Which 2016 15in MacBook Pro GPU should I buy?

[robertpetry]

Hello all. I'm hoping you can help me out.

I am buying my wife a 2016 15 inch MacBook Pro for Christmas and I'm looking at the base model with the one terabyte SSD for her. But I'm not sure which dedicated GPU to select. Originally I ordered the 450 and then I thought that perhaps I should have spent the $200 to upgrade to the 460.

Let me tell you a little bit about her usage. Most of her work is office type work including using Microsoft office and outlook along with general Mac use including Apple mail and safari with many tabs open. The only thing that she does that is graphics intensive is photo editing. She uses a combination of Apple Photos, Photoshop, and light room. Not commercially but she edits quite a few raw photos from her Nikon DSLR. She does very little video editing but her photo editing is not light. No gaming at all.

I don't think she NEEDS the 460 but for resale value, occasional performance enhancement, and future proofing, I think that it may be worth the extra $200. My concern is that this future proofing and slightly faster processing of graphics will come at the expense of lower battery life and higher temperatures on the laptop. Is that a founded concern?

So really I am torn between future proofing and lower battery life. I have never had a MacBook with a dedicated GPU so I'm not sure how much of an impact the GPU will have.

Although I am a little nervous about the glitches that are being reported, that doesn't concern me too much.

Is the 460 worth it?

Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[Denumerable]

If you're buying a computer at this price, why wouldn't you pay $100 bucks for an almost 2x performance increase?

$100 shouldn't matter that much to you at these price levels...

 

[jackoatmon]

the GPU will make zero difference in the stated use case

use the extra cash to take her to dinner

also: futureproofing is a myth – all computers stop being usable after 5 years regardless what hardware specs you buy, due to software changes

 

[skids929]

the GPU will make zero difference in the stated use case

use the extra cash to take her to dinner

also: futureproofing is a myth – all computers stop being usable after 5 years regardless what hardware specs you buy, due to software changes

This is simply untrue.

 

[lympero]

The one that they will release next October

 

[motime]

You can get her one from last year at a much cheaper price. If not then just get the 460 if it is only 200 more since it is a considerable upgrade on the 450 from what I have read.

 

[dagamer34]

$200 to double GPU performance and video RAM is a no brainer.

 

[xraydoc]

$200 to double GPU performance and video RAM is a no brainer.

With the stated usage, the owner will never see the improved performance.

 

[Aman_5ingh]

With the stated usage, the owner will never see the improved performance.

However, a future owner might, in case the laptop is sold after a year of use.

 

[xraydoc]

However, a future owner might, in case the laptop is sold after a year of use.

But the $200 increase in price wont be made up in the sale; that $200 will still depreciate.

 

[aevan]

This is simply untrue.

It's very true, I'm affraid. "Future-proofing" is silly.

 

[leman]

I don't see any reason to go beyond the base 450 in this case. And as other have said, 'future-proofing' isa myth. Just by having a faster GPU, its not like the machine will gain the ability to run some future software 'better'. Unless that future software involves games of course

 

[bmat]

Does it not help with adobe applications and raw photos. I thought it would, or is that processor power and ram and hard drive speed.

 

[robertpetry]

Is the $200 the only consideration? My concern with the 460 is worse battery's life and heat/fans more than anything.

 

[Pardus]

If you custom build, can you get it in time for xmas? If thats a concern, get a stock one. If she doesnt like it, returns are until January 8th and order a custom now, just return one or cancel the order.

I ordered the 2.7/512/460 last week and is arriving at the end of december early january. From what I read while researching, both fan noise and battery life aren't noticeably different between the different GPUs. I am sure even the base model would be great, looking at benchmarks etc there isn't a huge difference between the models and if her photo work is not all day every day, doubt she would ever notice. The super fast SSD will be the biggest upgrade from whatever she is coming from.

 

[maratus]

The one that they will release next October

There won't be any. Next releases are obviously June 2017 and February 2018

Is the $200 the only consideration? My concern with the 460 is worse battery's life and heat/fans more than anything.

I don't think the difference will be noticeable. But it'd always nice to have a test. P.S. And it doesn't matter when you're doing light work and have iGPU active instead
[doublepost=1480730212][/doublepost]

also: futureproofing is a myth – all computers stop being usable after 5 years regardless what hardware specs you buy, due to software changes

Incorrect

 

[robertpetry]

If you custom build, can you get it in time for xmas? If thats a concern, get a stock one. If she doesnt like it, returns are until January 8th and order a custom now, just return one or cancel the order.

I ordered the 2.7/512/460 last week and is arriving at the end of december early january. From what I read while researching, both fan noise and battery life aren't noticeably different between the different GPUs. I am sure even the base model would be great, looking at benchmarks etc there isn't a huge difference between the models and if her photo work is not all day every day, doubt she would ever notice. The super fast SSD will be the biggest upgrade from whatever she is coming from.

She wants the 1TB SSD so if I don't go with a build to order, then I would have to upgrade to the 2.9/1TB/460 which is $3499 or $500 more than a 2.6/1TB/450 and $300 more than a 2.6//1TB/460. I don't think the $500/$300 is worth it. I can't imagine she would be if it much from the jump from 2.6 GHz to 2.9 GHz. Do you?

 

[Pardus]

Well it's a tough call, depends on a few factors.

First, it's Christmas, is another $500 worth it to you so she can open not only a new MBP on christmas morning but that you love her so much that price wasn't a concern and got her the absolute best available? That's got to be worth at least a year or two of getting of the dog house.

Build to order will come later and I am sure one of the lower stock models would be absolutely fine for her but then she isn't getting it on xmas.... so is that worth $500?

I would think between models for the type of usage she is doing, micro seconds on tasks between the different models. If she isn't under deadlines where every second counts or processing massive amounts of photos at one time, she won't notice. In the Photoshop speed tests where you apply an action set on various machines, they are doing massive file sizes and super cpu/gpu intensive actions that are extreme examples of whatever would really be done in photo editing. It's good because it pushes the limits of the hardware but in real life, things like writing to disk and saving probably are the most time consuming tasks on large photo files and the ssd drives are as good as it gets.

 

[MrGuder]

It seems like Apple should have made a base model of the new Macbook pro without the dedicated graphics, a base model with an SSD and Intel Graphics Pro (or whatever they are using) for an internal graphics processor. There are a lot of people that want a 15" screen laptop but don't need the Radeon dedicated processor.

Currently the only option if customer's want a 15" screen without a dedicated processor would be to buy last years model with last years screen.

 

[robertpetry]

Well it's a tough call, depends on a few factors.

First, it's Christmas, is another $500 worth it to you so she can open not only a new MBP on christmas morning but that you love her so much that price wasn't a concern and got her the absolute best available? That's got to be worth at least a year or two of getting of the dog house.

Build to order will come later and I am sure one of the lower stock models would be absolutely fine for her but then she isn't getting it on xmas.... so is that worth $500?

I would think between models for the type of usage she is doing, micro seconds on tasks between the different models. If she isn't under deadlines where every second counts or processing massive amounts of photos at one time, she won't notice. In the Photoshop speed tests where you apply an action set on various machines, they are doing massive file sizes and super cpu/gpu intensive actions that are extreme examples of whatever would really be done in photo editing. It's good because it pushes the limits of the hardware but in real life, things like writing to disk and saving probably are the most time consuming tasks on large photo files and the ssd drives are as good as it gets.

Actually, I have both models on order, so getting it by Christmas is not really a concern. Good thought otherwise. Given big differences in performance, but not necessarily on activities she does, andlessthan 5% price difference, the 460 seems to make some sense. But if battery life or heat dispersion suffers in any way, the 450 is the better choice I think.