Resolved Another MBP16 "how to spec" thread?

[Muyfa666]

Well, the title says it all, I'm gonna replace my MBP13 with the new MBP16.

My usage is very simple, music, movies, websurfing and maybe just a little bit of light gaming. Overkill with a MBP16? Yes, but I want good stuff around me.

i7 vs i9? Most games/apps don't even take advantage of 7 cores, so this is a toss-up. However, will either choice run hotter and therefore be smarter to avoid?

RAM: 16gb seem plenty for my usage, even a couple of years from now. Yes/no?

GPU: This I'm gonna max.

SSD: Probably 1tb will be enough for me.

Thoughts?

 

[matram]

As you currently have a MBP13, use that as a baseline.

Check how much memory and disk you are using.

I would assume 16 GB is sufficient, disk only you can tell.

The i7 will surely be enough.

I would think the base graphics should be OK, given that it is a big step up from the 2019 13" which does not even have a discrete GPU.

 

[MrGunnyPT]

Well, the title says it all, I'm gonna replace my MBP13 with the new MBP16.

My usage is very simple, music, movies, websurfing and maybe just a little bit of light gaming. Overkill with a MBP16? Yes, but I want good stuff around me.

i7 vs i9? Most games/apps don't even take advantage of 7 cores, so this is a toss-up. However, will either choice run hotter and therefore be smarter to avoid?

RAM: 16gb seem plenty for my usage, even a couple of years from now. Yes/no?

GPU: This I'm gonna max.

SSD: Probably 1tb will be enough for me.

Thoughts?

I actually went from the 2017 TB 13" to the 16" Base model. Turns out GPU on the base model is more than enough and 16GB / i7 6 core is pretty good for the virtualisation work I do.

 

[maflynn]

Thoughts?

Overall, I think an i7/5500M with 16GB and a 1TB storage will be a nicely configured computer for your stated needs.

 

[chrono1081]

If it's in your budget I would go 32 gigs of ram. Will you need that much? Likely not, but A. It'll help your resell value and B. You may find a hobby you enjoy that's a bit more ram intensive and now you'll have it.

 

[maflynn]

It'll help your resell value and B

I'm not sold (see what I did there ) on helping the resale value. From what I see and experienced, people buying used computers typically look for the cheapest price, so higher spec'd computers with a higher price tag have a more difficult time.

Secondly, the use case for 32GB is somewhat narrow and not going to change markedly in the next 5+ years. That is hardware requirements have been very stable for the last 6 or 7 years and are not looking to move much

 

[-narcan-]

If it's in your budget I would go 32 gigs of ram. Will you need that much? Likely not, but A. It'll help your resell value and B. You may find a hobby you enjoy that's a bit more ram intensive and now you'll have it.

I’d disagree it will ‘help’ resale. In that you’re not getting any more back than you’re putting in.

As you admit, he probably doesn’t need it, so I’d suspect it’s a waste of money upgrading to it.

Also money aside, extra ram will drain battery slightly more

 

[jimmy43]

I think if you do any upgrade you should bump up the GPU Ram. Why? a) it's the cheapest upgrade b) future-proof wise, you are getting a lot of upside. All tasks that can be parallized are being converted to run on the GPU and getting massive performance gains (see Final Cut X). c) A.I. tasks are also highly parallizable and there is a trend of moving some of that to the client for security and performance reasons (e.g. faster Siri, instant translation tasks, etc). We are talking just *using* (doing inference) on AI models, not training them. These will only get more popular and common in consumer software. d) Finally any games using high res textures are dependent on GPU ram. To summarize - future of computation is the GPU not the CPU, and you want to future proof yourself as much as possible there.

 

[Muyfa666]

Thanks everybody. I'm more or less certain of the spec now. I may wait for the updated MBP13 before making a final choice... or not. We'll see. ;-)

 

[littlepud]

I believe that i9 2.3, 32 GB, 5500M 8 GB, 1 TB is the sweet spot.

 

[fathergll]

I've never regretted adding 'too' much ram or storage but without fail I have routinely regretted not adding enough. Your mileage may vary but I would wager if you opted for 32GB you will not be thinking to yourself in 5 years "Gee whiz I can't believe I upgraded this to 32GB back in 2019".

There is a possibility though you will regret the 16GB at some point and this increases the longer you hold on to it. I am still using a Mac from 2012 that has 16GB. I'm extremely glad that computer wasn't limited to 8GB which was considered a decent amount at the time.

 

[justinf77]

I believe that i9 2.3, 32 GB, 5500M 8 GB, 1 TB is the sweet spot.

Exact spec I ordered! I think is a nicely balanced machine that should serve its job well for several years, unless you absolutely need more storage. That said, knowing myself, I'll be upgrading again within a couple years anyway if new features are compelling enough.

 

[littlepud]

Exact spec I ordered! I think is a nicely balanced machine that should serve its job well for several years, unless you absolutely need more storage. That said, knowing myself, I'll be upgrading again within a couple years anyway if new features are compelling enough.

I'm now thinking of cancelling my BTO order and going with the 16" base. It's a huge price difference and the base model is suprprisingly well-balanced with 6 cores, 16 GB RAM, and 512 GB SSD. The higher-end stock model is strange, at 8 cores and1 16 GB RAM.

The other thing driving me to go with the base model is that most of my heavy workflows (transcoding, VMs) generally happens only at a desk. When I'm away from my desk (about 50-60% of the time), I'm mostly just watching videos or playing online poker, where the power of the machine becomes overkill.

 

[MrGunnyPT]

I'm now thinking of cancelling my BTO order and going with the 16" base. It's a huge price difference and the base model is suprprisingly well-balanced with 6 cores, 16 GB RAM, and 512 GB SSD. The higher-end stock model is strange, at 8 cores and1 16 GB RAM.

The other thing driving me to go with the base model is that most of my heavy workflows (transcoding, VMs) generally happens only at a desk. When I'm away from my desk (about 50-60% of the time), I'm mostly just watching videos or playing online poker, where the power of the machine becomes overkill.

i see you are some what like me. I got the base model because it's more than enough for Parallels VM alongside some light gaming (world of warcraft) while on holidays!

 

[littlepud]

i see you are some what like me. I got the base model because it's more than enough for Parallels VM alongside some light gaming (world of warcraft) while on holidays!

One thing most people are forgetting is that the base 5300M is roughly as powerful as a Vega 20, and that GPU also "only" had 4 GB of VRAM. The 5500M is the first time ever that a Macbook has the ability to take 8 GB VRAM.

I'm also thinking that there's only going to be certain specific creative professional workloads where i7 / 16 GB RAM / 5300M become a bottleneck but an i9 / 32 GB RAM / 5500M 8 GB is sufficient, like high-end photo/video editing or 3D modelling work. By the time the base model starts to choke on "normal" stuff like games or VMs, it will be time for a new machine anyway.