Should I buy or not?

[alex177]

Hi, if my thread isn't appropriate to this forum, i'll delete it. Please let me know.

I've been using my old toshiba laptop for 4 years and it is almost dying. So I'm going to change it to new mbp.
Since i have to buy it asap but i'm little bit worrying about school projects. In school, i use Eclipse, SQL server and SPSS for studying. (Why i'm worrying)
But after school, i learn photoshop and manage photo with lightroom and make reviewing videos with finalcut pro and post on YouTube. (Why i want to by MBP)
I' been using mac os and program at school lab but graduate next year.
So, what should i buy if i have to buy only one laptop?

Thank you for reading such a long question

 

[NickPhamUK]

The MacBook.

Why?

Because this is the Mac forum!!!

 

[xmonkey]

They're both good devices. Do you have an OS preference? If so, decide based on that.

If not, my personal recommendation is the MBP, primarily due to MacOS. If you're going to be doing photo work I'd pick the MBP for sure, the display is top notch and the wide color support is useful.

Also be advised that MS is set to announce a new Surface Pro in spring of next year I believe, but it sounds like you need something now so this may not be a factor.

 

[raqball]

It all depends on your wants and needs..

The SB can be used as a stand alone tablet and it has a pen. Neither of those matter to me but they might to you..

 

[Altis]

If you get the MacBook, I recommend getting 16 GB of RAM so you can run Windows in a VM for some of your school needs. Best of both worlds. 16 GB RAM would likely be more beneficial than the TouchBar (especially if you use the function keys in Windows applications).

 

[alex177]

The MacBook.

Why?

Because this is the Mac forum!!!

Well, maybe i wanted to listen that word: MacBook!!
[doublepost=1478644307][/doublepost]

They're both good devices. Do you have an OS preference? If so, decide based on that.

If not, my personal recommendation is the MBP, primarily due to MacOS. If you're going to be doing photo work I'd pick the MBP for sure, the display is top notch and the wide color support is useful.

Also be advised that MS is set to announce a new Surface Pro in spring of next year I believe, but it sounds like you need something now so this may not be a factor.

New MS products were not my concern and I think so too about display. And I can boot both windows and mac os so i think that would be useful for me too. Thanx!
[doublepost=1478644416][/doublepost]

It all depends on your wants and needs..

The SB can be used as a stand alone tablet and it has a pen. Neither of those matter to me but they might to you..

SB is over my budget I considered that one too but the price and battery time of tablet mode is disappointful. Thank you for your opinion!
[doublepost=1478644768][/doublepost]

If you get the MacBook, I recommend getting 16 GB of RAM so you can run Windows in a VM for some of your school needs. Best of both worlds. 16 GB RAM would likely be more beneficial than the TouchBar (especially if you use the function keys in Windows applications).

Yeah, i was worried that how can i use function keys if rhe touch bar doesn't work on windows on bootcamp....i've once used Parallels once on my friend's macbook air, it was totally mess with some hard works.. also, non touch bar model was like a little bit better than macbook2015 to me. more ram is more better is true but if i have to choose one between CPU and RAM, my choice is CPU.. thank you for your opinion!

 

[protoxx]

Is one going to cost you more for software licenses?
Final Cut Pro is mac only. The adobe programs are on both. You could use Premiere instead of FCP.
Easy to use VM's on mac.

New mac's have a somewhat better display. Likely for photo and video you would want to get a external high resolution display eventually with either.

 

[jerryk]

Is one going to cost you more for software licenses?
Final Cut Pro is mac only. The adobe programs are on both. You could use Premiere instead of FCP.
Easy to use VM's on mac.

New mac's have a somewhat better display. Likely for photo and video you would want to get a external high resolution display eventually with either.

Agreed. And since the OP is in school they could likely get the Adobe entire Creative Cloud for $20/mo. Great deal.

 

[brewmonkey]

Hi, if my thread isn't appropriate to this forum, i'll delete it. Please let me know.

I've been using my old toshiba laptop for 4 years and it is almost dying. So I'm going to change it to new mbp.
Since i have to buy it asap but i'm little bit worrying about school projects. In school, i use Eclipse, SQL server and SPSS for studying. (Why i'm worrying)
But after school, i learn photoshop and manage photo with lightroom and make reviewing videos with finalcut pro and post on YouTube. (Why i want to by MBP)
I' been using mac os and program at school lab but graduate next year.
So, what should i buy if i have to buy only one laptop?

Thank you for reading such a long question

Aside from OS (if you must have one or the other, the choice is obvious), I will point out the one thing that makes SP4 not an option for me: screen flicker. At low brightness, the SP4 display flickers. I have tested it on every one I've ever seen, and it's been present on every one (probably checked nearly a dozen throughout the past year, including ones with most recent OS/driver updates).

That is a huge deal breaker for me. My eyes are (unfortunately) super sensitive to flickering, and the only displays that my eyes cannot detect flickering on are Apple's.

 

[alex177]

Is one going to cost you more for software licenses?
Final Cut Pro is mac only. The adobe programs are on both. You could use Premiere instead of FCP.
Easy to use VM's on mac.

New mac's have a somewhat better display. Likely for photo and video you would want to get a external high resolution display eventually with either.

Well I never thought about Premiere. Since I have to buy new license either Premiere or FCP, vm would be more economically better. And as JerryK on the bottom, Mac would be a much more beneficial for me
[doublepost=1478654660][/doublepost]

Aside from OS (if you must have one or the other, the choice is obvious), I will point out the one thing that makes SP4 not an option for me: screen flicker. At low brightness, the SP4 display flickers. I have tested it on every one I've ever seen, and it's been present on every one (probably checked nearly a dozen throughout the past year, including ones with most recent OS/driver updates).

That is a huge deal breaker for me. My eyes are (unfortunately) super sensitive to flickering, and the only displays that my eyes cannot detect flickering on are Apple's.

I thought that problem solved through few software updates but it seems its nature problem...then.... bye bye Surface ‍♂️

 

[Dingado]

Hi, if my thread isn't appropriate to this forum, i'll delete it. Please let me know.

I've been using my old toshiba laptop for 4 years and it is almost dying. So I'm going to change it to new mbp.
Since i have to buy it asap but i'm little bit worrying about school projects. In school, i use Eclipse, SQL server and SPSS for studying. (Why i'm worrying)
But after school, i learn photoshop and manage photo with lightroom and make reviewing videos with finalcut pro and post on YouTube. (Why i want to by MBP)
I' been using mac os and program at school lab but graduate next year.
So, what should i buy if i have to buy only one laptop?

Thank you for reading such a long question

What are you studying? I am going into MSc Business Analytics next year and it sounds like you're somewhat in that field. MUST KNOW! Best friends?

 

[wegster]

Yeah, i was worried that how can i use function keys if rhe touch bar doesn't work on windows on bootcamp....i've once used Parallels once on my friend's macbook air, it was totally mess with some hard works.. also, non touch bar model was like a little bit better than macbook2015 to me. more ram is more better is true but if i have to choose one between CPU and RAM, my choice is CPU.. thank you for your opinion!

You didn't mention what sort of work you'll be doing w/SQL server but I'd also advise getting RAM if running VMs, especially with any 'non-minimal' usage of them.

Eclipse runs fine on OS X, and modern Parallels or VMWare Fusion are fairly trivial to set up to run Windows.

I'm not clear by details on 'choose one between CPU and RAM' as for most CPU bumps there isn't much difference in real-world performance, assuming you mean choice A on MBP vs choice B ...

The touch bar is AFAIK workable and defaults to function keys on other OSes, but I'd look for confirmation on that one.
Picking up a 2015 refurb or used is also an option and may help you max out on specs if desired.

 

[alex177]

You didn't mention what sort of work you'll be doing w/SQL server but I'd also advise getting RAM if running VMs, especially with any 'non-minimal' usage of them.

Eclipse runs fine on OS X, and modern Parallels or VMWare Fusion are fairly trivial to set up to run Windows.

I'm not clear by details on 'choose one between CPU and RAM' as for most CPU bumps there isn't much difference in real-world performance, assuming you mean choice A on MBP vs choice B ...

The touch bar is AFAIK workable and defaults to function keys on other OSes, but I'd look for confirmation on that one.
Picking up a 2015 refurb or used is also an option and may help you max out on specs if desired.

What I ment was CPU performances between non-touch bar and touch bar models. It was great difference between 2.0GHz and 2.9GHz when it comes to Windows laptop. So I would choose, if i buy new MBP, touch bar model because of the higher performing cpu than normal model with lower cpu and doubled RAM.
[doublepost=1478676736][/doublepost]

What are you studying? I am going into MSc Business Analytics next year and it sounds like you're somewhat in that field. MUST KNOW! Best friends?

Oh I study Industrial management Engineering. I have to manage DBMS, work on java programming and some subjects about economical management such as accounting, statistics.

 

[wegster]

What I ment was CPU performances between non-touch bar and touch bar models. It was great difference between 2.0GHz and 2.9GHz when it comes to Windows laptop. So I would choose, if i buy new MBP, touch bar model because of the higher performing cpu than normal model with lower cpu and doubled RAM.
[doublepost=1478676736][/doublepost]
Oh I study Industrial management Engineering. I have to manage DBMS, work on java programming and some subjects about economical management such as accounting, statistics.

Both of them have 'turbo' rates up to nearly the same frequency (3.1GHz non-TB vs 3.3GHz for TB equipped). I don't follow CPU intricacies like I used to so am not aware of what limits how long a Skylake CPU will run in 'turbo' mode other than thermals (which should be nearly identical across both non-TB and TB models), so it may be worth looking for CPU-specific benchmarks and more details w.r.t. 'turbo mode' before deciding.

If your data sets are large and you plan on running a DB inside a VM or for analysis, as well as Java dev...yeah, I'd still say increase the RAM.