Which Macbook Pro to go for?

[Cdaniels1987]

I am struggling to work out which Macbook Pro to go for, I am starring Animation School soon, and will be working with Maya mostly, I was going to go for the one with the Dedicated 750m, but would I be ok with the Intel Iris? its a saving of £400, so if I could get away with that then it would be a good saving.

Both models have 16gb Ram, and there's not too much difference in the processor, so it is literally just a case of either Intel Iris 5200 or Nvidia 750m.

Suggestions would be much appreciated 🙂

 

[yjchua95]

I am struggling to work out which Macbook Pro to go for, I am starring Animation School soon, and will be working with Maya mostly, I was going to go for the one with the Dedicated 750m, but would I be ok with the Intel Iris? its a saving of £400, so if I could get away with that then it would be a good saving.

Both models have 16gb Ram, and there's not too much difference in the processor, so it is literally just a case of either Intel Iris 5200 or Nvidia 750m.

Suggestions would be much appreciated 🙂

Well you're getting a 512GB SSD with the stock high end.

For stuff like Maya, the dGPU is worth it, because it helps in rendering and CUDA accelerated software.

 

[Cdaniels1987]

Thanks, I thought that would be the case but thought is double check whether it would be worth trying to save a bit of money.

Thanks again.

 

[maflynn]

I think the 3D modeling is one of those applications that you'd be better off with a dGPU. I'd opt for that over the iGPU.

 

[Cdaniels1987]

Another vote for the dedicate GPU, thanks guys.

Just realised I can get educational discount as well so that also knocks a further £300ish off!

 

[maflynn]

Another vote for the dedicate GPU, thanks guys.

Just realised I can get educational discount as well so that also knocks a further £300ish off!

Great, every little bit helps when it comes to buying such an expensive product.

Good luck with your purchase.

 

[0940732]

definitely go for dGPU, only reason for iGPU in this price category of professional laptops is that dGPU is usually kind of a weak spot, but I own iGPU only Late 2013 model and I was able to do all work just fine, but something inside me alway want complete work station with everything including dGPU 😀 ..can't help myself 🙂

 

[Cdaniels1987]

definitely go for dGPU, only reason for iGPU in this price category of professional laptops is that dGPU is usually kind of a weak spot, but I own iGPU only Late 2013 model and I was able to do all work just fine, but something inside me alway want complete work station with everything including dGPU 😀 ..can't help myself 🙂

thanks, going to go for the dGPU 😎

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

Well you're getting a 512GB SSD with the stock high end.

For stuff like Maya, the dGPU is worth it, because it helps in rendering and CUDA accelerated software.

+1 here. My 750m tares through Maya.

 

[macjunk(ie)]

iGPU

Can you work off the iGPU ? I am just saying cause Apple has the worst track record with their dGPUs. In my experience, they fail after 2-3 years.

 

[yjchua95]

Can you work off the iGPU ? I am just saying cause Apple has the worst track record with their dGPUs. In my experience, they fail after 2-3 years.

The 2009 models didn't experience NVIDIAgate.

In the 2008 ones, the 8600M GT suffered from failures, but it was NVIDIA's fault. Other brands of laptops with the same GPU experienced the same thing.

In the 2010 ones, it was also NVIDIA's fault again with the GT 330M.

In these models involving NVIDIA cards, an extended repair program was launched by Apple.

In the 2011 ones (with AMD Radeon), the 6490M, 6750M and 6770M suffered from Radeongate, but this one was Apple's fault for having botched the thermal paste application process.

 

[macjunk(ie)]

The 2009 models didn't experience NVIDIAgate.

In the 2008 ones, the 8600M GT suffered from failures, but it was NVIDIA's fault. Other brands of laptops with the same GPU experienced the same thing.

In the 2010 ones, it was also NVIDIA's fault again with the GT 330M.

In these models involving NVIDIA cards, an extended repair program was launched by Apple.

In the 2011 ones (with AMD Radeon), the 6490M, 6750M and 6770M suffered from Radeongate, but this one was Apple's fault for having botched the thermal paste application process.

Whosever fault it might be, we get the short end of the stick. I have personally been a victim of the 8600, 330M and more recently, AMD Radeon. As a customer, the end view I take from all this is better to stick to iGPU for long term reliability.

 

[yjchua95]

Whosever fault it might be, we get the short end of the stick. I have personally been a victim of the 8600, 330M and more recently, AMD Radeon. As a customer, the end view I take from all this is better to stick to iGPU for long term reliability.

I was a Radeongate victim as well, and although I was furious, there was nothing else I could do other than to do a reball on it.

After reballing a new GPU with leaded solder, plus re-applying the thermal paste on the GPU and CPU, my early-2011 15" runs much cooler now. Idle temperatures are between 38-45ºC.