Which MBP for my needs?

[benjo09]

So I want to buy my first MBP as I use them at work all the time and am studying content design at the moment so could do with one for that.

My main uses will be for graphics programs such as After Effects, Photoshop, Motion and FCPX with most of my work being rerendering content and creating my own content. I will also use parallels for some Windows programs.

My question is that I don't really know what hardware I need for this and so making a choice is hard. My 3 options are

1 - Late 2013 13" rMBP, 2.6GHz i5, Iris Graphics, 256 Gb Flaash Storage, 16Gb Memory

2 - Late 2013 15" rMBP, 2.0 GHz i7, Iris Pro Graphics, 256 Gb Flash Storage, 8Gb Memory

3 - Early 2013 15" rMBP, 2.4 GHz i7, 1Gb 650M dGPU, 256 Gb Flash Storage, 8Gb Memory

All are a similar price with my student discount but the Early 2013 is refurb.

Any thoughts? Thanks

 

[john123]

#3 offers you, far and away, the best bang for your buck. The only concern is RAM, depending on how intense all that work you do is. If you need 16GB, there's a refurb model that sells for $1829 (the mid-2012 one with a 2.6Ghz processor). It's out of stock right now, but you can sign up for inventory warnings at refurb.me and be notified when it's back in.

I would certainly, certainly choose one of the refurbs with the dGPU, given what you do, over one of the late 2013 models.

 

[offthehook]

#3 offers you, far and away, the best bang for your buck. The only concern is RAM, depending on how intense all that work you do is. If you need 16GB, there's a refurb model that sells for $1829 (the mid-2012 one with a 2.6Ghz processor). It's out of stock right now, but you can sign up for inventory warnings at refurb.me and be notified when it's back in.

I would certainly, certainly choose one of the refurbs with the dGPU, given what you do, over one of the late 2013 models.

I have to agree with John on this! #3 is the one I would go for

 

[KeegM480]

As the others say #3 you will be so happy going with a 15" over a 13" and if you want it to last you, get the better processor!