Which Macbook should I get?

[thenervousrhino]

I don't want to spend more than £2000, I want my Macbook to last me a solid 5 years. Preferebly 13 inch although I'm used to 15 inch laptops (currently have an XPS 15 but it's so buggy and I've had enough of putting up with its problems for a 'premium' device).

So I've found (with student discount)

13 inch, 2.5GHZ dual core i7 processor, turbo boost up to 4GHz.
16GB RAM
512GB SSD
No touchbar.
For £1900

Or...

13 inch, 3.5GHz dual core i7, turbo boost up to 4GHz
16 GB RAM
512GBSSD
Touchbar
for £2100

I know I said less than £2000, but 3.5GHz seems a lot better than 2.5GHz so if it's worth the extra 200 I'd consider paying considering this is lasting me 5 years.

Also I couldn't care less about the touch bar.

Finally if I got the first model, would I feel let down after spending months using the XPS 15? As essentially I'd be going from a 2.8GHZ quad core processor, to a 2.5GHz dual core processor. RAM and SSD would be the same. Graphics would be going from GTX 1050 to Intel Iris Pro. I'm not very tech savvy.

I did game on my XPS but I feel like I'm better off having a device that can't game, as I'd be less distracted. So the most strain it'd be under is probably a million tabs open on Chrome whilst working on a word document and an SPSS dataset, maybe watching Netflix on an external monitor. So it may seem overkill but like I said I want this laptop to future-proof me for years (hence wanting a 2017 model rather than a 2015). I just don't want to get a new MBP and feel like 'damn, this is noticeably slower than my Dell'

Thanks in advance!

 

[smallcoffee]

I don't want to spend more than £2000, I want my Macbook to last me a solid 5 years. Preferebly 13 inch although I'm used to 15 inch laptops (currently have an XPS 15 but it's so buggy and I've had enough of putting up with its problems for a 'premium' device).

So I've found (with student discount)

13 inch, 2.5GHZ dual core i7 processor, turbo boost up to 4GHz.
16GB RAM
512GB SSD
No touchbar.
For £1900

Or...

13 inch, 3.5GHz dual core i7, turbo boost up to 4GHz
16 GB RAM
512GBSSD
Touchbar
for £2100

I know I said less than £2000, but 3.5GHz seems a lot better than 2.5GHz so if it's worth the extra 200 I'd consider paying considering this is lasting me 5 years.

Also I couldn't care less about the touch bar.

Finally if I got the first model, would I feel let down after spending months using the XPS 15? As essentially I'd be going from a 2.8GHZ quad core processor, to a 2.5GHz dual core processor. RAM and SSD would be the same. Graphics would be going from GTX 1050 to Intel Iris Pro. I'm not very tech savvy.

I did game on my XPS but I feel like I'm better off having a device that can't game, as I'd be less distracted. So the most strain it'd be under is probably a million tabs open on Chrome whilst working on a word document and an SPSS dataset, maybe watching Netflix on an external monitor. So it may seem overkill but like I said I want this laptop to future-proof me for years (hence wanting a 2017 model rather than a 2015). I just don't want to get a new MBP and feel like 'damn, this is noticeably slower than my Dell'

Thanks in advance!

I would go with the 13" w/ Touch Bar. Not because of the Touch Bar, but because of the USB-C ports. Also, can you drop the 512 SSD to 256? I have a 256, and I've found that because I have all of my photos and whatnot stored on iCloud ($2.99/mo for 200GB) I have about 100+ GB of disk space available. If you want to save money, I'd look there first.

Do not get a 2015 model anything. And the MacBook will probably feel noticeably faster. However, the GPU is inferior by far to the one on the Dell. If you're thinking about playing games on this, forget it. BUT I have good news for you:

GeForce Now

As long as you have a great internet connection, I've found the service works very well.

 

[thenervousrhino]

I would go with the 13" w/ Touch Bar. Not because of the Touch Bar, but because of the USB-C ports. Also, can you drop the 512 SSD to 256? I have a 256, and I've found that because I have all of my photos and whatnot stored on iCloud ($2.99/mo for 200GB) I have about 100+ GB of disk space available. If you want to save money, I'd look there first.

Do not get a 2015 model anything. And the MacBook will probably feel noticeably faster. However, the GPU is inferior by far to the one on the Dell. If you're thinking about playing games on this, forget it. BUT I have good news for you:

GeForce Now

As long as you have a great internet connection, I've found the service works very well.

Annoyingly for this model the minimum storage is 512GB. 256 would've been perfect and likely dropped the price to under £2000. I personally wouldn't pay the extra £200 for 2 extra ports, however I would pay an extra £200 if going from 2.5GHz to 3.5GHz makes a considerable difference. Unfortunately I have no idea if this is the case or not.

As for the RAM, I don't plan on using this for gaming, I have a PS4 and I'd rather have a purely work based laptop. However would it still handle videos and stuff like that fine?

 

[ZapNZs]

I would get the touchbar for the additional ports, better CPU, and better cooling - also, it sounds like you might want to use external displays down the road if you are not already (for an extended desktop to look at more data at once) and it could be argued that the touchbar has an advantage here as well. If you do decide to play games on it, this would be a better choice as far as the two options go (even though both are arguably not the best choices for such usage and will be wayyyyyyyy behind the XPS' quad core + very capable dGPU - which, for your situation, may be a benefit - like you, I find having a 'clean' system without games can make me more productive! [god damn you minesweeper and Oregon Trail!])

Is it different overseas in terms of configs Apple offers? Here stateside you can get the i7/16/256 TB option - with that said, for a system to last 5 years, a 512 SSD may provide more convenience down the road. Alternatively, the two lower tier i5's are reasonably-strong CPUs and would probably be quite sufficient for your needs for years to come.

With SPSS and large datasets, provided you are using a more recent version, you may see minor performance decreases with several select operations, such as regressions, correlations, and recodes. But, with most other functions, IIRC they are single threaded and so they can't take advantage of multiple cores (i.e., the differences between the XPS and the MBP13 would be more limited - and in fact performance with the touchbar's i7 might be ever-so-slightly-although-not-really-noticably improved over the XPS.) For very large datasets with crap tons of variables, IMO 16 GB of RAM can be a useful upgrade depending on what else you are doing. That said, with my 2017 rMB with a 1.2m3dual/8GB/256SSD compared to my 2014 MBP15 with a 2.5i7quad/16gb/256ssd/dGPU, even with modest-sized datasets (such as multiple years of GSS data), I can't say I see a humongous difference with the basic inferential operations that I perform with version 19 (IIRC on this version only regressions and correlations are multithreaded). However, if I have SPSS open in conjunction with a crap ton of tabs, PDFs, Excel files, Tableau, Access, etc., that's when I can see a performance difference that is being influenced by RAM (obviously CPU as well, but watching system preferences shows what happens when all those Apps are open at once and the back-and-forth cacheing that occurs on the 8GB rMB that does not have occur on the 16GB MBP.)

 

[thenervousrhino]

I would get the touchbar for the additional ports, better CPU, and better cooling - also, it sounds like you might want to use external displays down the road if you are not already (for an extended desktop to look at more data at once) and it could be argued that the touchbar has an advantage here as well. If you do decide to play games on it, this would be a better choice as far as the two options go (even though both are arguably not the best choices for such usage and will be wayyyyyyyy behind the XPS' quad core + very capable dGPU - which, for your situation, may be a benefit - like you, I find having a 'clean' system without games can make me more productive! [god damn you minesweeper and Oregon Trail!])

Is it different overseas in terms of configs Apple offers? Here stateside you can get the i7/16/256 TB option - with that said, for a system to last 5 years, a 512 SSD may provide more convenience down the road. Alternatively, the two lower tier i5's are reasonably-strong CPUs and would probably be quite sufficient for your needs for years to come.

With SPSS and large datasets, provided you are using a more recent version, you may see minor performance decreases with several select operations, such as regressions, correlations, and recodes. But, with most other functions, IIRC they are single threaded and so they can't take advantage of multiple cores (i.e., the differences between the XPS and the MBP13 would be more limited - and in fact performance with the touchbar's i7 might be ever-so-slightly-although-not-really-noticably improved over the XPS.) For very large datasets with crap tons of variables, IMO 16 GB of RAM can be a useful upgrade depending on what else you are doing. That said, with my 2017 rMB with a 1.2m3dual/8GB/256SSD compared to my 2014 MBP15 with a 2.5i7quad/16gb/256ssd/dGPU, even with modest-sized datasets (such as multiple years of GSS data), I can't say I see a humongous difference with the basic inferential operations that I perform. However, if I have SPSS open in conjunction with a crap ton of tabs, PDFs, Excel files, Tableau, Access, etc., that's when I can see a performance difference that is being influenced by RAM (obviously CPU as well, but watching system preferences shows what happens when all those Apps are open at once and the back-and-forth cacheing that occurs on the 8GB rMB that does not have occur on the 16GB MBP.)

Thanks for the reply, it must be different as it lets me choose 256GB with the worse CPU, but with the 3.5GHZ CPU the minimum SSD I can choose is 512GB. Anyway that's the one I've gone for! i7 3.5GHz CPU, 16GB RAM, 512SSD, I'm extremely looknig forward to it.

I'll miss the Dell but I can't stand Windows anymore. I've genuinely just had to restart my laptop because Google Chrome wouldn't launch, which seems to be a sign that I'm making the right choice to switch. Thanks for the info regarding SPSS too!

Also can I ask how the touchbar may be beneficial for external displays? I already use an external monitor and that sounds interesting

 

[ZapNZs]

Thanks for the reply, it must be different as it lets me choose 256GB with the worse CPU, but with the 3.5GHZ CPU the minimum SSD I can choose is 512GB. Anyway that's the one I've gone for! i7 3.5GHz CPU, 16GB RAM, 512SSD, I'm extremely looknig forward to it.

I'll miss the Dell but I can't stand Windows anymore. I've genuinely just had to restart my laptop because Google Chrome wouldn't launch, which seems to be a sign that I'm making the right choice to switch. Thanks for the info regarding SPSS too!

Also can I ask how the touchbar may be beneficial for external displays? I already use an external monitor and that sounds interesting

You made a solid choice - you are going to love the computer. The XPS is a nice machine but I personally find I prefer the MacBook/MacBook Pro lines for productivity-related tasks, and I certainly have come to enjoy the refinement of these Apple laptops.

The touchbar model has an extra fan an venting that the non-touchbar does not have. Especially in regards to 4k displays, or running multiple displays, this additional cooling can help the system better dissipate heat - in terms of benefit to the User, this can mean more available performance for their actual workload, and a significantly quieter system because the dual fans of the TB will run at a lower RPM than the single fan of the nTB (although when not using a high-resolution display or performing resource-intensive tasks, you will notice that the fans usually will not run at all.)

Additionally, with the touchbar's 4 ports, running dual displays is easier from a logistical perspective if the display itself does not have USB-C charging built into it, and, if using one display that does not supply charging, the extra two ports can eliminate the need to purchase a hub in order to get access to USB ports for data. You always could purchase a Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C dock down the line so one port powers everything, but with the TB you have the flexibility of not having to purchase such a product.

There is an App called BetterTouchTool that may interest you...you can use it to customize both the trackpad and the touchbar to your individual needs (i.e., custom shortcuts/buttons, making multiple finger taps/movements/force clicks perform functions you assign to it) - you might find this to be a nice productivity boost and a means to put the touchbar to usage that would not be possible with the factory settings alone.