The base model seems like very good value even upgraded

[badsimian]

I had originally assumed I might want the 2.3/8c/32GB/2TB machine. It is a beast but I probably wouldn't need all that power. When I then started to see some of the benchmarks coming out with the base machine, the 5300M is beating out Vega 20 in Unreal benchmark for instance then actually that base config is amazing value.

I would still like to go to 32GB and 1TB of storage but it still comes in much cheaper. So at that point it becomes a question of whether I would really need the 8 core vs 6 core...I am thinking probably not. Especially if they sit at 2.6 as base instead of 2.3.

If I decided to take a risk without AppleCare then is *way* cheaper than what I was looking...I just wish that AppleCare wasn't so damned expensive..

 

[chscag]

I just wish that AppleCare wasn't so damned expensive..

Not near as expensive as replacing major parts on that machine after your one year warranty expires without Apple Care.

 

[kave]

I guess i7 will be the faster cpu in real world apps than the baseline i9 so go with it. A near full ssd will always be slow.