Macbook pro 13' early 2015 (2.7 ghz) vs the new Macbook pro 2016 (no touchbar and 2.0 ghz).

[Victoraa]

Hi.

As the title indicate, i'm in doubt about which Macbook pro to buy.



I've considered both the macbook pro 13' early 2015 (2.7 ghz) and the new Macbook pro 2016 (no touchbar and 2.0 ghz). In my country, the price is more or less the same. There some obvious advantages with the new one from 2016 (better design, speakers and graphics). It's mainly the differences in the processors which makes me uncertain about which one to buy. To be honest i don't know much about it (i just notice that 2.7 is somewhat more than 2.0 ghz), and i'm not sure, how much value should be put in the ghz difference in determining the 'overall performance'. Are there someone who knows about the difference, who could enlighten me, i would be very pleased!



Best wishes Victor Aagaard Jacobsen

 

[Zazoh]

According to this site, the 2.0 beats the 2.7 ...

https://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks

Real world scenarios are not the same as benchmarks but if you are going off specs, kinda have to go this route.

 

[Fishrrman]

I went through the same decision as you.
After a side-by-side comparison of the 2015 vs. the 2016, I chose the 2015.

Reasons:
- I much preferred the OLD-style keyboard of the 2015 (too many typing mistakes on the 2016)
- Although the display of the 2016 was a little nicer, the 2015's display was still very good, good enough for me.
- I preferred the "legacy ports" of the 2015. Works with what I have now, NO DONGLES. It's going to be several years before USB-c takes over the market, maybe longer. Apple is making the same gamble with USB-c as they did with Firewire and Thunderbolt before. How did those techonologies work out?
- The 2015 represents a mature design. The 2016 seems "as yet unfinished". Too many glitches popping up.
- Price-wise, I did VERY good in finding the 2015 (8gb/256gb) for over $300 less than I would have paid from Apple (for a new unit).

My opinion only.
Your needs may be different than mine.

 

[Dexter4]

It depends on what you plan to do with the machine. Without that context its hard to say much in regards to the processor power. I was recently in a similar situation and ended up pulling the trigger in the 2016 non-TB base version. I haven't been disappointed as much as these forums make it seem to be. I chose the 2016 over the 2015 for the following reasons:

1. Super lightweight (Lugging it around CS grad school no issue).
2. 8-10h Battery life.
3. Super fast SSD makes any GHz difference unnoticeable.
4. Great speakers and screen.
5. Keyboard -> can easily get used to.
6. Dongle situation is moot since I only need a USB-A + VGA for presentations/dual displays. Thus Apple's 3 in 1 is the only dongle that I carry around.

The 2015 machine is almost 2 years old. And since people use Macs for longer periods I would suggest to go with the 2016 model. Hope this helps.

 

[ncm34]

It depends on what you plan to do with the machine. Without that context its hard to say much in regards to the processor power. I was recently in a similar situation and ended up pulling the trigger in the 2016 non-TB base version. I haven't been disappointed as much as these forums make it seem to be. I chose the 2016 over the 2015 for the following reasons:

1. Super lightweight (Lugging it around CS grad school no issue).
2. 8-10h Battery life.
3. Super fast SSD makes any GHz difference unnoticeable.
4. Great speakers and screen.
5. Keyboard -> can easily get used to.
6. Dongle situation is moot since I only need a USB-A + VGA for presentations/dual displays. Thus Apple's 3 in 1 is the only dongle that I carry around.

The 2015 machine is almost 2 years old. And since people use Macs for longer periods I would suggest to go with the 2016 model. Hope this helps.

I went with the 2.4ghz i7 - how has your experience been on the 2.0ghz i5? Have you seen any color wheels doing everyday tasks? It seems quite compelling to me since I'd love to get 10+ hours of battery life more consistently than I am right now.

On the i7 I get 8-10 hours of battery life, but it's closer to 8 than 10.

 

[Dexter4]

I am mostly getting 8+ on average. If it is only browsing/reading (aka super light use) I get 10-12 hours. The battery life is excellent. I do coding on python and run simulations on MATLAB and it works like a breeze. I wasn't convinced on the i7 since its a ULV processor. In my humble opinion you could've done better with a 16GB RAM upgrade. But the 2GHz is solid for my needs.
[doublepost=1482737632][/doublepost]

I went with the 2.4ghz i7 - how has your experience been on the 2.0ghz i5? Have you seen any color wheels doing everyday tasks? It seems quite compelling to me since I'd love to get 10+ hours of battery life more consistently than I am right now.

On the i7 I get 8-10 hours of battery life, but it's closer to 8 than 10.

#6
I am mostly getting 8+ on average. If it is only browsing/reading (aka super light use) I get 10-12 hours. The battery life is excellent. I do coding on python and run simulations on MATLAB and it works like a breeze. I wasn't convinced on the i7 since its a ULV processor. In my humble opinion you could've done better with a 16GB RAM upgrade. But the 2GHz is solid for my needs.

 

[iEMH]

I am mostly getting 8+ on average. If it is only browsing/reading (aka super light use) I get 10-12 hours. The battery life is excellent. I do coding on python and run simulations on MATLAB and it works like a breeze. I wasn't convinced on the i7 since its a ULV processor. In my humble opinion you could've done better with a 16GB RAM upgrade. But the 2GHz is solid for my needs.
[doublepost=1482737632][/doublepost]
#6
I am mostly getting 8+ on average. If it is only browsing/reading (aka super light use) I get 10-12 hours. The battery life is excellent. I do coding on python and run simulations on MATLAB and it works like a breeze. I wasn't convinced on the i7 since its a ULV processor. In my humble opinion you could've done better with a 16GB RAM upgrade. But the 2GHz is solid for my needs.

I ditto this. There is nothing to fear with the new ntbMbp 13". I also get a great battery life. Mine is i5, 16Gb RAM, and 256 ssd, but with a Samsung T3 external drive (USB-C). The transfer speed are insane < 15-20sec for a 8GB iso image! I can run a hadoop vm and a linux vm simultaneously from the T3 with no hiccups whatsoever.
With a 4K LG usb-c monitor, this thing has sent my desktop into retirement. The speakers are unreal, and is sooooo easy to carry it around.
Happy I didnt buy a 2 year old technology at premium price.

 

[weckart]

If the price is a wash, then the keyboard and ports are the deciding ports in terms of usability. In my case, the 2015 model was £640 less than the 2016 when I came to buy. A no brainer, considering the 2015 is still being sold so should not be obsoleted any earlier than the 2016.

 

[ncm34]

I am mostly getting 8+ on average. If it is only browsing/reading (aka super light use) I get 10-12 hours. The battery life is excellent. I do coding on python and run simulations on MATLAB and it works like a breeze. I wasn't convinced on the i7 since its a ULV processor. In my humble opinion you could've done better with a 16GB RAM upgrade. But the 2GHz is solid for my needs.
[doublepost=1482737632][/doublepost]
#6
I am mostly getting 8+ on average. If it is only browsing/reading (aka super light use) I get 10-12 hours. The battery life is excellent. I do coding on python and run simulations on MATLAB and it works like a breeze. I wasn't convinced on the i7 since its a ULV processor. In my humble opinion you could've done better with a 16GB RAM upgrade. But the 2GHz is solid for my needs.

I got both upgrades it is an i7 with 16GB RAM. Despite the ULV processors being the only option on the nTB, I found that the base model benched a higher Geekbench score than last year's 28W 3.1 Ghz i7.

Good to hear that the 2.0 is great for development work too!

[doublepost=1482775685][/doublepost]

If the price is a wash, then the keyboard and ports are the deciding ports in terms of usability. In my case, the 2015 model was £640 less than the 2016 when I came to buy. A no brainer, considering the 2015 is still being sold so should not be obsoleted any earlier than the 2016.

The price gap really had me torn when I was deciding, for me it boiled down to the following:
- The new Iris graphics 540/550 are much faster than the Iris 6100
- Every 2016 13" model has a faster CPU than last year's i7
- The speakers

£640 is a really great discount! Which specs did you end up getting?

 

[weckart]

Base model 13". The one Apple still sells for £1249 now. Got it before the price hike and two stacked discounts brought it to a tad over £800. The extra £640 for the base 2016 model would have given me another 128GB of HDD but for my purposes right now, the extra capacity is neither here nor there. If future updates in software and macOS leave me pressed for space, I would be looking for an upgrade to at least 512GB. Hopefully those clever Chinese factories will work out how to make a cheap NVMe to AHCI adapter if that is possible.

Personally, I don't care about GPU speed on a notebook. Thrashing those for performance just leads to logic board death and I have a couple of Mac Pros for heavy duty work.