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    rMBP13 vs. 15

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by shuey20, Mar 28, 2014.

  1. shuey20

    shuey20 Notebook Enthusiast

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    So I'm planning on possibly buying a MacBook Pro college this fall. I'll be studying electrical engineering. I'm considering the rMBP 13 with i7, 16gb ram, 256gb ssd. My other option is the base model rMBP 15 with quad core i7, 8gb ram, and 256gb ssd. Price really isn't a factor at this point and I don't plan on doing any heavy gaming.
     
    shuey20, Mar 28, 2014
    #1
  2. kornchild2002

    kornchild2002 Notebook Deity

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    I don't recommend going for the i7 in the 13" model, it's still dual-core and offers an advantage only if you're planning on doing something like video encoding where it will drop down to one core and overclock it. Even then, you'll be shaving off 5-10 minutes from encoding a 90 minute movie (in 1080p).

    Both will provide similar everyday performance, the 15" will pull ahead when multi-tasking (a lot) due to the quad-core CPU. The 15" also has a better IGP but both are still Intel integrated. Really, it all comes down to form factor and what you want to carry around. I think you would be better off putting the money into the 13" model, drop it down to a Core i5, and then put a 512GB SSD in it instead. The $300 to go up to the Core i7 just isn't worth it., stick with the baseline Core i5 (or go up to the model with the 2.6GHz Core i5 and 512GB SSD, it costs the same as the 256GB SSD model upgraded to the Core i7). You'll spend the same amount of money on the 512GB model with 16GB of RAM as you would the 256GB model with 16GB of RAM and the i7.
     
    kornchild2002, Mar 28, 2014
    #2
  3. S.SubZero

    S.SubZero Notebook Deity

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    I don't understand the title vs. the post.

    We can't know what is best for you. What you should do is wander over to an Apple store and play with the floor models. Decide which one best suits your needs.
     
    S.SubZero, Mar 31, 2014
    #3
    hfm likes this.
  4. Jarhead

    Jarhead 恋の♡アカサタナ

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    The dual-core i7 upgrade in the 13" is pretty much pointless; it's just a slightly overclocked i5 but at a much higher price proportional to the trivial performance increase.

    As for the other specs, college EE classes don't require much in the way of computer hardware, so a quad-core i7 and 16GB of RAM are pretty much overkill. Still nice to have a quad-core, but it's not really needed for you since you aren't doing anything intensive whatsoever.

    Anyway, OP already made a WNBSIB thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/what-notebook-should-i-buy/748677-engineering-laptop.html
     
    Jarhead, Apr 1, 2014
    #4
  5. kornchild2002

    kornchild2002 Notebook Deity

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    Well then, since they cross-posted and are ignoring this thread, I'm going to close it.
     
    kornchild2002, Apr 1, 2014
    #5