Replacing 2016 13" MBP + iMac 2017 with 16" MBP?

[tjedora]

Dear MacRumorers,

I watched dozens of YouTube Reviews of the 16" MBP but basically all of them just talk about numbers and synthetic benchmarks... which does not really help me with my decision, so here I am.

I currently own a base model 2016 MBP 13" with touchBar and a maxed out (in terms of CPU/GPU) iMac 2017.
The 13" MBP is mostly used for day to day stuff like mails, some Numbers documents and designing things in Photoshop and Affinity Designer. The iMac is used for music production/mixing.

I now am thinking about getting an MBP 16" with an i9 to replace both machines as the iMac doesn't get any use other than for the music stuff and even then, bigger Logic/Ableton and especially ProTools sessions will bring the iMac to its knees often, which means freezing tracks... which is really annoying.
The MBP 13" runs mostly fine - the only time it struggles is when working on A1/300DPI posters.

The only "problem" I might have is the size of the 16" machine as I got used to the 13" and love its portability.
I don't carry it around that often but in summer I sometimes take it outside and work from there.
Other than that it mostly sits on my lap when I'm on the couch...
I also love that the fans of the 13" won't kick in until I push it very hard. So 95% of the time it is absolutely quiet.

Is the behavior of the fans of the 16" comparable to that?
Did someone else go from 13" to 16" and is the performance increase noticeable for "normal" workloads like surfing the web or opening/using productivity apps?

Is the i9 2,3 GHz faster than the i7 7700k in the iMac?
The iMac has better thermals and is probably running at higher sustained clockspeeds but has 4 cores less and for Logic Pro more cores/threads are always better.

The thought of having everything in one machine and on the go is really tempting me to buy the 16" but at the same time my concerns regarding the size of the machine still hold me back.

The other option would be to keep everything and wait for the 13/14 inch 2020 model but I doubt we will see a 6-Core model there.

Any recommendations and considerations are appreciated. (No, I don't want to buy a PC )

 

[AustinIllini]

I think the 16" is a viable replacement, and I honestly believe you'll get used to the size of the 16". Really it's a matter of whether or not you feel the price of two machines is worth not having a 13" machine.

Also, do you run any server-type services on the iMac? Caching? File sharing?

 

[mrjohnnyglass]

Honestly, I make this argument to everyone I know that has a desktop and laptop combo. Laptops are powerful enough these days to replace desktops for most users. Get a monitor and a TB docking station. You'll be fine.

 

[tjedora]

I think the 16" is a viable replacement, and I honestly believe you'll get used to the size of the 16". Really it's a matter of whether or not you feel the price of two machines is worth not having a 13" machine.

Also, do you run any server-type services on the iMac? Caching? File sharing?

Nope. It's really only turned on when I'm working on music.

 

[Sirmausalot]

I think the 16" easily replaces the 13" (though if you need super portability for simplicity and not real work, an iPad is nice). I'm surprised your iMac is choking on audio post production considering that my 2015 iMac is running well with FCPX. I do have to do a few things to optimize performance for smooth playback with 422 4K. I just got the 16" and it's fantastic, but I realize the iMac has some real life to it left. I'm sure you've checked on how to optimize your computer for what you do, and even though I'm not an audio guy, this should be more than enough. The obvious: gobs of RAM, free disk space, optimized harddrives (RAID or SSD), limited programs running at once, and checking for software conflicts. Check with your fellow audio professionals and let us know.

 

[tjedora]

I think the 16" easily replaces the 13" (though if you need super portability for simplicity and not real work, an iPad is nice). I'm surprised your iMac is choking on audio post production considering that my 2015 iMac is running well with FCPX. I do have to do a few things to optimize performance for smooth playback with 422 4K. I just got the 16" and it's fantastic, but I realize the iMac has some real life to it left. I'm sure you've checked on how to optimize your computer for what you do, and even though I'm not an audio guy, this should be more than enough. The obvious: gobs of RAM, free disk space, optimized harddrives (RAID or SSD), limited programs running at once, and checking for software conflicts. Check with your fellow audio professionals and let us know.

Thanks for your answer. The iMac only struggles with large projects (60+ tracks) as I put channel strip emulation on basically every track and during production I also use a lot of VSTi/Sample libs. Especially some synths want loooots of CPU. So it's not really a surprise but still annoying as I need to maintain a project for recording and one for mixing and/or freeze/commit tracks, if I feel the need to add something to the arrangement in the mixing phase. And every minute of time I can save, is $$$ for me and helps me to stay creative. And yeah, I got 32GB of RAM, around 200GB free Diskspace on the internal SSD and basically no other programs open.

 

[AustinIllini]

Nope. It's really only turned on when I'm working on music.

Aww man! You should set up MacOS server and do Caching

 

[tjedora]

Aww man! You should set up MacOS server and do Caching

Never heard of it but just looked it up. Not worth the electricity costs for me but really a nice solution

 

[AustinIllini]

Never heard of it but just looked it up. Not worth the electricity costs for me but really a nice solution

Right. It's more of a benefit for a family or a large pool of users who are subject to data caps.

I'm on the fence about buying an old Mac mini and making it my Plex/Time Machine/Software caching server.

 

[ascender]

I've done something similar and ditched a desktop & laptop setup for a 16" machine. Main reason is so that I have a single machine with everything on it to use at any location.

The 16" is a big laptop, but its not heavy or bulky, its just a bit unwieldy if you're trying to use it in a confined space - i.e. those little tables you get on the back of train/plan seats. If you do a lot of that sort of traveling, I'd consider having something else for use on the go.

Those other scenarios you mention - using it on your lap in the garden or on the sofa are actually reasons why I changed from a smaller laptop. I find the larger screen much better for getting work done-on than the smaller one, so having the bigger laptop is making me use my desk much-less which is a good thing.

Thermal-wise, the 16 has been very similar to the 13" in terms of when you hear the fans kick-in.

 

[tjedora]

I've done something similar and ditched a desktop & laptop setup for a 16" machine. Main reason is so that I have a single machine with everything on it to use at any location.

The 16" is a big laptop, but its not heavy or bulky, its just a bit unwieldy if you're trying to use it in a confined space - i.e. those little tables you get on the back of train/plan seats. If you do a lot of that sort of traveling, I'd consider having something else for use on the go.

Those other scenarios you mention - using it on your lap in the garden or on the sofa are actually reasons why I changed from a smaller laptop. I find the larger screen much better for getting work done-on than the smaller one, so having the bigger laptop is making me use my desk much-less which is a good thing.

Thermal-wise, the 16 has been very similar to the 13" in terms of when you hear the fans kick-in.

Sounds good! Especially the fact, that the fans are as quiet as on the 13".

Thanks a lot!

 

[flygbuss]

Right. It's more of a benefit for a family or a large pool of users who are subject to data caps.

I'm on the fence about buying an old Mac mini and making it my Plex/Time Machine/Software caching server.

I have a cMP setup as TM/FTP/Media and cashing Server and I think it’s great. I can deliver my work files and all the machines in the house profit from wireless TM backups and the cashing..
[automerge]1574708161[/automerge]

Thanks for your answer. The iMac only struggles with large projects (60+ tracks) as I put channel strip emulation on basically every track and during production I also use a lot of VSTi/Sample libs. Especially some synths want loooots of CPU. So it's not really a surprise but still annoying as I need to maintain a project for recording and one for mixing and/or freeze/commit tracks, if I feel the need to add something to the arrangement in the mixing phase. And every minute of time I can save, is $$$ for me and helps me to stay creative. And yeah, I got 32GB of RAM, around 200GB free Diskspace on the internal SSD and basically no other programs open.

Do you rely on Pro Tools? Do you use Catalina already on the iMac?
I work with Pro Tools and avid don’t recommend to use it with Catalina yet. Did you check for remaining 32 bit plugins/ software?
I’m not sure if you can run Mojave on the new MBP 16”, that’s why I’m asking..

 

[tjedora]

I have a cMP setup as TM/FTP/Media and cashing Server and I think it’s great. I can deliver my work files and all the machines in the house profit from wireless TM backups and the cashing..
[automerge]1574708161[/automerge]


Do you rely on Pro Tools? Do you use Catalina already on the iMac?
I work with Pro Tools and avid don’t recommend to use it with Catalina yet. Did you check for remaining 32 bit plugins/ software?
I’m not sure if you can run Mojave on the new MBP 16”, that’s why I’m asking..

No, the iMac is still on Mojave and I would use the iMac until everything is compatible with Catalina and then start migrating. Kind of a grace period for the iMac
Also, the only 32 bit plugin I have is VintageWarmer1 but I barely use it.

 

[Chancha]

I have a similar setup: iMac 2017 maxed (40GB) + 2018 13" base with 512GB & 16GB. Have been pondering having the 16" replacing both also. While I haven't pulled the plug yet so have no 16" machine on hand to speak, but from my research:

1) the 7700K CPU in the iMac 2017 despite having only 4 cores, runs respectively well against current CPUs especially on single thread tasks. With the 8 core machines including the 16", you only see significant boost when running multi-thread tasks, which I am unsure if it helps your music production apps directly

2) I have used and loved the 12"-13" form factor extensively for more than a decade, only in 2015 that I briefly switched to 15" but went back to 13" a few months ago. When portability is a concern, every inch and gram counts. So for a laptop + desktop duo it is obviously preferable to get the laptop as light as possible since heavy duty is only needed at the desktop. But for the desktop-replacement scenario of owning only one 16" then the equation is a bit different.

3) cont. the above point on convergence of two devices: the cost savings of having one less machine to spend on means you can concentrate investment on higher BTO specs. For instance my MBP only has 512GB which sometimes is not enough to hold one on-the-road RAW photo session. Could have easily justify spec'ing out a 16" to 1 or 2TB if it is also my main "desktop" machine.

4) however there are some benefits of having multiple machines: last week I was in Japan for 10 days only bringing my MBP, while the iMac sits at home doing batch importing of an old Aperture library (the process takes days), and I could use Apple Remote Desktop to remotely monitor / control what's going on it. You are a user of a laptop+desktop combo as well so you should know well the daily benefits also, just beware that a single desktop replacement laptop will eliminate those.

 

[tjedora]

1) the 7700K CPU in the iMac 2017 despite having only 4 cores, runs respectively well against current CPUs especially on single thread tasks. With the 8 core machines including the 16", you only see significant boost when running multi-thread tasks, which I am unsure if it helps your music production apps directly

Yes. Every core and thread counts but a good base clock speed is also important. I really would need to test this though to see what bottlenecks I might run into with lower speed 8 core CPUs.

 

[tjedora]

Welp... I bought one. 2,3 Ghz i9, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD (I have my sample libraries on a TB3 external SSD)