MBP 15 Inch 2015 vs 2016 for graphic designer

[Manish0412]

Hi ,

My wife is a graphic designer and she has worked on Windows , we relocated to new zealand and here mac is widely used.

We are planning to buy a macbook pro for her design works. The software that she uses are

Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign
Adobe After Effects
Sony Vegas Pro
Autodesk Maya
Autodesk 3D Max
MS Office

We are confused between 2 laptops.

Apple Macbook Pro 15" 256GB (2015 Model )
2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz
16GB 1600MHz memory
Intel Iris Pro Graphics

VS

Apple Macbook Pro 15" with Touch Bar 256GB Space Grey (2016 Model ).
2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 with Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz and 6MB shared L3 cache.
16GB 2133MHz memory memory
Radeon Pro 450 with 2GB memory

Can you please help us to chosse between those.

The cost difference between the two laptops is 750 NZ$ around 520 USD.

Regards,
Manish

 

[Manish0412]

Please consider to have a MAC + Mantiz eGPU setup.
it will fully cover all your needs.
Hitp://mymantiz.com

So what do you recommend out of the two laptop 2015 or 2016 model ?

 

[Sanpete]

If she isn't editing video, the 2015 will perform just as well, I think. (You mention a couple programs I'm not familiar with, but I don't think they would use the dGPU much.) The 2016 has numerous improvements, including a better screen, speakers, SSD, graphics, it runs cooler and more quietly, gets better battery life for light use, and it's smaller and lighter. But none of those are likely to affect her work.

 

[Manish0412]

If she isn't editing video, the 2015 will perform just as well, I think. (You mention a couple programs I'm not familiar with, but I don't think they would use the dGPU much.) The 2016 has numerous improvements, including a better screen, speakers, SSD, graphics, it runs cooler and more quietly, gets better battery life for light use, and it's smaller and lighter. But none of those are likely to affect her work.

Hi Sanpete,

She will be doing video editing in Sony Vegas,after effects , premier pro .

The 2015 doesn't have a dedicated graphics card but the 2016 has it.

Is the 2015 model sufficient for all the software or shall I got for 2016 model.

Regards,
Manish
[doublepost=1492656088][/doublepost]

If she isn't editing video, the 2015 will perform just as well, I think. (You mention a couple programs I'm not familiar with, but I don't think they would use the dGPU much.) The 2016 has numerous improvements, including a better screen, speakers, SSD, graphics, it runs cooler and more quietly, gets better battery life for light use, and it's smaller and lighter. But none of those are likely to affect her work.

Thanks a lot for ur reply

 

[Sanpete]

For heavy-duty video editing with Adobe software it's better to use a Windows machine, but if it isn't large 4K projects, it will run fine on the MBP, better on the 2016 than the 2015. (Final Cut Pro X is blazing fast on the MBP for editing video, that's another matter.) The dGPU will definitely help for video, and the upgrade to the 460 would help even more if it's heavy-duty work.

If you buy from Apple, you get 14 days to return no questions asked. Might be worth trying one out.

 

[Manish0412]

For heavy-duty video editing with Adobe software it's better to use a Windows machine, but if it isn't large 4K projects, it will run fine on the MBP, better on the 2016 than the 2015. (Final Cut Pro X is blazing fast on the MBP for editing video, that's another matter.) The dGPU will definitely help for video, and the upgrade to the 460 would help even more if it's heavy-duty work.

If you buy from Apple, you get 14 days to return no questions asked. Might be worth trying one out.

Hi Sanpete,

Thanks for the information. 460 would be too costly for me its around 700$ nzd more than the 450. We already have a windows machine but she is told that people use MAC in NZ for graphic designing work. So I was thinking to buy a Macbook .

Regards,
Manish

 

[Manish0412]

For heavy-duty video editing with Adobe software it's better to use a Windows machine, but if it isn't large 4K projects, it will run fine on the MBP, better on the 2016 than the 2015. (Final Cut Pro X is blazing fast on the MBP for editing video, that's another matter.) The dGPU will definitely help for video, and the upgrade to the 460 would help even more if it's heavy-duty work.

If you buy from Apple, you get 14 days to return no questions asked. Might be worth trying one out.

Is the difference huge between the 2015 with Intel Iris Pro graphic card and 2016 with Radeon Pro 450 with 2GB memory ?

 

[darkmaxdevil]

I'm sure she will appreciate the 2016 screen if this is her field of work.

 

[Manish0412]

I'm sure she will appreciate the 2016 screen if this is her field of work.

Thanks ..yes she works on Adobe software's, Maya,Sony vegas but on Windows. She would be using mac for the first time. I too dont have any idea about mac.

So wanted be 100% sure before purchasing as its not cheap. Still confused between 2015 and 2016 model as 2016 would cost USD 520$ and i would get a dGPU i.e Radeon Pro 450

 

[csurfr]

For anything photoshop or illustrator related you'll be better off with the dedicated card. I've used both of the machines you are talking about getting and even with a couple of glitches here and there, the 2016 is a better machine. Screen, keyboard, faster storage.

 

[Manish0412]

For anything photoshop or illustrator related you'll be better off with the dedicated card. I've used both of the machines you are talking about getting and even with a couple of glitches here and there, the 2016 is a better machine. Screen, keyboard, faster storage.

Thanks ,did you get glitches in 2016 model or 2015 model. 2016 has a dedicated graphics card.

Regards,
manish

 

[thekev]

For anything photoshop or illustrator related you'll be better off with the dedicated card.

I think photoshop's gpu accelerated features work reasonably well on integrated graphics, but that's my opinion. The illustrator comment is puzzling. Illustrator doesn't make any direct use of the gpu. Its interaction is comparable to refreshing any windowed application, which can be done on any hardware.

 

[Manish0412]

I think photoshop's gpu accelerated features work reasonably well on integrated graphics, but that's my opinion. The illustrator comment is puzzling. Illustrator doesn't make any direct use of the gpu. Its interaction is comparable to refreshing any windowed application, which can be done on any hardware.

Thanks, What about the video editing software's . So 2016 with dedicated graphic card is better

 

[csurfr]

I think photoshop's gpu accelerated features work reasonably well on integrated graphics, but that's my opinion. The illustrator comment is puzzling. Illustrator doesn't make any direct use of the gpu. Its interaction is comparable to refreshing any windowed application, which can be done on any hardware.

Illustrator in fact has gpu enhancements just like photoshop does. It has more to do with zooming as far as I know.

The integrated graphics card in the 2015 is supported by illustrator, but you still won't get the same performance as you will with a dedicated gpu.

The glitches I was referring to above were the bugs that were / are being worked out by Apple. I think most of the issues have been addressed.

 

[Manish0412]

Illustrator in fact has gpu enhancements just like photoshop does. It has more to do with zooming as far as I know.

The integrated graphics card in the 2015 is supported by illustrator, but you still won't get the same performance as you will with a dedicated gpu.

The glitches I was referring to above were the bugs that were / are being worked out by Apple. I think most of the issues have been addressed.

thanks, is the difference little bit or too much . What do you recommend shall I go for 2016.

 

[csurfr]

thanks, is the difference little bit or too much . What do you recommend shall I go for 2016.

thanks, is the difference little bit or too much . What do you recommend shall I go for 2016.

If you have the money, yes. If you're trying to save a few dollars, no.

That's what it all comes down to. The 2015 is just that, almost 2 years old now. Still a decent machine, but it's only going to get older. No USB-C support, no thunderbolt 3.

Sure you might need a dongle for USB-A on the 2016 (I don't), but the 2016 ports can be anything you want them to be. You lose MagSafe, but can charge from any side of the MacBook Pro that you want to. I feel that's often overlooked, and is really handy.

For me, and I am a graphic/web designer, there's no going back. The screen brightness alone makes it worth it. Add in the keyboard, touch bar (more support in apps all the time), and future-proof USB-C, and (again, for me) the choice was clear.

 

[Manish0412]

If you have the money, yes. If you're trying to save a few dollars, no.

That's what it all comes down to. The 2015 is just that, almost 2 years old now. Still a decent machine, but it's only going to get older. No USB-C support, no thunderbolt 3.

Sure you might need a dongle for USB-A on the 2016 (I don't), but the 2016 ports can be anything you want them to be. You lose MagSafe, but can charge from any side of the MacBook Pro that you want to. I feel that's often overlooked, and is really handy.

For me, and I am a graphic/web designer, there's no going back. The screen brightness alone makes it worth it. Add in the keyboard, touch bar (more support in apps all the time), and future-proof USB-C, and (again, for me) the choice was clear.

Thanks, a last question if I go for 2016 model I would go for the base 15'' model with Radeon Pro 450 . Hope that is fine. As the higher models are too costly.

 

[csurfr]

Thanks, a last question if I go for 2016 model I would go for the base 15'' model with Radeon Pro 450 . Hope that is fine. As the higher models are too costly.

That's the model I have and it's working perfectly fine with Creative Cloud.

I forgot to mention that the 2016 has faster ram.

Oh, and thumbs up for space grey (gray?)

 

[thekev]

Illustrator in fact has gpu enhancements just like photoshop does. It has more to do with zooming as far as I know.

The integrated graphics card in the 2015 is supported by illustrator, but you still won't get the same performance as you will with a dedicated gpu.

The glitches I was referring to above were the bugs that were / are being worked out by Apple. I think most of the issues have been addressed.

Okay I was apparently out of date on that. I swore I checked that a year ago. Sorry about that.

Thanks, What about the video editing software's . So 2016 with dedicated graphic card is better

You really have to compare the video editing software for yourself. GPU accelerations do not typically pertain to really general stuff. GPUs are terrible at branching in the sense that they use deep pipelines compared to x64. They're really good at things that can be parallelized with little to no deviation in control flow. It comes down to what you use and whether it presents a true bottleneck. You mentioned After Effects. Here's a recent developer blog that details what is gpu accelerated in the creative cloud 2015 version. On the off chance that your wife is still using CS6, most of this would not apply.

 

[csurfr]

Okay I was apparently out of date on that. I swore I checked that a year ago. Sorry about that.

Well hey, I was right! It IS for zooming!

 

[Manish0412]

You really have to compare the video editing software for yourself. GPU accelerations do not typically pertain to really general stuff. GPUs are terrible at branching in the sense that they use deep pipelines compared to x64. They're really good at things that can be parallelized with little to no deviation in control flow. It comes down to what you use and whether it presents a true bottleneck. You mentioned After Effects. Here's a recent developer blog that details what is gpu accelerated in the creative cloud 2015 version. On the off chance that your wife is still using CS6, most of this would not apply.

She is using after effects CC not CS6, I dont have any idea about the software's used in designing needs dedicated graphics card.Its like a bouncer to me.

I am reading articles and threads stating the same. So I had posted this thread to enquire about the same.

Regards,
Manish

 

[thekev]

She is using after effects CC not CS6, I dont have any idea about the software's used in designing needs dedicated graphics card.Its like a bouncer to me.

I am reading articles and threads stating the same. So I had posted this thread to enquire about the same.

Stating the same thing as me? It really does come down to features used. In my opinion, you have to make significant use of gpu accelerated features to really justify extra cost on a laptop (where the gpu will never be that amazing). It's very easy to bump the price up by 20% during configuration without gaining much of anything for it.

I would look at what can actually make use of it and ask her.

 

[Manish0412]

Stating the same thing as me? It really does come down to features used. In my opinion, you have to make significant use of gpu accelerated features to really justify extra cost on a laptop (where the gpu will never be that amazing). It's very easy to bump the price up by 20% during configuration without gaining much of anything for it.

I would look at what can actually make use of it and ask her.

Thanks, Yes I am trying to understand about the designing software that gets benefited from dGPU

 

[thekev]

Thanks, Yes I am trying to understand about the designing software that gets benefited from dGPU

I understand, but as I mentioned, the benefit gained depends on how she uses it. It doesn't accelerate everything uniformly and the degree of impact can also vary. My results with Apple's implementation of discrete gpus and graphics switching has been terrible, so I wouldn't personally touch one of their notebooks with discrete graphics. I don't think most people on here share my opinion.

 

[Manish0412]

That's the model I have and it's working perfectly fine with Creative Cloud.

I forgot to mention that the 2016 has faster ram.

Oh, and thumbs up for space grey (gray?)

Thanks a lot. What did you mean about the faster ram ? both has 16 gb of ram rt ? Also the space 256 GB is enough for all the software's ?
[doublepost=1492683575][/doublepost]

I understand, but as I mentioned, the benefit gained depends on how she uses it. It doesn't accelerate everything uniformly and the degree of impact can also vary. My results with Apple's implementation of discrete gpus and graphics switching has been terrible, so I wouldn't personally touch one of their notebooks with discrete graphics. I don't think most people on here share my opinion.

Hmm , now m confused . If I buy the 2015 base model will the graphic design software such as adobe cc,final cut pro,sony vegas pro work fine.Also I would like to know which mac do you use.