Need help comparing MacBook specs

Domo

Domo

Domo

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Had my MacBook Pro Retina since 2012 and it's time to renew!

I want to downsize in terms of unit dimensions and weight. This 15" laptop has been a hinderance, I travel a lot for work and that single block of aluminium has taken it's toll! :)

Uses - must be able to happily run VMs. The VMs will be running server OS and SQL.

Thing is, how will the new MacBook compare to my current laptop? The new MacBook ticks all the boxes in terms of size, weight and display. But how will it run?

Current
15" 2012 Apple MacBook Pro Retina
Processor: CPU Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3720QM CPU @ 2.60GHz
Memory: 16 Gb DDR3 @ 1600 MHz
Disk: 256 Gb SSD

Option 1: 2018 Apple MacBook
Processor: 1.4GHz dual-core 7th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
Memory: 16 Gb LPDDR3 @ 1866 MHz
Disk: 512 Gb SSD

Option 2 is an MS Surface laptop (i7 + 16 Gb memory + 512 Gb disk). So not a lot in it but would prefer to stick with Apple).
 

arty

arty

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If you need heavy VMs (i.e. Windows), I would personally just run them somewhere in a cloud service (AWS, Azure etc.) and remote in. Far more cost-efficient, and better performance, plus it will allow you flexibility in terms of client (e.g. a Macbook).
 

Daaaavvveee

Daaaavvveee

Daaaavvveee

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arty said:
If you need heavy VMs (i.e. Windows), I would personally just run them somewhere in a cloud service (AWS, Azure etc.) and remote in. Far more cost-efficient, and better performance, plus it will allow you flexibility in terms of client (e.g. a Macbook).
Click to expand...

+1, I do this, but I use a microserver at home, then RDP from my MBP into them.
 

arty

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Daaaavvveee said:
+1, I do this, but I use a microserver at home, then RDP from my MBP into them.
Click to expand...

This is also an option (and probably a cheaper one), though when I was travelling I found the flexibility of the cloud providers was something I needed. In addition, depending on whether you're travelling far abroad, the connectivity to the big hosts tends to be rather better than to a UK home ISP. This was particularly significant when I was in Australia :)
 

b0rn2sk8

b0rn2sk8

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welshboy said:
Bare in mind wwdc is on Monday might be worth waiting see if they announce any refreshes or updates. There’s rumours they won’t and will
Click to expand...

This, seriously. The current 13" MBP is only a dual core, most windows equivalents (like the blade stealth) are 8th generation quad cores these days.

Check here:
https://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#Mac

Even if they don't get updated next week it will not be long until they do, almost every Mac is 'do not buy', they all have 7th generation CPU's in them and 8th has been out for awhile now.

The Macbook is a fine machine but it does have it's limits due to the low watt CPU that it uses.
 
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Domo

Domo

Domo

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Thanks for the advice everyone. I do already subscribe to AWS but as @arty pointed out (or at least I think pointed out), relying on remote servers can be hampered by poor or simply zero Internet connectivity. I spend a lot of time working in the middle east where even the better hotels suffer poor WiFi.

Great tip @welshboy - I will hold out for the WWDC.

Thanks for the link @b0rn2sk8 - not seen this before. Might well prevent buying something then realising it's about to be superseded. Not a great feeling when spending the best part of 2k.
 

arty

arty

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Domo said:
Thanks for the advice everyone. I do already subscribe to AWS but as @arty pointed out (or at least I think pointed out), relying on remote servers can be hampered by poor or simply zero Internet connectivity. I spend a lot of time working in the middle east where even the better hotels suffer poor WiFi.
Click to expand...

Actually, I was talking about the host end, not the client :p

When travelling I had very few issues with internet connectivity to AWS / Linode / Azure (the main three I was using for various projects). This included roaming on 3G etc. - the only problem I had occasionally was one of high latency. Admittedly, my work was with Linux where I could just use Mosh, whereas if you're relying on RDP you probably won't have too much fun. Linux is far better than Windows for this way of working, I think, due to being terminal-based instead of (largely) graphical.

Having said all that, I mainly travelled in Europe and Oz, and only really ever passed through the Middle East on the way to other places.
 

Deleted member 138126

D

Deleted member 138126

I have exactly your option 1 configuration, and I'm extremely happy with it. When I first got it I played around quite a bit with the various virtualisation apps and also boot camp, and in all cases I felt Windows was running just as fast as the MacBook itself (i.e. plenty fast for my casual use). After all that playing, I wiped it, and just have macOS on it, haven't needed or wanted Windows, so I could've gone for the 8GB / 256GB option. It's a properly nice laptop in every respect. The only two complaints I have (which are both theoretical), 1) I wish it had another port (I haven't actually needed any ports, but it would be nice to have it), and 2) I'm super paranoid about the keyboard failing, which costs basically a ridiculous amount of money to fix.
 

MacRS4

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I have the current gen i7 Macbook, 16Gb RAM, 512Gb SSD. It'll just about handle Windows 10 in a VM but I wouldn't put server stuff on it, it'd be too frustrating to use tbh.
 
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