Macbook 2015 vs 2016 performance quesion

[kpevav]

Is the 2015 MacBook 1.3GHz about equivalent to the 2016 MacBook 1.2 GHz performance? I just bought the 2015 model and haven't opened it yet, and wonder if this great deal is sufficiently close not to worry. It looks about the same from Geekbench numbers, but there is more to life and performance than that.

 

[rrm998]

Many people in this forum and a bunch of Youtube reviewers as well all seemed to agree that a discount 2015 (instead of the new 2016) was the thing to do. I believe a 2015 1.3ghz model would be faster then a 1.2ghz 2016 model.

I've had both the 2015 and 2016 1.3ghz and the speed difference was only noticeable if I had both machines side by side.

According to Apple, battery life on the 2016 is supposed to be an hour longer. I never tested this before selling the 2015 model.

 

[viperGTS]

Graphics performance is always going to be better on the newer models due to an improved GPU. There's also the faster RAM and SSD.

You should consider those elements as well.

 

[kpevav]

I opened it up and think it will be okay. Probably the most demanding thing I would do is photo editing in Lightroom, most everything else would be email, web browsing, word processing, relatively simple spreadsheets, and using Pages templates for page design.

 

[Queen6]

The difference won't be noticeable unless you have both models in front of you or are running benchmarks. You will get a bigger bump in performance by turning off Transparency. As many have already stated the discounted 2015 model is better deal, had the 2016 rMB offered any real performance increase I would have replaced my 2015 1.2 rMB as I use my systems for business purpose, with the cost of the hardware being monetised rapidly.

Q-6

 

[petsk]

The base 2016 model is faster than all 2015 models. Maybe the 1.3 GHz has a tiny bit faster CPU than the base 2016 model but it loses in all other aspects (SSD, GPU, battery).

 

[maflynn]

The base 2016 model is faster than all 2015 models.

faster on paper, or in other words benchmarks, but I think in day to day usages, the differences will be harder to see. Given the price differences between the 2016 and 2015, I'd opt for the 2015, but that's just me.

 

[rrm998]

My advise for using Lightroom on the Macbook? Limit your preview size on import to Standard Preview. And make sure your catalog's standard preview size is set to 2880.

Once I've selected my subset of photos for potential use, I go back and render 1:1 previews to speed up the Develop module open times.

I used to always generate 1:1 previews at import with my 15" Macbook Pro and that takes a while on the Macbook.

 

[kpevav]

Thanks for the comments. Fortunately, I have a desktop Mac mini with enough power for intensive work. The MacBook will be light duty on photo editing, and I may just use Photos for it. I still like Aperture, and use it mostly on the Mac mini; I wish Apple hadn't discontinued further development.

 

[mk313]

FWIW, aappleinsider posted a video comparison of the 2015 vs 2016 models (I think they were the base models). They showed that the 2016 was very slightly faster than the 2015, but in most tasks, the difference was negligible. There was once task (some kind of video encoding IIRC) where the 2016 was much faster than the 2015. Watching that video made my comfortable with getting a 2015 model at a great price. The other major factor is that the battery is supposed to last about an hour longer on the 2016 models, which may be significant for you. It wasn't for me. I bought a 2015 1.3 model and have been happily using it ever since to replace a 2013 Retina Macbook Pro.

 

[sunapple]

I've only used the base 1.1Ghz 2015 model and it's useable for every normal task I throw at it, pretty sure it's not really worth spending more money unless you want more storage. Getting a MacBook Pro would be the real upgrade.

 

[kpevav]

I saw the video comparison, the big difference was with Final Cut Pro.

It seems as though this should be fine for normal stuff that I have been doing today. I am just getting used to the new keyboard, which seems to have good potential.

 

[mtneer]

Thanks for the comments. Fortunately, I have a desktop Mac mini with enough power for intensive work. The MacBook will be light duty on photo editing, and I may just use Photos for it. I still like Aperture, and use it mostly on the Mac mini; I wish Apple hadn't discontinued further development.

Either machine will do for the light duties you have described. If you really want to do some heavy lifting; then the rMB is obviously the wrong choice for the job. So, I would choose based on storage, whatever is cheaper/ duration of warranty left, if any etc.