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Help me Pull the Trigger, narrowed it down to 2 models

O

Omar Comin' Yo

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 15, 2012
35
6
After a great deal of research, I've narrowed it down to two models, both Retina machines.

$1699 (refurbished)
Originally released October 2013
15.4-inch Retina display
8GB of 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
256GB Flash Storage1
Intel Iris Pro Graphics

$1499 (new)
13" Retina Pro display
2.4GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5
8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
256GB PCIe-based Flash Storage


Price difference is 200 bucks. Are they two computers essentially the same in power? does the i7 make that much of a difference compared to the i5?

It seems like I am paying the extra 300 for the screen.

I was told that CPU upgrades are generally pointless if you aren't a professional editor and that money should be spent elsewhere (RAM, SSD)
 
Last edited:
Omar Comin' Yo said:
After a great deal of research, I've narrowed it down to two models, both Retina machines.

$1699 (refurbished)
Originally released October 2013
15.4-inch Retina display
8GB of 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
256GB Flash Storage1
Intel Iris Pro Graphics

$1399 (new)
13" Retina Pro display
2.4GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5
8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
256GB PCIe-based Flash Storage


Price difference is 300 bucks. Are they two computers essentially the same in power? does the i7 make that much of a difference compared to the i5?
Click to expand...

The quad core i7 in the 15" makes a helluva lot of difference compared to the dual core i5s/i7 found in the 13" rMBPs.

The Iris Pro 5200 in the 15" also has a dedicated 128MB eDRAM compared to the Iris 5100 in the 13", which doesn't have the eDRAM cache. The eDRAM cache makes things silky smooth on the 15".
 
yjchua95 said:
The quad core i7 in the 15" makes a helluva lot of difference compared to the dual core i5s/i7 found in the 13" rMBPs.

The Iris Pro 5200 in the 15" also has a dedicated 128MB eDRAM compared to the Iris 5100 in the 13", which doesn't have the eDRAM cache. The eDRAM cache makes things silky smooth on the 15".
Click to expand...

Sorry, the price difference is actually 200 bucks for the better processor and bigger screen (1499 compared to 1699 for refurbished model).


So the i7 can hyper thread, save battery, and the i5 cannot? It is what my friend was explaining to me at lunch.

He basically said for 200 bucks, you are getting a superior computer.
 
The 15" is a faster and generally more powerful computer. I would recommend you to take it unless you need the superior mobility provided by the 13" model.
 
leman said:
The 15" is a faster and generally more powerful computer. I would recommend you to take it unless you need the superior mobility provided by the 13" model.
Click to expand...


I don't really buy into the 13" being that much more mobile. I mean, they are both light computers. That is what the apple rep said at the store, when he was pushing the 13" maxed out Air because he had one.
 
Omar Comin' Yo said:
After a great deal of research, I've narrowed it down to two models, both Retina machines.

$1699 (refurbished)
Originally released October 2013
15.4-inch Retina display
8GB of 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
256GB Flash Storage1
Intel Iris Pro Graphics

$1499 (new)
13" Retina Pro display
2.4GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5
8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
256GB PCIe-based Flash Storage


Price difference is 200 bucks. Are they two computers essentially the same in power? does the i7 make that much of a difference compared to the i5?

It seems like I am paying the extra 300 for the screen.

I was told that CPU upgrades are generally pointless if you aren't a professional editor and that money should be spent elsewhere (RAM, SSD)
Click to expand...

These are the exact two models I was considering a few months ago, except for me the prices were $1899 and $1399. And I bought the 15″ with no hesitation.

For $1699 you’re getting a great deal on a beast of a computer.
 
Qaanol said:
These are the exact two models I was considering a few months ago, except for me the prices were $1899 and $1399. And I bought the 15″ with no hesitation.

For $1699 you’re getting a great deal on a beast of a computer.
Click to expand...

yeah with tax they are a bit more, and the only downside on the 15" is that is refurbished so it won't be here for 2 weeks


15" refurbished would be $1855.91
13" would be $1636.91

difference of $219.
 
Omar Comin' Yo said:
Sorry, the price difference is actually 200 bucks for the better processor and bigger screen (1499 compared to 1699 for refurbished model).


So the i7 can hyper thread, save battery, and the i5 cannot? It is what my friend was explaining to me at lunch.

He basically said for 200 bucks, you are getting a superior computer.
Click to expand...

Not really. Both models hyper thread, but the i5 only has 4 threads while the i7 has 8 threads.

Basically if you do stuff like rendering and video, you'll see a 40-50% improvement with 8 threads instead of 4, generally.

Both have similar battery lives.
 
Omar Comin' Yo said:
yeah with tax they are a bit more, and the only downside on the 15" is that is refurbished so it won't be here for 2 weeks


15" refurbished would be $1855.91
13" would be $1636.91

difference of $219.
Click to expand...

Actually, Apple keeps their refurbished computers in lots of places around the corner. I was originally told a week for mine. Received it in 2 days. Maybe because it was a June 2012 model, but still, you will be surprised how quickly it it is delivered. The $1,699 Late 2013 2.0GHz/8GB/256GB model is a great price!
 
I guess am the minority here, but would look for a Haswell 13" rMBP. Those 2 extra inches of the 15" rMBP are nice. but the form factor of the 13 is hard to beat (I used to have the 15" rMBP before I switch to the 13" rMBP once they were released; would not go back to that size since it is a little big and heavy to carry around versus the 13" IMHO)
 
Omar Comin' Yo said:
yeah with tax they are a bit more, and the only downside on the 15" is that is refurbished so it won't be here for 2 weeks


15" refurbished would be $1855.91
13" would be $1636.91

difference of $219.
Click to expand...


Wow ! what state do you live? the tax is brutal, I thought us Kalifornians are being raped with state tax. apparently not.
 
Omar Comin' Yo said:
Sorry, the price difference is actually 200 bucks for the better processor and bigger screen (1499 compared to 1699 for refurbished model).


So the i7 can hyper thread, save battery, and the i5 cannot? It is what my friend was explaining to me at lunch.

He basically said for 200 bucks, you are getting a superior computer.
Click to expand...

Both i5 and i7 can hyperthread.

Differences:

In the 15" you get a Quad Core i7 CPU (8 threads)
In the 13" you get a Dual Core i5 CPU (4 threads)

In the 15" you get Iris Pro graphics (with 128MB eDRAM)
In the 13" you get Iris graphics

Both come with 8GB's of RAM, both come with 256GB's of storage
Both have solid battery life, the 13" might go a little bit longer, but not a lot

Conclusion:

If you go with the 15" one, you get a lot more CPU (quad vs dual core) and GPU power. If the sizes don't matter to you, I would definitely go for that 15". I'm actually in kind of the same situation, deciding between almost the same exact two models (my 13" would have the 2.6GHz upgrade). There are some sweat deals soon on MacBook's in my country and could get that 15" base for around 1675 (euro, that is)
 
+1 for the 15"

As it has been said, it's just way more computer (cpu, gpu, screen size) for a bit more money (and not really a lot heavier). The 15" rMBP is about as heavy as the cMBP!
 
fskywalker said:
I guess am the minority here, but would look for a Haswell 13" rMBP. Those 2 extra inches of the 15" rMBP are nice. but the form factor of the 13 is hard to beat (I used to have the 15" rMBP before I switch to the 13" rMBP once they were released; would not go back to that size since it is a little big and heavy to carry around versus the 13" IMHO)
Click to expand...


I would recommend the 13" rMBP. I find it to be far more portable, but then again, I think at 15", you might as well get a iMac.

Unless you can spare the extra cash, or absolutely need the horsepower, it is a waste of 200 bucks. Are you editing on this?
 
i bought your exact model 13" rmbp on refurb website last week for 1269 :). much better comparison if you ask me.
 
Remember for 256GB in Retina 13, there are two sources of SSD: Samsung and SanDisk. Samsung is tested to be faster but not significant enough for you to notice in daily usage. (but will be when you do large file write and read all day)

There is no way to choose what brand to come with your retina 13. It's all luck. some got Samsung. I picked up mine two days ago and I got a SanDisk.
 
nhhc said:
Remember for 256GB in Retina 13, there are two sources of SSD: Samsung and SanDisk. Samsung is tested to be faster but not significant enough for you to notice in daily usage. (but will be when you do large file write and read all day)

There is no way to choose what brand to come with your retina 13. It's all luck. some got Samsung. I picked up mine two days ago and I got a SanDisk.
Click to expand...


How do you tell which is which on your system?
 
I returned the 15 and stayed with the 13 I just can't get over the size of the 15". If its going to stay in one place then the 15 is a better deal. If your going to carry it around the 13 is more comfortable. I can carry my 13 in my messenger bag with my iPad. The 15" didn't fit and I have to use a back pack.
 
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