Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Is it worth it to upgrade?

B

bdog1234

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 23, 2016
42
78
Texas
9A8358A3-1E86-4E73-B355-A74576400A66.png


i have this computer. I bought it around Christmas 2016.

It has been great and no issues. I process a lot of scientific data using some industry specific proprietary software and the program takes about 30 minutes to run.

If I got the fully decked out 15” MBP would I notice a significant difference?

I see it has more cores, but it is only 2.4 ghz and mine is 2.9 ghz. I am not even sure if this software utilizes multiple cores.

I don’t play video games or do any graphical intense stuff. Aside from this specialty program I just do basic email, spreadsheets etc. My only reason to upgrade would be to run this program faster as I have to run it sometimes 8 times a day.
 
MacTracker reports the Geekbench single core performance of your MacBook Pro at 4235. The 2019 MacBook Pro has single core performance of 5658. That's about 33% faster than your current machine.
 
chabig said:
MacTracker reports the Geekbench single core performance of your MacBook Pro at 4235. The 2019 MacBook Pro has single core performance of 5658. That's about 33% faster than your current machine.
Click to expand...
I would say yes it is worth it, faster, more updated, what's not to like...
 
kp98077 said:
I would say yes it is worth it, faster, more updated, what's not to like...
Click to expand...

The price.

A fully decked out 15" 2019 MBP would cost OP somewhere between 4000-5000 USD/EUR.

They have to decide if the rather marginal increase in processing time for one task is worth that much money, seeing their machine is perfectly fine for their other uses.
 
Last edited:
The 2016 one you have is still a pretty powerful machine. With MBP 16"+ possibly coming in fall, you can wait it out until then with the machine you have now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TGM85
bdog1234 said:
View attachment 845571
I see it has more cores, but it is only 2.4 ghz and mine is 2.9 ghz. I am not even sure if this software utilizes multiple cores.
Click to expand...
You can tell whether your software can run on multiple cores by looking at the CPU usage of the process: can it exceed 100%? Does it get close to exploiting all the cores in your machine (e.g. somewhere in the 300-400% interval for a 4-core computer) or not?

I'd personally have a hard time justifying spending 4000 to 5000 USD/EUR for a spec'd out 15" if the benefit is limited to running one particular piece of software, unless my employer was paying for it. Sure, the new 8-core might be much faster, but... would you gain that much in actual productivity if a run took. say, around 20 min instead of 30?
Your machine is already a very fast one, so unless shaving off the execution time is very critical you can certainly afford to wait for the next redesign.
 
I would email the company if I were you. The base clock when the cpu is running is 2.4GHz, but spread out over 6 cores will beat your quad core 2.9GHz. Not to mention efficiencies in a newer architecture.

It is important to know that that’s the clockspeed if the cpu is running 100%. Using less cores or less percentage, the clockspeed will be higher.

Only you can decide if it’s worth it. Me personally, no. Unless if it’s on company dime.
 
Thanks. Unfortunately I own the company so upgrading would be on my dime. Based on the responses I think I will wait.
At four hours a day of processing time a 33% improvement would shave off an hour and 20 minutes. A a lot of the time it is running while I am doing other things but then there are times where I am sitting there waiting on it.

Maybe I will wait until the next generation comes out. The 16" would be nice. My MBP before this current one was a 17" and I loved that screen size.
 
  • Like
Reactions: twanj
bdog1234 said:
Thanks. Unfortunately I own the company so upgrading would be on my dime. Based on the responses I think I will wait.
At four hours a day of processing time a 33% improvement would shave off an hour and 20 minutes. A a lot of the time it is running while I am doing other things but then there are times where I am sitting there waiting on it.

Maybe I will wait until the next generation comes out. The 16" would be nice. My MBP before this current one was a 17" and I loved that screen size.
Click to expand...
well, the 16" will cost you ... big $$ I am sure.. be aware of that I would say starting $3400 at least......
 
The cost isn't really an issue. I have been getting 3-4 years out of my machines. Divided out over that time and the revenue I make using it more than takes care of it. The machine that generates the data that I process with my MBP costs six figures. That being said I don't want to waste money and want to make smart purchasing decisions.
 
  • Like
Reactions: twanj
I just posted my thoughts on upgrading from a 2012 to 2019 MBP:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/initial-thoughts-on-upgrade-from-2012-rmbp-to-2019.2187957/

I would wait the 60-75 days to see what the potential 16" MBP is like, if it comes out.

Scientific/data processing software SHOULD take advantage of the extra cores, but as mentioned look into it. If so, consider the 8 core upgrade.

Also, if you are usually in an office or nearby the machine you might want a desktop computer for that location. A Mac mini (or possibly multiple of them clustered), iMac, iMac Pro, or Mac Pro (when it comes out) will be faster than a laptop and you could run it remotely - leaving your laptop free for other uses.
 
If your software can take advantage of the extra cores and and even if it only saves you half an hour a week, it would be totally worth it.

If you have the money, go for it. Just buy it and see how much time it saves you. If it saves you even half an hour a week it would be worth it. If it doesn’t, just return it.

Remember, the only thing you can’t get more of is time.
 
twanj said:
I just posted my thoughts on upgrading from a 2012 to 2019 MBP:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/initial-thoughts-on-upgrade-from-2012-rmbp-to-2019.2187957/

I would wait the 60-75 days to see what the potential 16" MBP is like, if it comes out.

Scientific/data processing software SHOULD take advantage of the extra cores, but as mentioned look into it. If so, consider the 8 core upgrade.

Also, if you are usually in an office or nearby the machine you might want a desktop computer for that location. A Mac mini (or possibly multiple of them clustered), iMac, iMac Pro, or Mac Pro (when it comes out) will be faster than a laptop and you could run it remotely - leaving your laptop free for other uses.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Unfortunately I am not in an office or I would be using a totally different machine. I work in the field and am doing all this work in my pickup. The software only runs in Windows but I am a hardcore Mac guy so I run it in Fusion. Today I looked while processing the data and CPU utilization was only around 30% so I am guessing it doesn't use multiple cores.
[doublepost=1561851057][/doublepost]
fgengineer said:
If your software can take advantage of the extra cores and and even if it only saves you half an hour a week, it would be totally worth it.

If you have the money, go for it. Just buy it and see how much time it saves you. If it saves you even half an hour a week it would be worth it. If it doesn’t, just return it.

Remember, the only thing you can’t get more of is time.
Click to expand...

I hear you 100% but if there is a potential for something better in 2-3 months I think I can wait that long. Upgrading computers is such a tricky decision. One always wants something better but the way technology evolves the longer you wait the better machine you will get.
 
  • Like
Reactions: twanj
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back