Should I upgrade my Mac??? AMD Radeon R9 M370X VS Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640

[LeoH21]

I need a little advice from someone who knows something about video editing or doing anything intensive with their MacBook. I am going to start to do some editing on 4k videos and take some classes so I need to pick to upgrade my MacBook or keep what I have.

I currently have in my possession a mid 2015 MacBook Pro with:
AMD Radeon R9 M370X (2gb video RAM)
2.8 Intel icore i7
16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

I am considering selling it and getting a 13 inch MacBook Pro Kaby Lake. For the money I would get for my mid 2015 laptop I could get the following configuration:
2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
16GB 2133MHz LPDDR3 memory
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640

Will I see any improvements in editing 4k videos in Final Cut Pro X ??

Is AMD Radeon R9 M370X with 2gb video memory better or worse than Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 in the new MacBook pros?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[killawat]

The M370X will beat the snot out of the Iris 640. Hands down.

More importantly though, your 2015 MBP is quad core which you want for editing.

The new 13" can get the job done but not better than your existing rig.

 

[LeoH21]

The M370X will beat the snot out of the Iris 640. Hands down.

More importantly though, your 2015 MBP is quad core which you want for editing.

The new 13" can get the job done but not better than your existing rig.

Thank you for the reply.

I thought this new Kaby Lake would mean it would deal with 4k better.

I really am not all that clued up into the graphics side of things and the processors, so the advice is appreciated.

 

[ZapNZs]

This would likely be a downgrade in both CPU and GPU performance, although an upgrade in RAM performance and SSD performance (but I think the total performance would be a downgrade nonetheless.) The iGPU you are considering is comparable slightly favorably to the Nvidia 750M in the 2014 dGPU models - however, the M370X is a significant upgrade over that, and IIRC it compares to the AMD Radeon 450 in the 2016 MBP 15-inch base.

However, Kaby Lake obviously has benefits with 4k, and the new design seems to reduce the effect of thermal throttling considerably, but I do not think this would be enough to compensate for the loss of two physical cores. A CPU expert would have to confirm this, but at least for the work I do a quad core makes a night and day difference over a dual. My quad core laptops that are over half a decade old have far better multicore performance than most newer dual core laptops sold today!

A nice upgrade over your current machine would be a 2017 15-inch model with an upgraded dGPU to the 4 GB Radeon 560, but obviously the pricetag would be higher at around $2,500 for a base 15 with a 560 GPU.

 

[LeoH21]

This would likely be a downgrade in both CPU and GPU performance, although an upgrade in RAM performance and SSD performance (but I think the total performance would be a downgrade nonetheless.) The iGPU you are considering is comparable slightly favorably to the Nvidia 750M in the 2014 dGPU models - however, the M370X is a significant upgrade over that, and IIRC it compares to the AMD Radeon 450 in the 2016 MBP 15-inch base.

However, Kaby Lake obviously has benefits with 4k, and the new design seems to reduce the effect of thermal throttling considerably, but I do not think this would be enough to compensate for the loss of two physical cores. A CPU expert would have to confirm this, but at least for the work I do a quad core makes a night and day difference over a dual. My quad core laptops that are over half a decade old have far better multicore performance than most newer dual core laptops sold today!

A nice upgrade over your current machine would be a 2017 15-inch model with an upgraded dGPU to the 4 GB Radeon 560, but obviously the pricetag would be higher at around $2,500 for a base 15 with a 560 GPU.

Thank you so much for such a detailed response.

I am in two minds now if I go for an Alienware or Dell XPS 15 laptop as it seems the bang for buck is far far greater. Not sure I can live without being able to accept calls and reply to texts through my laptop though.

 

[MadDane]

Thank you so much for such a detailed response.

I am in two minds now if I go for an Alienware or Dell XPS 15 laptop as it seems the bang for buck is far far greater. Not sure I can live without being able to accept calls and reply to texts through my laptop though.

How about starting out with your current MBP and see how it goes with that one? If you feel like the laptop is too slow for your liking then consider upgrading.

 

[Poki]

I don't get why you want to switch either. The 15" 2015 MacBook Pro is a great machine, and will be almost as fast as the current 15" MBPs for video editing, and much faster than the current 13" MBPs. If you edit using Final Cut Pro X, it should be quite fast. Premiere is another story, but that piece of software runs like crap on any Mac I tried it with.

So, why don't you want to use the machine you already got?

 

[illadee]

@Poki

Since im also before buying a 15 2015 Macbook Pro for my good old 2010.
Doesnt it matter that much if it got the amd graphic card or the iris?
Only can find the iris one in europe...

thx!

 

[koyoot]

The only laptop which will bring you any upgrade, over your current comptuer will be Coffee Lake Macbook Pro 13 inch with quad core CPU, and GT3e GPU.

Yep, 4 cores are incoming to 13 inch MacBook Pro...

 

[muratura]

We do not know yet if and when 4c8t cpus are coming to the 13". There are announcements for 28W cpus but Apple will offer those at extra price just for the touchbar 13"

 

[Miltz]

I need a little advice from someone who knows something about video editing or doing anything intensive with their MacBook. I am going to start to do some editing on 4k videos and take some classes so I need to pick to upgrade my MacBook or keep what I have.

I currently have in my possession a mid 2015 MacBook Pro with:
AMD Radeon R9 M370X (2gb video RAM)
2.8 Intel icore i7
16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

I am considering selling it and getting a 13 inch MacBook Pro Kaby Lake. For the money I would get for my mid 2015 laptop I could get the following configuration:
2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
16GB 2133MHz LPDDR3 memory
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640

Will I see any improvements in editing 4k videos in Final Cut Pro X ??

Is AMD Radeon R9 M370X with 2gb video memory better or worse than Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 in the new MacBook pros?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

dont do it. Wait till 2018.

 

[ZapNZs]

The only laptop which will bring you any upgrade, over your current comptuer will be Coffee Lake Macbook Pro 13 inch with quad core CPU, and GT3e GPU.

Yep, 4 cores are incoming to 13 inch MacBook Pro...

I'll believe it when I see it. There are numerous reasons why Apple may opt to keep the 13-inch as a dual core machine. I personally would not base my purchasing plans on something that may or may not even happen in what could wind up being 2+ years down the road.