watching movies. I don't do a whole lot of gaming cause, I do that on my gaming consoles. I'm leaning more towards the low end. What do u guys suggest?
 
Low end is fine. Is there any particular reason why your current MBP doesn't meet your needs?
 
Zwhaler said:
Low end is fine. Is there any particular reason why your current MBP doesn't meet your needs?
Click to expand...

Well right now, I own a 2009 MBP, and the battery is pretty much on its last legs, and the computer is running slow for my needs. Plus, I'm not gonna lie, the retina is a pretty sweet feature.
 
I'm in almost exactly same boat - have a 2009 13" mbp whose battery shows 78.1% 206 cycles with the requisite "Service Battery" warning at <80%. Yes, a battery upgrade after 20+ months is a pain, but still cheaper than a new machine.

I've also been considering the 15" rmbp low and high ends, but am leaning heavily towards the low-end (better battery life, fewer parts=less potential for trouble, cheaper, more than adequate for my needs).

But with a 240GB SSD, 8GB in my otherwise healthy mid-2009, I have a hard time justifying buying a new machine, especially since I also have an iMac and a Win8 PC for gaming (even though I use the mbp more than any other). The incremental upgrade to mid-2014 was so small that I am tempted to wait for as long as I can (Broadwell?), so I can certainly feel Zwhaler's sentiments.

OP, enjoy your new rmbp! I will watch with envy and hold out as long as I can...
 
fel10 said:
...and the computer is running slow for my needs. Plus, I'm not gonna lie, the retina is a pretty sweet feature.
Click to expand...
backup, format drive, clean OS install. Maybe throw in a bigger SSD while you are replacing the battery. It will feel "new" all over again.

I don't think you are going to see a huge difference in what you have now and a new machine. If you just -want- one with retina, that's fine. But I think half the reason Best Buy (and computer manufacturers in general) stay in business is because people just abandon their machine when it "feels" slow (after having run it for 2-3 years with zero maintenance.) I've got a core2duo from 2009 with an SSD and fresh Mavericks install that is still surprisingly snappy.
 
Low end for your usage, but I would bump the storage up to 512GB.
 
Another vote for low end. Save your money, and you need a bigger SSD you can put the savings towards that if need be.
 
With nvidiagate and radeon gate in mind, go for the low end macbook, anything more powerful burns up after your Applecare has expired...
 
eezacque said:
With nvidiagate and radeon gate in mind, go for the low end macbook, anything more powerful burns up after your Applecare has expired...
Click to expand...

This is why for my next MBP, I'll be buying a iGPU only model. Apple's track record appears to be very poor in this department :(
 
maflynn said:
This is why for my next MBP, I'll be buying a iGPU only model. Apple's track record appears to be very poor in this department :(
Click to expand...

That and I have zero use for Dedicated Graphics. I'm a business user with the occasional NetFlix. I'll never fill 256GB of storage and the Dedicated Graphics just drains battery for me.
 
Still haven't decided. I'm now looking at the high end 13' versus the low end 15'. I'm gonna take a day or two and do a little more research. Thanks for the help everyone.
 
fel10 said:
Still haven't decided. I'm now looking at the high end 13' versus the low end 15'. I'm gonna take a day or two and do a little more research. Thanks for the help everyone.
Click to expand...

The low end 15" would be far better because of the quad core processor, larger display and 16GB of RAM.

Plus, the Iris Pro 5200 in the 15" is much faster than the Iris 5100 in the 13".
 
I had the same question few days ago.
I bought the high end 15 3days ago, mostly because I could. And because I decided I didn't want to be still asking the question if I bought the low end.
Glad I did - fantastic machine and never going back to non retina display.
But for your usage, low end is fine.
 
fel10 said:
I'm going to be getting a new MBP tomorrow and I'm torn between the low end 15' MBP 2.2 GHz, and the high end with the 2.5 GHz and the graphics card.

I'm going to be using it mostly for browsing websites, Pixelmator, Apperture, iMovie, listening to music and watching movies. I don't do a whole lot of gaming cause, I do that on my gaming consoles. I'm leaning more towards the low end. What do u guys suggest?
Click to expand...

I would only get the high-end if:

1. you do heavy gaming
2. you run multiple high-res monitors or 4k
3. you need CUDA rendering support
 
I just bought the low-end 15inch. I was considering bumping up to the 2.8 ghz, but decided it wasn't worth it. So I'll be getting the 2.5ghz one tuesday. So now my question is, what is the "nvidiagate" that was mentioned earlier? I haven't seen anything bad about the graphics cards. Did I miss something?
 
Chazz08 said:
I just bought the low-end 15inch. I was considering bumping up to the 2.8 ghz, but decided it wasn't worth it. So I'll be getting the 2.5ghz one tuesday. So now my question is, what is the "nvidiagate" that was mentioned earlier? I haven't seen anything bad about the graphics cards. Did I miss something?
Click to expand...

The 2008 and 2010 models had a history of NVIDIA cards going bad, but were covered under an extended repair program.

The 2011 models also had the same problem with the Radeon cards, but there was no repair program.
 
yjchua95 said:
The 2008 and 2010 models had a history of NVIDIA cards going bad, but were covered under an extended repair program.

The 2011 models also had the same problem with the Radeon cards, but there was no repair program.
Click to expand...

Oh, I had no idea! haha. I have a 2010 model, and no problems for me. I guess I was one of the lucky ones. Hope that doesn't happen with my new one. It will be here in the morning!!! :)
 
After spending a few days with the 2.8 750m and the 2.2 Iris Pro base model, I went with the latter. The difference in power was not so much, the fans were less intrusive, and it was pretty much like the same machine.
 
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