MacBook pro 2015 vs 2016 (15 inch)

[theberto]

Hi,I have been waiting fo the new macbooks for some times because I am going to buy a new laptop.

I need a light laptop with good battery life (I need for uni so I need to carry around it) but I need good performance as well (in particular I need to use the Adobe suite, photo and video editing and possibly 3d modelling) so I was thinking about Macbook pro 15inch.
I saw the new models and I must say that I am not so thrilled and also prices are insanely high.
I would like to ask you if in your opinion it would make sense to buy today a New 2015 macbook pro for intense use with Photoshop, Indesign, Premiere, after effects, illustrator or if it's better to go on something else (even not mac).
I was thinking to try mac becasue I want a machine that is going to last some years (my last Lenovo last less than 2 years and it crashes just beacuse of heavy use of Photoshop)
What would you suggest me?
Thank you so much

 

[wegster]

Not one really knows what 'intense' means to you, especially as 'intense' and 'light' don't usually go hand in hand.
Having said that, the 2015 models used, re-furbed or on clearance are still pretty nice machines, and while the latest model increases the storage speeds again, they're still pretty impressive at ~2GB/sec reads on the prior models.

I'd look for a deal on a closeout (Best Buy, online, ..) prior model with 16GB RAM and discrete GPU if you're not up for the new model.

 

[theberto]

yes, you're right "intense" is not really clear. anyway, I was looking for a machine that can handle this software without much problems. I still haven't decided if going on the new models or pick a 2015. I saw the memory speed upgrade and it's quite impressive

 

[Seed101]

If money is an issue, buy the 2015...if it isn't then buy the 2016!

I and many others are using the 2015 in a work environment with adobe products and light 3D work ( fine for modelling) and will hopefully be doing so for the next two-three years!

I'm sure it will be perfect for Uni...unless you feel the need to be seen to 'have the latest'.

 

[wegster]

yes, you're right "intense" is not really clear. anyway, I was looking for a machine that can handle this software without much problems. I still haven't decided if going on the new models or pick a 2015. I saw the memory speed upgrade and it's quite impressive

Memory != storage(SSD). Sounds like a 2015 (or even 2014) 1/dGPU would very likely do just fine. Are you trying to convince yourself you 'need' the newer model?

 

[azpekt]

get yourself 2016 one, hey, it`s coolest of cool and will give you peace of mind for a while

expensive as f*ck, but hey, you gotta show yourself some love

i`m having rmbp 2015, and rocking similar software (fcpx,resolve) without any issues

no go to apple.com and get yourself that screaming badass space gray one

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

I waited to see if the MBP16 would be great. Apple failed me. I picked up a used high spec 2014 model today. The CPU performance of the older machine is slightly faster than the fastest new models and has 16GB memory. I only paid £1100 and don't need to buy any dongles. I just wanted a fast portable Mac with a big screen and useful ports.

 

[theberto]

Memory != storage(SSD). Sounds like a 2015 (or even 2014) 1/dGPU would very likely do just fine. Are you trying to convince yourself you 'need' the newer model?

get yourself 2016 one, hey, it`s coolest of cool and will give you peace of mind for a while

expensive as f*ck, but hey, you gotta show yourself some love

i`m having rmbp 2015, and rocking similar software (fcpx,resolve) without any issues

no go to apple.com and get yourself that screaming badass space gray one

Actually I am trying not to buy the last, I don't really care that it's newer, and I don't care about the touch bar.
My main concern was performance. I waited until the new model becasue I tought it was worth to wait for some improvement but now actually I am more oriented on the 2015 model
[doublepost=1477761504][/doublepost]

If money is an issue, buy the 2015...if it isn't then buy the 2016!

I and many others are using the 2015 in a work environment with adobe products and light 3D work ( fine for modelling) and will hopefully be doing so for the next two-three years!

I'm sure it will be perfect for Uni...unless you feel the need to be seen to 'have the latest'.

Yes, money is an issue, but it's not the only thing. To me is important to have a durable machine that let me work with adobe suite without probelms.
I tought to go on mac beacuse on my last laptop (a Lenovo g510) the graphic card crashed while i was using photoshop quite heavily (I was working with big PSD moving bunch of layers together lol) and I was never able to recover it.
for this reason I was thinking to try Mac and I don't really care if it's not the last model, the only thing that I was a bit concerned was the 4th generation processor and I was afraid that they were a bit old, that's it =)

 

[theberto]

I waited to see if the MBP16 would be great. Apple failed me. I picked up a used high spec 2014 model today. The CPU performance of the older machine is slightly faster than the fastest new models and has 16GB memory. I only paid £1100 and don't need to buy any dongles. I just wanted a fast portable Mac with a big screen and useful ports.

yes, I was also thinking to wait a bit, to see if the performance of macbook pro 2016 are really that good and also to wait a little price drop (hopefully) on the 2015 model

 

[wegster]

yes, I was also thinking to wait a bit, to see if the performance of macbook pro 2016 are really that good and also to wait a little price drop (hopefully) on the 2015 model

The CPUs being used are a known quantity and are not a large difference vs the 2015s in reality.
Whether or not it will be *real-world* noticeable on the SSD speed boost is really up to usage. Normal app usage won't be noticeable, writing out huge data sets/files moreso.

As I type this, I'm negotiating a deal on a 2015 myself...as someone working in tech with numerous VMs, etc. Having said that, I do *some* video and photo editing, but not dealing with 4K video streams, etc..so some usage may be similar (I will go into swap w/16GB RAM), but others not (lots of disk IO across VMs + native but not giant file sizes for me in general).

 

[Seed101]

Yes, money is an issue, but it's not the only thing. To me is important to have a durable machine that let me work with adobe suite without probelms.
I tought to go on mac beacuse on my last laptop (a Lenovo g510) the graphic card crashed while i was using photoshop quite heavily (I was working with big PSD moving bunch of layers together lol) and I was never able to recover it.
for this reason I was thinking to try Mac and I don't really care if it's not the last model, the only thing that I was a bit concerned was the 4th generation processor and I was afraid that they were a bit old, that's it =)

In that case, I'd go with the 2015 with discrete graphics ( at a good price) In real world situations the differences in the processors are not that great and the new MBP'S are still at 16gb ram...the graphics card looks a step up but not 2k's worth.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

The CPUs being used are a known quantity and are not a large difference vs the 2015s in reality.
Whether or not it will be *real-world* noticeable on the SSD speed boost is really up to usage. Normal app usage won't be noticeable, writing out huge data sets/files moreso.

As I type this, I'm negotiating a deal on a 2015 myself...as someone working in tech with numerous VMs, etc. Having said that, I do *some* video and photo editing, but not dealing with 4K video streams, etc..so some usage may be similar (I will go into swap w/16GB RAM), but others not (lots of disk IO across VMs + native but not giant file sizes for me in general).

Just looking at synthetic benchmarks the Haswell 4890HQ is 10+ percent faster than the Skylake 6700HQ. The 4Ghz turbo boost really helps in a lot of single use cases.

 

[Eorlas]

Uh,

I waited to see if the MBP16 would be great. Apple failed me. I picked up a used high spec 2014 model today. The CPU performance of the older machine is slightly faster than the fastest new models and has 16GB memory. I only paid £1100 and don't need to buy any dongles. I just wanted a fast portable Mac with a big screen and useful ports.

Did I miss something? I don't recall anyone saying Skylake gets outperformed by 2014 processors, unless you're just looking at a 2.4ghz current gen compared to 2.8ghz 2 years ago and calling it "better" because it's .4mhz faster.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

Uh,



Did I miss something? I don't recall anyone saying Skylake gets outperformed by 2014 processors, unless you're just looking at a 2.4ghz current gen compared to 2.8ghz 2 years ago and calling it "better" because it's .4mhz faster.

4980HQ outperforms 6700HQ according to CPUBoss and Geekbench. Yes the older chip is clocked slightly higher....but you get a system with that chip for less than half the price.

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-6700HQ-vs-Intel-Core-i7-4980HQ

 

[theberto]

In that case, I'd go with the 2015 with discrete graphics ( at a good price) In real world situations the differences in the processors are not that great and the new MBP'S are still at 16gb ram...the graphics card looks a step up but not 2k's worth.

I was looking the Macbook pro 2015 specs and it seems that its graphic card is an intel iris, is that good?
I tought macbook had some nvdia gforce vga (or AMD radeon), is that intel iris the integrated vga in the motherboard?

 

[Seed101]

I was looking the Macbook pro 2015 specs and it seems that its graphic card is an intel iris, is that good?
I tought macbook had some nvdia gforce vga (or AMD radeon), is that intel iris the integrated vga in the motherboard?

The higher end MBP's have discrete graphics as well as the onboard intel graphics...

Intel Iris Pro Graphics and AMD Radeon R9 M370X is the May 2015 config.

Here's a refurb in the UK store:

http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/produc...-25ghz-quad-core-intel-i7-with-retina-display

You'll be wanting discrete graphics whether new or old...

 

[leman]

The 2016 MBP will be faster than the 2015, in every regard. The base 2016 model will slightly outperform the 2015 one with the dGPU. The upgraded versions will show more substantial performance improvements. Both should have similar battery life. The 2016 model is more mobile and flexible, but the 2015 has the card reader if you need it. Look at the prices and decide what makes more sense for you.

 

[Blaze4G]

Lenovos are garbage so I am not shocked by your experience. Is Mac OS a big plus? If not I would say cross shop with the dell xps and/or the Razer blade laptops.

Choose the one with the best config for the amount you're willing to spend that matches your needs.

If you love Mac OS then that will may the decision harder.

 

[Seed101]

The 2016 MBP will be faster than the 2015, in every regard. The base 2016 model will slightly outperform the 2015 one with the dGPU. The upgraded versions will show more substantial performance improvements. Both should have similar battery life. The 2016 model is more mobile and flexible, but the 2015 has the card reader if you need it. Look at the prices and decide what makes more sense for you.

Does the 2016 base model with intel outperform the 2015 with the Radeon R9 M370X in terms of graphics !?!??

 

[theberto]

The higher end MBP's have discrete graphics as well as the onboard intel graphics...

Intel Iris Pro Graphics and AMD Radeon R9 M370X is the May 2015 config.

Here's a refurb in the UK store:

http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/produc...-25ghz-quad-core-intel-i7-with-retina-display

You'll be wanting discrete graphics whether new or old...

I tried to do the macbook pro configuration on the apple site but it seems that it doesn't have the AMD radeon vga.
did they take it out from the online store? (I am italian so I was looking on the italian apple website)

 

[leman]

Does the 2016 base model with intel outperform the 2015 with the Radeon R9 M370X in terms of graphics !?!??

I was talking about the 15" model, with Radeon 450. It should perform slightly above the m370x. What the actually difference will be, we won't know before we get some benchmarks. I expect 105% to 125% of m370x.

 

[Seed101]

I tried to do the macbook pro configuration on the apple site but it seems that it doesn't have the AMD radeon vga.
did they take it out from the online store? (I am italian so I was looking on the italian apple website)

Yep. rather bizarrely they Still seem to be selling the base models on site( without discrete graphics), but not the higher end ( because everyone would buy them instead of the new I guess! Lol)

Check out your refurb store or big stores/Amazon for best prices...sure they're will be plenty still for sale!
[doublepost=1477853346][/doublepost]

I was talking about the 15" model, with Radeon 450. It should perform slightly above the m370x. What the actually difference will be, we won't know before we get some benchmarks. I expect 105% to 125% of m370x.

Sorry, when you said base model I assumed you meant with just the intel onboard, i.e.: ' the base model'

....I'd very much hope that the new discrete card performs at least a little better than the old!

 

[leman]

4980HQ outperforms 6700HQ according to CPUBoss and Geekbench. Yes the older chip is clocked slightly higher....but you get a system with that chip for less than half the price.

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-6700HQ-vs-Intel-Core-i7-4980HQ

I'd recommend to wait for benchmarks on the actual MBP machines. The RAM configuration is different, which will probably have significant impact on performance.
[doublepost=1477853626][/doublepost]

Sorry, when you said base model I assumed you meant with just the intel onboard, i.e.: ' the base model'

I thought that all the new 15" models came with a Polaris dGPU? Like the base model is the one with Pro 450? The upgraded Pro 460 will definitively be much faster than the M370X, no worries.

 

[Seed101]

I thought that all the new 15" models came with a Polaris dGPU? Like the base model is the one with Pro 450? The upgraded Pro 460 will definitively be much faster than the M370X, no worries.

You're right...it appears the 'base model' is now the old version...how odd!?!??

Edit: suppose it's like when they were selling that 13" with HDD for ages..they're not still selling that are they?

 

[loon3y]

Lenovos are garbage so I am not shocked by your experience. Is Mac OS a big plus? If not I would say cross shop with the dell xps and/or the Razer blade laptops.

Choose the one with the best config for the amount you're willing to spend that matches your needs.

If you love Mac OS then that will may the decision harder.

I never buy chinese brand anything.