Help me choose a 2016 MBP

[fedecape]

Hello guys,

I'm on the fence between

(Both w/ TouchBar and 256gb)

• 8gb Ram with i7 (3.3 GHz) for **$2075** (final, no tax)
• 16gb Ram with i5 (2.9 GHz) for **$1975** (final, no tax)

I'm an engineering student, and I'll be using it for Final Cut Pro X (lots of it), heavy Safari/Chrome use, VMs w/ Linux distros, and some occasional engineering program through Bootcamp. I don't necessarily need to do all this at the same time, but I expect to have Safari/Chrome open most of the time with a few active tabs.

Won't be doing any gaming on it as I have a dedicated gaming rig.

Lastly, is there any difference between B&H (Authorized Reseller) and Apple.com? I'm guessing that Apple's 1 year warranty doesn't change.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Dave245]

personally i would say go with 16GB Ram, with Final Cut Pro X more Ram will probably be your friend. I'm kind of in the same boat tho, i'm currently deciding whether to upgrade my 2011 MacBook Pro to either the 13" MacBook Pro or the 15" MacBook Pro (both with the Touch Bar). Maybe people with better tech knowledge can advise you, but i remember being told to get the highest spec you can (i.e. 16GB Ram, higher graphics and so on) especially if you plan on keeping your machine for years.

 

[maflynn]

The 16GB will go further in demanding apps then the i7 on a dual core machine. I don't think you'll see any noticeable performance increase on the i7 equipped Mac - just my $.02

 

[Dave245]

The 16GB will go further in demanding apps then the i7 on a dual core machine. I don't think you'll see any noticeable performance increase on the i7 equipped Mac - just my $.02

More ram equals more programmes being able to be open at the same time without slowing down the machine, am I right in thinking that? I think with the op mentioning Final Cut Pro, the 16GB Ram would probably be great especially if it's being used heavily. The reason I mention it is because I'm planning on going with either the 13" or 15" (haven't decided which yet) but I know that 16GB Ram will be needed because I use Final Cut Pro.

 

[fedecape]

Thanks guys.

I spent the whole night looking at benchmarks and it seems that the i7 is not even 10% faster.
I guess I'll make more use of the ram.

Anyone else?