Purchase Question: rMBP 13" early 2013 or New 2015

[Curlyp]

Hello MacRumors Community!

I am in need of some advice on which MacBook Pro Retina 13" to purchase. I am able to purchase an early 2013 or a new early 2015 at a great price (well at least I think it is!). I know the early 2013 does not have many of the 2015 features, new thunderbolt, new force touch, newer graphics, and size/slimness. I have never owned either one so I am not sure if the old intel i7 (ivy bridge) with a little older technology is better than the new i5 (broadwell) with new technology.

The specs of both are below:

Early 2013 rMBP 13" (basically mint condition)
i7 3GHz
8GB RAM
512GB SSD
Model: 10,2
Price: $1,075

New early 2015 rMBP 13"
i5 2.7GHz
8GB RAM
256GB Flash Storage
Model: 12,1
Price: $1,279.99

Both MacBook Pro Retina's are at cost with no tax.

I am open to any and all advice/comments. I am counting on the community for help!

Thanks in advance!

 

[BrettApple]

Since it's an Early 2013 (HD4000/Ivy bridge) I'd go with the 2015 model, if only because the GPU is that much better and won't stutter as much. Plus it has a much faster SSD.

Personally I have the Late 2013 13" model (2.4GHz/8GB/256GB) and there isn't a huge difference between it and the 2015, but the Early 2013 model is mostly the same as the 2012. It's also a little heavier and has an extra fan. If this was a Late 2013 at a good price I'd go for it, but not Early 2013.

The 3.0 GHz i7 is a little faster than the stock i5 from what I could tell on cpubench. But not enough to outweigh the GPU, better battery life, and efficiency of the newer i5.

Intel Core i7-3540M @ 3.00GHz - 4631
Intel Core i5-5257U @ 2.70GHz - 4575

I'm sure you'll love it!

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Hello MacRumors Community!

I am in need of some advice on which MacBook Pro Retina 13" to purchase. I am able to purchase an early 2013 or a new early 2015 at a great price (well at least I think it is!). I know the early 2013 does not have many of the 2015 features, new thunderbolt, new force touch, newer graphics, and size/slimness. I have never owned either one so I am not sure if the old intel i7 (ivy bridge) with a little older technology is better than the new i5 (broadwell) with new technology.

The specs of both are below:

Early 2013 rMBP 13" (basically mint condition)
i7 3GHz
8GB RAM
512GB SSD
Model: 10,2
Price: $1,075

New early 2015 rMBP 13"
i5 2.7GHz
8GB RAM
256GB Flash Storage
Model: 12,1
Price: $1,279.99

Both MacBook Pro Retina's are at cost with no tax.

I am open to any and all advice/comments. I am counting on the community for help!

Thanks in advance!

If you don't need the storage space go for the 2015 for all the reasons Brettapple said above.

 

[Curlyp]

Since it's an Early 2013 (HD4000/Ivy bridge) I'd go with the 2015 model, if only because the GPU is that much better and won't stutter as much. Plus it has a much faster SSD.

Personally I have the Late 2013 13" model (2.4GHz/8GB/256GB) and there isn't a huge difference between it and the 2015, but the Early 2013 model is mostly the same as the 2012. It's also a little heavier and has an extra fan. If this was a Late 2013 at a good price I'd go for it, but not Early 2013.

The 3.0 GHz i7 is a little faster than the stock i5 from what I could tell on cpubench. But not enough to outweigh the GPU, better battery life, and efficiency of the newer i5.

Intel Core i7-3540M @ 3.00GHz - 4631
Intel Core i5-5257U @ 2.70GHz - 4575

I'm sure you'll love it!

Thanks BrettApple for the advice. I'll take your advice and go with the 2015 model. The cpubench mark under a 100 difference and as you stated the GPU is better.

If you don't need the storage space go for the 2015 for all the reasons Brettapple said above.

Thanks Samuelsan2001. 256 is a decent amount of storage. I could use more, but if I need it, I can buy a slim line Sd card to use as extra storage. Do you see any issues with using an SD card for storage?

 

[Taz Mangus]

Thanks BrettApple for the advice. I'll take your advice and go with the 2015 model. The cpubench mark under a 100 difference and as you stated the GPU is better.



Thanks Samuelsan2001. 256 is a decent amount of storage. I could use more, but if I need it, I can buy a slim line Sd card to use as extra storage. Do you see any issues with using an SD card for storage?

The 2015 MacBook Pro has insanely fast SSD.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Thanks BrettApple for the advice. I'll take your advice and go with the 2015 model. The cpubench mark under a 100 difference and as you stated the GPU is better.



Thanks Samuelsan2001. 256 is a decent amount of storage. I could use more, but if I need it, I can buy a slim line Sd card to use as extra storage. Do you see any issues with using an SD card for storage?

They are pretty good, a lot slower than the SSD of course and there can be mounting issues with wake and sleep etc but for media files they should be fine.

 

[Curlyp]

Thanks all. I appreciate it.