2017 13" $1,999 vs 2015 15" $1,999

[Flashmasterson]

Hey everyone

I'm not sure which of these two to buy. Like with any machine, it depends on what we'll be doing with it. I'll be doing mainly music production (Logic Pro, Ableton Live) while running external hardware through the USB ports (I'm willing to buy an adapter if necessary ) like a preamp with attached microphone and guitar through one port as well as a MIDI keyboard through another, all simultaneously.

I also might need to have an external harddrive plugged in because the SSD space may be too small

 

[Queen6]

No brainer 2015, more CPU cores, more RAM.

Q-6

 

[kadify]

Do you need more storage than 256 gb? Personally, I just upgraded from a 2011 to a 2017 and I really like the 2017 BUT the 2015 does have a 'better' CPU and more RAM than the 2017 you're looking at, which should mean it will last longer.

Maybe check out the refurbished apple site, there's a 2017 15" with 16gb ram/256gb ssd/2.8ghz 4 core cpu for only $2039. If 256gb is enough for you, an extra $40 may be worth it to get the bigger more powerful newer version.
https://www.apple.com/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_pro/15

 

[Flashmasterson]

Do you need more storage than 256 gb? Personally, I just upgraded from a 2011 to a 2017 and I really like the 2017 BUT the 2015 does have a 'better' CPU and more RAM than the 2017 you're looking at, which should mean it will last longer.

Maybe check out the refurbished apple site, there's a 2017 15" with 16gb ram/256gb ssd/2.8ghz 4 core cpu for only $2039. If 256gb is enough for you, an extra $40 may be worth it to get the bigger more powerful newer version.
https://www.apple.com/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_pro/15

I'll definitely consider that option. But isn't it a risk getting a refurbished one? I don't know much about that path.

 

[Glmnet1]

I'll definitely consider that option. But isn't it a risk getting a refurbished one? I don't know much about that path.

Refurbished from Apple is just as good as new. Some even argue that it's better because the product passed QC twice instead of just once. You get the same guarantee and can buy AppleCare+ if you want.

 

[kadify]

I'll definitely consider that option. But isn't it a risk getting a refurbished one? I don't know much about that path.

I wouldn't think so. The computers are gone over to make sure everything works so if there was something wrong with it, it would have been replaced. Comes with the same warranty. I bought mine refurbished anyway. Only had it a few days but so far no issues haha.

 

[jerryk]

I'll definitely consider that option. But isn't it a risk getting a refurbished one? I don't know much about that path.

Not at all. Apple give you same new warranty and Apple Care options as a brand new system. They typically look just like the new ones except the box is plain white.

 

[Flashmasterson]

Not at all. Apple give you same new warranty and Apple Care options as a brand new system. They typically look just like the new ones except the box is plain white.

Cool. I'll check it out more.

About specs in relation to my music production purposes though: how will the i5/i7 & dual/quad core aspect affect that? I'm thinking about possible overheating, crashes, kernel panics, system overload etc. Due to the activity originally mentioned.

 

[kadify]

Cool. I'll check it out more.

About specs in relation to my music production purposes though: how will the i5/i7 & dual/quad core aspect affect that? I'm thinking about possible overheating, crashes, kernel panics, system overload etc. Due to the activity originally mentioned.

I wouldn't know what the demands of your music production are, but put simply, a quad core just means your computer can do more things at once vs a dual core. It has twice as many cores so therefore it can, in a perfect system, do twice as many things in the same amount of time. i5 vs i7, I'm not sure if this is still the case, but previously only the i7s supported hyper threading. Which basically meant you have 8 cores rather than just 4. Compared to an i5 without hyperthreading (unless this has been changed and the i5s now do come with hyper threading) you're basically going from a 2 core computer to a theoretical 8 core computer. Obviously this means the 8 core computer can do anything the 2 core computer can in 1/4 the time if whatever you're doing supports multiple threads.

 

[Flashmasterson]

I wouldn't know what the demands of your music production are, but put simply, a quad core just means your computer can do more things at once vs a dual core. It has twice as many cores so therefore it can, in a perfect system, do twice as many things in the same amount of time. i5 vs i7, I'm not sure if this is still the case, but previously only the i7s supported hyper threading. Which basically meant you have 8 cores rather than just 4. Compared to an i5 without hyperthreading (unless this has been changed and the i5s now do come with hyper threading) you're basically going from a 2 core computer to a theoretical 8 core computer. Obviously this means the 8 core computer can do anything the 2 core computer can in 1/4 the time if whatever you're doing supports multiple threads.

That's really good to know, do you by chance have a link to somewhere/someone who would know if what I'd be doing would support multiple threads?

 

[kadify]

That's really good to know, do you by chance have a link to somewhere/someone who would know if what I'd be doing would support multiple threads?

I don't. You might just try googling if the software you'd be using supports hyper threading or not.

 

[Wags]

Could probably get entry 15 for $2200 or refurbished $2039.

 

[jerryk]

Cool. I'll check it out more.

About specs in relation to my music production purposes though: how will the i5/i7 & dual/quad core aspect affect that? I'm thinking about possible overheating, crashes, kernel panics, system overload etc. Due to the activity originally mentioned.

I do audio voice production, technical courses and such. For that my 2015 never has an issues. It never spins up the fans to high speed, so it is quiet. I record into Adobe Audition and it never seems to have an issue.

Unfortunately I cannot say the same about my mic. I think it is dying and it injects random spikes that I have to edit out.

 

[Flashmasterson]

I do audio voice production, technical courses and such. For that my 2015 never has an issues. It never spins up the fans to high speed, so it is quiet. I record into Adobe Audition and it never seems to have an issue.

Unfortunately I cannot say the same about my mic. I think it is dying and it injects random spikes that I have to edit out.

Hmm... That's good to know and I wish you good luck with your micophone's future

 

[Natzoo]

But isn't it a risk getting a refurbished one

The 2016/17 rMBP have been troublesome to some users on this forum, mostly due to the keyboard. A 2017 15" is probably better since the 2015 15" will become vintage within the next 2-3 years and then obsolete. Any mac buy apple care especially the newer ones, since they cover accidentals. I would go the $2039 one

 

[Shamgar]

Music production scales very well with more cores, so the quad core would give you more headroom. That being said, depending on how many tracks and plugins you’re actually going to use, you might not hit the limits of the 13”.

 

[Flashmasterson]

Music production scales very well with more cores, so the quad core would give you more headroom. That being said, depending on how many tracks and plugins you’re actually going to use, you might not hit the limits of the 13”.

Thanks for being so specific with regards to the music production. The bottom 2 parts of this site go into it even more (with Ableton, at least):

https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/209067649-Multi-core-support-in-Live-FAQ

I do tend to use more plug ins per track than more tracks with spread plug ins, so maybe Ghz is what I should be focused on more... I'm not always like that though.

 

[Fishrrman]

For music production, I would think you'd like as large a display as possible (for viewing the timeline, other windows, etc.)

For that, the 15" wins out (of course!).

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Just a quick note to that all mobile i5’s and i7’s are hyperthreaded, so the 13 inch are all dual core 4thread and all the 15 inch are quad core 8 thread.

It really does depend on what the OP is doing with the software as to whether the 15 inch is a better fit for them.

You may want to look at a usb c dock for a one cable solution to all your peripherals something like this if you go for a 2016 or 2017 machine.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HooToo-Shu...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=CZE9V03S9QXV41070A26