rMBP configuration?

[robertsawicki]

I am thinking of upgrading to a 2015 rMBP 13.3" 2.9/8GB/256SSD with the student discount. I have a Mid 2010 MBP 15.4" 2.66 i7/4GB/500HD that I will give to my mother. I was looking for something more portable and with some power. I like that the 13.3" has more battery, Force Touch, faster SSD and processor speeds, and of course the Retina Display. I am a college student and I deal with a lot of CAD projects in AutoCAD and Inventor. My school computers have i5's and all the Autodesk programs run great. I also graphic design and would like to do some light video editing. I have a Crucial MX100 256SSD that I will be using as an external drive. I also use Google Drive and if storage space is necessary, I can deal with the $1.99 a month for 100GB. I'm thinking I will be good with 256SSD and an external 256SSD paired with Google Drive. All my pictures and classwork/CAD projects/graphic designs are stored on Photobucket and Google Drive. So basically I have a clean computer with just apps stored on the SSD. And my school uses Blackboard so all my schoolwork is online.

What I don't know is how I can run Windows 7 since these new rMBP's don't support it. I know Boot Camp will allow Windows 8 and (10?) and I think most of the Autodesk software is available for 8... but 8 is horrible! 10 should be an improvement. Would Parallels be better to use? Can I deal with 8?

Software I will have installed:
Google Chrome, Drive
Xcode
Adobe Creative Suite, Flash Player, Reader
Live Interior 3D
Pixelmator
Autodesk CAD, Inventor
Battery Diag
Black Magic Speed Test
MS Office
Possibly more Autodesk Software in the future...but that is not certain.
Resolume Arena is something I may want also, but not sold on it yet since I want to learn other software first.

And the ONLY game that might be on it will be CS 1.6, but that depends if I can run Windows or not..

So, is 2015 rMBP 2.9 i5/8GB/256SSD a good configuration? Can I get a 2014 with an i7 somewhere? I am looking to spend around $1500.

 

[yjchua95]

I am thinking of upgrading to a 2015 rMBP 13.3" 2.9/8GB/256SSD with the student discount. I have a Mid 2010 MBP 15.4" 2.66 i7/4GB/500HD that I will give to my mother. I was looking for something more portable and with some power. I like that the 13.3" has more battery, Force Touch, faster SSD and processor speeds, and of course the Retina Display. I am a college student and I deal with a lot of CAD projects in AutoCAD and Inventor. My school computers have i5's and all the Autodesk programs run great. I also graphic design and would like to do some light video editing. I have a Crucial MX100 256SSD that I will be using as an external drive. I also use Google Drive and if storage space is necessary, I can deal with the $1.99 a month for 100GB. I'm thinking I will be good with 256SSD and an external 256SSD paired with Google Drive. All my pictures and classwork/CAD projects/graphic designs are stored on Photobucket and Google Drive. So basically I have a clean computer with just apps stored on the SSD. And my school uses Blackboard so all my schoolwork is online.

What I don't know is how I can run Windows 7 since these new rMBP's don't support it. I know Boot Camp will allow Windows 8 and (10?) and I think most of the Autodesk software is available for 8... but 8 is horrible! 10 should be an improvement. Would Parallels be better to use? Can I deal with 8?

Software I will have installed:
Google Chrome, Drive
Xcode
Adobe Creative Suite, Flash Player, Reader
Live Interior 3D
Pixelmator
Autodesk CAD, Inventor
Battery Diag
Black Magic Speed Test
MS Office
Possibly more Autodesk Software in the future...but that is not certain.
Resolume Arena is something I may want also, but not sold on it yet since I want to learn other software first.

And the ONLY game that might be on it will be CS 1.6, but that depends if I can run Windows or not..

So, is 2015 rMBP 2.9 i5/8GB/256SSD a good configuration? Can I get a 2014 with an i7 somewhere? I am looking to spend around $1500.

For your needs, a baseline mid-2014 15" rMBP (2.2/16/256) would suit you way better, because of Adobe CS and Autodesk.

The quad core i7 and Iris Pro will be really useful. Keep in mind that the Iris Pro 5200 in the current 15" is still way more powerful than the Iris 6100 in the 13" because the Iris Pro has a 128MB eDRAM cache, which the GT3-level Iris 5100 and 6100 lack.

Also, don't bother with the i7 on a 13". Since it's still a dual core part, it's almost identical to the dual core i5s.

I don't get why people are complaining about Windows 8.1. It's stable and faster than Windows 7 for me. And all my Autodesk software work flawlessly.

 

[smiddlehurst]

Not a direct spec reply but Windows 8 has definitely improved since launch. I absolutely hated the launch version but they've done a LOT of really nice changes with 8.1. Performance is really good too, in fact the most frustrating thing about 8 was it having the best desktop environment MS had ever produced saddled with that touchscreen nonsense. Thankfully 8.1 has turned the start screen into a decent alternative to the start menu rather than the UI equivalent of Clippy (it looks like you're trying to start a program, let me fire up the full-screen New UI version with less functionality instead!).

Besides Windows 10 is only a few months away now anyway so I'd say make whatever decision you want based on that. 7 has already exited mainstream support from MS so no new features will be coming (baring horrific security implications I suspect...). Might as well take the plunge now IMO.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Agree with this

For your needs, a baseline mid-2014 15" rMBP (2.2/16/256) would suit you way better, because of Adobe CS and Autodesk.

The quad core i7 and Iris Pro will be really useful. Keep in mind that the Iris Pro 5200 in the current 15" is still way more powerful than the Iris 6100 in the 13" because the Iris Pro has a 128MB eDRAM cache, which the GT3-level Iris 5100 and 6100 lack.

Also, don't bother with the i7 on a 13". Since it's still a dual core part, it's almost identical to the dual core i5s.

I don't get why people are complaining about Windows 8.1. It's stable and faster than Windows 7 for me. And all my Autodesk software work flawlessly.

As victua says your use case is crying out for quad core and the standard CPU speeds mean very little these days better graphics would help too.

Windows can be installed as a separate OS via boot camp or as a virtual OS with parallels or similar software worth the research to see how you want to do it....

I also see that you put a chrome at the top of your list. It is a terribly coded resource hog on OSX and can halve your battery life and slow your computer down terribly. Fine in windows though, although windows is not so great on your battery either and causes my rMBP to run fairly warm as well...

 

[robertsawicki]

Thank you for all the replies. That is good to hear Windows has improved. I have not done much research on it but I was aware of all the complaints at first and I based my judgement on that. I only use chrome for one website and that only comes when I have to register for classes.

I still keep thinking that the 13' can handle all this. I have heard users run most of these programs without problems. I am not going to be doing the heaviest work either.

If I were to get a 15" it would be this one:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/F...-24ghz-Quad-core-Intel-i7-with-retina-Display

But it's so hard to make a decision! I know that the 15" outperforms the 13" but do I really need all that extra performance? Plus the 13" has better battery life and the Force Touch which is nice.

 

[flur]

You can absolutely run Windows 7 in a VM (either Parallels or VMware) on either the 13" that you spec'd or the 15" that others are recommending. Runs great. And you can easily upgrade that to Win 10 when that comes out.

FWIW, I'm running the Win 10 preview in Parallels on the MBP in my signature, and other than being a bit disorienting (it's more like Win 8 than Win 7), it's been great.