Thoughts/Questions about Mid 2014 rMBP 15" VS 2015 [Graphic Designer/Photographer]

[timothyjay]

Hello Macbook Pro Users!

It's been a while since I've browsed the MBP thread since I've long gave up my aged '08 15" MBP with a Core 2 Duo years ago, and went with my Late '09 27" iMac (see my signature), and then purchased a few 11" MBA's the past couple of years for travel purposes - so please bear with me with some questions.

MY BACKGROUND:

I've never been one to really purchase the latest and greatest Macs (as I often look for deals and often browse the refurbs), so I'm hoping for some thoughts on usage of the new generation Macbook Pros.

I'm a graphic designer and photographer (and occasional videographer/editor - using my drone and GoPro footage), which with my travel schedule with work, I've been using my trusty Mid 2013 11" MBA for all my design/photo work (which surprisingly my MBA handles pretty well - minus large Photoshop files and RAW photos). Any "heavy" editing is usually done on my iMac, which honestly, it's showing its age and performance.

I've recently been browsing for a 15" MBP and looking into getting the 2.5 i7 version with 512gb ssd and 750m graphics card. After browsing the forums and talking to my friends, of course, I get the usual "Just wait for the new version" comment.

My question is, how significant do you feel the new revision would be to the current spec I am looking at? I'm honestly not too familiar with all these talks about Haswell, Crystalwell, Broadwell, etc. and its differences, so would waiting for the supposed new generation chip be really that significant in performance?

My typical heavy usage is used in the Adobe Creative Suite (mainly Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign), and sometimes Final Cut Pro when the need for video editing comes up.

Thanks everyone for your time, and if you've read this far, thanks!

 

[dmccloud]

Any spec bump would be just that - a minor spec bump. What I'd recommend is wait until WWDC. If Apple announces a spec bump there, then that model you mentioned in your post should drop in price at least a little bit. If no announcement is made, then get the model you feel will best fit your needs.

Right now, the 15" rMBP is behind other models in terms of processor generations (not performance) because Intel has not released the quad-core Broadwell parts yet. At this point, it's entirely possible that Apple will skip Broadwell in the series and wait for Skylake to release next year (which will have several platform improvements beyond just the processor).

 

[dusk007]

The thing is CPU wise the difference won't be big. GPU wise if the 950M shows up that will be a huge upgrade being more than twice as fast. The 750M is basically a 650M with no difference so it was old when it was released but for almost a year the twice as fast 850M has been out. Which puts the 750M seriously outdated.
Which is why I answer questions like this such that
If you need a dGPU and would go for the 750M model don't buy now. The value for the money is atrocious compared to everything else on the market. The difference between a dual core and a quad core is smaller.
If you don't care and go for the Iris Pro only model, it isn't necessary to wait. It wouldn't hurt given that at least you get the older model cheaper or something probably 20% better but it wouldn't be a big difference.

 

[GrindedDown]

The thing is CPU wise the difference won't be big. GPU wise if the 950M shows up that will be a huge upgrade being more than twice as fast. The 750M is basically a 650M with no difference so it was old when it was released but for almost a year the twice as fast 850M has been out. Which puts the 750M seriously outdated.
Which is why I answer questions like this such that
If you need a dGPU and would go for the 750M model don't buy now. The value for the money is atrocious compared to everything else on the market. The difference between a dual core and a quad core is smaller.
If you don't care and go for the Iris Pro only model, it isn't necessary to wait. It wouldn't hurt given that at least you get the older model cheaper or something probably 20% better but it wouldn't be a big difference.

I agree with a good deal of this, but I heavily disagree with there being only a small difference between a dual core and a quad core processor. When I decided to buy my macbook, I did some looking at benchmarks and compared the dual core 13 models vs the quad core 15 models. There was a pretty substantial difference between them.

 

[dusk007]

smaller not small