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Dakkon · Oct 28, 2012, 12:17 PM

I currently have a circa 2007 15" Mac book pro with a 2.2ghz Core 2 Duo, with 6gigs of ram... I am currently thinking about getting a 13" MBP, not sure about a Retina, or non-retina.. As the non-retina seems to have almost identical components, with the exception of an outboard video card, and obviously the display...

So, my question is... Will i notice a significant performance increase by upgrading to the current batch of 13" MBP's? I know the current 15" has the quad core I7's, but i would like the smaller form factor of the 13" machine. From the research i have been able to do, the dual core i7 is not significantly faster than the Core 2 Duo, in the ball park of 30% faster or so... Do you guy think this is an accurate estimate of the performance difference between the two machines?

Thanks.

SierraDragon · Oct 28, 2012, 02:45 PM

Originally Posted by Dakkon

Do you guy think this is an accurate estimate of the performance difference between the two machines?

No. In the real world the i-series are much more than that.

Plus the newer MBP with SSD is overwhelmingly superior. 2012 an SSD is mandatory.

I am not just theorizing: I have both a 2.33 GHz 17" C2D MBP and a 17" Sandy Bridge MBP on my desk.

Of course as always it all depends on what one does with the box. For just web surfing and Office the slowest box made works.

If your app demands are not heavy replacing the lame 2.5" laptop boot HDD with an SSD would be a huge and very obvious performance improvement. Every app as well as the OS benefits from an SSD.

-Allen

Dakkon · Oct 28, 2012, 02:50 PM

Wow, missed the S on that one....

thanks for the reply.. Looking at benchmarks online, and random spec comparisons can be a bit over whelming... When what really matters is real world user experience.

Thanks Allen.

SierraDragon · Oct 28, 2012, 03:07 PM

Geekbench scores from Primate Labs are also interesting:

http://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks

and of course barefeats:

http://barefeats.com/

Personally with that box and RAM if money was at all tight I would just put in a SSD and be amazed.

-Allen

Spheric Harlot · Oct 28, 2012, 03:41 PM

What Sierra said.

The difference between the i7 dual core and a five-year-old C2D will be more like factor 2 or more.

Note that no 13" MacBook/Pro/Air has wvr shipped with discrete graphics (if I interpret your one side remark correctly).

Dakkon · Oct 28, 2012, 05:30 PM

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot

What Sierra said.
The difference between the i7 dual core and a five-year-old C2D will be more like factor 2 or more.
Note that no 13" MacBook/Pro/Air has wvr shipped with discrete graphics (if I interpret your one side remark correctly).

I thought that the 13" Retina had discrete graphic's and that the regular 13" pro did not have discrete graphic's?

I thought i heard that in the keynote, or read it on macroumors...

according to
http://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks
The i7 13" macbook pro is about 3 times faster than the current machine that i have.....

Also, my machine is model that the bezel develops a hair line crack which could result in breaking the LCD...
before

And, after my fix.. It isn't pretty, but it has fixed the problem.. A little JB weld and some 16 gauge stainless steel...

Money is not a huge concern.. I am thinking about waiting until after the new year.

Spheric Harlot · Oct 28, 2012, 11:56 PM

No discrete graphics on the 13".

The Apple tech specs page isn't hard to find.

P · Oct 29, 2012, 02:49 AM

Originally Posted by Dakkon

From the research i have been able to do, the dual core i7 is not significantly faster than the Core 2 Duo, in the ball park of 30% faster or so...

This is likely Intel's marketting tripping you up. The first i7/i5/i3 were a very minor upgrade, but anything from Sandy Bridge (i7-2000 series) and newer is a big step up.

Also, the main performance increase is if you get an SSD instead of a slow HDD.

batmantis00 · Nov 6, 2012, 10:02 AM

If you feel your current machine mostly meets you needs but just needs a touch more speed, I would recommend adding an SSD. When you do finally bite the bullet, you can always pull the SSD out of the old machine and put it in a Thunderbolt enclosure to have the luxury of a very fast external drive.

I'm currently deliberating on the 13" Retina model. It caps out at 8GB or RAM. I haven't owned a machine in 4 years with less than 12GB of RAM, and even that is occasionally a bottleneck. I normally can get about 6-7 years of useful life out of a high-end Mac purchase, but I'm worried than in 2-3 years, 8GB is just not going to be enough.

Dakkon · Nov 12, 2012, 11:53 AM

Today, i went to the local Apple store and decided that i would get a 13" mbp non-Retina. The primary factor for this decision was the ability to upgrade to 16gig's of ram in the future. The cost wasn't the primary factor. Also, from what i could tell at the Apple store the Retina display was a bit nicer, but having the ability to expand in the future makes the non-Retina machine a more practical machine for me, especially since 16gig isn't an option right now...

I ordered a 13" 2.9ghz,128gig SSD mbp, and will add more ram later. The personel at the store said that they do not stock machines with SSD's, they said that SSD's are a "special order" item.