Should I buy the 13 or 15" MacBook Pro w/touch bar?

[Frank Dumont]

I'm ready to buy my MacBook Pro with the touch bar but I'm still confused between the 13 or 15 ? I know the 13 is better for portability. My question is more, does the 2.9ghz i5 dual core, 8GB of ram with 512GB is good or not enough powerful than the 2.6ghz i7 quad cores with 16gb of ram but only 256gb ?

 

[anon(9602380)]

Re: MacBook Pro touch bar 13 or 15 ?

That will really depend on what you plan on using it for. For most users the i5 will be more than enough computing power. I would only get an i7 if I was planning on doing serious editing. By that I mean photography or video editing of large file sizes. If your using it for browsing, email and maybe a couple other programs then the i5 will be perfect.

 

[TripleOne]

Re: MacBook Pro touch bar 13 or 15 ?

I always prefer the 15" with better specs

 

[amzi160586]

Re: MacBook Pro touch bar 13 or 15 ?

15" all the way

 

[Just_Me_D]

Re: Should I buy the 13 or 15" MacBook Pro w/touch bar?

I'm ready to buy my MacBook Pro with the touch bar but I'm still confused between the 13 or 15 ? I know the 13 is better for portability. My question is more, does the 2.9ghz i5 dual core, 8GB of ram with 512GB is good or not enough powerful than the 2.6ghz i7 quad cores with 16gb of ram but only 256gb ?

I'm debating whether to buy a new MacBook myself, however, the touch bar is not a concern. I know I'd get the 13-inch model because I consider it to be the perfect size for me. Anyway, the amount of RAM is my primary concern. 8 GBs, although sufficient for now, may not be enough in a year or two. I've never been one to store many photos, videos and music on my MacBook so storage capacity is a nonissue. My old MacBook has 128 GBs of storage and I never filled it up. Then again, I have external storage devices and I take advantage of cloud services. Now in regard to your questions, I think the 13" model is more portable than the 15" model, but I don't consider the 15" model a suitcase either......the i5 with 8 GBs RAM is sufficient, but I recommend getting as much RAM as you can afford. The i7 is overkill, in my opinion, unless you're into serious editing with photos, videos and music or some form of intense graphic designing.

 

[Matty]

Re: Should I buy the 13 or 15" MacBook Pro w/touch bar?

I'm ready to buy my MacBook Pro with the touch bar but I'm still confused between the 13 or 15 ? I know the 13 is better for portability. My question is more, does the 2.9ghz i5 dual core, 8GB of ram with 512GB is good or not enough powerful than the 2.6ghz i7 quad cores with 16gb of ram but only 256gb ?

As @firedept10 said, it really depends o what you need your laptop to do. If you just want Web browsing, using Microsoft Word and excel, Maybe playing some light games like "Angry Birds" or "Plants vs Zombies" then it will be more than powerful enough to meet your needs. The 13" is so great for portability. Almost no bezels and the screen looks so good!

If you doing 1080p or 1440p video editing then the 15" inch would be a better option but the 13" inch is still capable. May just take a little longer. Hope this helps

 

[Ziich47]

Re: Should I buy the 13 or 15" MacBook Pro w/touch bar?

if you are going with the 13 inch then do not bother with the dual core i7. The difference in performance is not worth the additional cost.
Once again it all depends on what you plan to do with the computer. For most people the 13 inch is more than capable of handling most tasks.
For me I can only justify the additional cost of the 15 inch if your are into video editing or CAD or other programs along those lines.
In terms of storage vs ram, I would always go with more ram if I had to choose between the two. Especially with thunderbolt 3 there are several fast external drive options available to augment your total storage whereas there is no way to increase the amount of ram you have since everything is soldered on.

 

[JT2050]

Re: Should I buy the 13 or 15" MacBook Pro w/touch bar?

I've never regretted going with a larger screen. More screen real estate is always better. Go for the 15" and you'll never look back. Good luck with your purchase.

 

[CallMeChknNugz]

Re: Should I buy the 13 or 15" MacBook Pro w/touch bar?

13" will probably be better. Both of those computers can handle almost anything you throw at them. Unless you're doing intense gaming and streaming it live, I doubt you'll have a probably. 13" is more portable anyway.

 

[COMMISSIONERHBK9]

Re: Should I buy the 13 or 15" MacBook Pro w/touch bar?

I just got the 13 inch MacBook Pro. I thought about the 15 inch but I am happy with my decision that I made.

 

[msm0511]

Re: Should I buy the 13 or 15" MacBook Pro w/touch bar?

I had the late 2011 15 inch MBP and it was so big and heavy that I opted for the 13 inch for the smallest footprint. The 13 is a great laptop, but I do miss the screen real estate of my 15. If I could buy all over again, I'd probably get the 15, but I'm not unhappy at all with the 13.

 

[tylerdmoore]

Re: Should I buy the 13 or 15" MacBook Pro w/touch bar?

if you are going with the 13 inch then do not bother with the dual core i7. The difference in performance is not worth the additional cost.
Once again it all depends on what you plan to do with the computer. For most people the 13 inch is more than capable of handling most tasks.
For me I can only justify the additional cost of the 15 inch if your are into video editing or CAD or other programs along those lines.
In terms of storage vs ram, I would always go with more ram if I had to choose between the two. Especially with thunderbolt 3 there are several fast external drive options available to augment your total storage whereas there is no way to increase the amount of ram you have since everything is soldered on.

Hi, I see you are knowledgable. If I am looking between the 13 and 15 for music production (singer-songwriter with some digital instruments) and light photo and video editing, what would you suggest (oh, and I love to be able to travel with it)? Most powerful 13 inch or 15 incher?
Thank you (and anyone could answer)!!

 

[Lee_Bo]

Re: Should I buy the 13 or 15" MacBook Pro w/touch bar?

All the above are great points.

It comes down to two things: (1) What are you going to use it for, and (2) What can you afford?

I personally have the 2016 15" MBP, touch bar (highly overrated, don't use it much) i7, 16 gigs ram, 500gig ssd. Why a powerhouse? Two reasons. First, as a network admin and having to support Winders, I'm running Parallels for virtual machines. Second, as a photographer, I'm also running Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Since it was last years model, I got it for around $2200.

Also look at this this way. What might you be using it for a year from now? That may also help in your decision.