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Undecided between 13 and 15" rMBP

gadgetgirl85

gadgetgirl85

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 24, 2006
3,807
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I'm still undecided between the 13 and 15" rMBP. On the plus side of the 13" its more portable, etc but the 15" has more stuff inside. Are there likely to be any significant updates in the near future? I really would like to keep this computer for 2-3 years. Mainly using it for SPSS, word processing, a bit of gaming, maybe installing Windows on it.
 
Unless you go for the 15" with the GT 750, you'll likely have similar gaming performance.

All other tasks you will fine with the 13". The 13" is more portable, so I would go with that.
 
Well... if you're not going for the higher end 15" with 750m then you should consider maxed out 13".

I consider the fully loaded 13" better overall laptop than the baseline 15". Just because of significantly better portability combined with nearly the same level of performance.

PS. By fully loaded I meant the highest end stock configuration. It's only 1800€ and for extra 200€ you can upgrade the ram to 16GB. This makes you have 16GB of ram and 512GB SSD vs. 8GB ram and 256GB SSD on the baseline 15" for the same price.
 
I'd look at which display better suits your needs a 13" form factor or a 15" I prefer the larger display but YMMV
 
I'm using the 13" for 6-7 months now (Haswell mid range model, 256gb SSD - 8gb RAM) and I'm still having the same problem. It's very portable and all, but I'm thinking to switch to a 15" model when they add a dedicated GPU to the baseline 15" model this year. Still not shure yet :confused:
 
JasperCLA said:
model when they add a dedicated GPU to the baseline 15" model this year. Still not shure yet :confused:
Click to expand...

Its not going to happen, the iGPU is very powerful and I don't see apple changing gears and adding the dGPU to the base model. At some point I wouldn't be surprised if they drop the dGPU outright as Intel's iGPU improves.
 
Go the 15" with the dedicated GPU.

You will not regret it, especially if you plan to game 2-3 years down the track.

At the end, get what you can afford.
 
maflynn said:
Its not going to happen, the iGPU is very powerful and I don't see apple changing gears and adding the dGPU to the base model. At some point I wouldn't be surprised if they drop the dGPU outright as Intel's iGPU improves.
Click to expand...

It's still not that good if you want to run windows in dualboot and play a few games now and then. It's just stupid that apple forces you to buy the more expensive 15" model even if you don't need the slightly faster cpu, 512 SSD or the 16 gigs of RAM.

Let's hope they'll add a dedicated GPU as a standard next model or that the intel ones improve even more :)
 
Agreed for game playing (something I don't do) the dGPU is the better solution.

Still Apple isn't about to add a dGPU on the base mode imo. They don't cater to game players (never really had) and the iGPU is good enough for the majority of people, so why add something that doesn't really help much yet incurs higher manufacturing costs.

I could be wrong on it, but I see the 2013 base model w/o the dGPU a trend and not an exception
 
viccles said:
I'm still undecided between the 13 and 15" rMBP. On the plus side of the 13" its more portable, etc but the 15" has more stuff inside. Are there likely to be any significant updates in the near future? I really would like to keep this computer for 2-3 years. Mainly using it for SPSS, word processing, a bit of gaming, maybe installing Windows on it.
Click to expand...

I thought 13'' would be small, but I turned it on I was suprised. It doesn't seem 13''. then I saw 15'' and I didn't noticed any considerable difference. I do programming (c++ qt to be specific), .NET (Virtual Machine) and other stuff and It's nice.
Gaming? hum. it's an intel iris with 1GB memory, so I don't know how much is yours demands. If you require a lot from the game, you really should go 15'' with the geforce. If not, like League of Legends, COD, or any FPS RPG to run in medium, yes, 13'' is nice.
Video Gaming 13'' rMBP late 2013 part1
Video Gaming 13'' rMBP late 2013 part2
Video Gaming 13'' rMBP late 2013 part3
 
I never used the 15" model but sometimes i think the 13" screen is too small, but this might be solved by a external display and hopefully apple will announce a new Thunderbolt Display.

The 13" is portable, but when i use numbers and im copying data or look something up i would like to have 2 Windows side by side (Numbers + PDF/Safari etc.) but for me there is no comfortable way.

I know you can change the retina resolution and everything will fit but it gets also really small.

I like the portability and coming from Windows this the best Computer i ever used but i will probably buy a thunderbolt display if they update it and when they update the 15" to the processors after broadwell i will think about switching.

Conclusion: If you need screen real estate for working comfortable you should go to a store and try both out.
 
The end model 15" is a little out of my reach but would base model 15" run the Sims 4? I know we don't know the exact specs yet. Ok, would it run the sims 3? Nice specs on the top model!! Is that a decent graphics card in the top one?
 
viccles said:
The end model 15" is a little out of my reach but would base model 15" run the Sims 4? I know we don't know the exact specs yet. Ok, would it run the sims 3? Nice specs on the top model!! Is that a decent graphics card in the top one?
Click to expand...

You could wait for a refresh (wwdc - unlikely, fall 2014 50%, early 2015 very likely) and then it should definitely run sims 4.

sims 3 should be okay, but there should also be benchmarks on the web, but im kinda in a hurry right now, thats why i can't look them up.

13" has Intel Iris and 15" has Intel Iris Pro, keep that in mind.
 
wuush said:
You could wait for a refresh (wwdc - unlikely, fall 2014 50%, early 2015 very likely) and then it should definitely run sims 4.

sims 3 should be okay, but there should also be benchmarks on the web, but im kinda in a hurry right now, thats why i can't look them up.

13" has Intel Iris and 15" has Intel Iris Pro, keep that in mind.
Click to expand...

Broadwell isn't suppose to be coming until Q4 2014 at the earliest. Q1 2015 is most likely. Now is a good time to buy.

For gaming, i'd go with the 15". 13" is lower resolution, so less power needed to push the graphics. But, the 15" is significantly more powerful.
 
Thinking about getting rid of the vaio to have the extra funds for the high end...it looks awesome
 
viccles said:
Thinking about getting rid of the vaio to have the extra funds for the high end...it looks awesome
Click to expand...

I got the high-end 15", but another good option is to build a gaming PC and get a macbook air. Costs about the same in the end, but you get a better gaming machine and a more portable laptop.
 
Hmmm I'm definitely down to 15" but I just can't decide which one. I specc'd a 16gb base model 15" and theres only $400 difference between that and the high end.
 
For the majority of uses 8GB is more then enough for now and the future.

You didn't really go into detail about what exactly you'll be running on the computer so its a little difficult to comment on your specific situation.

If you'll be running virtual environments, particularly multiple ones, then 16GB is better. Running some high end software like photoshop, autocad, etc then yeah 16GB is better.

Office, web, email, some games - 8gb is sufficient imo.
 
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