Upgrade advice: from Early 2013 15" rMBP to Mid 2014?

[ProMod]

I'm looking for some upgrade advice. I've been using a 2.7/16/512 Early 2013 15" rMBP since it was new, working every day as a magazine designer (heavy InDesign, some Photoshop and Illustrator). I use it with a Dell U2713HM connected via DisplayPort and an old school 23" Apple Cinema Display connected via HDMI. I also travel frequently, hence the need for a mobile setup.

It's been a great machine, but it's start to feel a bit slow, especially since upgrading to Yosemite. I thought about wiping it out and trying a fresh install, but I've got someone eager to buy my current machine at a good price and thought now may be a good time to pull the trigger on a Late 2013 or Mid 2014 refurb.

With the Broadwell delays, should I make the jump or ride it out? The upgrades from Ivy Bridge to Haswell, along with the jump to PCI and 802.11ac WiFi entice me. Running three displays, I think I'd benefit from the 750m and Iris Pro as well. Battery life is not a huge primary concern. I'm just not sure if now is the best time to grab a machine to last me the next two years or so. I don't always have to have THE latest and greatest, and I'd probably wait for a refurb Broadwell machine at the earliest if I don't upgrade now. Thoughts?

 

[snaky69]

I'm looking for some upgrade advice. I've been using a 2.7/16/512 Early 2013 15" rMBP since it was new, working every day as a magazine designer (heavy InDesign, some Photoshop and Illustrator). I use it with a Dell U2713HM connected via DisplayPort and an old school 23" Apple Cinema Display connected via HDMI. I also travel frequently, hence the need for a mobile setup.

It's been a great machine, but it's start to feel a bit slow, especially since upgrading to Yosemite. I thought about wiping it out and trying a fresh install, but I've got someone eager to buy my current machine at a good price and thought now may be a good time to pull the trigger on a Late 2013 or Mid 2014 refurb.

With the Broadwell delays, should I make the jump or ride it out? The upgrades from Ivy Bridge to Haswell, along with the jump to PCI and 802.11ac WiFi entice me. Running three displays, I think I'd benefit from the 750m and Iris Pro as well. Battery life is not a huge primary concern. I'm just not sure if now is the best time to grab a machine to last me the next two years or so. I don't always have to have THE latest and greatest, and I'd probably wait for a refurb Broadwell machine at the earliest if I don't upgrade now. Thoughts?

The performance difference between the 2013 and 2014 machines are negligible, you'd be hard pressed to notice them. If you find yourself lacking in power at the moment, a new laptop is not what you need. You need a proper desktop.

 

[MrX8503]

I would wait for Broadwell. You won't notice much of a difference between the two machines. 802.11ac won't benefit you much either unless you've got very fast internet speeds or work with network share drives.

 

[Cardsnk]

I have the 2013 model, and also thinking about switching to the late 2014 model. Upon realizing, from ivy bridge to haswell, now the upcoming broadwell, Most of the performance hit i am experiencing is from OSX itself and not the hardware. Many have complained about lag and choppiness issues with retina units, But i myself do not experience such issues running my unit in bootcamp/windows. I am still hoping for a stable/fluid experience with my unit. As long as apple is fixing bugs and giving us updates. In my opinion, I am holding off on buying a new macbook pro, till Apple gives us the proper experience with retina scaling.

 

[blooperz]

wait for a refurbished broadwell... you more than likely will not notice any difference between your machine and the current 2014's.

 

[ProMod]

Thanks for the input, everyone! I'm honestly surprised. I thought there was a pretty significant jump to the PCI storage and 2GB 750m card, but I guess I'm looking too much at specs on paper and not real world usage.

 

[cjmillsnun]

The performance difference between the 2013 and 2014 machines are negligible, you'd be hard pressed to notice them. If you find yourself lacking in power at the moment, a new laptop is not what you need. You need a proper desktop.

The early '13 machines are Ivy Bridge, the late '13/14 machines are Haswell.

There IS a performance increase.

The only desktop likely to give a big enough speed increase is a Mac Pro...

 

[ProMod]

The early '13 machines are Ivy Bridge, the late '13/14 machines are Haswell.

There IS a performance increase.

The only desktop likely to give a big enough speed increase is a Mac Pro...

I'd love a Mac Pro, but a properly-specced model is not in the budget right now and I need to retain some portability.

I was worried some of the responders had assumed my machine was a Late 2013 Haswell model and that influenced their advice. What's your take on jumping from an Early '13 to a Mid '14?

 

[snaky69]

The early '13 machines are Ivy Bridge, the late '13/14 machines are Haswell.

There IS a performance increase.

The only desktop likely to give a big enough speed increase is a Mac Pro...

According to the geekbench scores I just pulled up, in multi-core processing, the difference is a mere 6% between early 2013 and mid 2014.

See for yourself

http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/1626349

http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/1626038

To me, 6% performance increase in an artificial benchmark isn't worth switching computers over.

Heck, unless you get the (at least) 6-core Mac Pro, there isn't much Apple makes that is more powerful than your current machine.

 

[Meister]

There is not that much difference. Keep your old Macbook and upgrade later.

 

[ProMod]

Thanks for the help! I'll give my current machine a clean install and ride it out at least until Broadwell.

 

[theycallmetc]

Not worth it IMO.

If you're running low on firepower, might as well look into a more powerful desktop solution (27 inch iMac or Mac Pro). Since you need a laptop, the rMBP is your only solution (and a pretty damn good one at that).