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Two MacBook Pros?

V

Vesuvio Cat

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 30, 2010
196
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Okay, this sounds ridiculous. But I have a 15" late 2013 rMBP that is pimped out. 16 GB RAM with an i7 2.6 GHZ processor, NVIDIA GeForce CT and 500 GB SSD.

So I want to have a "work" computer that I can travel with, and the 15" is a bit much for that. I was going to buy a 13" MacBook Air with full specs, but then I wondered - why not just buy the rMBP 13" with Force Touch and full specs for $1000 more? I could get 1 TB, fifth gen i7 processor, and 16 GB for 33% more.

Does anyone else have this type of setup, or is it just unnecessary indulgence?
 
I think perhaps my initial post didn't convey the dilemma accurately.

My 15" is friggin awesome and I love it. It is a powerhouse like no other. But I want to have a dedicated work computer (and not some i3 Dell piece of crap that my company wants to give to me) that I can travel with and just kind of slip out of the bag and get to work on. The 13" rMBP has a 10 hour battery life and tons of space. It would be ideal for traveling and I could mess around with the cool new Force Touch.

My dilemma is between the MBA and the 13" rMBP. For $1000 I don't think it's a big deal to just go all out and get the 13" rMBP rather than an i7 13" MBA.

So my question here is about the actual size difference. The new rMBPs are pretty thin, I gather, and they pack the full punch. So is it worth it to skip the MBA altogether and just have a second 13" rMBP?

As for the new rMB. No way. That thing looks like a disaster. I have friends who are banging their heads against the wall because of the throttling. It is beautiful indeed. But beauty can sometimes be skin deep.
 
Vesuvio Cat said:
My dilemma is between the MBA and the 13" rMBP. For $1000 I don't think it's a big deal to just go all out and get the 13" rMBP rather than an i7 13" MBA.

So my question here is about the actual size difference. The new rMBPs are pretty thin, I gather, and they pack the full punch. So is it worth it to skip the MBA altogether and just have a second 13" rMBP?
Click to expand...

Given your choice between the two, I'd go with the 13" rMBP. I'd buy the model with the SSD capacity that you require, but I wouldn't spend a single cent upgrading the CPU, it isn't worth it. RAM can go either way depending on what you're doing with it.

As for the new rMB. No way. That thing looks like a disaster. I have friends who are banging their heads against the wall because of the throttling. It is beautiful indeed. But beauty can sometimes be skin deep.
Click to expand...

I don't like the rMB either, but I wouldn't completely ignore it. You never said what your usage looks like, and depending on that it may perform admirably.
 
In response to z31fanatic:

Why? I feel like my maxed out 15" rMBP is pretty much the most productive piece of technology I've ever used. I have edited videos, photos, done animation, bootcamped GIS software for projects, and just pure loved the silky smooth purr of this machine.
 
z31fanatic said:
I was talking about the 13".
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Ah, I see. So what do you suggest on the 13" rMBP? This would be primarily for photo editing, presentations, document and information management, etc. I work in international development and do a lot of work in sub-Saharan Africa. MacBooks are the only things that have ever stood the test of dust and humidity.
 
Just sell the 15 and get a 13, why bother with the trouble or expense two machines.
Single core speed is very similar 3700 vs 3500 (13")
 
Vesuvio Cat said:
Ah, I see. So what do you suggest on the 13" rMBP? This would be primarily for photo editing, presentations, document and information management, etc.
Click to expand...

T5BRICK said:
I'd buy the model with the SSD capacity that you require, but I wouldn't spend a single cent upgrading the CPU, it isn't worth it. RAM can go either way depending on what you're doing with it.
Click to expand...

Now I know a little more about your usage, 8GB is fine.
 
I was thinking kind of the same. However mine would be the new Macbook. I would be using it exclusively for typing some documents and using excels sheets while traveling. I like the idea of moving around with something so light, it might feel underpowered for some though. The only cons i find myself is the steep price for the 512 GB version, I don't think I would need that much space. However, I like to think that I don't have space constraints.

Currently I carry around my retina Macbook pro 15" everywhere I go. I don't think it is heavy, but it takes up quite of space in my backpack. Having something as small as the new Macbook would help. I think too it may be an unnecessary indulgence.
 
Have 15" 13" & 12" Retina`s, all high tier, not maxed. I would skip on the Air as the rMB offers far more, as for the Retina MacBook totally depends on your usage/workflow. Right now I am on a job in Norway with the 12" & 13" Retina`s I don't need the performance or bulk of the 15" rMBP for this project. The Retina MacBook is holding up well, equally I have the "Pro" for any heavy lifting, should I need.

Q-6
 
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Is the 15'' truly that difficult to take with you and carry around? I don't understand investing so much money in a BTO maxed out 13'' when you can just carry around your existing machine. There is an obvious weight and size difference between the two but it also seems mute considering the situation you described.

You want something that you can "slip out of a bag and do work on" - why can't your existing machine do this? It's your money and do as you please of course but if you're asking for advice it sounds like a silly investment. I think you will quickly realize that you have invested in redundancy if you pull the trigger.
 
Here is my thought process on this. You already have a good 15in MBP. There are only 3 things that would be better with the new 13 vs your 15 inch. One is the SSD is now PCIe, Two is longer lasting battery by only 1 hour and Third is it would be 1lb lighter. The graphics in you 15in is much better than the current 13in with or without the 750m.

If the weight of the 15in MBP is really bothering you that your considering a lighter laptop but your going to keep your 15in I personally don't see why would you go to a lesser machine just to save one pound. What I would do is go to a MacBook Air. The 13in would be 1 and a half pounds lighter and the 11in would be 1 and 3/4th pounds lighter than you 15in MBP and still has some decent power to it. The only thing is doesn't have is a retina display, but if that's a problem I would just stick with your 15in. I again could not personally see paying that much money for a lesser computer just for once pound of difference.

If you really want to do that 13in that badly to save on that one pound of weight. Don't get the max model. Its way to expensive for what you get. But I would stay with the Air, it would be the best complement to your MBP if you really do need a 2nd laptop. Or wait till the next refresh of the rMB as it will be better/fast than the current one.
 
Vesuvio Cat said:
Okay, this sounds ridiculous. But I have a 15" late 2013 rMBP that is pimped out. 16 GB RAM with an i7 2.6 GHZ processor, NVIDIA GeForce CT and 500 GB SSD.

So I want to have a "work" computer that I can travel with, and the 15" is a bit much for that. I was going to buy a 13" MacBook Air with full specs, but then I wondered - why not just buy the rMBP 13" with Force Touch and full specs for $1000 more? I could get 1 TB, fifth gen i7 processor, and 16 GB for 33% more.

Does anyone else have this type of setup, or is it just unnecessary indulgence?
Click to expand...
I have at 15 and a 13. Both pretty much maxed (the 13 is only 512) I travel with the 13 for work and keep the big boy at the house for when i want more screen and power.
 
z31fanatic said:
It's your money but the maxed out MBA and 13" rMBP are the worst values in computer history.
Click to expand...

This. No amount of extra RAM or processor upgrades make up for the limitations of each of these macbooks. After a certain price point, you should be moving to next model. You can easily spend $2500 on a 13" rMBP that's still significantly slower than the marginally heavier base $2000 15" rMBP. Same for paying $1500+ for a MBA vs a 13" rMBP.

The base model MBAs are great, but any more and you should be getting a 13" rMBP. It's $1750 for an 8GB/ULV i7/512GB MBA vs $1800 for a 13" rMBP i5/8/512GB. It's ridiculous.
 
I've always had a 15" Apple notebook as my only machine dating back to my 15" Alum PowerBook G4. Early last year I decided to switch it up and get a 27" iMac BTO (3.5 GHz i7, GeForce GTX 780M, 512SSD and 32GB Mac Sales ram) and bought a late 2013 refurbished 13" rMBP mid with 16GB ram. It's been a real pain trying to micromanage two machines even with Dropbox, iCloud Drive, Git, GitHub, external HD or "Back to my Mac". I know some have perfected running 2 machines but for me I'm not one of those kind of people.

Far as the 13" rMBP goes, it's a love/hard relationship as I've ended up using it 95% of the time as my primary design/development machine; iMac sadly collecting dust. You can defiantly tell a power difference between a newer base 15" with Iris Pro graphics compared to the 13". Having a Quad Core processor really does separate the 2 machines by a large computation margin and only further if you spring for the high performance 15". I recently did order a new 15" (2499 model) but the display quality was all over the place, I had sadly returned more than I'd like to admit.

IMHO, the one area the 13" rMBP runs circles around the 15" is no more cramped wrist. Due to the size of the palm rest of the 15" I never realized how annoying it was till I used a 13" for over a year and tried to switch back. I could have adapted and would have if the displays on the 15" 2015 models didn't suffer from QC issues. But that is one area I have grown to highly admire and it's a fair tradeoff for the lack of 2 extra cores; though it would be amazing if Intel offered a 28 Watt Quad Core, even at 1.7Ghz speeds as the turbo mode would help balance it out.

tl;dr

Stick with your 15" or sell it and buy a mid level 13" and upgrade to 16GB ram (If you're OCD like myself and need piece of mind). Far as the processors in the 13" I hear the i7 is a poor mans i7 due to it still being Dual Core the biggest difference is the i7 has 4 MB of L3 cache the i5 has 3 MB. The 100 dollar upgrade for the faster i5 is almost on par with the 300 dollar upgrade for the i7.
 
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I alway exclusively used the 15" MacBook Pro, with the event of Retina and far better power consumption I gave a high tier 13" rMBP a try in 2014, and have never looked back. The 13" I can scale to the same workspace, it runs far cooler, far longer and is much quieter, as in virtually silent. I find that in general only a minority of applications can actually take advantage of the 15" Quad Core CPU and fewer still need the dGPU as a requirement to run.

Computationally modern Notebooks are extremely powerful and by far the vast majority of users do not come close to tapping in to the systems abilities, myself included. Like as not I will always retain a 15" rMBP, however my upgrade cycle will be considerably slower compared to the smaller Mac`s as they are now the ones that are paying the bill`s...

Q-6
 
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Well, I'm going to treat my desire to buy another rMBP as a fever - wait until it breaks. If it keeps running high, I'll cave. But lot's of good suggestions here. And surely, the 15" isn't exactly a burden to carry around. I guess the two things that remain are 1) being able to mess around with the Touch Force and have 5th generation processors and 2) having a computer that is exclusively for work.

But no reason to rush in unless the lack of a second MacBook becomes unbearable.
 
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