Whats more beneficial for a photographer? rMBP 13in or rMBP 15in

Hello NBR members

I really need some 3rd party opinion on a decision I'm making this week regarding the purchase of a rMBP. I am a traveling graphic designer and photographer and need a mobile system that will run the Adobe CC suite, Lightroom, website design and have the ability to multitask in the process. Current, I made the decision to pick up the late-2013 rMBP 13in.

MacBook Pro 13in - Retina ($1399, with student disc.)
-i5 2.4GHz
-8GB RAM
-256GB PCIe SSD

I noticed that for about 60% of my workflow, the computer works fine, but to an extent there is a bottle neck in the system. This occurs in three areas:

-Opening and editing multi-layered InDesign layouts
-Batch processing/Image processing large Canon and Nikon RAW files
-Photoshop/Illustrator documents with complex layers, with high information

I have already made the decision to go ahead and move up to a new system. Thanks to the Apple stores awesome 14-day return policy, I have the opportunity to do so. So here is my question: what would be more beneficial? Moving to a custom 13in Model with 16GB DDR3? Or customizing a 15in model that would have the quad-core i7 2.0GHz and 16GB DDR3? Does the Adobe suite benefit more from RAM or processing power/cores?

Would the 16GB of RAM help me enough to where I don't need to move into the quad-core machine? I will say too, that the size of computer is NOT a factor to me. I am extremely impressed, and happy, with the 13in performance, size and weight...how ever if I need to move to a 15in I can justify adding the weight and size to my bag if needed.

I'm really looking for something that is going to last me as long as possible, so I'm thinking the 15in is most beneficial, but I would really appreciate everyones opinion on my case.

Option A. $1599 (student disc.)
rMBP 13in
-i5 2.6GHz
-16GB DDR3

Option B. $2079 (student disc.)
rMBP 15in
-i7 2.0GHz
-16GB DDR3

Cost is not a factor, how ever option B is the most I would want to spend.

 

If you don't absolutely require a Mac, current versions of Adobe CS benefit most from a Windows machine. Macs are no longer the media-creation powerhouses they once were.

A Dell Precision M3800 will give you a Retina-style display, a Quadro-based GPU for good OpenCL support in Adobe applications, the ability to upgrade the RAM and hard drive yourself, and standard next-business day on-site support with optional accidental damage protection and the ability to extend this coverage for up to 5 years from date of purchase.

Dell also has a 21-day return policy last I checked, and for professional-class machines, it's pretty much no questions asked, just like Apple.

Now if you do absolutely require a Mac, consider purchasing a refurbished 15-inch MacBook Pro. The machine you quoted in your first post sells for $1599, if I recall correctly. Refurbished Macs come with the same standard warranty as new machines and can be extended with AppleCare any time during the first year of ownership. Just bear in mind that AppleCare does not provide on-site service or accidental damage protection. Further, the current base 15-inch model has only 256 GB of storage that cannot be upgraded further unless you purchase a second-hand, original equipment SSD from someplace like eBay. If you're going to work heavily in Adobe, I would strongly recommend at least a 512 GB SSD, which will put you way over your budget on the Mac side. At least with the Precision, you can upgrade it yourself for less money.

 

I don't know. It's all about what sacrifices you are willing to live with. I know I for one would NOT recommend the Dell Precision M3800. The M4700 or M6800? Absolutely. But the M3800? I'd steer clear of that machine. I have been a Windows guy up until about a few months ago when I got my MacBook Pro. I will admit that I do like my MacBook Pro, but I decided to get a Precision M3800 (based upon some of the positives I read about on these forums), and then just get rid of the machine I didn't want. After messing with the Precision M3800 for a few days, I promptly packed it up and shipped it right back to Dell. I had already gotten a nice coupon discount on the machine, yet the Dell rep offered me another $200.00 off the Precision to get me to keep it, but I still refused. saturnotaku is right in that Adobe does add Quadro card specific performance boosts with their products for a few select (and very specific) tasks, but the MacBook Pro is still plenty capable of running the Adobe CC Suite extremely well. Some people have stated that you MUST have a Quadro card to even think about running 3D modeling applications, but there was a member of these forums that said he runs SolidWorks on a MacBook Pro in a Windows VM with no issues whatsoever. I do not doubt that Quadro cards provide a performance boost, but I have done some research, and there are members on other forums that strongly feel the need for Quadro cards is mostly overblown (relative to the equivalent GeForce card), especially when talking about these two computers.

As far as my other issues with the Precision M3800, the touchpad is the worst that I have ever used on a laptop, no matter what drivers I used. It was ridiculously bad. Not only that, it has been documented that the touchpad on the M3800 discolors severely with moderate use. Also, Dell decided to use some weird Space Age font for the keyboard, and it can get distracting and slightly confusing when trying to type on it. This was just another strange decision by Dell regarding the M3800 workstation. I never thought that something like a keyboard font would matter that much, but it did a great deal for me (and others as well). I also felt that the M3800 build quality was somewhat cheap and flimsy when compared to the MacBook Pro (I am still not a fan of that rubberized palm rest that Dell continues to use on it's workstations). If you decide to go with the M3800 and the QHD, then you have to deal with the HiDPI issues that Windows/Microsoft still has to sort out, as a lot of programs/apps (including almost all Adobe programs) looked a hot mess on the Precision M3800 (this is not Dell's fault though).

I will admit that the screen on the Precision M3800 is brighter, more vivid and just flat out better than the MacBook Pro's. Not that the MacBook Pro's screen is bad at all, but the Precision M3800's screen is definitely better. It is also true that upgradeability is going to be possible on the Precision M3800 and not possible on the MacBook Pro, so that is something to take into account, as well as the 2-day onsite support that Dell offers and Apple does not. At the end of the day, with most anything you do/decision you make in life, there are going to be positives and negatives, and this is no different. For me, I was willing to sacrifice a slight bit of screen real estate, a not-as-good (but still a VERY good) screen, and maybe a slight bit of performance loss with Adobe programs to stick with the MacBook Pro over the Precision M3800.

If you must have both the slim form factor and higher-end specs that the Precision M3800 and MacBook Pro offer (like I did), then I say demo both machines and pick which one's best for you. If you are dead set on getting the MacBook Pro, then I feel you can't go wrong with that decision, and I would definitely go with the 15.4" MacBook Pro if your budget will allow it. With Graphic Design, Digital Illustration, Photo Editing, etc... more screen real estate is always better. I also say MAX OUT your specs now because the MacBook Pro is NOT upgradeable. I would get at least the 512 GB flash drive, i7, and 16 GB of RAM configuration, especially if you are running Adobe products. That setup will definitely serve you better now and into the foreseeable future.

Hope this helps!

 

Option B is about the only suitable unit on the Mac side.
yes and yes, you still will not get the CL/GL performance but it will be much better.

other than the 3800 you could kick it up hard to a Zbook 15 with DC 2 screen pricey but beautiful even if it is 1080

 

depending on how large of inDesign and PS work you do, more than 16GB may be an advantage, you are right there are alot of tradeoffs on systems.
if this is a production machine I would be hard pressed to give up the NBD and upgradability since the software and data files keep getting larger and larger.

I wont say Pro GPU's are needed but I see it alot in certain workflows and applications where the extra to massive speed boosts are needed. sadly I do not think there is a perfect option. I know in many media houses I deal with they just went with custom desktops and Elitebook W and the Precision m6700 Covet for most of their work, and skipped size etc entirely.

 

Agreed. I would personally get a ZBook 15 before an M3800. I have heard great things about the HP ZBook 15.

Yeah, if size/weight wasn't a concern, I would still be floating my M6600 or either an M4700. I just personally couldn't deal with the weight issues anymore, so I traded off the performance of those two workstations for the less weight of the MacBook Pro. Carrying around an M6600 on an every day basis became a huge pain in the...back

 

I'll be a pain and tell you what I told my wife ( Kcetech1 actually ) weight is relative, if you need to pack extra external gear. how much weight do you save if you need to pack along the laptop, your charger, a couple external hard drives, a better padded bag or protection, TB or USB adapters or dongles?. dont forget all the extras you may need, I dont know how you work but I know enough packrat photographers and designers from supplying you guys with gear for 20+ years

I kid you not in her case with the data and crap she hauls around an m6700 was actually lighter than her old MBP 13" and is why she stole my x230 for on the go work.

 

Weight was never relative for me in this case. The M6700 by itself was way heavier than my MacBook Pro and any small items I may need to take with me. All I usually need is my MacBook Pro, MAYBE a small external hard drive and nothing else. Since the touchpad works so well, I don't need an external mouse most of the time, and even if I do, that is a relatively light accessory. Usually if you are doing serious/heavy/extended work on the go you are still going to be loading up your charger, mouse, external hard drive(s), etc... for whatever machine you use, and that still equals to the Precision M6700 being much heavier than the MacBook Pro to me at least.

 

The way I see it you are still packing the same amount of gear regardless of which system you use, and probably even more with the Precision line, because having a spare battery/wall charger with you on the go is a MUST. Not only that, the battery for the Precision M6600 itself probably weighs more than the MacBook Pro.

 

Then I have to stick with B. and hope that the weird SSD they use becomes available third party and comes down.

 

I have learned that screen size is a very personal thing....i just cannot live with anything less than 15" whereas my friends own like 11 inch to 13 inch notebooks and watch movies on them.

so try using a friends or someones 13 inch and see if u like it.

as for above comments..they are more detailed than i could ever be...but i have been a windows user and fanboy all my life and i feel that reliability and quality of the product is not upto the level of macbooks ..look at Asus UX301 which costs as much as 15 inc rMBP and yet it doesnt come close to quality and performance.

for multitasking...i just find the Windows 8 to be inferior to OSX Mavericks, switching windows, loading of apps and trackpad etc.

the trackpad on the macbook simply is the best selling feature and worth any money they charge...i cant believe that all my expensive fancy wireless mice are lying unused as i cant imagine anything better than the macbook pro trackpad.


there are lot of intangible benefits of using a macbook just like there are for driving a BMW ..and i think u discover and appreciate as you use them.


Dell workstations recent models had issue of battery life, poor trackpad, coil whine noise, heating etc otherwise they seemed like best option.

but 10 hours battery life on a macbook? ...can any windows machine come close to that?

 

Trust me, I never in my life believed that I would be defending Apple products, but as I said in another thread, rumors of the MacBook Pro's immense sucktitude are grossly overblown on these forums. I am not saying that the MacBook Pro is a flawless machine or that it does every single thing right, but looking at pure hardware, there is little difference between the MacBook Pro and most laptops with similar form factors (other than the graphics card and OS). The MacBook Pro is still a powerful and well-built machine that will serve most people extremely well.

I also agree with you on the MacBook Pro's trackpad. I never realized how good it really is until I went back and tried using other laptop's trackpads (especially the Precision M3800). There is simply no comparison, and that is a big reason why I don't have a need for an external mouse most of the time.

 

on a windows ultrabook..2 USB ports would really annoy me as i need a third port for mouse....but on macbook pro..my biggest fear was just 2 USB ports and so far i have managed with them with no compromise.

due to ever-improving cloud services, the need to connect usb devices to transfer data has really gone down for me and most of my phone to notebook transfers are all over wireless media


hope they add NFC to new macbook pro though..tap and transferring on media would really make life easier

 

If it's your only machine then 13" is just too small to do serious image editing so look at larger options. For photography you don't need a workstation gpu unless you are dealing with medium format (50-80 megapixel) files and lots of layers and filters. As far as windows 8 vs OSX goes just chose what you like. Personally I think that Mavericks looks nice but the way that it handles multitasking is inferior to windows. A simple task bar is easier than the dock and windows does a better job at switching. resizing and snapping windows. The fullscreen and swipe approach in OSX just isn't a proper substitute. Windows 8 is also crazy fast even on really old hardware so MS should get some credit there. I really hated the metro interface at first but once you realize that it's just a fullscreen start menu it's really the same as windows 7 but with better performance and gesture support. It takes about a day to get used to.

I have had some dell hardware over the years and was never really impressed with their build quality. I recently bought an xps 13 and if the m3800 is built the same way then i can tell you that most of the complaints about it are just nonsense. I own a 15 inch macbook pro and an air and the xps is in no way inferior in build quality to the other 2 machines. The carbon base is actually nicer imo because it doesn't get so hot when it's on your lap.

Give me a break, the font is fine.

I think the whole machine is actually nicer built than the Asus UX301LA and the 15" 2014 Samsung series 9 that I both tried as well. If it had an apple logo you would think you were looking at a new macbook air. The touchpad is actually great with the exception that two finger scrolling is not quite as smooth as on my mac. It's not a performance issue because scrolling with the touchscreen is smooth. Using the synaptics drivers instead of Dell's helps but it's still not perfect. Other than that it has a great keyboard, gorgeous screen and it's very quiet. I realize that the m3800 is a very different beast but I really doubt that the build quality is anything but top notch. Resale value of the mac is obviously going to be better because people pay for the badge and don't care if the hardware is a couple of years old.

Edit: turns out that the 2 finger scrolling issue is a firefox thing as it works much better in Chrome.

 

Give me a break, that font sucks, and even people in the M3800 thread have complained about it. The keyboard font on the Precision M4700s and M6800s was perfectly fine and legible. Changing the keyboard font was a dumb decision by Dell done for no other reason than to be different/look cool and futuristic, because obviously legibility wasn't a concern.