Another help me choose post - 2016 MBP

[Rafalski24]

Hello all,
I figured since the reviews and benchmarks that came out yesterday didn't help me make my decision as much as I had hoped, that I would ask the people of this forum for some advice.

I currently have a 2012 13" rMBP with 2.5 i5, 8GB ram, and 256 ssd. It runs well still for basic things, but struggles when stressed at all.
The most intensive thing I do often is edit large raw photos from my Fujifilm XT-1 and X100s. I use mostly Lightroom and Photoshop.

I want my next laptop to last at least 4 years and hopefully more like 5 years. What I am struggling with is whether to go for the 15" this time or stick with the 13". So far it sounds like the 15" will have a stronger battery life when not taxing the system which would be a big perk. I travel a lot and would love to not stress about my laptop dying while flying.

Anyway, what do the people of the macrumors forum think? Stick with a 13" for the portability? Go to 15" for the bigger screen for photo editing and battery? Fortunately I am lucky and could probably swing the extra cost of the 15" fairly easily. Just want to get the right computer for me for the next ~5 years.

Thanks!

 

[New_Mac_Smell]

If you can afford the 15" it'll be a better machine for you. You don't need it though for your uses, however it would be slightly faster for tasks such as exporting photos. Also the screen size will be a pretty good benefit.

Always buy the best you can afford, but take into account things such as cables/adapters (Card reader too in your case), as well as any extra warranty you might want.

 

[Rafalski24]

Makes sense to me, I was definitely leaning toward the 15". I'll definitely get a 512GB SSD but do you think it will be worth the extra money to get the 460? It's not a ton of money in the grand scheme of things. And does appear to be much more powerful even if I rarely, if ever, tax it now would that future proof the laptop even more? Or should I stick with the 450?

 

[New_Mac_Smell]

Makes sense to me, I was definitely leaning toward the 15". I'll definitely get a 512GB SSD but do you think it will be worth the extra money to get the 460? It's not a ton of money in the grand scheme of things. And does appear to be much more powerful even if I rarely, if ever, tax it now would that future proof the laptop even more? Or should I stick with the 450?

Well again if you can afford it you might as well. I upgraded it on my configuration, I don't necessarily need it as most of my work doesn't use a GPU, however I've done stuff in the last 5 years that would have benefited from it. So I've learnt needs can change over time... If you plan on having it for the next 4 years, the cost of the upgrade is small enough to justify it even if you don't think you'll use it today, you might use it in 3 years time.