MacBook Pro 2017 vs 2015

[sublunar]

I'd look towards the options now becoming clearly available for a 2018 refresh assuming it's coming in 2018.

AMD GPUs this year are looking like rebadges (stick an X on the end of the AMD 500 series). No sign of a proper mobile Vega - the i5-8305g (2.8GHz 4 cores, 8 threads) is allegedly more a Polaris than a proper Vega unit. Since that CPU has 4 cores, 8 threads there seems to be a clear delineation between that and using a true 6 core, 12 thread Coffee Lake mobile CPU (eg i7-8850H at 2.6GHz) and adding a discrete warmed over AMD 500 series GPU to it.

Would Apple dare to use the much-hyped i9-8950HK at 2.9GHz 6 cores, 12 threads?

Would Apple use the 4 core, 8 thread Kaby Lake G CPUs as a cheaper low end 15" option with 6 core + discrete 500X GPU as the high end SKU? Could making the touch bar optional further reduce the entry price to 15" MacBook Pro?

It seems certain that all 13" MacBook Pros with touch bars will move to 4 cores, 8 threads with Iris Graphics. There are no 15w parts with Iris Graphics though - so that could leave the non touch bar Pro models in question unless Apple merge the two lines to use 28w CPUs.

That leaves us the MacBook Air which does at least have a quad core 15w part available but we can't be sure what will happen to the rest of the (now dated) design despite the available old style ports. The UHD 620 powered CPU probably won't have to power a retina screen but could it continue with the old ports?

There's no 5w Y parts for yet announced for the Retina MacBook. Perhaps they will be refreshed in October when something possibly shows up?

 

[zmon]

It seems certain that all 13" MacBook Pros with touch bars will move to 4 cores, 8 threads with Iris Graphics. There are no 15w parts with Iris Graphics though - so that could leave the non touch bar Pro models in question unless Apple merge the two lines to use 28w CPUs.

That leaves us the MacBook Air which does at least have a quad core 15w part available but we can't be sure what will happen to the rest of the (now dated) design despite the available old style ports. The UHD 620 powered CPU probably won't have to power a retina screen but could it continue with the old ports?

There's no 5w Y parts for yet announced for the Retina MacBook. Perhaps they will be refreshed in October when something possibly shows up?

It'll be interesting what they do for the non-TB model unless Apple is making it standard (which I doubt), but I think it'll be more likely they'll just unify the two models (each have 4 usb-c ports and two fans) and give the non-TB model the i5-8259u as the base CPU and the i5-8269u as the base CPU for the TB model.

 

[Clix Pix]

Back in December 2015 I bought the 15" MBP, and I have never regretted that purchase. It's my "daily driver," my "workhorse," and delivers for me time after time after time..... That said, if I were trying to decide what to do now in 2018, I agree that it is a difficult decision. The 2015 machine offers a lot and for me it has been a stellar machine..... The last couple of days I've kept it going full-speed ahead with transferring data files from one external drive to another, easy enough to do since I have the USB 3 ports available.

That said, this IS 2018 and technology is continuing to move forward with features and functionality changing along the way. If I were faced with the decision about what to buy now, I think I would be looking towards the future rather than back towards the past, and as others have suggested, if you can wait until there is an announcement from Apple about what they are going to release in the way of changes/spec updates/"speed bumps"/refreshes, etc, to their current line of USB-C/Thunderbolt MacBook Pros, it might be very beneficial to you in the long run. Once you know what they're going to be offering for the next year or so, that might help you really nail down what it is you need and what you can afford and what will truly be the most useful machine to you over the next several years.