Which rMBP 13" to buy?

[doubleaa]

I'm using a Mid 2007 15" MBP that's been great to me but I am ready to replace it. Just made a trip to the Apple store and the I prefer the 13" over the 15" so the first decision is out of the way. It just feels more comfortable due to the smaller size. My wife is a teacher so we get educational pricing, which is an added bonus.

I'm a Network/VoIP Engineer so I am pretty savvy when it comes to computers. Also means I want the fastest when typically I don't need it. Most of my use is Internet, Terminal for Telnet/SSH, Using RDP to Servers, etc. Rarely am I doing anything with audio or video besides managing my iTunes library.

Maxing out the RAM to 16 GB is automatic. I spin up Linux and Windows VMs for testing on occasion and since the RAM can't be upgraded, full spec is the way to go.

My decisions are processor and storage. I plan to use this computer for at least 4-5 years so leaning towards 2.8 i7 and 512 on the drive...I but would love to save $ if the benefit isn't really there. My previous employer bought my current MBP so spending money on computers is foreign to me.

How much real world difference is there with the extra 1 MB cache/.2 Ghz on the i7 vs. the 2.6 i5? With storage I can no doubt get by with 256 GB but want the 512 GB. I'm using about 200 GB today on my current MBP and I know there are old files that can cleaned up and removed. My concern is how is PCIe flash storage effected once it's 80% plus utilized? With traditional hard drives speed starts to be effected once they fill up. Want to avoid that if the same applies to these new flash drives.

Which would you buy if you were me? Option 1, Option 2, or Option 3?

 

[mok749]

I had to make a very similar decision. I went with your option 2. Geekbench show about a 4-5% speed boost for i7.

That's for a CPU intensive benchmark, so it probably won't have a big impact on actual performance. Based on the non-retina macbook pro and the macbook air, the higher performance i7 may use more battery for the same tasks. Not clear how much, but I'm guessing 5-10% less battery for heavy workloads.

For me, the battery loss worse than the slight performance boost.

 

[doubleaa]

Thanks for your reply. Made my decision easy.

13" rMBP 2.6 Ghz i5 / 16 GB / 512 GB on order. My first new computer in six years so looking forward to it. My mid 2007 has 4 GB RAM and 500 GB HDD and is in excellent condition. I should be able to sell it $200-$300.

Now I just need Apple to refresh the Thunderbolt Display.

 

[jeffsaha]

I am also in the same field and had the same dilemma. In the end, I went with your first option as 'i7' may turn more heads when trying to sell it later on down the line, and I figured the extra bit of speed may be somewhat beneficial. The hit to battery doesn't affect me much since I do not travel much for work and am normally plugged in. Also, I was initially going for the 15" w/ dGPU so this made moving down in specs a bit more palatable