Mid 2012 rMBP or Late 2013 rMBP

Well, for your use, the dedicated GPU really won't do much. As for the clock speed, the 2.0GHz Haswell CPU is just as powerful as the 2.3GHz Ivy Bridge CPU, if not more powerful.

I would recommend you to stick to the late-2013 model.

Regards
Raptor

 

Get the late 2013. 2012 mbp's became overrated while Haswell mbps were just rumors. Now that Haswell is out, the 2012 party is over.

 

I'd take an old school i7 with the 650M over a Haswell with Iris pro any day - if you want to do anything graphically intensive in the future.

 

This is a highly uninformed comment. Check out some great threads in macrumors or even the rest of the Internet to find out why.

 

Wow - how rude! Someone forget their manners at the door?

Check the benchmarks. If you plan on touching a game, get the 650m. Graphics performance wise, there's no comparison.

Sorry to spoil your anti-2012 party bud.

 

Nope, just facts. And the fact you think I'm anti-2012 betrays your lack of familiarity of my posts all over macrumors.

 

What facts are you going to pull out that show that the Iris Pro outperforms the 650m? I'm listening.

And your "the 2012 party is over" comment makes me think that.

 

Fact #1: I never said

lol

But if, for some reason, the OP is limited to Iris Pro only, that's quite another interesting conversation.

Ironically, Iris Pro and Final Cut play quite nicely with OpenCL optimization and all. But that's more for you to chew on throughout your quest for facts on the Internet.

 

OP: +1 on this. With your apps RAM will be king, and Final Cut plays real nice with the Iris Pro. dGPU won't provide a massive advantage here.

Battery life is another 2013 advantage that can creep up later on.

 

Personally, I would recommend the late-2013 15" rMBP base model with 16GB RAM. It'll still be a close cut to your budget. However, if you feel that you desperately need the 16GB memory AND the 512GB SSD, you might want to look for a refurbished mid-2012 model to keep it in budget.

As for the Iris Pro vs 650M debate above, the simple answer is that the OP's needs don't require a discrete graphics card. However, I believe that the 650M will quite definitely outperform the Iris Pro in gaming. Nevertheless, getting a 650M for Aperture / Final Cut / any other photo/video editing software at the cost of battery life and CPU performance is really not needed.

Regards
Raptor

 

OP, have a look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATKDuQOQw9k

It's a comparison between 2012 rmbp and 2013 w/ Iris Pro. There are some benchmarks and real world tests. Hope it helps.

 

I think the Late 2013 rMBP is the better choice if you're not a gamer. Since some retailers have lowered the price, there is no reason to miss features like Wifi AC, Thunderbolt 2 (4k 60hz), the brighter screen, the cooler machine and the better battery life.

 

Great choice and good price hunting. You'll love it. On a note about AppleCare, if you happen to have an American Express card, they also have a great "extended coverage" benefit built in.

 

Refurbished 2012 with 16GBs of memory ran me $1829. 2.6 I7 processor and 256 flash memory.