Resolved Is the base rMBP powerful?

[max.ine]

Hi,

I'm waiting on the Skylake refresh, and when it comes around, I plan on buying the lowest-end/base model of the MacBook Pro family. I realise it's not as powerful and longwithstanding as the other choices, but I can't afford anything more expensive at this point in time.

My question is just if the base 13" models are powerful enough to handle less-demanding programs and games, and if they would theoretically be able to last me a couple of years at a time.

Thanks!

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Hi,

I'm waiting on the Skylake refresh, and when it comes around, I plan on buying the lowest-end/base model of the MacBook Pro family. I realise it's not as powerful and longwithstanding as the other choices, but I can't afford anything more expensive at this point in time.

My question is just if the base 13" models are powerful enough to handle less-demanding programs and games, and if they would theoretically be able to last me a couple of years at a time.

Thanks!

Well they are still pretty powerful little machines, as long as you aren't expecting too much. They use better processors and have better integrated graphics than almost any other thin light 13 inch laptop, as they use the 28w dual core processors (rather than the 15w ones found in most ultra books and hybrids like the surface series) they also have the iris graphics which should give 64mb of eDRAM to the 13 inch providing quite a graphics boost over broadwell.

So as long as you aren't expecting to run GTA 5 on ultra settings or instant 4K video rendering then you should be fine.

 

[snaky69]

Hi,

I'm waiting on the Skylake refresh, and when it comes around, I plan on buying the lowest-end/base model of the MacBook Pro family. I realise it's not as powerful and longwithstanding as the other choices, but I can't afford anything more expensive at this point in time.

My question is just if the base 13" models are powerful enough to handle less-demanding programs and games, and if they would theoretically be able to last me a couple of years at a time.

Thanks!

Define powerful. Define less-demanding?

For most computer users I personally know, an iPad has enough computing power to perform everything they do on their computer without breaking a sweat, for many years to come.

It really depends on what you actually do on a computer.

 

[maflynn]

My question is just if the base 13" models are powerful enough to handle less-demanding programs and games, and if they would theoretically be able to last me a couple of years at a time.

The MBP is not a gaming system and the 13" MBP's iGPU is such that I think you may be a bit disappointed - depending on the came of course.

For office, email, note taking and internet stuff (facebook, etc), then yeah the MBP is more then up to the task, in fact my 2012 rMBP is still chugging along nicely for those tasks.

 

[max.ine]

The MBP is not a gaming system and the 13" MBP's iGPU is such that I think you may be a bit disappointed - depending on the came of course.

For office, email, note taking and internet stuff (facebook, etc), then yeah the MBP is more then up to the task, in fact my 2012 rMBP is still chugging along nicely for those tasks.

If I was buying something primarily for gaming, I'd build a Windows PC. By "gaming", I just mean very casual games.

So yeah, I don't need anything serious, just something that can handle intermediate tasks and run some very low-end games.

@snaky69
As far as work goes, I'll mostly be using it for a DAW (unsure which, as I've never owned a Mac). I've actually been using my iPhone 6 Plus to help me compose for the last few months, but I really need to switch over to a proper workflow. As long as it can match or outdo the iPhone's performance, I'll be fine.

Thank you all for the helpful responses. I hope this cleared some things up.

 

[T5BRICK]

My question is just if the base 13" models are powerful enough to handle less-demanding programs and games, and if they would theoretically be able to last me a couple of years at a time.

I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to run a current 13" rMBP for a couple of years.

 

[max.ine]

Looks like this news post answered my question about the rMBP versus the iPhone: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...aster-than-any-macbook-air-ever-made.1996222/

Thanks again, everyone!