The No Touch Bar 13 Macbook Version

[Hyloba]

I've ordered the non touch bar base 13" MBP. My first order was the tbMBP 512gb 16gb specced version. I don't think I'll need these specs, and then the positives of the non tb outweigh the negatives compared to the tb version. I think 1590€ is a pretty good price for this machine. Resale value will remain relatively higher than higher specced versions.

 

[Horizone]

I noticed that vents have different location than on TB model. Where exactly is the intake and exhaust. Is it more practical than on TB?

 

[Garage Battle]

Hi again,

So I've been running Geekbench 4.0.1 on my i7 2.2Ghz 2015 MBA. As expected, single-core scores about match those of the i5 2016 nonTB model, Multi-Core scores are a bit lower (more or less 3%) Maybe due to better HT-handling on Skylake.

My scores are 3770/7007.

It means Skylake has about 10% more power since the i5 runs ar 2.0Ghz vs. 2.2Ghz i7 (both beeing 15W Cpus).

Of course the GPU in this Broadwell chip is alot worse than the 540 on the Skylake chip.

just ran 4.0.3 on my 2016 NTB base model (2.0/8gb/256):

scores: 3815/7148

 

[colorfuel]

just ran 4.0.3 on my 2016 NTB base model (2.0/8gb/256):

scores: 3815/7148

Thats 1.1% faster SC and 2.0% faster on MC.

Thanks for your contribution.

 

[Ma2k5]

Ended up going back and fourth between this and the XPS 13 and ended up coming back to the MacBook. Loving the MacBook so far, don't miss Touch ID as I have an Apple Watch.

 

[HoosBruce]

The base model is $100 off on Amazon right now btw

 

[Lollo]

Just purchased a silver non-touchbar 16GB/512GB SSD with the base CPU based on the advice in this thread. This is my first mac, excited to say the least!

Could you please post some photos? I'll go to Apple Store the next weekend and I only have to choose between grey and silver, but it's quite impossible to find decent pics of the silver one on the internet thanks in advance!

 

[HoosBruce]

Could you please post some photos? I'll go to Apple Store the next weekend and I only have to choose between grey and silver, but it's quite impossible to find decent pics of the silver one on the internet thanks in advance!

Space gray all day

 

[coopercoop]

Could you please post some photos? I'll go to Apple Store the next weekend and I only have to choose between grey and silver, but it's quite impossible to find decent pics of the silver one on the internet thanks in advance!

It hasn't arrived yet unfortunately but this video shows off the silver version quite nicely.

 

[benz240]

I have had the 15" TB for nearly a week now, and am considering returning it and getting a non-TB 13".

First of all, battery life is AWFUL. And before anyone says anything, I don't game/video edit, I have let spotlight finish indexing, I don't run Chrome, brightness isn't max, and I've reset SMC. I'm getting about 4-6hrs on average, just browsing Safari, occasional YouTube watching, and typing in Excel and Word. This is such a disappointment...most of why I decided to get the bigger screen was thinking I would also get better battery life.

Don't even get me started on the uselessness of the Touchbar. I haven't once found that it increased my productivity, and if anything I find myself accidentally resting my left hand on the Esc key and exiting fullscreen mode. The need to carefully hunt for the exact place to tap your finger on it to perform a function completely negates any time savings you would get over just moving the mouse to the appropriate menu option. Furthermore, it is a joke to have to look down at the keyboard to adjust volume.

In deciding which CPU to get, what would the difference be between the i5 and i7? Specifically, would one or the other make a big impact on battery life? Is the performance increase worth it, if I'm never really doing anything resource-intensive?

 

[RichardC300]

In deciding which CPU to get, what would the difference be between the i5 and i7? Specifically, would one or the other make a big impact on battery life? Is the performance increase worth it, if I'm never really doing anything resource-intensive?

According to the Geekbench, the i5 scores 3602/7001, and the i7 scores 3844/7548, so the i7 is about 7% faster. There shouldn't be much if any impact on battery considering they are both 15W. Taking that into account and your use-case, I'd say it's not worth it. Use that upgrade money on 16 GB of RAM and more storage if you need it.

 

[Macalway]

I think the non-touch bar makes sense in order to avoid a lengthy beta stage.

The jury will be out for a while with this one.

 

[alldat]

Hi, way too many pages here for me to go through so I figure I'll just ask. I bought a 13in w/ touch bar, 3.1ghz processor, 16gb ram, and 1tb ssd. Thinking about returning and getting a maxed out non-tb model (at least in terms of ram and hard drive space). My main question is how noticeable of a difference will the 2ghz vs 2.4ghz processor have on 1: performance and 2: battery life? My main uses are iTunes, Chrome with about 15-20 tabs open, and Tweetbot. Maybe some light youtube/netflix watching.

Thank you for any help!

 

[Apple_Robert]

Hi, way too many pages here for me to go through so I figure I'll just ask. I bought a 13in w/ touch bar, 3.1ghz processor, 16gb ram, and 1tb ssd. Thinking about returning and getting a maxed out non-tb model (at least in terms of ram and hard drive space). My main question is how noticeable of a difference will the 2ghz vs 2.4ghz processor have on 1: performance and 2: battery life? My main uses are iTunes, Chrome with about 15-20 tabs open, and Tweetbot. Maybe some light youtube/netflix watching.

Thank you for any help!

Given your usual usage, masking out a computer would be financial and hardware overkill, in my opinion. You could do very well with a spec model, unless you see your habits readily changing in the next several months.

Increased CPU power does take a toll on the battery. As to how much depends on a lot of variables. I doubt you would seer a regular difference with the difference of the CPU, given your casual usage, which wouldn't readily tax the system, in my opinion.

 

[alldat]

Given your usual usage, masking out a computer would be financial and hardware overkill, in my opinion. You could do very well with a spec model, unless you see your habits readily changing in the next several months.

Increased CPU power does take a toll on the battery. As to how much depends on a lot of variables. I doubt you would seer a regular difference with the difference of the CPU, given your casual usage, which wouldn't readily tax the system, in my opinion.

I don't mind maxing it out because of $, I have an Apple gift card from last Christmas that covers more than half of this new purchase. My main concern is making sure this MBP lasts me roughly 5 years or so (my 2009 MBP still works but is on its last legs)

 

[carperjosh]

I'm looking at getting my first MacBook. I will be using it for internet browsing, YouTube and for my photography in lightroom. I was looking at the 2.0ghz non touch i5 but heard that it can't manage lightroom very well? Any ideas which 13inch would be the best for my usage.

 

[Hyloba]

Do you guys all upgrade to 16gb ram? I don't know if I need more than 8, I have 4gb at the moment and it is way too low. Plan on using photoshop and lightroom and illustrator, together with lots of tabs in safari, pdfs, document editing, music and little stuff. I do most of this stuff on 4gb already but I have to close down apps if a task is too big to handle.

I just don't want to overspend.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I don't mind maxing it out because of $, I have an Apple gift card from last Christmas that covers more than half of this new purchase. My main concern is making sure this MBP lasts me roughly 5 years or so (my 2009 MBP still works but is on its last legs)

If money isn't a concern, go for it.

In regards to trying future proof (technology wise) 5 years or more down the road, that is as losing proposition. However, I would think that this same hardware should allow you to do the same kinds of things you are doing, and want to do today. While future software improvements are more readily seen and appreciated in newer models, I didn't think it is wise to max out a computer with any kind of expectation in that area.

There are numerous people on the forum (and elsewhere) who are using 5+ year old Macs without any real problems. I am one of them with one of my Macs being a 2011. I upgraded because of the newer and faster tech that I couldn't make use of with the 2011, even though I upgraded the RAM, put in an SSD, and upgraded the BT card.

 

[alldat]

If money isn't a concern, go for it.

In regards to trying future proof (technology wise) 5 years or more down the road, that is as losing proposition. However, I would think that this same hardware should allow you to do the same kinds of things you are doing, and want to do today. While future software improvements are more readily seen and appreciated in newer models, I didn't think it is wise to max out a computer with any kind of expectation in that area.

There are numerous people on the forum (and elsewhere) who are using 5+ year old Macs without any real problems. I am one of them with one of my Macs being a 2011. I upgraded because of the newer and faster tech that I couldn't make use of with the 2011, even though I upgraded the RAM, put in an SSD, and upgraded the BT card.

Yea my 2009 15in MBP still "works" if you want to get technical lol, it has just become unbearably slow and I think after 7 years it was time for an upgrade haha. If the battery on this 13in w/ tb doesn't improve I may just go for the maxed non-tb. The tb is fun but I can live without it. TouchID on the other hand I will miss

 

[Hyloba]

I'm looking at getting my first MacBook. I will be using it for internet browsing, YouTube and for my photography in lightroom. I was looking at the 2.0ghz non touch i5 but heard that it can't manage lightroom very well? Any ideas which 13inch would be the best for my usage.

As a fellow lightroom user I would like to have this answered as well.

 

[xraydoc]

As a fellow lightroom user I would like to have this answered as well.

If the high-end 2015 13" model could, then the bottom-end 2016 13" model can. The benchmarks are essentially equivalent.

 

[Hyloba]

If the high-end 2015 13" model could, then the bottom-end 2016 13" model can. The benchmarks are essentially equivalent.

Excellent, now only to find out whether I need 8 or 16gb of ram and I can finally place an order.

 

[coopercoop]

Excellent, now only to find out whether I need 8 or 16gb of ram and I can finally place an order.

You would probably be fine with 8gb but if you're gonna upgrade anything I would probably go RAM (best bang for buck imo)

 

[carperjosh]

I have seen someone say the base model 2.0ghz ntb model was no good with lightroom tho. Can anyone confirm this?

 

[bobosing316]

I have seen someone say the base model 2.0ghz ntb model was no good with lightroom tho. Can anyone confirm this?

I also need an answer to to this statement. Thanks