Help me decide on which MBP to get!

[slipper]

Macrumors, I'm dying to upgrade my personal tech which consists of a 2013 MBP to the newest one and a iPhone 6 to X when it's out.

I think the touch bar is a huge gimmick, but i think it's cool. I just don't know if i will really benefit from it -or- if it'll make mundane tasks such as volume/screen brightness adjustment a slight hassle. Admittingly, i have very limited experience with it from a few times playing around with it in the Apple Store.

Will both machines, mentioned below, have the newer Kabylake processor and quicker SSD? Which MBP will have better performance, and in what way? And in the poll, which one would you choose based on personal preference, and in the comments, why. Thanks!

Primary use: browsing the internet, youtube, movies, occasional video editing and photoshop.

Top of the line 13", off the shelf: MBP 13", 3.1GHz i5, 8GB, 512GB, Iris Plus 650 for $1999 -or-
Non-touch bar 13", build to order: MBP 13", 2.5GHz i7, 8GB, 512GB, Iris Plus 640 for $1999

 

[Exile714]

Macrumors, I'm dying to upgrade my personal tech which consists of a 2013 MBP to the newest one and a iPhone 6 to X when it's out.

I think the touch bar is a huge gimmick, but i think it's cool. I just don't know if i will really benefit from it -or- if it'll make mundane tasks such as volume/screen brightness adjustment a slight hassle. Admittingly, i have very limited experience with it from a few times playing around with it in the Apple Store.

Will both machines, mentioned below, have the newer Kabylake processor and quicker SSD? Which MBP will have better performance, and in what way? And in the poll, which one would you choose based on personal preference, and in the comments, why. Thanks!

Primary use: browsing the internet, youtube, movies, occasional video editing and photoshop.

Top of the line 13", off the shelf: MBP 13", 3.1GHz i5, 8GB, 512GB, Iris Plus 650 for $1999 -or-
Non-touch bar 13", build to order: MBP 13", 2.5GHz i7, 8GB, 512GB, Iris Plus 640 for $1999

If seems like a no-brainer to get the faster one with touchbar if they're the same price.

In my experience, the touch bar makes volume and brightness much easier. You just tap the icon on the touch bar, then slide left or right to what you want. No tap tap tapping up and down to get there. It's much quicker. If you're a "power user" who does coding and absolutely needs tactile F-keys then it's a bummer, but from the sound of it I think you'll like (just like, it's not groundbreaking) the touchbar.

 

[slipper]

If seems like a no-brainer to get the faster one with touchbar if they're the same price.

In my experience, the touch bar makes volume and brightness much easier. You just tap the icon on the touch bar, then slide left or right to what you want. No tap tap tapping up and down to get there. It's much quicker. If you're a "power user" who does coding and absolutely needs tactile F-keys then it's a bummer, but from the sound of it I think you'll like (just like, it's not groundbreaking) the touchbar.

I was actually thinking the 2.5GHz i& would be as quick or quicker than the 3.1GHz i5, but i just found out the non-Touch Bar MBP's will have a lower powered processor... so that seals the deal for the top of the line 13" MBP for me. You'll see me at the Apple store tomorrow!

 

[Merkava_4]

That touch bar is only good if you have he MBP in a position to be looking directly down at the keyboard.

If the screen is an arm's length away from you like mine is right now, you're not going to see the touch bar.

 

[Speechless]

uhm..definitely the first option. Surprised you even had to ask this question to be honest.

As someone who was at first skeptical about the touch bar, I can assure you it's not a gimmick. It's actually really useful and fun every single time you use it. Also, the sliders/scrubbers are anything but a hassle.

Seems like you've made your decision, enjoy your new beast!

 

[ZapNZs]

Do you know which two specific CPUs are being used? Is it the i5-7267U versus the i7-7567U? If so, the nTB with the i7 should have the processor advantage (it can turbo to 4.0 GHz versus the TB's 3.5 GHz)...and it could be a reasonably significant difference with certain workloads (but with normal usage it seems unlikely there would be a noticeable difference!)

Further, with no differences in RAM speed, and how it seems that there should be very little difference between 640 v. 650, I think the big question comes down to whether or not you like the touch bar over the function keys, and what (if any) differences in battery run times might be observed between the two new 2017 models.

If the top-tier CPU in the nTB does have a reasonably significant edge over the base TB, is the faster CPU worth the trade off of the touchbar to you?