Macbook Pro Retina 2012 vs 2013

[pakotlar]

Hey guys,

Wondering what your thoughts are. I have the opportunity to buy a 2012 2.6/16/512 + 2 years AppleCare + Thunderbolt Display + Keyboard + Magic Mouse + SuperDrive for 100 less than what it would cost me for a 2013 2.3/750M/16/512 (no AppleCare). Worth it?

I will be writing web apps primarily, some photoshop; not certain how large the 2013 upgrade is, I'm sensitive to GUI performance issues.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Tweak155]

Are they both the same screen size? If so I'd take the free display. It's nice having a 2nd monitor.

 

[pakotlar]

Yes both 15", should be about same on CPU performance, a bit concerned about GUI performance due to HD4000, but am reading that bottleneck is not the HD4000.

 

[smackababy]

If you're going to be coding, go with the second monitor option. You won't experience any real performance impact for what you've listed you're doing.

 

[Rakehellion]

Definitely get the 2012 model. The extra add-ons seal it.

 

[joshhedge]

Force the dGPU (650M) and you'll have no issue with GUI performance. Even on the HD4000 it's much improved in Mavericks. Very good deal for the 2012 model.

 

[TreVader]

If you value battery life then the 2013 is an easy choice. A used 2012 will be lucky to get 50% of the battery life of a new 2013 Haswell 15". The 2.3 will be faster (measurably so in games) but otherwise the performance won't really be different.

If you can use the extra display and don't mind substantially poorer battery life, go 2012. I bought a laptop specifically because I would not have to connect it to peripherals and for battery life so the 2012 would not be worth it for me.

 

[Rottie]

2012 rMBP is all you need because of dGPU or you can afford high end rMBP with dGPU.

 

[pakotlar]

I ended up with the 2012, and compared to the 2013 in store. As far as I can tell very little difference at 1680*1050, no perceivable diff at 1400*900, and dGPU provides identical experience at 1920*1200. Overall very satisfied, nice having 16GB ram and 512GB SSD to play with.

 

[BuCkDoG]

I would definitely go with the 1st option.