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PalacePlayers

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 5, 2011
106
3
My rMBP 15" is on its way to turning 5, and I have decided to upgrade while I can still get a decent sum for it. The prices on the new MacBook Pros were.. spicy, but I have the finances and I am considering buying one. Personally I thought the new TouchBar seemed like a great tool.

I do mostly amateur photo editing, college work and I have Logic Pro which I plan to learn. I used to use Aperture for photo editing, but after it was discontinued I've used the Photos app, as I still haven't brought myself to buy the Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop-package. I use roughly 200 GB on my rMBP. As I have an iPad Pro 9,7" with keyboard that I use on the go, portability isn't too important.

I will never buy a computer with less than 16 GB RAM. However, for the rest of the specs I'm not sure what I need. I'm considering:

* High end 13" MacBook Pro: 2,9 Ghz dueal core i5, 16 GB (upgraded), 512 GB SSD, Intel Iris Pro. $2199.
* Base 15" MacBook Pro: 2,6 Ghz quad-core i7, 16 GB, 256 GB. Radeon Pro 450 with 2 GB. $2399

So for 200$ I get a quad core i7 instead of a dual core i5, and dedicated Radeon 450 2 GB instead of Iris Pro. I also get a bigger screen. But considering what I do on my Mac, do I need that horsepower? Will I ever notice the difference in performance? How much more futureproof is the 15"?


Also, just a wild thought, would this iMac 4k be a better alternative?

* iMac 21,5" with 4K: 3,1 quad core i5, 16 GB 1867Mhz RAM, 512 GB RAM, Magic Trackpad: $2149.


What would you recommend for me? (I should buy as this year is my last chance for the student discount).
 
iMac with 512 gb ram :) WHOOO, :)
(i know typo).

Okay, if you do photography, you will not want to go back from 27" retina.
But 21" over 15" in that case, especially if mobility isn't too important.

But that * Base 15" MacBook Pro: 2,6 Ghz quad-core i7, 16 GB, 256 GB. Radeon Pro 450 with 2 GB. $2399
is what i could consider, if i wouldn't go with 27" imac.
 
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