Worth it to upgrade performance wise? Late 2013 15" to 16"

[Benk3350]

Hi,

I have a late 2013 15" MacBook Pro with the following specs:

2.6 GHz Intel i7 quad core
16 GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce GT 750M 2048 MB
1TB Flash SSD

I use this mostly for entertainment and video editing.

I'm considering upgrading to the new 16" MacBook Pro but not sure how drastic the performance change will be. If I got the base model, I'd be going from an i7 to another i7 (although with 2 more cores) and keeping the same amount of RAM. I'm sure the i7 is better than the one I have now, but how much of a difference will I see? I don't know a ton about computer hardware so maybe I'm missing something here.

I know the graphics card will probably be a huge change, but the storage, RAM, and processor for the base model 16" seem the same as my nearly 7 year old MacBook Pro.

My main concern is video editing. My current MacBook Pro has done great and still going fairly strong but could be a little faster with editing 4k footage and exporting. Will I see a huge difference or small difference if I upgraded?

I just don't want to drop 2-3k for a new computer where the improvement is minimal. I'm sure I will enjoy the new speakers and screen and just having a newer computer, the fixed keyboard isn't really a huge plus because my current machine has a great keyboard. But performance wise will I notice much?

Thanks

 

[Howard2k]

Which video formats are you using?

 

[Benk3350]

Which video formats are you using?

Depends on the job, but I edit in both premiere and final cut and use formats from h264 to prores/raw

 

[Benk3350]

bump

 

[MassMacMan]

I do 4K video editing. I used to use a tricked out MacPro (shown below in my sig) for editing and rendering, but my base i9 MBP renders test 4K videos (Premiere, doing color grading and focus sharpening) in about one third the time of my MacPro.

Don't worry about getting the fastest 16", because even the base models will be much, much faster than your 2013 model.

 

[bosozoku]

in short, yes in any way

 

[VFX Artist]

Good Question!

I recently upgraded from Macbook pro Mid 2012 (Quad i7-2.3 GHz, 8GB RAM)to the Macbook Pro 16" (8 Core i9-2.3 GHz, 64GB RAM)

A bit of background:
I am a Visual effects artist for Films and mostly work in 4K(or native camera resolution).
We use Linux based Xeon(12 and 20 core) workstations with 64GB and 128GB RAM for work and have High usage i.e. atleast 80% RAM for 6 hours everyday and CPU intensive interaction every few minutes(if not every minute) leaving aside lunch/coffee breaks
I am also keeping an eye on system monitor just to not exceed system limits while constantly being on the edge(developing some intuition over time. Its like driving a car and knowing how it will steer, brake, accelerate etc.)


The Macbook Pro 16" is my personal computer used for running short tests/explorations with 3D and Visual effects software but also Safari web browsing 100+tabs(I know with chrome you would need another Xeon workstation but thats another story for another day), youtube, music, editing photos etc. with 2 external monitors attached.

I have to say that outside of specialized professional software both machines are similar for everyday tasks and I often switch between them. I even edit 1080P videos of 4-5 minutes on the 2012 machine with h264 exports. That said the new MBP 16" is nice to use with Lightroom or 3D rendering but it can be pushed to its limits too. I would say its about 2.5 to 3 times faster in some tasks but almost the same in others. Noisier fans with anything mildly intense, lack of ports(this was factored in the purchase and dongles were ordered at the same time but still)



All said Its a great computer that you'll likely be very happy with but if your current machine satisfies your needs you could make use of that for a bit longer. When you eventually do upgrade there will be a more significant difference.

Outside of the Fanboys/girls and youtubers in the subscription business. Most people do not need these very powerful machines for everyday tasks all the time, they are nice to have though. Hypothetically If you somehow changed the internals of my computer from 8 core i9 to an almost 8 year old quad core i7 I would be totally cool with it for basic computer usage(which is my personal computer usage a lot of times)
However I would know something is not right in the first few clicks with any resource intensive professional software but it would still be usable and I would work with it(its something we have to do even with well configured desktop class workstations)

Thats my perspective, Thanks for reading.

 

[Fishrrman]

After six years, it should be "a nice jump upwards".
Don't expect miracles, however.