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freitz

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 25, 2015
105
15
Ellicott City MD
I currently have a Maxed out 2015 rMB. I need to update.

However I am stuck. At home I have a large and powerful server workstation. Its awesome for content creation and photo editing.

I bought the rMB to see how it would perform with my extensive travel. I also have a surface pro 4 which I use for work, the rMB is for play and person stuff.

I am waiting for the launch of the new MBP to see what kind of performance and upgrades they are going to provide at WWDC next month. However I wanted to hear some thoughts of the people who upgraded to the M7 this year. Noticeable performance gains? How is editing software performing?

While lightroom runs fine, its just slow for my liking.

Thanks
 

SSD-GUY

macrumors 65816
Sep 20, 2012
1,151
2,104
Interstellar
I currently have a Maxed out 2015 rMB. I need to update.

However I am stuck. At home I have a large and powerful server workstation. Its awesome for content creation and photo editing.

I bought the rMB to see how it would perform with my extensive travel. I also have a surface pro 4 which I use for work, the rMB is for play and person stuff.

I am waiting for the launch of the new MBP to see what kind of performance and upgrades they are going to provide at WWDC next month. However I wanted to hear some thoughts of the people who upgraded to the M7 this year. Noticeable performance gains? How is editing software performing?

While lightroom runs fine, its just slow for my liking.

Thanks

Do you find your 1.3 rMB slow with LR? That's odd. Are you files quite large?

TBH if you're struggling with a maxed out 2015 rMB, I don't think the 2016 is going to make much or any difference. It may be better to wait for the 'new' rMBP as you've suggested.
 

freitz

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 25, 2015
105
15
Ellicott City MD
Do you find your 1.3 rMB slow with LR? That's odd. Are you files quite large?

TBH if you're struggling with a maxed out 2015 rMB, I don't think the 2016 is going to make much or any difference. It may be better to wait for the 'new' rMBP as you've suggested.

Not struggling, it can do the task fine. Just slightly delayed. My home work station is a well overclocked 6 core with a Titan X and 64 GB of RAM also well over clocked so its not really a fair comparison but I think I would utilize a bit more power when on the road.
 

rrm998

macrumors regular
Jun 15, 2012
198
4
Houston, TX USA
I currently have a Maxed out 2015 rMB. I need to update.

However I am stuck. At home I have a large and powerful server workstation. Its awesome for content creation and photo editing.

I bought the rMB to see how it would perform with my extensive travel. I also have a surface pro 4 which I use for work, the rMB is for play and person stuff.

I am waiting for the launch of the new MBP to see what kind of performance and upgrades they are going to provide at WWDC next month. However I wanted to hear some thoughts of the people who upgraded to the M7 this year. Noticeable performance gains? How is editing software performing?

While lightroom runs fine, its just slow for my liking.

Thanks

I've upgraded my 1.3ghz 2015 for the m7 2016. Running them side by side I find that the 2016 will open an application just a tick faster than the 2015. Not enough of a difference that you could measure it.

I used iMovie to render the same 50 second 4K clip (shot with iPhone 6s Plus) and got identical times. With the faster SSD, I had hoped for an improvement here.

It's going to be a few weeks before I get a new batch of photos to run through Lightroom but I'm not expecting a big change.

I'd suggest that if you feel the 2015 isn't powerful enough then the 2016 rMP isn't the answer.
 

freitz

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 25, 2015
105
15
Ellicott City MD
I've upgraded my 1.3ghz 2015 for the m7 2016. Running them side by side I find that the 2016 will open an application just a tick faster than the 2015. Not enough of a difference that you could measure it.

I used iMovie to render the same 50 second 4K clip (shot with iPhone 6s Plus) and got identical times. With the faster SSD, I had hoped for an improvement here.

It's going to be a few weeks before I get a new batch of photos to run through Lightroom but I'm not expecting a big change.

I'd suggest that if you feel the 2015 isn't powerful enough then the 2016 rMP isn't the answer.

That is a shame because the form factor is so nice for travel.

I really need a 13" with a quad core and a Dgpu but who knows if that will happen.
 

SSD-GUY

macrumors 65816
Sep 20, 2012
1,151
2,104
Interstellar
I've upgraded my 1.3ghz 2015 for the m7 2016. Running them side by side I find that the 2016 will open an application just a tick faster than the 2015. Not enough of a difference that you could measure it.

I used iMovie to render the same 50 second 4K clip (shot with iPhone 6s Plus) and got identical times. With the faster SSD, I had hoped for an improvement here.

It's going to be a few weeks before I get a new batch of photos to run through Lightroom but I'm not expecting a big change.

I'd suggest that if you feel the 2015 isn't powerful enough then the 2016 rMP isn't the answer.

Please post back once you've done the Lightroom test. Any chance you could run the Lightroom test on the 2015 and 2016 to measure any differences?
 

rrm998

macrumors regular
Jun 15, 2012
198
4
Houston, TX USA
Please post back once you've done the Lightroom test. Any chance you could run the Lightroom test on the 2015 and 2016 to measure any differences?

I don't have the 2015 any longer and I didn't run any side-by-side tests with Lightroom because I didn't expect to see a big change. But I remembered that I had some test numbers from when I first got the 2015 so I could do a few comparisons.

Importing 489 36mp JPG images with standard previews (2880 pixel, high quality) took exactly the same amount of time on both machines. Right at 20 minutes. By way of comparison, this same test took 12 minutes on my Late 2015 i7 iMac.

Opening a single image in Photoshop -- with lightroom adjustments -- also took the same time. About 6-7 seconds. Tip: I found that if I keep photoshop open in the background the image load time is cut in half on either machine.

Moving from image to image in the Develop module was noticeably faster. Less than half the time of the 2015. I don't know how to account for this. I've been looking for a difference in Lightroom configuration but I haven't found anything. I made sure I was using standard previews so that LR had to generate the 1:1 preview each time I changed images.

I also noticed that the Adjustment Brush tool did a better job of keeping up with my cursor movement on the 2016. On the 2015, there was always a lag if I moved the cursor too fast.

Those are my observations so far.
 
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Admiral

macrumors 6502
Mar 14, 2015
391
961
The performance comparison I'm looking for is h.264 and h.265 .MP4 playback using Movist — CPU utilization and frame rates.
 

JamesMcFlyJR

macrumors 6502
May 12, 2016
283
549
I've upgraded my 1.3ghz 2015 for the m7 2016. Running them side by side I find that the 2016 will open an application just a tick faster than the 2015. Not enough of a difference that you could measure it.

I'd suggest that if you feel the 2015 isn't powerful enough then the 2016 rMP isn't the answer.

I was actually debating between the 2016 m3 and m5 processors. I can live with 256gb ssd but I thought the performance difference was huge in comparison with the the two. I currently have a 2013 15in MacBook Pro retina which geekbench is 2900 64single core. I saw some benchmarks with the m3 scoring 2400 while the m5 scoring around 2900. do you think this difference is going to be noticeable in real life usage? I really like the speed of my current mbp so I would prefer not to downgrade a lot. I mostly use safari, office 2016, and twice a year fcpx. what do you think? I also plan on keeping the rMB as my only computer for the next five years.
 

mtneer

macrumors 68040
Sep 15, 2012
3,179
2,714
I am a little puzzled with your expectations. Compared to a workstation - with a fan, a GPU and possibly a Xeon processor, the rMB is always going to struggle. Even a Workstation a couple of generations old could smash a rMB in performance. But they are different horses for different courses.... Each performs excellent for its intended usage niche.
 
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jamrolu

macrumors newbie
Oct 13, 2011
24
15
Málaga, Spain
I don't have the 2015 any longer and I didn't run any side-by-side tests with Lightroom because I didn't expect to see a big change. But I remembered that I had some test numbers from when I first got the 2015 so I could do a few comparisons.

Importing 489 36mp JPG images with standard previews (2880 pixel, high quality) took exactly the same amount of time on both machines. Right at 20 minutes. By way of comparison, this same test took 12 minutes on my Late 2015 i7 iMac.

Opening a single image in Photoshop -- with lightroom adjustments -- also took the same time. About 6-7 seconds. Tip: I found that if I keep photoshop open in the background the image load time is cut in half on either machine.

Moving from image to image in the Develop module was noticeably faster. Less than half the time of the 2015. I don't know how to account for this. I've been looking for a difference in Lightroom configuration but I haven't found anything. I made sure I was using standard previews so that LR had to generate the 1:1 preview each time I changed images.

I also noticed that the Adjustment Brush tool did a better job of keeping up with my cursor movement on the 2016. On the 2015, there was always a lag if I moved the cursor too fast.

Those are my observations so far.
I've noticed that after updating to OS X 10.11.5 that OpenGL/GPU acceleration is now enabled in Lightroom - I don't know if this was the case for the 2015?
 

Samuelsan2001

macrumors 604
Oct 24, 2013
7,729
2,153
That is a shame because the form factor is so nice for travel.

I really need a 13" with a quad core and a Dgpu but who knows if that will happen.

Then your only option is a specced surface book by Microsoft at the moment and that only uses the same dual core processors as you get in a MacBook Air, although you can get it with a 640m dGPU

The next skylake 13 inch rMBP should have graphics with 64mb eDRAM cache and quite a boost over the current Iris graphics that may be more to your liking, but it will still be dual core.
 

rrm998

macrumors regular
Jun 15, 2012
198
4
Houston, TX USA
I've noticed that after updating to OS X 10.11.5 that OpenGL/GPU acceleration is now enabled in Lightroom - I don't know if this was the case for the 2015?

It was also enabled on the 2015 Macbook.
[doublepost=1463568709][/doublepost]
I was actually debating between the 2016 m3 and m5 processors. I can live with 256gb ssd but I thought the performance difference was huge in comparison with the the two. I currently have a 2013 15in MacBook Pro retina which geekbench is 2900 64single core. I saw some benchmarks with the m3 scoring 2400 while the m5 scoring around 2900. do you think this difference is going to be noticeable in real life usage? I really like the speed of my current mbp so I would prefer not to downgrade a lot. I mostly use safari, office 2016, and twice a year fcpx. what do you think? I also plan on keeping the rMB as my only computer for the next five years.

I purchased the m7 so of your two choices I'd vote for the m5. I think you would do OK with the tasks you mention until you are ready to render your final movie in FCPX. The quad core MBP will be way faster. The multi-core scores demonstrate this. You also have much better graphics in the 2013 MBP (even if you have the integrated graphics).
 

KPOM

macrumors P6
Oct 23, 2010
18,019
7,862
I was actually debating between the 2016 m3 and m5 processors. I can live with 256gb ssd but I thought the performance difference was huge in comparison with the the two. I currently have a 2013 15in MacBook Pro retina which geekbench is 2900 64single core. I saw some benchmarks with the m3 scoring 2400 while the m5 scoring around 2900. do you think this difference is going to be noticeable in real life usage? I really like the speed of my current mbp so I would prefer not to downgrade a lot. I mostly use safari, office 2016, and twice a year fcpx. what do you think? I also plan on keeping the rMB as my only computer for the next five years.
You might find that the biggest difference is between the performance of the 256GB SSD and 512GB SSD. I finally did some comparisons between my 2015 1.2GHz and my 2016 m7. The m7 completed the benchmarks significantly quicker, but the 2015 actually opened up Office a bit more quickly. Sure enough, the SSD was the difference. I was within the return period for my m7 so I now have the 512GB on order to see if that makes any difference.
 

crsh1976

macrumors 68000
Jun 13, 2011
1,549
1,697
It's the eternal struggle, we all want the horsepower of a 15-inch rMBP with the rMB's weight/footprint. The 13-inch rMBP is supposed to be the acceptable compromise, but it doesn't (and likely ever will) have a quad-core processor, nor a dGPU. When rMBPs are updated with Skylake, at least the integrated graphics are getting a decent boost (even non-Pro Iris Graphics are much better).
 
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freitz

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 25, 2015
105
15
Ellicott City MD
It's the eternal struggle, we all want the horsepower of a 15-inch rMBP with the rMB's weight/footprint. The 13-inch rMBP is supposed to be the acceptable compromise, but it doesn't (and likely ever will) have a quad-core processor, nor a dGPU. When rMBPs are updated with Skylake, at least the integrated graphics are getting a decent boost (even non-Pro Iris Graphics are much better).

Ideally a 13" as good as a maxed out MBPr 15" would be perfect.
 

crsh1976

macrumors 68000
Jun 13, 2011
1,549
1,697
Ideally a 13" as good as a maxed out MBPr 15" would be perfect.
Yeah, I hear you - I've been wanting one for a long time, too. I'm not holding my breath tho, Apple has shown us it can be incredibly stubborn when it defines product lines and makes sure one doesn't step on another's turf.

That said, the 13-inch rMBP, even with it's U-class dual-core and simple integrated graphics, is still massively faster than a rMB without adding that much bulk - it just depends what you prioritize, power vs weight/size.

(I'm deliberately leaving the MBA out of this, the screen is awful and barely usable by today's standards)
 

freitz

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 25, 2015
105
15
Ellicott City MD
Yeah, I hear you - I've been wanting one for a long time, too. I'm not holding my breath tho, Apple has shown us it can be incredibly stubborn when it defines product lines and makes sure one doesn't step on another's turf.

That said, the 13-inch rMBP, even with it's U-class dual-core and simple integrated graphics, is still massively faster than a rMB without adding that much bulk - it just depends what you prioritize, power vs weight/size.

(I'm deliberately leaving the MBA out of this, the screen is awful and barely usable by today's standards)

The Mac book air is a joke right now.
 

Trey M

macrumors 6502a
Jul 25, 2011
954
323
USA
The Mac book air is a joke right now.

I don't know about that statement. My father, for example, could care less about what kind of display he used on a notebook. The important thing about Airs are that they're obviously thin/light, have great keyboard/trackpads, they're very durable, and the Air has unparallelled battery life. All of those things are honestly really important in a laptop, and some of these statements don't necessarily apply to the rMB. Some users hate the keyboard (that's a fact not an opinion) and its durability is unproven at this point; to me there's some questions regarding the longevity of the keyboard.

Personally I have no problems with the typing experience with my keyboard, my current rMB is flawless, but I have had previous rMBs (plural) with defective keyboards. These issues of users experiencing 2-3 defective keys on the keyboard have been widely discussed on the forum.

For the price, you really can't beat the MBA. You can get some steals if you look hard enough on the 8GB 13-inch models. I highly prioritize the screen on the a machine, but many truly don't care that much. If you don't care about the screen, the MBA is the best notebook option today IMO.
 
Last edited:

freitz

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 25, 2015
105
15
Ellicott City MD
I don't know about that statement. My father, for example, could care less about what kind of display he used on a notebook. The important thing about Airs are that they're obviously thin/light, have great keyboard/trackpads, they're very durable, and the Air has unparallelled battery life. All of those things are honestly really important in a laptop, and some of these statements don't necessarily apply to the rMB. Some users hate the keyboard (that's a fact not an opinion) and its durability is unproven at this point; to me there's some questions regarding the longevity of the keyboard.

Personally I have no problems with the typing experience with my keyboard, my current rMB is flawless, but I have had previous rMBs (plural) with defective keyboards. These issues of users experiencing 2-3 defective keys on the keyboard have been widely discussed on the forum.

For the price, you really can't beat the MBA. You can get some steals if you look hard enough on the 8GB 13-inch models. I highly prioritize the screen on the a machine, but many truly don't care that much. If you don't care about the screen, the MBA is the best notebook option today IMO.

Price is of no concern. I need excellent balance between performance and portability. The Current 15" performance is lack luster.
 
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