Stuck between 13" vs 15" and multiple 15" options

[macdaddy1991]

Currently, I have a mid-2013 13" 2.6ghz 8GB of RAM and 512gb SSD. Generally I love this laptop and it does *most* of the things I need it to do although I have a hefty desktop PC to do more intensive stuff. The biggest things prompting me to upgrade is that on my current device most of my i/o is toat with it working unreliably with very slow usb speeds due to a bit of a water incident a few years back. Aside from that however, everything works fine. I've considered getting it fixed but it would be about $500-$600 for a new logic board and it just seems more sensible to put that money into a new computer with it being close to 5 years old now.

I'm a Phd student but also do photography and music on the side. It would be nice to not have to rely on my desktop as much for photo editing. I also used to run a windows VM as there is some software I require for my PhD work that is windows only. I stopped doing that however as my systems ram limitation made my mac almost unusable with the VM running. I love the current 13" form factor for device size and portability with it easily fitting into bags and such although while in the lab I often wish my screen was larger when doing work so I often get frustrated trying to work on the 13" screen and end up going home to write where I have multiple displays.

I'm currently stuck between the 15" and 13" models for that reason. I love the 13" form factor but do with on occasion that my screen was larger when I'm doing work in the lab between experiments. Having multiple documents open on a 13" screen is very cramped. The fact that the 15" comes with the hexacore processor and dGPU just sweetens the deal.

If I were to get the 13" it would likely be the i7 with 16GB of ram and either a 512GB or 1TB SSD (leaning to 1TB due to the VMs)

Now to the 15". This is a much harder decision. I think I'm settled on either the 2.2 or 2.6 i7 as i think the i9 is a waste in a laptop due to thermal limits. In terms of ram, I honestly can't decide between 16GB and 32GB. Currently on my desktop I have 32GB and rarely go over 16 except in heavy, heavy use scenarios. I usually hover somewhere around 11 to 12 when I have my adobe sweet open/a bunch of firefox tabs. I feel like 16 would likely be enough but what complicates things are the VMs. Chances are that I would not have my adobe suit open while running the windows VM so the ram issue can probably be negated. I'm honestly not sure what to go with here.

Storage is the other issue. Ive been bouncing back and forth on 512GB vs 1TB. On my current 512GB macbook pro, I sit at 117GB free space although that is without the windows VM installed that I would be putting back on whichever new macbook I decide on getting. More space is always better but apple charges an arm and a leg to upgrade storage. Honestly unsure what to do here as well. I feel like it's either 32GB of ram OR the 1TB upgrade. it's hard to justify both as that puts the cost at like $4100cdn which is absolutely ludicrous.

Ive also been going back on the GPU. The upgrade to the 560x is *only* about $100 with the education discount so that tempts me. What kind of performance gains could i expect vs the 555x in games. It would be kinda nice to have a couple games on it like CIV 6 or something to play in my office during lunch. Not super needed since I have my desktop but if it's a worthwhile upgrade that would make a large difference I would consider springing for it more. Last thing is in regards to the processor in the 15". Is the 2.6ghz 6-core a worthwhile upgrade over the base or are the difference pretty moot once you take into account the thermal limits?

I plan to keep this computer for probably at least another 5-6 years.

Thanks for the help in advance. I'm hoping to order soon!

tl;dr: PhD student/part time photographer cant decide between 13" vs 15" due to form factor vs screen realestate and cpu upgrade. If going 15" is 16gb adequate? Hard to justify getting both 32GB of ram and 1TB ssd on a phd student budget. Which would you prioritize in my use case? Is the 2.6ghz i7 a worthy upgrade over the base or is it mostly lost due to thermals?

 

[wchigo]

With you working on multiple documents at the same time and needing the screen real estate, I think the 15" would probably be better for your workflow. Yes, it will be less portable than the 13", but I don't think there will be much of an increase in weight over your current machine.

From what I've picked up over the years in the forum, Macs apparently are better at RAM management than Windows, so if you're rarely going over 16GB on your desktop, you might very well be fine with just 16GB on your Mac.

Do you really need the extra CPU horsepower though? Might you consider taking the base processor to save money, then instead put that towards both the 32GB of RAM and 1TB SSD? Seems like those might be more important compared to the extra 0.4ghz?

 

[VideoFreek]

Some thoughts, in no particular order...

There are already a bazillion threads on the size/performance tradeoff; this dilemma is as old as laptops themselves--portability-performance-price: pick any two! That said, the usage you describe seems to point to the 15. A 13-inch screen just doesn't work for multiple documents! On the other hand, though 15 inches is way better than 13, 27 inches is far better still! Maybe you could install a monitor at the lab, and connect the 13-incher to it whenever you need more screen real estate?

What appears to be driving your hardware requirements to a large extent is the need to run a VM. I suspect that your frustration when trying it on your current MBP had as much to do with having only 2 cores as it did with the RAM. Running a modern OS on a single core is pretty miserable. In that respect, the inclusion of a quad in the 2018 13-incher is huge. But overall, running VMs requires more cores, double the RAM, and more HD space than not running VMs. A cost-saving alternative to consider--after you buy a new machine, you could bootcamp your current one and turn it into a dedicated Windows machine. Of course, you wouldn't want to carry around two laptops, but perhaps you could leave it at the lab?? Just a thought.

Regarding the SSD, it's a no-brainer. You are already at 80% utilization on your existing machine, and that's without the VMs! You need a 1 TB SSD, minimum, if you want this thing to last 5-6 years.

Regarding the RAM, sounds like 16gb could do for you. On the other hand, I've never heard anyone complain about having too much RAM. You pay once, then it disappears into the background--until you run out! Again, if you want to ensure this machine lasts 5-6 years, 32gb would be forward-looking and help ensure that RAM limitations don't become a problem down the road.