Which MacBook Pro should I buy?

asdfguy · 11 Mar 2017 at 11:34

I found a BNIB MacBook Pro 15" 2015 for £1400, but the new 2016 MacBook Pro 13" with TouchBar is selling for £1500.

Which one should I buy? Is the last year 15" MacBook Pro significantly better?

MacRS4 · 11 Mar 2017 at 13:24

I have that 2015 rMBP, and also the 2016 *non* touchbar 13" as my travel buddy. The 13" is a very nice bit of kit. With a bit more power behind it, and if I didn't need the screen estate, I'd get the 13" tbh.

The 15" unit is heavier, but it's more capable than the 13". The 13" only comes with 8Gb RAM doesn't it? The 15 will have 16Gb.

I guess it really comes down to what you'll be using it for. If you want to run multiple VMs for example the 15" would be the way to go.

dowie · 15 Mar 2017 at 02:59

I've got a 2016 13 touchbar with 16GB of RAM am very happy with it, obviously there is just the onboard iris graphics but I'm not going to use it for gaming. If I need more resources then I can connect to amazon aws.

Antx777 · 24 Mar 2017 at 16:45

Hi,

Been Looking at the rMBP 13 with touch bar ( but would like to know if this is in fact, "13.3 inch " display? (£1629 from various shops)

Will the Iris gfx (550) be good to run fairly intense video software? (Not games!) Looking at 3D mark 11 it's about 2,881 (performance). So seems pretty fast, not sure about cpu etc. Maybe there's a good balance?

Tony.

Spooter · 24 Mar 2017 at 17:26

I find the MacBook Retina 12" a very capable device. Still a good size for working on and lugging around.

MacRS4 · 24 Mar 2017 at 17:39

Geekbanch comparisons here between the M5 2016 Macbook, base model Macbook Pro 13(Non-TB), 2015 rMBP Quad Core i7, and a late 2015 i5 Skylake iMac.

Antx777 · 24 Mar 2017 at 17:52

Thanks both. Also found this https://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks

Can be confusing comparing like-for-like models with different cpus and early/late/mid 2012/14/15/16!

McBain · 24 Mar 2017 at 21:00

Get a 2016 non touch rMBP, Apple are doing 13" refurbs for £1179.

GMac11 · 10 Apr 2017 at 19:41

McBain said:
Get a 2016 non touch rMBP, Apple are doing 13" refurbs for £1179.

I just noticed this myself and then came here for some reassurance

I currently have a mid 2014 MBPr 13 and just not sure if a jump to the 2016 is worth the £1179. Obviously I'd recoup a fair chunk by selling my 2014.

Just don't know if I'm upgrading at all.

MrRockliffe · 10 Apr 2017 at 19:59

15 inch. It has a much more powerful processor and will last a lot longer because of it. The dual core on my 13 inch is now struggling (haswell). Definitely worth going for a more powerful processor.

GMac11 · 10 Apr 2017 at 23:41

A 15 would be heaven but even at refurb prices it's still far too expensive for me.

I have a desktop i7 PC with all the belles and whistles so I don't really need a powerhouse laptop anyway.

I like the MacBook for the build quality and great screen, used mostly for web browsing and light photo editing.

Antx777 · 25 Apr 2017 at 18:34

Well, for the time being, I'm buying (coming tomorrow) a "brydgeair" keyboard for my iPad Air 2, and kind of makes it in to a "MacBook mini" in many ways. Not cheap though at £129.00 (but has backlight display and pretty much everything a mac keyboard has), I was going to go for the rMBP 13.3 at £1349-£1449 depending on deals. So I may go for a 15 incher later on, and use the air 2 and brydgeair keyboard as like a go-between.

Is the AMD 460 ok for medium gaming? (MacBook 15 pro touch bar with 4 GB GFX upgrade)

Tony