Long lasting bootcamp?
Greetings!
Pretty confused to choose between 2015 vs 2016 15” versions of MacbookPros. I do lot of multimedia stuffs with Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects… With my experience of switching back and forth between Mac and PC I feel OS X is much better for my workflow. At least I don’t have to deal with annoying forced updates in Windows 10 and frequent crashes. But as a student I have to use Windows often for running several simulation and education softwares.
The latest gen. MacbookPros does have a bit smaller battery but lasts on par or in some cases better than the previous generation (2015). I believe it has to do more (maybe equally) with software optimization than with efficiency of the hardwares.
Since the same performance-power optimization doesn’t apply to windows, Can you guys recommend which generation (2015 or 2016) of MacBookPro will be apt for (relatively) long lasting workflow in Windows 10(bootcamp) keeping in mind the battery sizes of both generations? Will the larger be better for Windows?
PS: I’m not big fan of Parallels, firstly I would like the OS to use the full hardware resource available instead of restricting it virtually. Secondly, upgrades aren’t free.
Have a good day! Thanks
Comments
One advantage with the newer model is being able to get external batteries more easily. There's a few listed here:
http://www.macworld.com/article/3028132/consumer-electronics/best-usb-c-battery-pack-review.html
Those would hold about 75% extra charge but there are reviews saying they don't charge quickly and have problems with the 15" MBP. Devices like the 12" MB and 13" MBP use a lot less power and work better with those.
I'd expect Windows 10 at best would get 6.5 hours under the same circumstances on the 2015 model as the newer model at 4.7 hours.
If you started using the 2016 model at 9am, it might start running low around 2pm on a moderate workload. The 2015 would make it to about 3:30pm under the same workload. You'd likely have to charge both to get through the day. You'd get about an extra 2 hours for a 30 minute charge so the 2015 model might make it through the day with a 30 minute charge whereas the 2016 model would need an hour charge.
If the workload isn't heavy the whole day, they'd both be ok, you can't really tell until you use it in your own workload.
Virtualization software isn't good for battery life. It has a lot more overhead than running the native OS so native Bootcamp would be better for running on battery but it's useful to have virtualization software to access Windows quickly and to copy files from Mac to Windows. Bootcamp can't access encrypted Mac partitions so the Mac side is inaccessible when booted in Windows. VMWare Fusion is pretty reliable for this.
If battery life is going to be important, it makes sense to go for the 2015 model as it has a significantly larger battery. Unless the 2015 model was a lot cheaper, I'd personally go for the 2016 model and put up with charging it a bit more but either option is fine. You can always return the 2016 model if you found the battery life to be too low.
Given that the SSD is faster on the 2016 Is go with that over the 2015. Plus the battery is nice if you do any sort of activity where you might be away from power but want to be able to recharge your phone. I got the rugged zero lemon (a bit heavier than the ankle) and put it in a waterproof baggie for a camping trip. My phone lasted all 4 days as a nightlight, alarm, music player, camera, kindle and the occasional game. GPS took a while to lock so didn't use it much for that so it mostly stayed in airplane mode.