Upgrade from 13" MBP 2015 to 2020 worth it?

[mrgreenfirework]

Hi all,

I'm coming to the end of University soon and would like to take advantage of Mac student discount to upgrade before it runs out.

I'm a media student and have been using a base 2015 13" MacBook Pro for the past 5 years. It has served me well but I'm noticing a lot of slowdown when it comes to video editing now. I don't have the best budget right now so trying to work out what would be a worthy investment.

Would the upgrade to the new 2020 base 13" be worth it? Will I notice a considerable difference?

Also, is the upgrade from 8GB to 16GB RAM essential or will I be okay with just 8GB again?

Or, is there a different option I should take for upgrading my machine?

Thanks!

 

[coffeeplease]

How much video editing are you doing? If it's like your full time job, consider a 16" since it has a dedicated graphics card which will perform way better than the integrated chip in the 13". Otherwise, any of the 2020 13" models will perform better than the 2015 model. I'm sure you can get by the base 13" model, and in that case, definitely upgrade to 16GB of RAM since it's only $100 (less with education discount). If you can afford it, the $1799 model comes with 10th gen CPUs and a better integrated graphics card.

If you're not in a hurry, I believe you can still get education discounts online even if you're no longer in school (for US store at least).

 

[KPOM]

Hi all,

I'm coming to the end of University soon and would like to take advantage of Mac student discount to upgrade before it runs out.

I'm a media student and have been using a base 2015 13" MacBook Pro for the past 5 years. It has served me well but I'm noticing a lot of slowdown when it comes to video editing now. I don't have the best budget right now so trying to work out what would be a worthy investment.

Would the upgrade to the new 2020 base 13" be worth it? Will I notice a considerable difference?

Also, is the upgrade from 8GB to 16GB RAM essential or will I be okay with just 8GB again?

Or, is there a different option I should take for upgrading my machine?

Thanks!

For video editing the Ice Lake i5/16/512 (starting at US$1799/$1699 with education discount) would be a better choice, assuming that you don't have the budget for the 16" with the discrete GPU. The difference would be noticeable over your 2015.

Since you refer to "University," I'm assuming you are in the UK (or perhaps Canada or Australia)? If so, I'm not sure how big the education discount is there.

 

[pshufd]

I have a 2015 13 with top specs and a 2015 15 with quad-core. The performance difference from dual-core to quad-core is big. Memory requirements should generally rise with time - especially with browsers today.

If you need performance to make a living, the 16 will give you that. The 13 gives you portability and quite good power - your 2020 13 is likely comparable to the 2015 15.

 

[Fishrrman]

So long as the 2015 is still running ok, I'd hold out another 9 months to a year, until the upcoming 14.1" model is introduced.

That will be a "much nicer jump upwards", I predict.

 

[2984839]

Everyone here will always tell you to upgrade. I disagree. I would just keep the 2015 unless it actually can't do something you need to do. If you're on a tight budget, spending over $1K just to save a few minutes here and there is not worth it.