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Looking to buy new rMBP

A

AppleFan22

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 3, 2014
282
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This will sound incredibly stupid to most of you, so hopefully you will be able to explain this, in a simple way too.

Why is the 15" rMBP offered with what appears to be a slower processor than it's 13" counterpart?

In the image I have attached, Apple is offering the 13" rMBP with a max CPU speed of 3.1 GHz, and a 15" rMBP with 2.8 GHz. Shouldn't the processor for the larger, beefier Mac be the faster one?

I remember reading something about how "clock speed has literally nothing to do with computer speed, it's all do to with CPU architecture" but it didn't make sense.

I plan on buying a new rMBP soon, and would prefer the 15" one, however, like I said, it appears to be slower (I'll be likely to buy flash storage, which I know helps speed things up a lot), however I use my MBP to play GTA V on BootCamp, but that has a MINIMUM required CPU of 2.6 GHz (I think, off the top of my head).

TL; DR: which one of these will be able to play GTA V faster, and can you possibly explain why? And also explain how this "Turbo Boost" thing works... I am prepared to pay as much as necessary for this machine, as I will be using for a very long time (I hope!).
 

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AppleFan22 said:
This will sound incredibly stupid to most of you, so hopefully you will be able to explain this, in a simple way too.

Why is the 15" rMBP offered with what appears to be a slower processor than it's 13" counterpart?

In the image I have attached, Apple is offering the 13" rMBP with a max CPU speed of 3.1 GHz, and a 15" rMBP with 2.8 GHz. Shouldn't the processor for the larger, beefier Mac be the faster one?

I remember reading something about how "clock speed has literally nothing to do with computer speed, it's all do to with CPU architecture" but it didn't make sense.

I plan on buying a new rMBP soon, and would prefer the 15" one, however, like I said, it appears to be slower (I'll be likely to buy flash storage, which I know helps speed things up a lot), however I use my MBP to play GTA V on BootCamp, but that has a MINIMUM required CPU of 2.6 GHz (I think, off the top of my head).

TL; DR: which one of these will be able to play GTA V faster, and can you possibly explain why? And also explain how this "Turbo Boost" thing works... I am prepared to pay as much as necessary for this machine, as I will be using for a very long time (I hope!).
Click to expand...
The i7 2015 15" CPU is not upgraded to the latest Intel technology ( Broadwell ), the i5 2015 13" CPU is. This also means that currently the 2015 13" rMBP has the better integrated GPU ( Iris 6100 ). It has no dedicated GPU though.
 
AppleFan22 said:
This will sound incredibly stupid to most of you, so hopefully you will be able to explain this, in a simple way too.

Why is the 15" rMBP offered with what appears to be a slower processor than it's 13" counterpart?

In the image I have attached, Apple is offering the 13" rMBP with a max CPU speed of 3.1 GHz, and a 15" rMBP with 2.8 GHz. Shouldn't the processor for the larger, beefier Mac be the faster one?

I remember reading something about how "clock speed has literally nothing to do with computer speed, it's all do to with CPU architecture" but it didn't make sense.

I plan on buying a new rMBP soon, and would prefer the 15" one, however, like I said, it appears to be slower (I'll be likely to buy flash storage, which I know helps speed things up a lot), however I use my MBP to play GTA V on BootCamp, but that has a MINIMUM required CPU of 2.6 GHz (I think, off the top of my head).

TL; DR: which one of these will be able to play GTA V faster, and can you possibly explain why? And also explain how this "Turbo Boost" thing works... I am prepared to pay as much as necessary for this machine, as I will be using for a very long time (I hope!).
Click to expand...


One thing to keep in mind...number of processor cores. With rMBP 13" you may have a faster processor speed, but you only can get up to dual (2) cores. With the rMBP 15" you're working with quad (4) core processors, hence, not needed to be as fast when the overall architecture allows for much MORE processing power.
 
I'm going to be upgrading from the first gen 2012 rMBP 15" soon and I'm in a hold state until the next version is released with the latest intel processors. Currently they're 1.5 years old in the most recent 15" MBP.
 
You need to look up their individual benchmark scores and not worry about the nomenclature. After you do that, then you can compare, not until then.
 
I would not buy the 15" now and wait for the i7 Broadwell upgrade. The Iris 6100 GPU ( which comes with Broadwell ) alone is worth the wait, IMO.
 
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chscag said:
You need to look up their individual benchmark scores and not worry about the nomenclature. After you do that, then you can compare, not until then.
Click to expand...

Of the current geekbench scores, some of the rMBP 15" (2014) are actually faster than the 2015 counterparts, so if buying now, you'd want to consider if you want force touchpads or not as they got put in the 2015 model. If you don't expect a deep discount on the 2014 models if you buy refurbished, but Apple hasn't had 15" refurbs for a while now!
 
AppleFan22 said:
This will sound incredibly stupid to most of you, so hopefully you will be able to explain this, in a simple way too.

Why is the 15" rMBP offered with what appears to be a slower processor than it's 13" counterpart?

In the image I have attached, Apple is offering the 13" rMBP with a max CPU speed of 3.1 GHz, and a 15" rMBP with 2.8 GHz. Shouldn't the processor for the larger, beefier Mac be the faster one?

I remember reading something about how "clock speed has literally nothing to do with computer speed, it's all do to with CPU architecture" but it didn't make sense.

I plan on buying a new rMBP soon, and would prefer the 15" one, however, like I said, it appears to be slower (I'll be likely to buy flash storage, which I know helps speed things up a lot), however I use my MBP to play GTA V on BootCamp, but that has a MINIMUM required CPU of 2.6 GHz (I think, off the top of my head).

TL; DR: which one of these will be able to play GTA V faster, and can you possibly explain why? And also explain how this "Turbo Boost" thing works... I am prepared to pay as much as necessary for this machine, as I will be using for a very long time (I hope!).
Click to expand...


Another consideration....on board video vs. discrete video option. If you buy a rMBP 13" you will have no option to get an additional discrete video card, only on board. If you get the highest model rMBP 15" it includes the on board graphics card and an additional gpu for even more video processing power! So if you're looking for GTA V gaming, that is another thing to consider.
 
As to your specific question as to why the 13" is clocked higher than the 15", the answer is one word - heat.

As was previously mentioned... The 13" has two processor cores and the 15" has four processor cores. 'Books have very tight thermal limits... The more cores a processor has, the more heat it will generate, so the processor must have a lower clock speed. The same applies to the Mac Pro... If you look at its various configurations, the cheapest model has a "faster" clock speed than the more expensive models. That's because the entry level model only has four cores vs six and eight cores in the mid/high end models.

Either way... Unless you're some diehard enthusiast, clock speed is largely irrelevant these days. If you "need" a new machine today, then get one - you won't be disappointed with the performance, regardless of which year's processor it has.
 
Okay, so what no one has replied, is quite simply, which one will be able to play GTA V faster. That is literally all I need to know. No, I won't be buying a separate video card for it, the whole point is portability, right?
 
The 15" one is faster regardless of what other say. The Iris Pro 5200 (rMBP 15) is way faster than the Iris non Pro 6100 in the 13" because of the eDRAM in the Iris Pro. GTA V however is a little too much for the Iris Pro. I would consider a gaming laptop if gaming is the only or main purpose. rMBP aren't gaming laptops, at all. They suffer from throttling and the only one up to the task is the USD 2500 15" rMBP with the AMD R9 M370X, and still it wouldn't be enough to play at high settings. Oh and don't worry on the CPU side of things, the GPU is what usually matters, the game will run regardless of the frequency.

EDIT: If you can wait, then I'll suggest you until then next model with Skylake launching in early or mid 2016. This one will most likely include Thunderbolt 3 which supports external GPUs. That way you can immensely improve gaming performance.

or get one of these now but it's too much tinkering in my opinion,that is with TB2 which unlike TB3 doesn't support hot plugging:
 
Last edited:
OSX7 said:
The 15" one is faster regardless of what other say. The Iris Pro 5200 (rMBP 15) is way faster than the Iris non Pro 6100 in the 13" because of the eDRAM in the Iris Pro. GTA V however is a little too much for the Iris Pro. I would consider a gaming laptop if gaming is the only or main purpose. rMBP aren't gaming laptops, at all. They suffer from throttling and the only one up to the task is the USD 2500 15" rMBP with the AMD R9 M370X, and still it wouldn't be enough to play at high settings. Oh and don't worry on the CPU side of things, the GPU is what usually matters, the game will run regardless of the frequency.

EDIT: If you can wait, then I'll suggest you until then next model with Skylake launching in early or mid 2016. This one will most likely include Thunderbolt 3 which supports external GPUs. That way you can immensely improve gaming performance.
Click to expand...

I have literally no choice but to wait; I need either a miracle or to save lots of money. GTA V is definitely NOT the main purpose of the laptop, I do some (very) amateur video editing for a theatrical group, occasionally do my own audio stuff, and am getting into photography. If you could recommend an external graphics card (impractical in my situation, but hey ho), which one would it be? Cost isn't too much of a factor, so long as it is compatible with Windows 10, and is fast!
 
AppleFan22 said:
I have literally no choice but to wait; I need either a miracle or to save lots of money. GTA V is definitely NOT the main purpose of the laptop, I do some (very) amateur video editing for a theatrical group, occasionally do my own audio stuff, and am getting into photography. If you could recommend an external graphics card (impractical in my situation, but hey ho), which one would it be? Cost isn't too much of a factor, so long as it is compatible with Windows 10, and is fast!
Click to expand...
You can check the other video I added to my post and head over to "http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/". I would recommend waiting for TB3, right now because eGPU boxes are expensive with TB2. Several manufacturers have wanted to launch eGPU chasis but they get blocked by Intel. This is no longer the case for TB3, actually they are even endorsing it...a lot. Some have already announced solutions with TB3 and because it's a new market with a new crowd there will probably be a price war between sellers once their TB3 enclosures are out.
 
AppleFan22 said:
This will sound incredibly stupid to most of you, so hopefully you will be able to explain this, in a simple way too.

Why is the 15" rMBP offered with what appears to be a slower processor than it's 13" counterpart?

In the image I have attached, Apple is offering the 13" rMBP with a max CPU speed of 3.1 GHz, and a 15" rMBP with 2.8 GHz. Shouldn't the processor for the larger, beefier Mac be the faster one?
Click to expand...
More GHz does not mean it is faster. The 15" models use "bigger" processor cores (more transistors) and use Quad-Core processors. The 15" offer also Iris Pro, which means that the iGPU needs additional transistors and is therefore more powerful than the iGPU of the 13" model. If possible buy the model with the faster RAM, because your computer software including the OS copies a lot of data between the processor (caches) and the RAM.
 
AppleFan22 said:
I have literally no choice but to wait; I need either a miracle or to save lots of money. GTA V is definitely NOT the main purpose of the laptop, I do some (very) amateur video editing for a theatrical group, occasionally do my own audio stuff, and am getting into photography. If you could recommend an external graphics card (impractical in my situation, but hey ho), which one would it be? Cost isn't too much of a factor, so long as it is compatible with Windows 10, and is fast!
Click to expand...

Buy a gaming laptop with windows on it you seem to have literally no reason to go for a mac.

I would suggest a 14 inch razer blade, it'll do everything you want and the dGPU is fast enough for GTA V.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Razer-Blade-14-Early-2015-Notebook-Review.138997.0.html
 
AppleFan22 said:
I have literally no choice but to wait; I need either a miracle or to save lots of money... Cost isn't too much of a factor
Click to expand...
So, you need to save up but cost isn't a factor?

I wouldn't really expect to game on anything but the 15" with dGPU. But like others have said, you can get better performance for your use out of a PC laptop. Frankly you could get a 13" Mac for daily use, build a $700 desktop PC that would outperform the 15" MBPro for gaming, have the best of both worlds and have spent less $.
 
austinpike said:
So, you need to save up but cost isn't a factor?

I wouldn't really expect to game on anything but the 15" with dGPU. But like others have said, you can get better performance for your use out of a PC laptop. Frankly you could get a 13" Mac for daily use, build a $700 desktop PC that would outperform the 15" MBPro for gaming, have the best of both worlds and have spent less $.
Click to expand...

When I say cost isn't a factor, I mean I can save up as much as nessecary. I'm not on a strict buffet or anything, as I don't have to pay for bills or anything like that. And as I said above, there's no point in getting a $700 desktop machine (mainly because I'm in the UK) because I have only 4 PC games, and the collection won't grow much, unless Rockstar release like 40 new copies of GTA tomorrow or something.
 
Well the top end 15 inch with dGPU seems tailor made for you. It'll play GTAV, not at high settings but well enough.
 
Samuelsan2001 said:
Well the top end 15 inch with dGPU seems tailor made for you. It'll play GTAV, not at high settings but well enough.
Click to expand...

I've tinkered with the settings on GTA V and have got it as perfect as I think it can currently get. Very smooth gameplay on all high settings and some little adjustments.
 
alexmarchuk said:
I've tinkered with the settings on GTA V and have got it as perfect as I think it can currently get. Very smooth gameplay on all high settings and some little adjustments.
Click to expand...

How is it in OS X for other things, normal tasks and high intensity CPU tasks?
 
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