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Macbook Pro 13" - Touchbar or non-Touchbar?

Fried Potato

Fried Potato

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 10, 2015
130
32
Hey, :)

I'm in need of a laptop for everyday use and I can't really decide which one to go with. I thought about going with a Macbook Air, but the issue is the screen - the resolution is awfully low. After having my Retina iMac for a couple of years I'm finding it hard to switch over to a lower resolution screen. Hence why I'm focusing on the Macbook Pro.

Now to the issue: Touchbar or not? I will be upgrading the RAM to 16GB and the hard drive to 512GB just for future-proofing. The price difference isn't that big between the touchbar and non-touchbar version (about $300 after conversion plus student discount). Yes, that might be a dealbreaker for some, but I'd rather pay a premium instead of regretting it later on.

Going with the touchbar would also include a stronger CPU. I'd like a computer that'll be able to hold on for four-five years. Although I've heard that it's battery life is worse compared to the non-touchbar Mac. Is that true and how great is the difference?

I won't do any greater performance requiring tasks on the Macbook for now (I'll leave that to my iMac), but I want to be able to do that in the future if the need arises. Also, do you guys have anything to say about the touchbar itself? Is it just a gimmick, or is it something that you can't live without after using it for a while? Any type of touchbar problems you might've run into (the touchbar crashing)?

Thank you in advance. :)
 
I recently got a mbpTb 13' as personal gift and since all the flood here In houston i been using it a lot didn't have time to mess with it so here is my input.
Battery life really good
Computer it's very comfortable to use easy to carry very speed up I still have my olds MBPr 15' and it's way big difference between each one of 'em can complain on my new touch bar only things that don't like so far it's all those adapters I'll need to get sis is usb-c series but Apple should know what they are doing.
 
I like mine. The battery life is worse than non-tb, but i'm not sure the 1hr will make a difference to you. I did just get a Power Bar I will take with me when I need it so battery life is no longer a worry if it ever was. USB-C powered bricks are nice!
 
I went with the TB model for the following reasons:

1. 28W TDP CPU/GPU in TB vs 15W TDP in non-TB. This won't make any difference in daily computing tasks, but if you ever do sustained CPU loads it will make a huge difference. The second fan also helps in this regard. The 15W TDP is probably fine for most purposes, but if ever game you'll really feel the difference. Also Iris 650 is 8-12% more powerful than 640.

2. The ports on the right side. I like flexibility. I like being able to plug my computer in on either side. As it happens, my desk at home has power coming from the right and my desk at work has power coming from the left. And obviously more ports is just better in general.

3. The TouchBar. I thought it was just a gimmick, and maybe to some extent it is, but in just a couple of weeks I've found it useful in all sorts of contexts. Editing a table in Word? It has a shortcut for inserting a row above, below, etc. Want to start slideshow in PowerPoint? Yup. Now there's a button for that. I honestly find it more useful than I thought I would.

At the end of the day it's probably not a huge deal and the non-TB model is probably better for a lot of people... But I'm pretty happy with my decision to spend the extra $300.
 
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Another thing to consider is how fast the Macbook charges...while you might only get 6-8hrs from the TB mbp, and 7-9 from the nonTB mbp, both charge VERY fast. So if you can get the laptop on a charger for 20-30min you'll likely gain 20-30% which is good for 2-3hrs
 
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wgr73 said:
Another thing to consider is how fast the Macbook charges...while you might only get 6-8hrs from the TB mbp, and 7-9 from the nonTB mbp, both charge VERY fast. So if you can get the laptop on a charger for 20-30min you'll likely gain 20-30% which is good for 2-3hrs
Click to expand...

This is definitely true. I'm amazed at how fast it charges compared to my 2012 rMPB.

Also, the ease with which you can charge it from a portable battery via USB-C is fantastic.
 
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Go with Touchbar. I still get excellent battery life and its nice having charging ports on the right side. Oh, and the fingerprint reader is excellent.
 
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I knew that when I got my Macbook Pro last Sunday that I wanted one with the touch bar. I love having the touchbar and it is useful for everything except chrome.

I don't really notice much about the battery life. I have a 2013 MBP and the battery is still pretty good after 3 years, and the battery on this is even better.
 
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I know that there isn't many uses at the moment for the TB, but reckon over time, it will be very useful for design software like Affinity and Adobe products once they have it integrated. Visually seeing opens should be a real bonus surely.
 
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I bought both within the last month and decided on the nTB. I bought the base models with: TB 16/512 and the nTB 16/512. For my use the extra battery life was the kicker. I use it mainly for MS Office, mail, web, Netflix, ITunes, etc. Nothing like editing 4K video or converting DVDs which does take a lot of CPU power. If this was a normal use case for me then I would’ve went with the 13”TB model at least. I do use Parallels Desktop with Windows 10 and this works perfectly fine. I initially heard the fan spin up while Spotlight and Photos were doing their thing...indexing and downloading. But it is whisper quiet and did not stand out at all. Once everything has settled down I barely notice the fan even turning on with my use cases. What I do notice is that the battery life was easily 2+ hours longer for me use cases. The NTB has a bigger battery, 15W CPU vs 28W, and no extra power draw from the TB display and its processor. I literally don’t even think about brining my power brick during the day as I’m constantly editing Word and Powerpoint documents, surfing the web and checking email via Outlook, watching Netflix or ITunes in a small window. You could buy these configurations at bhphoto or adorama immediately with no tax since these are popular configurations that they usually keep in stock. These are also normally in stock on the Apple online store for next day delivery. For normal day to day use, you will not notice any difference in performance...but you will notice the battery life. If you use it primarily plugged in at home then this may not matter. Also, I loved the touch bar, but after awhile it just seemed more tedious to use than just having the function keys. Maybe I’ll buy a TB model down the road when it is better supported.
 
photoj2754 said:
https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/6wx63y/touch_bar_broke_by_dropping_a_credit_card_on_it/
Saw this and thought you might like to read it. Pretty weird but could show how easy the touchbar can be damaged.
Click to expand...

If you read the thread the OP's brother threw a metal Amazon credit card and it looks like it just happened to land right on the touchbar with the corner of the card. It would have broken the screen too if it hit the screen instead.

I don't find that to be an unreasonable reaction for the touchbar to be hit with a metal credit card flying through the air.
 
photoj2754 said:
https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/6wx63y/touch_bar_broke_by_dropping_a_credit_card_on_it/
Saw this and thought you might like to read it. Pretty weird but could show how easy the touchbar can be damaged.
Click to expand...

That is an unfortunate landing - but if it is an especially heavy card made of metal, I suppose I can see where it could inflict damage... reminds me of my brother accidentally flinging his iPhone off his comforter into his MBP screen and breaking it - similarly pricey damage
 
2 other things that people haven't mentioned yet:

- TB model has 2 quieter fans vs. 1 louder fan in the non-TB model
- TB model has faster 802.11ac wireless

I'm holding out for a macbook later (really want a quad core 13"), but it would be a tough decision with the current models.
 
Thank you all for your replies! :)

Well, it's really leaning towards the TB model. As I said earlier: I'm going to upgrade the RAM to 16GB and the SSD to 512GB. Thus the CPU will be the base option. Should I upgrade that too, or is it okay to leave it as it is?
 
many people said tb is just a gimmick. remember when first navigation system available on car everyone also said the same thing. it because the price makes differences. more and more, look at now. this is the trend. this is technology.
 
Do you have a workflow in mind that requires the TB? if not don't bother...
Those with a feature/extra/model/option will defend it to the death, they always do.
 
As it sounds like the touchbar itself and the faster CPU are not going to be immediate benefits for your usage, in the short term, which of these do you think you can use more: slightly better battery life or TouchID?

Also, how important is silent operation? The TB has favorability in this department.

At this point, I do not think one can say what the touchbar's future will look like - Apple seems to be exploring many possibilities regarding the future. This could be a future with a touchbar that implements tremendous functionality improvements (such as the wide integration of universal website-specific buttons/tags), merging it with a new technology, or abandonment of the concept in favor of something like E-Ink keys or physical keys with their own built-in OLED display on each key. What we can say for sure is that more software developers are providing touchbar support - I look forward to seeing what VMWare does with the forthcoming Fusion 10, which promises enhanced touchbar support - which could potentially merge TB functionality with the Windows and Linux OS' - that would be really cool!
 
I will simply compare tb and ntb as old style car audio system using button and now all is digital. you can say it both function the same but do you paid extra for digital? 20 years ago people really compare this. look now 2017 do you still see that on a most luxury car with button audio system. got to move to the future.
 
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