New MBP base 13" vs 2011 MBP

[patseguin]

I have a 2011 MBP that I use for music and video editing. It's a 2.0GHz i7 which I updated with 16GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD. I primarily use it as a desktop Mac though connected to an external display. I've been waiting to see if a new Mac mini would come out but I'm not holding my breath. I have no use for the new touch strip so I've been looking at the base 13" model. Even though my current machine is 5+ years old, would it be a downgrade still to get the 2016 base model which is an i5? I mainly want to upgrade because my existing machine doesn't support 4K and I now use a 4K display.

 

[Bending Pixels]

No...it isn't a downgrade. The current i5's are still faster than an older i7.

 

[wallysb01]

No...it isn't a downgrade. The current i5's are still faster than an older i7.

Its not just an i5 though, its also a U class processor. So it is a step down in total compute power, especially on multithreaded, long running tasks. However, if you're not doing that kind of thing, it will handle that 4K display just fine and give you some power savings. Plus you'll get the modern IO (which is also part of that 4K support of course) and since you use it docked all the dongle issues probably won't matter that much to you. Its costly to get that machine to 16GB of RAM and 1TB SSD though.

 

[patseguin]

Not so sure I am smart considering this machine as a desktop computer. If they've abandoned the Mac Mini then I guess it may be my only option...