What losses will I see with downgrading 15" to 13"?

[sonicrobby]

I love my 15" rMBP, but when I go to the store and see the 13" rMBP, I fall in love with that one, despite the lack of needed internals. Here are some concerns I would like you to help clarify so I can make a decision upon the announcement of the updated MBPs.

Gaming: So I do some gaming, Bioshock, Half-Life, Counterstrike, Garry's mod. Mid-range graphics settings seeking at least 100 fps in the online games. This is the reason I got the 15" with the dGPU. Assuming the new 13" rMBP comes with the HD5000, it seems like that can handle gaming as well (as seen on the new MBA's). My concern with this is the CPU. Would there be a significant difference between a quad core and dual core when gaming? (assume both are the same speed)

Final Cut Pro: I will modify and export non-HD videos up to 6 hours long. Obviously the CPU is a major factor that takes advantage of all 4 cores. Essentially does half the cores mean double the rendering export time?

iPhoto: This is my second most used program with over 10,000 pictures. I dont think it has heavy CPU or GPU usage, but I want to make sure I wont notice a drop in performance moving to a dual core.

 

[dylin]

Well, you already know the lack of dGPU.

As far as CPU goes for gaming, a good majority of games right now don't take much advantage of four cores. and on top of that you dont have to worry about needing 100 FPS since the screen's refresh rate is 60hz so your good to go there.

as for editing, you will see a huge downgrade. a quad down to a dual, will affect your render and encoding times.

What is it about the 13" that you like so much?

 

[Yell0w]

Well, you already know the lack of dGPU.

As far as CPU goes for gaming, a good majority of games right now don't take much advantage of four cores. and on top of that you dont have to worry about needing 100 FPS since the screen's refresh rate is 60hz so your good to go there.

as for editing, you will see a huge downgrade. a quad down to a dual, will affect your render and encoding times.

What is it about the 13" that you like so much?

It may be the sheer size of the 13". It just screams portable.

 

[mattshort]

I'm also struggling with this decision. I'm still within the return period for my 15", and it's got the power I want but it's just not nearly as portable as the 13". I need something now, and can't keep waiting for the 13" haswell (which should be great). I'm debating returning the 15", buying a base 13" and starting the wait for broadwell....

What is it about the 13" that you like so much?

The 13" is ~19% smaller volume, ~23% smaller footprint, and ~20% lighter.

EDIT: Also, with regards to OP's question about render time... you're going to take a big hit.

 

[Orlandoech]

- Quad Core CPU
- dGPU
- 2" Screen workspace
- Speakers
- En/Decoding Time
- Faster all around computer

 

[sonicrobby]

Well, you already know the lack of dGPU.

As far as CPU goes for gaming, a good majority of games right now don't take much advantage of four cores. and on top of that you dont have to worry about needing 100 FPS since the screen's refresh rate is 60hz so your good to go there.

as for editing, you will see a huge downgrade. a quad down to a dual, will affect your render and encoding times.

What is it about the 13" that you like so much?

Im not complaining about the size or portability of the 15" but I do like the size of the 13" because it is even more portable! :]

It may be the sheer size of the 13". It just screams portable.

Yes! This!

I'm also struggling with this decision. I'm still within the return period for my 15", and it's got the power I want but it's just not nearly as portable as the 13". I need something now, and can't keep waiting for the 13" haswell (which should be great). I'm debating returning the 15", buying a base 13" and starting the wait for broadwell....

The 13" is ~19% smaller volume, ~23% smaller footprint, and ~20% lighter.

EDIT: Also, with regards to OP's question about render time... you're going to take a big hit.

Well that's going to hurt :[ it seems it will take more than twice as long to render. Let me know what you decide to do and what was the nail in the coffin to make that decision

 

[JerseyDoug]

I'm also struggling with this decision. I'm still within the return period for my 15", and it's got the power I want but it's just not nearly as portable as the 13". I need something now, and can't keep waiting for the 13" haswell (which should be great). I'm debating returning the 15", buying a base 13" and starting the wait for broadwell....



The 13" is ~19% smaller volume, ~23% smaller footprint, and ~20% lighter.

EDIT: Also, with regards to OP's question about render time... you're going to take a big hit.

Obviously, portability is relative. I just purchased the 15" rMBP to replace my older 15" MBP. The new one is so portable I am giving my wife my iPad. I'd rather use the rMBP than the iPad. (Personal preference.)

I'd keep what you got. But, you need to do what works best for you.

Good luck.

 

[snapper64]

I recently purchased (and later returned) a 2013 Air and whilst the gaming perfromance of the HD5000 is good it's not even close to the performance of the dGPU in the 15" rMBP.

If you game a reasonable amount you will miss it.

 

[fskywalker]

I just sold my max out 2012 15 inch rMBP (2.7/16/768) and bought a mint 2012 max out 13 inch rMBP (2.9/8/768, 9 cycles in battery) due to the fact wanted a more portable machine and I'm not into gaming, just regular browsing, Adobe and Ms Office applications. So far am very impresed with it, gorgeous screen just like the 15 (slightly yellowish, which probably means it is a Samsung screen . , the yellowish can be corrected with calibration), awsome size and portability. I bought it for $1800 shipped with over $1000 of licenced software, so am very happy and it will be a keeper for at least 2 yrs !

So if you are tempted for the 13 rMBP, go for it!

 

[Vanilla35]

Gaming: So I do some gaming, Bioshock, Half-Life, Counterstrike, Garry's mod. Mid-range graphics settings seeking at least 100 fps in the online games. This is the reason I got the 15" with the dGPU. Assuming the new 13" rMBP comes with the HD5000, it seems like that can handle gaming as well (as seen on the new MBA's). My concern with this is the CPU.

I reallyyy don't think the CPU is what you should be concerned about. I don't know where you're getting the assumption that HD5000 can run those games well (counsterstrike sure), but it's not going to get you anywhere near 100 FPS. Your only option is the 15 rMBP for gaming above 40-60 FPS.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-5000.91978.0.html

Here Bio-Shock Infinite runs at ~35 FPS on LOW settings. It can't run anything above low.

 

[CmdrLaForge]

I can only comment on FCPX and here is my quick thought:

As you know editing is mainly structured in 3 parts

1) Ingest or Import the footage which usually includes transcoding into ProRes
2) Editing
3) Output

Basically for steps 1 and 3 you will see a huge decrease in performance where as for step 2 you shouldn't see a lot of difference if any. And if so you can use proxy files.

It entirely depends on your work if that decrease would be acceptable or not.

My 2 cents
LaForge