Need some advice between 13-inch Base Model + ATD or 15-inch High end + High-res

[henry72]

Hey guys,

I'm not sure what is the best combination. I know the best would be 15-inch high end + Apple Thunderbolt Display, but I don't have enough money for that at the moment.

13-inch Base: 2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5, 320 GB HDD + Apple Thunderbolt Display
15-inch High: 2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, 750 GB HDD (High-res screen)

What I do:

- Aperture 3 (That's my hobby- Photography)
- Web, Email, Docs (Normal stuff)
- Handbrake
- Watch movies
- Games (Need for speed, GTA etc...)

1. Do I really need the power on the 15-inch in order to get Aperture 3 run smoothly? I will upgrade to 8GB of RAM later on.

2. Does the 13-inch graphics powerful enough to drive the 27-inch monitor?

Which one would you choose? Assuming I'm not going to get a monitor afterward. The only monitor I will get is the Apple Thunderbolt Display.

I'm stuck. It is really hard to choose between.

Thanks a lot

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Handbrake will profit from the much faster CPU, Aperture will profit from the much faster GPU and those games surely would like a dedicated GPU, thus I would advise you to buy the 15" MBP and maybe get a 24" Dell Ultrasharp for 300 €, if you want an additional 1920 x 1200 pixel.

 

[henry72]

Handbrake will profit from the much faster CPU, Aperture will profit from the much faster GPU and those games surely would like a dedicated GPU, thus I would advise you to buy the 15" MBP and maybe get a 24" Dell Ultrasharp for 300 €, if you want an additional 1920 x 1200 pixel.

Thanks for your reply. I'm not a heavy gamer, so it doesn't matter if the 13-inch can't run the games.

The only thing I'm concern is the performance of the Aperture. I'm not sure why Aperture doesn't seems to run smooth on my last year 2010 17-inch MacBook Pro. It has 512MB graphics card, so I'm not sure what Aperture needs

It's a bit lag when I did some adjustment like brush on Aperture. Is it a bug on Aperture? Anyone?

 

[snaky69]

Aperture will benefit from the 15"'s dedicated graphics. More RAM is never a bad idea.
Handbrake will run much faster on the 15"'s quad-core CPU.
Movies? Well, either will run movies just fine.
Normal stuff? An iPad is powerful enough.
The intel 3000HD is plenty capable of driving the large display, just don't expect to run games on that resolution.

 

[henry72]

Aperture will benefit from the 15"'s dedicated graphics. More RAM is never a bad idea.
Handbrake will run much faster on the 15"'s quad-core CPU.
Movies? Well, either will run movies just fine.
Normal stuff? An iPad is powerful enough.
The intel 3000HD is plenty capable of driving the large display, just don't expect to run games on that resolution.

Thanks for your reply. The iPad is really good for doing those normal stuff like email and web etc...

I think I will invest my money on the 15-inch because it is really powerful by looking at the spec.

 

[Performa636CD]

I concur; I think the 15 inch is best for you.

 

[henry72]

I concur; I think the 15 inch is best for you.

Thank for your advice.