Refurb 15.4 2.0 October 2013 model--good idea?

[Wildgift]

I'm considering this:

Refurbished 15.4-inch MacBook Pro 2.0GHz Quad-core Intel i7 with Retina Display.

Originally released October 2013
15.4-inch (diagonal) Retina display; 2880-by-1800 resolution at 220 pixels per inch
8GB of 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
1TB Flash Storage
720p FaceTime HD camera
Intel Iris Pro Graphics

I will use for my work as an attorney, so Office, web browsing etc. also, I have a large music collection in lossless and would like to keep my itunes media, so am intrigued by the storage.

Is 8gb ram ok? I have a 2010 Mbp with 8 gb and a 5400 1tb drive. I assume that this 15" would be a lot faster. I play an occasional game or 2, or would like to. I also like that it has 802.11ac, as we have an AirPort Extreme that supports this.

Is this a good pick vs the new models? Thanks for any input, very much.

 

[poematik13]

if youre just doing basic apps (music, office, etc) then its fine. 16GB would be nice if you plan on keeping it for a while. graphics intensive games are going to choke on that iris pro though.

 

[Wildgift]

It's not offered with 16 gigs of ram unfortunately. That's a trade off.

 

[TechZeke]

It's not offered with 16 gigs of ram unfortunately. That's a trade off.

You don't need 16GB of RAM. For what it sounds like with your uses, 4gb would even enough. The amount of hysteria over RAM on this forum is hysterical. There is no way an Attorney needs 16GB of RAM.

I think it's a great buy, especially for such a large SSD.

 

[Wildgift]

Zeke, thanks. I do a fair amount of processing music to convert formats such as Flac to alac. Is that ram intensive? I assume 8 gb would do it right

 

[TechZeke]

if youre just doing basic apps (music, office, etc) then its fine. 16GB would be nice if you plan on keeping it for a while. graphics intensive games are going to choke on that iris pro though.

8GB is only good for basic apps? I hope you are joking.

----------

Zeke, thanks

No problem. Seriously, people on this forum would even tell my Grandma to get 16GB of RAM.

----------

I do a fair amount of processing music to convert formats such as Flac to alac. Is that ram intensive? I assume 8 gb would do it right

Pffft. WAY more than enough. In Mavericks, 8GB is like having 12-14gb of RAM via compression. You should be set.

 

[poematik13]

"Nobody will ever need more than 640kb of ram"

Get as much as you can get.

 

[maflynn]

"Nobody will ever need more than 640kb of ram"

Get as much as you can get.

That comment as absolutly no bearing on the discussion, that quote was attributed to Gates about PC's maximum ram.

Why spend money on a resource that you'll never use. That's throwing money away.

For simple uses, 4GB is fine, remember OS X has a really efficient memory manager, its not like the system stops working because you have a number of apps open. If you're running more intensive apps, such as Vmware Fusion, then you can make the case for 8GB.

For someone who only surfs the web, uses email and facebook, getting 16GB of ram is over kill and a wast, why get as much as you can when you don't need it.

 

[iamthedudeman]

if youre just doing basic apps (music, office, etc) then its fine. 16GB would be nice if you plan on keeping it for a while. graphics intensive games are going to choke on that iris pro though.

Are you joking? 8gb ram was standard on the mac pro until recently. With compression that 8gb is more like 12 or 14gb. Does he need more than 12 or 14gb ram? I dont think so.

Iris pro is a mid range GPU and will play most games on medium settings and some on high settings. It is superior to the 640m used previously. Which was also a mid range card and compares well with the 750m. Most games are graphic intensive.

No it will not choke. Why would you give such mindless advice?

----------

"Nobody will ever need more than 640kb of ram"

Get as much as you can get.

This pretty much sums up why you say what you do.

I understand now.

Here are the benchmarks for the 650M vs iris pro. Now remember these benchmarks were before the latest optimized drivers for the iris pro. The iris pro performs much better now.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6993/intel-iris-pro-5200-graphics-review-core-i74950hq-tested

 

[poematik13]

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Iris-Pro-Graphics-5200.90965.0.html

15% slower than the nvidia 650m, which is a mid range chip.

not ideal for gaming

 

[jolux]

I'm considering this:

Refurbished 15.4-inch MacBook Pro 2.0GHz Quad-core Intel i7 with Retina Display.

Originally released October 2013
15.4-inch (diagonal) Retina display; 2880-by-1800 resolution at 220 pixels per inch
8GB of 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
1TB Flash Storage
720p FaceTime HD camera
Intel Iris Pro Graphics

I will use for my work as an attorney, so Office, web browsing etc. also, I have a large music collection in lossless and would like to keep my itunes media, so am intrigued by the storage.

Is 8gb ram ok? I have a 2010 Mbp with 8 gb and a 5400 1tb drive. I assume that this 15" would be a lot faster. I play an occasional game or 2, or would like to. I also like that it has 802.11ac, as we have an AirPort Extreme that supports this.

Is this a good pick vs the new models? Thanks for any input, very much.

It's hard to tell without knowing the price. What is the price?