Which MBP 15" to buy that's best value for money?

[Whaletrain]

I decided to sell my Macbook Pro 13" Mid-2014 for, what I feel is, a somewhat good return (£600) and I'm in the market for a solid upgrade.

I'm looking really at the 15" range purely because A) the 13" models don't offer a quad core i7 configuration/dedicated GPU and B) I'm wanting a 15" laptop this time.

So, i've nailed this but what i've not nailed is the model to buy.

For me, GPU and CPU is important due to wanting to work with Photoshop, Illustrator and gaming on the move.

With the 15" range the 7700hq present in the base model would be far more than sufficient but the GPU is what I'm worried about.

I noticed you can buy the GPU upgrade for £90 which I'd do but then wouldn't I just be better to buy the top end MBP and not configure the machine? Regardless which model I go for, I think I'll be buying the GPU upgrade.

I suppose, would these machines suffice for PS/Illustrator is a bigger question?

 

[melendezest]

If money is no object, and you're tied to the Mac OS, and want a single machine, I recommend you buy the most maxed-out machine you can afford, given that you cannot upgrade or change your configuration AT ALL anymore.

Otherwise, buy/build a desktop PC for work and play, and a low-end Mac for personal, low-level use.

Razer machines are comparable to Apple (and almost as pricey) but have good graphics cards suitable for the type of work (and play) you're looking to do if portable only is the route you want to take (and can live Mac-free).

Happy hunting.

 

[nbsimmo]

If money is no object, and you're tied to the Mac OS, and want a single machine, I recommend you buy the most maxed-out machine you can afford, given that you cannot upgrade or change your configuration AT ALL anymore.

Otherwise, buy/build a desktop PC for work and play, and a low-end Mac for personal, low-level use.

Razer machines are comparable to Apple (and almost as pricey) but have good graphics cards suitable for the type of work (and play) you're looking to do if portable only is the route you want to take (and can live Mac-free).

Happy hunting.

It's not that I'm tied per-se to MacOS, I prefer it and the battery life is admirable - something no Windows laptop can give me.

I'd honestly go for an XPS 15 but the resale value of a MBp would be far better imo and more worthwhile - I feel it'd be more professional too when having meetings with clients etc (I'm a web developer).

Once I've taken off a 10% discount and some money I've got saved I'm looking at £845 for the base model with the 560 4GB upgrade and £1079 for the top end model with no upgrades - around £234 difference. Would you say it'd be worth the £234 difference or save the money for a nice case and sleeve?

I'm just more worried whether PS and Illustrator would run well with the configuration.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

I decided to sell my Macbook Pro 13" Mid-2014 for, what I feel is, a somewhat good return (£600) and I'm in the market for a solid upgrade.

I'm looking really at the 15" range purely because A) the 13" models don't offer a quad core i7 configuration/dedicated GPU and B) I'm wanting a 15" laptop this time.

So, i've nailed this but what i've not nailed is the model to buy.

For me, GPU and CPU is important due to wanting to work with Photoshop, Illustrator and gaming on the move.

With the 15" range the 7700hq present in the base model would be far more than sufficient but the GPU is what I'm worried about.

I noticed you can buy the GPU upgrade for £90 which I'd do but then wouldn't I just be better to buy the top end MBP and not configure the machine? Regardless which model I go for, I think I'll be buying the GPU upgrade.

I suppose, would these machines suffice for PS/Illustrator is a bigger question?

P/S and illustrator run fine on almost anything made in the last few years