Ordering MBP 13" Today, Upgrade Ghz or Ram or Nothing?

F

Finox831

macrumors member
Hey all, so I'm looking to purchase a Macbook Pro (one of the new ones) and I can't decide if I should upgrade the Ghz, RAM to 16gb or even the SSD.

I mostly will be:

Playing League of Legends
Editing Photos through Photoshop/Lightroom 5
Editing Videos
Writing papers/creating powerpoint presentations and browsing web
Watch streams through Twitch

I also find myself opening a lot of applications at once, for instance, I will have Spotify running while playing League of Legends and will usually have a couple of tabs opened on Chrome to skim through news and stuff. Or even Photoshop and Lightroom opened simultaneously with Spotify or something.

I've had 128GB SSD before and I don't find it much of an issue for me since most of my work is saved on an external or cloud. I did find myself filling up the whole space and having to delete files to make room for new ones though..

Based on this information, what do you guys recommend I upgrade or do I even need an upgrade?

thanks guys, much appreciated!
 
Nothing. If you are fine with 128GB of storage, then the base 13"rMBP should be fine.

With the new base coming standard with 8GB of RAM for $1300 new, the base 13" is actually an amazing buy now.

With Mavericks, from my own tests, 8GB is like having 14-15GB of RAM with no degrade in performance.
 
Base model or if in America, check out the refurb store. Can get Late 2013 8/256 config for $1189.00. Much better buy IMO.
 
capathy21 said:
Base model or if in America, check out the refurb store. Can get Late 2013 8/256 config for $1189.00. Much better buy IMO.
Click to expand...

Why do you feel this would be a better buy over the new one?

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Also, if you guys don't mind me asking. Who would need 16GB of RAM or would need to upgrade to 3.0 ghz?

I heard people say that people can't have too much RAM because even if it doesn't use it all it can save it instead of cache or something..? not sure.

Also, what would be the main differences in the Late 2013 Macbook Pro's to the one that came out today? thanks :D
 
Finox831 said:
Also, if you guys don't mind me asking. Who would need 16GB of RAM or would need to upgrade to 3.0 ghz?

I heard people say that people can't have too much RAM because even if it doesn't use it all it can save it instead of cache or something..? not sure.

Also, what would be the main differences in the Late 2013 Macbook Pro's to the one that came out today? thanks :D
Click to expand...

People with multiple VMs might need more than 8GB. I think unto 1GB of RAM is actually claimed by the iris iGPU so you only get 7GB. 7GB should be enough for most things though.

As for the 3.0GHz CPU, I suppose people who play games or need to video edit might get a benefit from this, although notebooks aren't really designed to be powerhouses, that's the realm of desktops/servers.

As for the difference between the 2013/2014 model, the difference is not little that you most likely wouldn't notice it. The CPU boost for the the 2014 model is only 200MHz. :)
 
Finox831 said:
Why do you feel this would be a better buy over the new one?

----------

Also, if you guys don't mind me asking. Who would need 16GB of RAM or would need to upgrade to 3.0 ghz?

I heard people say that people can't have too much RAM because even if it doesn't use it all it can save it instead of cache or something..? not sure.

Also, what would be the main differences in the Late 2013 Macbook Pro's to the one that came out today? thanks :D
Click to expand...

I think he feels it would be a better. But is because you save money and only lose 2 ghz of speed and ram because 8gb sufficient for your needs IMO. BUT the extra 8 gb more(16gb) will make your machine more "future prof" I guess lol , but tbh beside the ram the .2 ghz speed increase it not that big of deal .


In short if you are short or cash or wanna save some money I would go for the refurb ,if you have the money and wanna speed all of it then go for the new ones
 
Finox831 said:
Why do you feel this would be a better buy over the new one?

----------

Also, if you guys don't mind me asking. Who would need 16GB of RAM or would need to upgrade to 3.0 ghz?

I heard people say that people can't have too much RAM because even if it doesn't use it all it can save it instead of cache or something..? not sure.

Also, what would be the main differences in the Late 2013 Macbook Pro's to the one that came out today? thanks :D
Click to expand...

It is a better buy because you get twice the storage for less money. The 2013 refurb has 8GB of ram and 256SSD for $1189. The new one is the same for $1499 except the processor's have been bumped from 2.4 to 2.6GHZ. You will never be able to tell the difference in performance, let alone enough to justify $310 more dollars for essentially the same machine.

Unless you just have to have the latest machine, it's a waste of money IMO.

You won't need 16GB of ram. Everyone cheers for everyone to get as much ram as they can instead of following the ram wiki and being sensible with it.
 
capathy21 said:
It is a better buy because you get twice the storage for less money. The 2013 refurb has 8GB of ram and 256SSD for $1189. The new one is the same for $1499 except the processor's have been bumped from 2.4 to 2.6GHZ. You will never be able to tell the difference in performance, let alone enough to justify $310 more dollars for essentially the same machine.

Unless you just have to have the latest machine, it's a waste of money IMO.

You won't need 16GB of ram. Everyone cheers for everyone to get as much ram as they can instead of following the ram wiki and being sensible with it.
Click to expand...

So the only difference is the boost in ghz? no other part was updated at all? seems like a cheap move from Apple
 
Finox831 said:
So the only difference is the boost in ghz? no other part was updated at all? seems like a cheap move from Apple
Click to expand...

Well in their defense, they doubled the ram on the base model, and are still charging the same price.

But yes, design, casing, battery life, and such are exactly the same. It's a minor refresh, but still more of a refresh than the MBA had in April.
 
How much in terns of longevity and performance does 256gb over 128gb get one when combined with 8 or 16 GB of ram? Does 128 GB make things much shower?
 
You mentioned Video editing and thats a broad Term.

there is folks who will definitely make use of 16ram and the extra GHz, but they usually opt for the high end 15".
 
psik said:
How much in terns of longevity and performance does 256gb over 128gb get one when combined with 8 or 16 GB of ram? Does 128 GB make things much shower?
Click to expand...

The read and write speeds are typically slower on the 128 but it is nothing you notice in everyday tasks. It also depends on brand of SSD. For example. I have a Sandisk SSD in my pro and my wife has a Samsung SSD in her Air. They are both 128. In benchmarks, her's is over 600MB while mine is around 350. In performance, there is no noticeable difference.

If you need the space, get the 256. But if not, the 128 would be fine.
 
capathy21 said:
The read and write speeds are typically slower on the 128 but it is nothing you notice in everyday tasks. It also depends on brand of SSD. For example. I have a Sandisk SSD in my pro and my wife has a Samsung SSD in her Air. They are both 128. In benchmarks, her's is over 600MB while mine is around 350. In performance, there is no noticeable difference.

If you need the space, get the 256. But if not, the 128 would be fine.
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Thank you.

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CmdrLaForge said:
Depends on how much video editing you do. Faster CPU will help. More ram always. More SSd as well.
Click to expand...
Lol. Faster everything huh?
 
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