Buying my first macbook. Seeking advice.
I'm looking at buying my first macbook computer. I'm looking at two different macbook pros. I'm looking for a system that would be able to handle photo editing programs such as Photoshop without any issues. I do a lot of photo editing, video editing, and recording and some but not a lot of gaming. I'm deciding between these two models:
2.5 GHz Intel Core i7 (Crystalwell)
16GB of Onboard 1600 MHz DDR3L RAM
512GB PCIe-Based Flash Storage
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M Graphics (2GB)
Iris pro
15.4" LED-Backlit IPS Retina Display
$2249
2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 (Crystalwell)
16GB of Onboard 1600 MHz DDR3L RAM
256GB PCIe-Based Flash Storage
Integrated Intel Iris Pro Graphics
15.4" LED-Backlit IPS Retina Display
$1799
Is it worth the $450 increase on price for the activities I do? I'm fairly new to Mac so any advice is greatly appreciated. Also I plan on keeping this for multiple years.
2.5 GHz Intel Core i7 (Crystalwell)
16GB of Onboard 1600 MHz DDR3L RAM
512GB PCIe-Based Flash Storage
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M Graphics (2GB)
Iris pro
15.4" LED-Backlit IPS Retina Display
$2249
2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 (Crystalwell)
16GB of Onboard 1600 MHz DDR3L RAM
256GB PCIe-Based Flash Storage
Integrated Intel Iris Pro Graphics
15.4" LED-Backlit IPS Retina Display
$1799
Is it worth the $450 increase on price for the activities I do? I'm fairly new to Mac so any advice is greatly appreciated. Also I plan on keeping this for multiple years.
Comments
No, the Iris Pro performs very closely to the 750M anyway and is better for OpenCL:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Iris-Pro-Graphics-5200.90965.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-750M.90245.0.html
The main benefit you get with the dedicated GPU is 2GB of dedicated video memory vs 1GB of shared memory (it uses up to 1GB of the 16GB RAM) but 16GB is a decent amount of RAM and memory compression helps out. Integrated graphics have a much better history of reliability over the long-term.
I reckon there will be a worthwhile update in August. If you can't wait for that, the Iris Pro one would be ok.
Apple went with Broadwell for some early 2015 Mac updates but because Intel is launching the next version Skylake in late 2015 (likely August at IDF), it looks like some models might skip over Broadwell and move straight to Skylake. This would result in nearly doubling performance since last year as it's two versions in one go. Not only this, Skylake is intended to have wireless charging and data capability as well as PCIe 3 and DDR 4 memory, it may also come with USB C (the new USB standard). Plus if they go with Intel's new 3D NAND, this could result in a price drop - if the NAND price is half then they can probably cut $100 off the MBP. This SSD would also be NVMe and could run at 2GB/s. You'd also get the new Force Touch trackpad, which the current 15" doesn't have.
If they go with Broadwell, the update would be sooner (June/July).