16" MBP: i7 or i9?

[kp98077]

I found some older benchmarks (not specifically about MBP, just about i7 vs i9) which showed that almost all tasks are the same between i7 and i9, but some tasks (like exporting pictures, generating smart previews, ...) are dramatically different. But even with that knowledge, I can look at it from two sides. "Most of the time I will notice zero difference" or "I import pictures almost every day, I'll be annoyed at twice the time for generating previews every day", for example. And then I don't know if these differences apply the same way in a thermal throtteling laptop.



I don't know if it would or wouldn't. That's what I would like to know. If the i7 does run cooler and longer, that's probably the one I'll stick with. But:

YES I am curious too let me know if you find out any data/information on if the i7 battery last longer or runs cooler in general.
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I found some older benchmarks (not specifically about MBP, just about i7 vs i9) which showed that almost all tasks are the same between i7 and i9, but some tasks (like exporting pictures, generating smart previews, ...) are dramatically different. But even with that knowledge, I can look at it from two sides. "Most of the time I will notice zero difference" or "I import pictures almost every day, I'll be annoyed at twice the time for generating previews every day", for example. And then I don't know if these differences apply the same way in a thermal throtteling laptop.



I don't know if it would or wouldn't. That's what I would like to know. If the i7 does run cooler and longer, that's probably the one I'll stick with. But:

The other point is, so far I haven't seen many members mention their i9 running hot or having short battery issues...... I may have missed that??

 

[Scottsdale]

Send yours back. Reorder: start with the $2799 model, and from there upgrade the RAM to 64GB. Send back your original. Make this sacrifice. You’re paying to upgrade the GPU, 1TB which are included in the $2799 model.

The difference between the two Core i9 models is negligible. The 32GB RAM should be standard. To make your MacBook Pro last up to five years, max the RAM. You’re correct to max the GPU with 8GB video memory. You’re going to have to use external drives if you only have 1TB SSD, but that’s an easy enough fix with cheap external drives that can stay at your desk.

I wouldn’t buy any MacBook Pro without 64GB RAM and 5500m (8GB) if using it for anything graphics intensive. And the Core i9 makes sense when getting extra GPU performance and SSD space at $2799. For $400, you get i9, 512GB extra storage, and 5500m GPU. It makes it a no brainer, then upgrade GPU RAM to 8GB and max the RAM.

I wanted a 14” MBP, but Apple will never put a GPU in it. And I didn’t want to wait. I actually started at the higher end 16” added the GPU RAM upgrade, maxed the RAM to 64GB, and upped the storage to 4TB. In my opinion, this MacBook Pro does almost everything I want and is the best value of any MBP ever.

Apple really has learned some of the things that should just be included in higher end models less the 32GB RAM should be standard and 64GB should be upgraded by many. Heck, even browsers use a ton of RAM nowadays. It really amuses me that anyone would think 16GB RAM is sufficient today let alone in five years. 16GB was available in MBPs for more than seven years. Time to move along with reality. In a perfect world, we could all just wait for 10th generation Intel CPU to get low power RAM. Intel really screwed many manufacturers on that. And WiFi6 would be nice.

Good luck with your MacBook Pro! It’s a beast!

 

[kp98077]

Send yours back. Reorder: start with the $2799 model, and from there upgrade the RAM to 64GB. Send back your original. Make this sacrifice. You’re paying to upgrade the GPU, 1TB which are included in the $2799 model.

The difference between the two Core i9 models is negligible. The 32GB RAM should be standard. To make your MacBook Pro last up to five years, max the RAM. You’re correct to max the GPU with 8GB video memory. You’re going to have to use external drives if you only have 1TB SSD, but that’s an easy enough fix with cheap external drives that can stay at your desk.

I wouldn’t buy any MacBook Pro without 64GB RAM and 5500m (8GB) if using it for anything graphics intensive. And the Core i9 makes sense when getting extra GPU performance and SSD space at $2799. For $400, you get i9, 512GB extra storage, and 5500m GPU. It makes it a no brainer, then upgrade GPU RAM to 8GB and max the RAM.

I wanted a 14” MBP, but Apple will never put a GPU in it. And I didn’t want to wait. I actually started at the higher end 16” added the GPU RAM upgrade, maxed the RAM to 64GB, and upped the storage to 4TB. In my opinion, this MacBook Pro does almost everything I want and is the best value of any MBP ever.

Apple really has learned some of the things that should just be included in higher end models less the 32GB RAM should be standard and 64GB should be upgraded by many. Heck, even browsers use a ton of RAM nowadays. It really amuses me that anyone would think 16GB RAM is sufficient today let alone in five years. 16GB was available in MBPs for more than seven years. Time to move along with reality. In a perfect world, we could all just wait for 10th generation Intel CPU to get low power RAM. Intel really screwed many manufacturers on that. And WiFi6 would be nice.

Good luck with your MacBook Pro! It’s a beast!

So I take it, not a big fan of the i7?

 

[SMC23]

You’re already second guessing your config so that alone I would just get the i9. I feel the sweet spot is i9 2.3/32gb/1TB/5500m as all options are balanced. This should last you many years.

 

[Eee1111]

You’re already second guessing your config so that alone I would just get the i9. I feel the sweet spot is i9 2.3/32gb/1TB/5500m as all options are balanced. This should last you many years.

I have this one. No issues here. Def go 32gb at the least.

 

[interbear]

You’re already second guessing your config so that alone I would just get the i9. I feel the sweet spot is i9 2.3/32gb/1TB/5500m as all options are balanced. This should last you many years.

Exactly the config I went for. So I agree Also agree that second guessing a config so much probably means that the alternative, slightly upgraded config (i9 in this case) is probably sensible just so that the OP is happier. Happiness is under rated with tech purchases, there is far too much pragmatism around these days

 

[nozveradu]

contrary to most people's opinions. I think the GPU upgrade is really not worth it even though it is the cheapest upgrade available. The reason being:
1. if you do gaming, the performance gain is less than 10%, any game you can play with 5500 you can do with 5300, and any game you can't do with 5300, you can't do with 5500 as well (the gpu is not powerful enough to take benefit from higher vram on higher resolutions)
2. if you do editing (video/photo), it makes even less difference going from 5300 to 5500 (4gb or 8gb)
I have watched a tons of benchmarks and that's the conclusion I draw.

Now, answering the question of base model vs higher-end model.

If I were to save some money and buy the base model (highest value IMO), I would buy it as is with no upgrade. 16GB is sufficient in 2-3 years to come (for normal usage, not heavy multi-tasking with multiple VMs), and the 512GB should be sufficient (you need external storage for your media library anyways).

Why? Because you can sell it after 2-3 years and bear the minimum loss. Besides lower specs, the base model default configuration gets to enjoy everything this new gen has put up on the table, better keyboard, better speaker, better microphone, etc... So you actually get the best value out of your hard-earned money.

If you were to get the i9 model, I would only upgrade the ram to make it more future-proof (even though I never believed in this as I change my laptops almost every year). That being said, it is still not as good of an option considering Intel will be rolling out these new 10nm CPUs next year, and all the upgrade you spend on the machine depreciates simultaneously (the more you spent, the more you lose). Therefore, the resale value would be low compare to the first option.

Conclusion, 2 routes:
1. you get the cheapest model possible since it is actually quite usable after apple bumped the default storage
2. get i9 with 32G ram, you'll feel more content now and be happy for the next 6 months (before the new cpu came out), even though you will likely lose way more when you decide to upgrade in the future.

 

[gxxr]

You’re going to have to use external drives if you only have 1TB SSD, but that’s an easy enough fix with cheap external drives that can stay at your desk.

Yeah, I would love more, but you have to set your limit somewhere. I think 1TB internally should be enough to work with, and I'm used to offloading data to external disks already.

Heck, even browsers use a ton of RAM nowadays. It really amuses me that anyone would think 16GB RAM is sufficient today let alone in five years.

I also don't understand that. Even relatively simple applications gobble up RAM like its nothing these days. And taking the minimum that's acceptable today is pretty much a guarantee that it won't be fine after the next OS update or in 2 years.

So I take it, not a big fan of the i7?

I saw in another thread that you're getting 1.5 days out of your i7. How many hours is that exactly?
Anyone here with an i9 that can report the same?

You’re already second guessing your config so that alone I would just get the i9. I feel the sweet spot is i9 2.3/32gb/1TB/5500m as all options are balanced. This should last you many years.

Like I said: If I'd ordered the i9, and it turned out that the i7 has longer battery life and runs cooler, I'd also be second-guessing the config. It's about the "overall best compromise" for me.
Other than that, I agree with you. The config you've specified is my exact alternative.

What I've done is I tried ordering the i9 configuration, but it hasn't gone through yet. As I said, you're only allowed one edu-store order per year, so maybe that's why. If it goes through, I should have about one weekend with both machines to compare them. If it doesn't...well, my i7 should arrive on Tuesday, and then I'll see. Sending back the i7, waiting for Apple to register my "0 purchases in 2019" and only then ordering might be a little painful in terms of waiting time. But of course, it's worth it with this kind of purchase.

 

[SpitUK]

I would absolutely send it back and get the i9. If you are going to keep it for 2-3 years then all the MBP’s will be 8 core by then. With the multi core Mac Pro software will be more optimised for cores going forward.

 

[Kronsteen]

May I offer a slightly different perspective?

Three observations:

• For over seven years, I have been using a 2012 retina MBP (2.6GHz, quad-core, 16GB). For me, it is perfectly adequate for Lightroom (using quite large RAW or DNG files).
• For amateur photo and video processing, both the i7 and i9 current models are so good that there arguably isn't a wrong answer (hence the difficulty of coming up with a single correct answer). RAM and GPU storage are probably more important, particularly if you might be using one or more very large, high resolution monitors.
• If battery life or heat (or both) are concerns, some of the ways in which Lightroom can be optimised might have a greater bearing (limiting preview sizes, for examples). See https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/lightroom-classic/kb/optimize-performance-lightroom.html

Either way, it really isn't worth spending any time worrying about.

(I am only upgrading my 2012 rMBP to a 16" now because the dGPU is dead and I want to be able to use a TB3-attached eGPU, for other work. If it was only for Lightroom, I would not be wasting the time or money upgrading.)

 

[kp98077]

Yeah, I would love more, but you have to set your limit somewhere. I think 1TB internally should be enough to work with, and I'm used to offloading data to external disks already.



I also don't understand that. Even relatively simple applications gobble up RAM like its nothing these days. And taking the minimum that's acceptable today is pretty much a guarantee that it won't be fine after the next OS update or in 2 years.



I saw in another thread that you're getting 1.5 days out of your i7. How many hours is that exactly?
Anyone here with an i9 that can report the same?
That is about 10-12 hours I would say, pretty amazing, however I swapped out my unit for an i9 yesterday thanks to pre-black friday deals, differences was only $300, so far love the speed bump... will see later this week about batter have to give it a few days to index. I swear this keyboard is even higher! LOL


Like I said: If I'd ordered the i9, and it turned out that the i7 has longer battery life and runs cooler, I'd also be second-guessing the config. It's about the "overall best compromise" for me.
Other than that, I agree with you. The config you've specified is my exact alternative.

What I've done is I tried ordering the i9 configuration, but it hasn't gone through yet. As I said, you're only allowed one edu-store order per year, so maybe that's why. If it goes through, I should have about one weekend with both machines to compare them. If it doesn't...well, my i7 should arrive on Tuesday, and then I'll see. Sending back the i7, waiting for Apple to register my "0 purchases in 2019" and only then ordering might be a little painful in terms of waiting time. But of course, it's worth it with this kind of purchase.

 

[AustinIllini]

I7. I'm in that position as an amateur everything that I could really go with an even lesser processor but I really want the large screen and the stellar keyboard.

 

[danwells]

One thing to watch out for with disabling turbo boost is that these machines settle in significantly above the (very low) base clock, even on very tough multi-threaded workloads. One reviewer ran CineBench repeatedly on a 2.4 gHz i9, and found that it ended up running at 3.2-3.3 gHz even when fully thermally saturated. It started off even faster than that, but even its "heated up" speed was well above base clock. Anything that disables turbo boost is going to cut nearly a full gHz off of what the machine can sustain, as well as even more than that in burst speed.

I'm going for the 2.4 gHz i9 on the theory that it is the best binned CPU, which will result in the coolest running for the same workload...

 

[dead flag blues]

My 2019 16" MBP i9 2.4ghz 32GB 2TB 5500M w/ 8GB GDDR6 is swapping like mad today. Admittedly, I'm working with tons of polygons in Rhino/Grasshopper.

Seeing RAM usage hovering between 16-23 GB with a handful of Safari tabs and a virtually empty Rhino session is a drag.

It seems that I need a machine with 64 GB. Never thought I'd say that.

 

[Strangedream]

While the i7 has a faster base clock speed I read on several benchmarks that the single core performance was actually better on the i9. Go figure.

 

[gxxr]

I just received my i7, a day early.

First things I noticed:
-) I love the new keyboard. I feel at home again.
-) I love the speakers, but they're not very important for me.
-) I got used to the screen size in about 10 minutes' time. Going back to the 13", the latter feels tiny.
-) I have coil whine whenever the SSD is active. It isn't very loud, but it bothers me.
-) After the initial updates, I'm now just surfing the web. Activity Monitors shows only 6h0 remaining time with a battery that's currently at 100%. I hope that will improve.
-) I imported 250 RAW images to Lightroom. This was an interesting test, because it maxed out the i7 CPU for over four minutes. This leads me to believe that having additional cores would be good for me.
-) A freshly booted system running Lightroom and Photoshop and importing those RAW files used about 26Gb of memory. So I'm pretty sure that going with 32Gb is no mistake.
-) While generating smart previews in LR, the system was running at 97°C and an average frequency of 3.39ghz. Not sure whether that's good or bad or standard for this system? In any case, it stayed perfectly usable and wasn't very warm on the top side.

All in all, I don't dislike it. The coil whine is a bother, but it seems that it is related to the ssd, not the processor. The battery life is not yet what I expect, but it's just an algorithmic estimate at this point, we'll see what a real test shows. The question is now (even more than before): Does the i9 work better for me?

My i9 order hasn't moved yet. It seems we don't get the extended return period in Austria, so it's a bit of a close call whether I will get to test both devices together. We shall see.

 

[alfogator]

I just received my i7, a day early.

First things I noticed:
-) I love the new keyboard. I feel at home again.
-) I love the speakers, but they're not very important for me.
-) I got used to the screen size in about 10 minutes' time. Going back to the 13", the latter feels tiny.
-) I have coil whine whenever the SSD is active. It isn't very loud, but it bothers me.
-) After the initial updates, I'm now just surfing the web. Activity Monitors shows only 6h0 remaining time with a battery that's currently at 100%. I hope that will improve.
-) I imported 250 RAW images to Lightroom. This was an interesting test, because it maxed out the i7 CPU for over four minutes. This leads me to believe that having additional cores would be good for me.
-) A freshly booted system running Lightroom and Photoshop and importing those RAW files used about 26Gb of memory. So I'm pretty sure that going with 32Gb is no mistake.
-) While generating smart previews in LR, the system was running at 97°C and an average frequency of 3.39ghz. Not sure whether that's good or bad or standard for this system? In any case, it stayed perfectly usable and wasn't very warm on the top side.

All in all, I don't dislike it. The coil whine is a bother, but it seems that it is related to the ssd, not the processor. The battery life is not yet what I expect, but it's just an algorithmic estimate at this point, we'll see what a real test shows. The question is now (even more than before): Does the i9 work better for me?

My i9 order hasn't moved yet. It seems we don't get the extended return period in Austria, so it's a bit of a close call whether I will get to test both devices together. We shall see.

I don't speak German, I just opened the Italian page about returns and put AT as country:

Rückgabebedingungen für die Weihnachtszeit
Im Apple Online Store gekaufte Artikel, die zwischen dem 15. November 2019 und 25. Dezember 2019 ausgeliefert werden, können bis einschließlich 8. Januar 2020 zurückgegeben werden. Alle sonstigen Rückgabe- und Erstattungsbedingungen des Apple Online Store bleiben für die gekauften Artikel gültig. Jegliche nach dem 25. Dezember 2019 getätigten Käufe unterliegen den regulären Rückgabebedingungen.

Just looking at the numbers it seems you have the same policy as we do.

Edit: I used google translate, we get to jan 20 while in Austria it's up to jan 6, still more than 14 days tho.

 

[am2am]

If you purchase at apple you should have extended return: https://www.apple.com/at/shop/help/returns_refund

You've ordered 1TB SSD -correct? coil whine is bothering me. I should get mine in 2 days - will see how it works (2TB SSD in my case)

 

[gxxr]

I don't speak German, I just opened the Italian page about returns and put AT as country:

If you purchase at apple you should have extended return: https://www.apple.com/at/shop/help/returns_refund

Thanks for looking that up guys! It's strange, because I went into my order status page and clicked on "return item" just to see what happens, and I was told I only had until Dec 9th to return it. Might be the software doesn't know about it. If I want to use the extended period, I guess I'll have to call Apple before the 9th to find out.

You've ordered 1TB SSD -correct? coil whine is bothering me. I should get mine in 2 days - will see how it works (2TB SSD in my case)

Correct, 1TB. Someone here on the forum collected statistics, and it seems that 512GB, 1TB and 2TB models are affected (though not all of them), while 4TB and 8TB models don't seem to be. Not sure how accurate that is.

 

[ryansebiz]

I usually only buy a new Mac every 4 or 5 years so I go with the high-end model since I'll be using it for several years. So I recommend the i9.

 

[evoixdan]

Hi,

I don't usually ask advice on forums, but after days of research without results, I feel I must.
I have ordered the 16" mbp i7, with upgraded memory (32gb), upgraded ssd (1tb) and upgraded graphics (8gb). Now a weird case of buyer's remorse has set it, as I'm wondering if I should have gone for the i9 after all for a modest price increase.

I'm currently using a 2017 13" mbp, but got into heavily into photography in 2018, so it's just not the right machine for me anymore. Its 8gb of memory are severely limiting and I spend a lot of time looking at the spinning wheel. I also want the bigger screen.

I use Lightroom, Capture One, Photoshop and Indesign (aside from normal office and web stuff, which really doesn't deserve any consideration when picking an MBP consideration). I'm planning to add (4k) video to my portfolio in the coming months/years, so I would like my laptop to be ready for that (Adobe premiere, mainly).

My thinking in picking the i7 was that Adobe apps aren't optimized for multi-core usage anyway, and the i7 runs at a higher base clock speed. I was also hoping it might run cooler and longer than a higher-end cpu, so I thought why spend money on something that might not even have a positive effect.

Reading on the forums I came across the (probably valid) consideration that an i9 spec will yield a better resale value later on. I also found some opinions that the i9s might be "higher bin cpus", thereby working more efficiently. Some benchmarks seem to indicate that the i9 performs better with Adobe after all.

So the question is: Should I return the i7 when it arrives next week, and order the i9 (lower spec version) instead (same components otherwise, but 8 cores instead of 6)? How much of a performance difference can I really expect with what I do? Will there even be a performance increase, considering the higher base clock speed of the i7, or will it be the same or worse? Will battery life/heat be any different?

I realize that the performance difference won't be huge in any case - but I don't want to spend the next 3-5 years wondering why I didn't spend that little bit more for the i9.

Please help, this is driving me crazy

I bought the 16” i7 with 32 gig ram 1TB SSD and 8 gig 5500 and returned it for the i9 variant because it was worth the money to not have that nagging at me for the next 3-5 years.

EDIT: I watched tally ho techs review of the i7 with the same configuration and he was complaining about the i7 not being able to keep the voltage and the Screen nits not being as high as the i9 config. I thought my screen looked pretty dim unless you had the brightness all the way up. I also had the speaker popping issue.

kinda glad I returned it after watching his vid. Having the i9 was worth the extra $100 and hopefully this second MBP doesn’t have the screen/speaker issue.

 

[gxxr]

I bought the 16” i7 with 32 gig ram 1TB SSD and 8 gig 5500 and returned it for the i9 variant because it was worth the money to not have that nagging at me for the next 3-5 years.

I'm leaning towards that option as well. Regardless of whether I'm going to send back the i7, I will keep testing it for a couple of days though to establish a base line regarding battery life and real-life performance.

While I wait for the i9 order, I'm starting to think about my next decision. I was planning on selling my 13" MBP to help offset the cost. On the other hand, it seems they went down in price quite a bit (more than usual for apple Laptops). And I need a backup system of some kind (I'm using the MBP for my side business, so while I'm not making a huge amount of money with it, I have contractual obligations and need reliability). So far, my setup was the MBP 13", and an ipad air 2 with bluetooth keyboard for emergencies.
I could keep going with the ipad air 2 (which has a minorly cracked screen by now :/ ) as a backup. But I could also keep the 13" MBP as a much more powerful option. It seems like a waste though, because it will be lying around uselessly most of the time, and it seems too expensive for that.
An ipad pro with the keyboard cover is another option. Since I now have a bigger laptop that I might not carry with me all the time like I did with the 13", having a smaller, on-the-road-solution is appealing. On the other hand, that will cost me about the same as what I will get for the 13".
(Yes, GAS is definitely part of the thought process, don't even call me out on it!

 

[interbear]

I'm leaning towards that option as well. Regardless of whether I'm going to send back the i7, I will keep testing it for a couple of days though to establish a base line regarding battery life and real-life performance.

While I wait for the i9 order, I'm starting to think about my next decision. I was planning on selling my 13" MBP to help offset the cost. On the other hand, it seems they went down in price quite a bit (more than usual for apple Laptops). And I need a backup system of some kind (I'm using the MBP for my side business, so while I'm not making a huge amount of money with it, I have contractual obligations and need reliability). So far, my setup was the MBP 13", and an ipad air 2 with bluetooth keyboard for emergencies.
I could keep going with the ipad air 2 (which has a minorly cracked screen by now :/ ) as a backup. But I could also keep the 13" MBP as a much more powerful option. It seems like a waste though, because it will be lying around uselessly most of the time, and it seems too expensive for that.
An ipad pro with the keyboard cover is another option. Since I now have a bigger laptop that I might not carry with me all the time like I did with the 13", having a smaller, on-the-road-solution is appealing. On the other hand, that will cost me about the same as what I will get for the 13".
(Yes, GAS is definitely part of the thought process, don't even call me out on it!

In your scenario I would:

(1) Go with the i9 MBP16, too much time questioning it already suggests that you know this will be the inevitable outcome ? (I was the same on the 16 v 32 GB RAM dilemma and went with 32 as I was nagging myself about whether 16 would be enough in a couple of years).
(2) Sell the MBP13, I don’t personally see any point managing two laptops. I’m also upgrading to the MBP16 from a 13 and am handing my 13 down to my daughter.
(3) Buy a second hand or refurb iPad Pro with a keyboard as your mobile back up. iPads are good mobile companions for media consumption etc so a slightly different, and in my view practical use case than having a 2nd laptop.

 

[gxxr]

(1) Go with the i9 MBP16, too much time questioning it already suggests that you know this will be the inevitable outcome ? (I was the same on the 16 v 32 GB RAM dilemma and went with 32 as I was nagging myself about whether 16 would be enough in a couple of years).

Yeah, it's a €130 difference. Unless the i9 really was worse in any significant way (battery life, ...) it's probably a no-brainer. Still lacking data to back that up, but maybe soon...

(2) Sell the MBP13, I don’t personally see any point managing two laptops. I’m also upgrading to the MBP16 from a 13 and am handing my 13 down to my daughter.

Yep, a second MBP would be a little annoying. Keeping software up to date, never having a file where I expect it (but on the other machine), ...

(3) Buy a second hand or refurb iPad Pro with a keyboard as your mobile back up. iPads are good mobile companions for media consumption etc so a slightly different, and in my view practical use case than having a 2nd laptop.

Mhm, that makes sense. I do use my iPad differently to what I do with the laptop (and even with the somewhat lifted restrictions of iPad OS, doing actual work is still terribly inefficient on an iPad vs. a MBP). But as a Backup, it could do most things, in addition to being a very nice media consumption device.

I might wait for the next iPad pro update though. Maybe apple will be moving away from ridiculously small storage sizes with the ipad as well? (One can hope)

 

[gxxr]

Latest news: My i9 has been shipped. So the edu restrictions don't seem to be handled too strictly.
If shipping takes the same time as for the i7, I'll have it on Monday. Great, that gives me enough time to compare both.