Upgrade or not to AMD

[KAOT1C]

Hey Guys

About a week ago I splurged and decided to get a new MacBook Pro 15inch base model, I've been loving it compared to my regular 2012 MacBook Pro. I do some web development, currently also learning swift, going to school, and only do some light gaming (CS:GO). Now currently I don't have an external monitor, but I'm looking into getting a 4K Dell or atleast a 1440p. Now my issue is I only have till next Monday if I want to return it or upgrade it. I'm contemplating just spending the extra couple hundred to get the dGPU and the 512gb ssd and the faster CPU. My question is the AMD and CPU upgrade really worth it and make it a better experience for me. Is the Iris Pro sufficient enough for me to run a 4K monitor and the retina screen or will the AMD make it really that much better. Please help lol

 

[Tankmaze]

If you have the money, I would say upgrade to the AMD MBP. It is worth it for the AMD alone, I notice improvement with the dgpu compare to the iris pro, with OSX animation,etc.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Hey Guys

About a week ago I splurged and decided to get a new MacBook Pro 15inch base model, I've been loving it compared to my regular 2012 MacBook Pro. I do some web development, currently also learning swift, going to school, and only do some light gaming (CS:GO). Now currently I don't have an external monitor, but I'm looking into getting a 4K Dell or atleast a 1440p. Now my issue is I only have till next Monday if I want to return it or upgrade it. I'm contemplating just spending the extra couple hundred to get the dGPU and the 512gb ssd and the faster CPU. My question is the AMD and CPU upgrade really worth it and make it a better experience for me. Is the Iris Pro sufficient enough for me to run a 4K monitor and the retina screen or will the AMD make it really that much better. Please help lol

In a word yes, it is sufficient. Of course the AMD will be better for gaming but remember that that configuration will use only the AMD for external screens and not give you the usual graphics switching.

 

[KAOT1C]

In a word yes, it is sufficient. Of course the AMD will be better for gaming but remember that that configuration will use only the AMD for external screens and not give you the usual graphics switching.

Hmmm ok, so is that a bad thing that it will always only use AMD whenever I connect it to an external ?

 

[lJoSquaredl]

I'm trying to decide between these as well. Sadly there's no proof of this UI lag on the internet, at least in terms of YouTube videos like I see with other issues people bring up. I only hear about UI lag issues with Iris Pro in comments every now and then.

Personally i'm not too worried about using Iris Pro only on the rMBP itself, but I do use an external alot for FCPX editing and playing League of Legends on my 1080p monitor when I can, so this is the main reason that has me worried about using it. Considering the Intel HD 4000 for whatever reason runs League and Hearthstone better than my 650m tho, idk I feel like I should be more confident in Iris Pro.

The upgrade would be nice, it's faster than Iris Pro using the same Open CL enhancements, but it will run hotter, will suck battery faster, and i've had issues with Apple vid cards in the past so...both have me hesitant.

Also in terms of resale value and upgrading, I don't know if there's a point in getting a buffed video card model if I upgrade every year or two anyways, and I don't think it really helps the resale value for most people out there. Most people just buy base model spec machines for as low as possible...I think people feel too weird spending $1000 to $1500 on a used computer.