I am in the market for a 13" MacBook Pro. I can get the TB version at Best Buy with a $100 discount for $1699 for the 2017. Adding tax, I would be just over $1800. Or I can get a 2016 TB for $1650 with no tax. I'm not a power user. I will mostly use it for Web, Office, Music and so on. I looked at the Macbook, but I do need to run Windows in VirtualBox for some thing so I would be more comfortable with a more powerful machine. I also looked at the non TB, but it's my understanding that the non TB is using lower powered processors than the TB version. Anyway, is the difference between the 2016 and 2017 really that big a deal or would I be just as well off buying the 2016 and saving $150? Thanks.
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MacBook Pro 2016 or 2017
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The iGPU in the 13” is a good bit better in the 2017 models, especially for 4K stuff, so that would be the direction I would go in. If you’re really sure you wouldn’t need it though, I guess you could save the money.
If you can Best Buy is offering another $100 off MacBook's right now if you sign up for college deals on their website. I picked up a Late 2016 15" Pro for $2199 and so far I'm loving it. You could also use that $100 off a new model to bring it down to $1699.
The 2017 nTB models are 20 and 30 percent faster in Single and Mulicore performance, for MBPs of the same price.
Just bear in mind, that the 2017 entry level 15w i5 in the nTB 13 inch, out performs by a massive 20 percent even the 28w core i7 TB version from 2016.Might be. I was referring to TB models.
It also has a 10 pc bigger battery, no touchbar topiwer and is a lower power processor. Many owners say 10 to 1r hour battery life, which far exceeds the TB version.
Just food for thought.
Hi all,
BB now has the following:
2016 13 in TB 8gb/512gb for $1599 - $125 student discount.
2017 13 in TB 8gb/512gb for $1999 - $125 student discount.
I'm tempted to jump on the 2016 model. Similar use case as OP. Is there a good reason to favor the 2017?
I went for the 2016, but I am buying a 15" on sale. 700 dollars difference doesn't justify around 10% performance increase.
At the level modern Macs are, you won't be able to feel any difference if you are not gaming or editing footage with a 10 bit 4k RED camera. Still you may want to get 16GB memory if you are going for the 13".
At the level modern Macs are, you won't be able to feel any difference if you are not gaming or editing footage with a 10 bit 4k RED camera. Still you may want to get 16GB memory if you are going for the 13".
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