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Top Spec 13" vs Baseline 15"
- Thread starter iwannaimac
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Look on Geekbench:https://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks
For programs utilising multi-core you gain about 50% the speed compared i7 13" to i5 15" (score 8000-12000).
Going i5 to i7 on the 13" you will see about 8% increase (score 7400-8000). So it makes not much sense to upgrade the 13".
You definitely get more bang for the buck on the 15". But if you really need that much for your needs i can't tell you. Even better BFB would be the 2015 model cos it's almost on par ;-)
For programs utilising multi-core you gain about 50% the speed compared i7 13" to i5 15" (score 8000-12000).
Going i5 to i7 on the 13" you will see about 8% increase (score 7400-8000). So it makes not much sense to upgrade the 13".
You definitely get more bang for the buck on the 15". But if you really need that much for your needs i can't tell you. Even better BFB would be the 2015 model cos it's almost on par ;-)
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IMO, if you can afford and need bigger screen go with 15" 2.7. For me, it is more important to have bigger HD and more RAM. If you can't, you can buy 13" 512 w/ 16 RAM. As maerz001 said, CPU upgrade won't affect a lot.
On the other hand, you need to ask yourself:
Do you need more RAM?
Do you need dGPU? (Games, Video/Photo editing, etc. Of course, you can use eGPU on 13")
Do you need more cores?
Can you wait for customized Mac? (Delivery time)
Suggestion: Please give more information when you ask a question. (Top Spec 13" vs. Base 15" but what for?)
On the other hand, you need to ask yourself:
Do you need more RAM?
Do you need dGPU? (Games, Video/Photo editing, etc. Of course, you can use eGPU on 13")
Do you need more cores?
Can you wait for customized Mac? (Delivery time)
Suggestion: Please give more information when you ask a question. (Top Spec 13" vs. Base 15" but what for?)
I too am debating this. I currently have the i5 2.9 13 MBP with touch bar, 16gb ram and 512gb ssd. I was going to return it and get the same configuration just with the i7 instead of the i5 but in that configuration it's only $100 less than the 15 2.6 i7 base model with 512gb so I'm debating if I should get that instead. My only worry is portability of the 15, I lug my laptop to both work and school every day.
If you don't mind me asking, what makes you want to switch out the i5 for the i7 in the 13" tMBP?
I just psychologically would feel better with the i7. lol I know there is not a noticeable difference but I'd just feel better with the i7. My other laptop is an XPS 13 and it has a 6th gen i7 like the MBP and since my macbook pro is becoming my main dev machine I don't want my XPS to be more powerful than it, even if it's 5-10%
Another reason I want to swap out is for the color. I got space gray and it's pretty much the same exact color as my XPS 13 so I was going to go with Silver to have something different to use (I've never owned a MBP so it's not like the silver will feel old to me) and decided if I was going to do that then I'd also go with the i7.
I just psychologically would feel better with the i7. lol I know there is not a noticeable difference but I'd just feel better with the i7. My other laptop is an XPS 13 and it has a 6th gen i7 like the MBP and since my macbook pro is becoming my main dev machine I don't want my XPS to be more powerful than it, even if it's 5-10%
Another reason I want to swap out is for the color. I got space gray and it's pretty much the same exact color as my XPS 13 so I was going to go with Silver to have something different to use (I've never owned a MBP so it's not like the silver will feel old to me) and decided if I was going to do that then I'd also go with the i7.
Ahh okay, fair enough. I've been considering upgrading the CPU, but I think I'm just going to stick with the standard 2.9GHz i5. The performance increase isn't big enough to justify the extra cost in my opinion.