rMBP15'' (june 2012) or rMBP13'' (october 13) ?

[LexD]

Hi,

I need to replace my old macbook pro and i'm a bit in a dilemma. I have a budget of around 2000$ before taxes and I'm considering buying a rMBP refurbished from Apple (http://store.apple.com/ca/product/F...-26ghz-Quad-core-Intel-i7-with-retina-Display). This is either the refurbished one or the current top of the line 13 inch at around 1850$ CAD (13-inch: 2.6GHz i5) with Retina display. Which one would be best? Is there anything significant i'm missing with the lastests hardware updates?

I like the bigger screen of the 15 inch, and it seems more powerfull (i sometime play games) and quad i7 should be faster then double i5 considering but are on SSD HD, but at the same time i'm afraid since it's a early retina, so it could have some problem that have been corrected with later release.

I'm also worried that since it's an older machine, Apple stop support for the future OS before the october 13 inch model... Both should be fine for Yosemite no?

Thanks

 

[MetalMac]

well, ill just share my recently acquired knowledge, I was in a similar dilemma but finally went with the 15 inch retina from 2012, to my knowledge the only big difference is the ac wifi and haswell, and thunderbolt 2 (20Gbps vs 10Gbps) for me, the pros on the 15 inch are better, dedicated gpu (which is an overclocked 650 equivalent to a gtx 660), bigger screen, and those sexy cooling vents haha. the i7 on that one is still beast so no worries there, even if its still wifi n, it has 3 antennas so its cool.. and hey, my 2007 aluminum imac is still getting os x yosemite so i guess you shouldnt worry about support . hope this helps, if you still havent decided by friday, when i receive my mbp, ill share my thoughts.

 

[LexD]

Cool thanks for your input. I'm really leaning toward the 2012 model. Acc. Wifi is not much of an issue for me since I likely don't have the router to take Advantage of it. I was a little concerned with the article on the main page regarding the hands off feature of Yosemite but from what I understand, the 2012 model should be supported (but the the prior model). The MacBook I was using before was a quad core i7 from early 2011 and my fear with the 13 inch 2013 on i5 is that I don't want a new laptop which will be slower than what I'm used to even though it's new ...

 

[Sifinity]

what is your primary type of usage ? cause if its like video editing / running multiple vms or anything that requires multiple cores the 15" would be better but if its simple tasks then the 13" should be no problem and why don't you just pay $200 and get the i7 Dual - Core ; as im sure thats a little faster than the i5 that it comes with. ; and apple won't stop supporting the rMB 2012 for a while atleast 3-4 years minimum

 

[LexD]

Thanks for your response.

My usage is suite simple, about 90% of the time is internet browning, reading news, PDF, office suite and omnifocus. The other 5% is editing photoshop, iMovie and 5% 3d games (mainly run under bootcamp).

So besides games and iMovie the the 13 inch shouldn't be a problem. But at the end of the day the question is more, is it worth it to buy refurbished for a more powerful computer at the same price as a new one? Does the fact that one computer is more powerful than the other compensate for it's older age when it comes to app and OS support? Is the older configuration really more powerful than the new one or does technology evolution will main that lower specs mean similar performances?

 

[Freyqq]

Thanks for your response.

My usage is suite simple, about 90% of the time is internet browning, reading news, PDF, office suite and omnifocus. The other 5% is editing photoshop, iMovie and 5% 3d games (mainly run under bootcamp).

So besides games and iMovie the the 13 inch shouldn't be a problem. But at the end of the day the question is more, is it worth it to buy refurbished for a more powerful computer at the same price as a new one? Does the fact that one computer is more powerful than the other compensate for it's older age when it comes to app and OS support? Is the older configuration really more powerful than the new one or does technology evolution will main that lower specs mean similar performances?

CPU speed difference between ivy bridge (2012) and haswell (2013) is marginal. It was mostly an update of the integrated GPU and battery life. 802.11ac upgrade is also nice, but 802.11n 3x3 is already pretty fast.

 

[Altemose]

Thanks for your response.

My usage is suite simple, about 90% of the time is internet browning, reading news, PDF, office suite and omnifocus. The other 5% is editing photoshop, iMovie and 5% 3d games (mainly run under bootcamp).

So besides games and iMovie the the 13 inch shouldn't be a problem. But at the end of the day the question is more, is it worth it to buy refurbished for a more powerful computer at the same price as a new one? Does the fact that one computer is more powerful than the other compensate for it's older age when it comes to app and OS support? Is the older configuration really more powerful than the new one or does technology evolution will main that lower specs mean similar performances?

Video work is best done with an i7 if you can afford it. That being said, I have a 2012 cMBP with the 2.5 GHz i5 and it does fine in iMovie and FCP. No clue on Photoshop as I don't do graphics work often.

 

[pacmania1982]

I bought the base 'late 2013' rMBP from the refurb store. The price was a steal at $1,699!

pac

 

[kidsleepy]

mbp13retina

i literally just received mine from ups today. ordered it yesterday. i upgraded from an early 2008 macbook air 64gb solid state drive. i was elated when i learned the dimensions of the new macbook pro 13" are literally the same as my old air. I'm reusing my neoprene sleeve and it fits perfectly inside. my air superdrive dvd-rw also works perfectly, albeit amazingly slow still... it took approximately 50 minutes to install adobe cs5 premium from a dvd-rw that i had copied to from my air before the screen of my air completely fell off two days ago.

the screen of this computer is gorgeous, i have yet to produce any music or edit any video but i spent $1499 before tax and sprung for the 256gb of storage (so happy its solid state as well) and i had to get the 8gb of ram. my advice is go with the 13" pro retina because as its only 0.5lbs heavier than the original air and its portable as hell.

also, laptopmag.com or some site recently rated it very high on its battery life list. it clocked it in at 9 hours and 31 minutes or sumfin.

 

[yangchewren]

Thanks for your response.

My usage is suite simple, about 90% of the time is internet browning, reading news, PDF, office suite and omnifocus. The other 5% is editing photoshop, iMovie and 5% 3d games (mainly run under bootcamp).

So besides games and iMovie the the 13 inch shouldn't be a problem. But at the end of the day the question is more, is it worth it to buy refurbished for a more powerful computer at the same price as a new one? Does the fact that one computer is more powerful than the other compensate for it's older age when it comes to app and OS support? Is the older configuration really more powerful than the new one or does technology evolution will main that lower specs mean similar performances?

Take my post with a little humor, talking about future compatibility, especially in Mac OS is merely a form of crystal balling and imagination.

On the GPU front, the HD 4k/650m and Iris aren't too different in terms of longevity of GPU driver support.

Example- while the 8600m and 9600m found in the 2007/8/9 Macbook Pros have been relegated to legacy support both in Windows and Linux, Apple is still supporting them. Even Yosemite, an OS released 7 years after the 8600m has support for that GPU.

If you are worried about the ac and n wireless difference - it'll likely be reduced to a difference of OS features. Example: a lack of bluetooth 4.0 will be the differentiating factor of pre 2011 macs which will not have the hand-off feature.

So you shouldn't have too much of a focus on future compatibility and more on expectations of performance (SSD speeds, wireless speeds, CPU benches, battery life). That said - I am more in favour of the 15", it has a way better GPU and stronger multicore performance. A larger screen with little sacrifice in portability.