MBP 13, 15, or 15 w/ discrete GPU

[xopher]

This dilemma has been going on for awhile and I was wondering if someone could shed some light on my situation.

My current Macbook (2012 MBA) has been used and abused for the last few years while in university so i'm looking to get a replacement. Currently, the display isn't uniformly lit which is why its getting donated to my parents. As a wedding photographer, this is a big no no.

Coming from an Air, battery life has always been something I've appreciated especially since I'm always on the go and outlets are rarely available. My understanding is the 13 inch will have significantly better battery life due to its smaller display, however, the 15 inch will process everything much faster. (http://www.macworld.com/article/2460820/macbook-pro-mid-2014-review-minor-update-offers-slightly-better-cpu-performance.html?page=2

Other than every day tasks (check email, word processing, web browsing, video streaming), the only intensive processing ill be doing are batch edits on Photoshop/Lightroom. For this reason, I don't even know if I should even consider the 15 inch with discrete graphics. Do these tasks even touch it?

If I pursue the 15 inch route, does it make more sense for me to get the version with or without the discrete GPU? I've also heard apple has a terrible track record with GPU support/failures in the later years...

Thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[Tomorrow]

My understanding is the 13 inch will have significantly better battery life due to its smaller display, however, the 15 inch will process everything much faster. (http://www.macworld.com/article/2460820/macbook-pro-mid-2014-review-minor-update-offers-slightly-better-cpu-performance.html?page=2

Even your own linked article's headline says the 15" gives only "slightly better" performance.

The dedicated GPU isn't really going to help you here. If you like the bigger screen, by all means, get it - but you could also just use an external monitor when you're not on the go.

 

[xopher]

"Slightly better" in comparison to last year's offering. If you look at the Photoshop/Aperature benchmarks, you'll see a significant jump in processing time between 13 and 15 inch models

 

[Tomorrow]

With different processors. I'm not confident that the GPU has anything to do with the difference in those benchmarks.

It's notable that they haven't compared any 13" models to a 15" model with the same CPU. Makes it hard to get a fair comparison.