Frankly, I wouldn't even know how to start tackling this... I suggest we should just sweep this under the rug and test the system as a whole
This was the idea, yes. But again, the entire setup was designed to closely match the kind work that I am doing. Other workflows will react very differently. For instance, I do not have any intuition about burst workflows. Skylake, with its more ALUs and more responsive turbo boost should have an upper edge here, but it would be interesting to look at it at detail. How does one test this though? I have no idea, I am certainly not an expert in this area.
I would certainly expect the 2016 model to perform better here, because of a much more efficient GPU. But again, this is a very complex domain. How many applications are there that will truly push the boundaries of the CPU and the GPU at the same time? The software that is most likely to do that are probably still games, because they usually consists of fairly well defined, semi-autonomous modules that engage at the same time (e.g. AI, resource loading, rendering, model logic). You can for instance send off your rendering commands to the GPU and deal with update logic and AI on the CPU while the GPU is busy drawing. In contrast, if I understand correctly, for professional applications, managing the available resources efficiently can be a major pain. The logistic effort involved in transferring the data here and forth and changing states is enormous. This could be one reason why for instance Photoshop and friends scale so badly with GPU performance...
Of course, it shouldn't be too difficult to write up a small torture app that loads the GPU with some angry kernels to crunch while also trying to fully load all the ALUs of the CPU with AVX-2 instructions. I am sure that this will easily overheat the laptop. But what purpose would such a test serve except testing the limits of the machine? Its certainly neither a realistic nor a useful usage scenario.
Normally that benchmark doesn't use the dedicated gpu (cpu rendering test) allthough the macbook pro tested has one. You can easily run the cinebench r15 yourself a few consecutive runs however, if you want to check this. It would be interesting to see your results and temps.
Can you tell me more about your experiences? I'm looking to buy a MBP and my main interest is in using it for Reason, Omnisphere and Keyscape and a Casio Privia PX-5S as a controller. I had been looking at the 2015 models but if the experience would be even better with a 2014 perhaps that's even better given I can get one even cheaper.
Sure! I use RME (Babyface and UFX) sound cards because they are known for low latency and stability. I use Live 9, Omnisphere and Komplete Kontrol running Komplete 11 and use a KK S61 keyboard. My 2011 was running this setup flawlessly but the fan was getting worked and the noise was unacceptable and I am setting this up for live performance so I need stability. I got a new 2015, top of the line with 1tb SSD. It failed the task. Pops and dropouts at 64 samples. At 128 it could handle the load. I thought maybe Sierra was the problem. I have a 2015 maxed-out iMac which also runs this setup wonderfully using El Capitan. The 2011 MBP was running Yosemite. So I tried installing Yosemite on the 2015 MBP, but it didn't help. I got a brand new maxed-out 2.8 2014 on eBay for $2100. It came with Yosemite but no matter how hard I fought Apple REFUSED to grant me the latest update and FORCED me to take Sierra. SO I installed it and voila! Works like a charm.
I'm in a comparable situation using the mbp live in low latency settings in live situations. I bought the 2016 maxed out mbp to serve this, but with the minimal 450 dgpu to avois possible heat/throttle problems. To me the 2014 would have been satisfieng and certainly more friendly on the wallet, but I just couldn't accept the fan noise when using it in quiet settings.
I'm not sure your question is directed at me, but the benchmark i was running is the one you find here : https://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=191549
So would you recommend the 2016 model? would a model with the Radeon 455 or 460 cause heating problems? I had been looking at a 512gb or 1tb configuration with a 455 or 460.
The 2016 is the best performing option. I deliberately chose the 450. For daw use the 450 is of course more then sufficient, and the 460 will most probably heat up morr in certain situations. I'm not sure if this actually makes a difference in daw use however. To my knowing the heat profiles of the different dgpu options haven't really been tested. Or i didn't see this pass here on macrumors.
