Iris Pro or Iris Pro + GeForce GT 750M

[Yebubbleman]

Realistically, given that just about every MacBook Pro with a discrete GPU since the PowerPC-to-Intel switch (non-retina Mid 2012 15" aside) has had some form of issues (or an Apple Repair Extension Program) with the GPU, I'm wondering if, in the case of the Haswell-based 15" MacBook Pros, if it is simply safer to go with a model that only has Iris Pro or if there's any reason to suspect that the NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M and/or AMD Radeon R9 M370X will not have the kind of reliability issues that plagued said earlier models.

I ask because I'm torn between two Apple Certified Refurb models; one with Iris Pro and the GT 750M and one with just Iris Pro.

While I'm pretty sure that Iris Pro will be plenty sufficient for the limited gaming and video work that I'll be doing (especially given that most games aren't even Retina-native to begin with), the only reason I'm considering getting the model WITHOUT the GT 750M is concern for reliability (as logic board repairs are inconvenient, if not costly as well). Is there any data or information to suggest that 750M-laden retinas will have better reliability in this regard than 650M-laden retinas? Any insight would be helpful. Obviously, if there's no reason to doubt the reliability of the 750M retinas, then I might as well spend the extra couple hundred on the additional GPU horsepower.

 

[zettabyte]

I would opt for the one with the GT 750M + Iris Pro for sure. Spend the extra to save yourself sleep for when in the future you will need the extra horsepower. It'll be well worth it.

 

[Yebubbleman]

I would opt for the one with the GT 750M + Iris Pro for sure. Spend the extra to save yourself sleep for when in the future you will need the extra horsepower. It'll be well worth it.

Right, but I'm talking about reliability. I'm talking about the likelihood of me having to take the machine in to get a logic board replacement due to a messed up GPU. Obviously if that's not an issue with the 750M, then it's worth it to spend the additional money. However, if reliability becomes an issue, I'd rather go with the machine with the weaker graphics system.

 

[zettabyte]

That's a tough call buddy....because anything can happen to any machine at any time it feels like it. Although there have been some cases....I wouldn't hold that against your decision to just go for it.

Then again, it's all depended upon your use now and what your use will be later...if it's on the light side, go with your first instincts.

Cheers

 

[campyguy]

I'm offering my experience, as a small company owner that runs on Macs. Regarding your concerns, I have 3 Macs on my desk right now - two are rMBPs, one 650M (a back up in my company) and one 750M (my daily machine). I believe we have 25 other rMBPs being used. Not one of them has had problems with the dGPU - ever, and we're using them for CAD, scheduling, word processing, graphics (PS, Illustrator), and other office work. I have 2 Dell 4k displays connected to my rMBP right now.

I have AppleCare on every single rMBP - we've not had to use it once. We have new and refurb rMBPs, with the 650M being new and the 750M being a refurb.

As for reliability, I can only offer that our rMBPs have had no downtime since 1/1/2012 - that's 25 laptops, and no downtime in over 42 months, most of which have been in service since then and a few are newer. I hate downtime - we can't be billable then. My Macs are cleaned, run in a humidity/power/dust-controlled environment, but we're not "anal" about it. So, we're "0 for 25" for problems with our rMBPs.