Apple MacBook 13" Pro 2018 - Which upgrade?

[FilipPitak]

Hi, 

 

I am planning to buy a MacBook Pro 13" 2018 any time soon. However, I do have some spare money and would like to upgrade something right off the bat, since there is no way to upgrade a CPU/RAM afterwards  

 

Specifically, I am thinking of upgrading from the i5 2.3GHz (turboboost 3.8GHz) to the i7 2.7GHZ (turboboost 4.5GHz) or a RAM update to 16GB. The difference between the cost of both upgrades is just a 100€, so I am wondering which one to get. I never understood why to get a better CPU, however I always got the best CPU I could afford and get. In comparison, a CPU is like a car and upgrading it to an i7 would mean getting a faster car (what i think). On the other hand having a greater memory allows me to manipulate larger files and have more Apps opened and use them at the same time. Am I wrong in this theory? 

 

I will be using the MacBook for iOS app developement, Pic edits in Illustrator and Photoshop, Vid. edit in Adobe Premiere and Aftereffects, and rarely games as Fortnite/CS:GO/GTA 5/... Which upgrade shall fit my usage in your opinion? Please include reasoning

 

Thank you in beforehand.

[anonvx]

20 minutes ago, FilipPitak said:

Hi, 

 

I am planning to buy a MacBook Pro 13" 2018 any time soon. However, I do have some spare money and would like to upgrade something right off the bat, since there is no way to upgrade a CPU/RAM afterwards  

 

Specifically, I am thinking of upgrading from the i5 2.3GHz (turboboost 3.8GHz) to the i7 2.7GHZ (turboboost 4.5GHz) or a RAM update to 16GB. The difference between the cost of both upgrades is just a 100€, so I am wondering which one to get. I never understood why to get a better CPU, however I always got the best CPU I could afford and get. In comparison, a CPU is like a car and upgrading it to an i7 would mean getting a faster car (what i think). On the other hand having a greater memory allows me to manipulate larger files and have more Apps opened and use them at the same time. Am I wrong in this theory? 

 

I will be using the MacBook for iOS app developement, Pic edits in Illustrator and Photoshop, Vid. edit in Adobe Premiere and Aftereffects, and rarely games as Fortnite/CS:GO/GTA 5/... Which upgrade shall fit my usage in your opinion? Please include reasoning

 

Thank you in beforehand.

Good luck playing  GTA 5 on MacBook pro. It screammmms thermal throttling. Also i7 most likely. no point in extra ram if u can't use it. Also use final cut pro instead of premiere on the mac because of poor optimization. 

[K i a r a]

Like what, Anonvx, That thing most likely wont be able to play those games, Unless you plan on using a eGPU.

[FilipPitak]

4 hours ago, K i a r a said:

Like what, Anonvx, That thing most likely wont be able to play those games, Unless you plan on using a eGPU.

When it comes to the games, ATM I just play Fortnite like once a week and poker with my friends.

 

Thnx for the respond  

[FilipPitak]

7 hours ago, anonvx said:

Good luck playing  GTA 5 on MacBook pro. It screammmms thermal throttling. Also i7 most likely. no point in extra ram if u can't use it. Also use final cut pro instead of premiere on the mac because of poor optimization. 

When it comes to the temperatures while gaming, I have a cooling mat for such cases. However, I was just curious what will be better for GTA5 even though I haven't played it over a year now. 

 

So having 16GB RAM would be useless without a "compatible"/fast enough CPU?

[GamerGirl17]

Macbooks are not gaming laptops, they are mainly designed for productivity. Why don't you opt for a gaming laptop instead and you can fit a very decent one within your budget? If portability and build quality is your concern then you really need to look into Razer Blade Stealth.

But from the options, I would go with the 16GB RAM upgrade because that makes more sense and will help me bring out more productivity while a CPU upgrade won't really help if that tiny machine is thermally throttling your performance.

[C2HWarrior]

MacOs and gaming do not get along. On top of that you've no dedicated GPU to speak of in the 13' MacBook Pro. Imo the matebook X pro is better suited to your needs. The 2018 MacBook Pro costs over $2000 to get just one of the upgrades. The Matebook gives you a 512gb SSD, the same i7 and 16gb of ram AND an mx150 all for under $2000. The mx150 will really help out in gaming.

[Tarun10]

13 hours ago, FilipPitak said:

Hi, 

 

I am planning to buy a MacBook Pro 13" 2018 any time soon. However, I do have some spare money and would like to upgrade something right off the bat, since there is no way to upgrade a CPU/RAM afterwards  

 

Specifically, I am thinking of upgrading from the i5 2.3GHz (turboboost 3.8GHz) to the i7 2.7GHZ (turboboost 4.5GHz) or a RAM update to 16GB. The difference between the cost of both upgrades is just a 100€, so I am wondering which one to get. I never understood why to get a better CPU, however I always got the best CPU I could afford and get. In comparison, a CPU is like a car and upgrading it to an i7 would mean getting a faster car (what i think). On the other hand having a greater memory allows me to manipulate larger files and have more Apps opened and use them at the same time. Am I wrong in this theory? 

 

I will be using the MacBook for iOS app developement, Pic edits in Illustrator and Photoshop, Vid. edit in Adobe Premiere and Aftereffects, and rarely games as Fortnite/CS:GO/GTA 5/... Which upgrade shall fit my usage in your opinion? Please include reasoning

 

Thank you in beforehand.

It depends if your current machine has 8GB RAM and you are able to manage with it then upgrade your CPU. Video Editing will require RAM but depends on the type of the footage you are using. I think the upgrade to i7 will be better but only if you are able to manage with 8GB now.

For a day or two whenever you are editing or developing apps keep task manager(whatever it is called on MacOS) open and see how much RAM is being used during the process. If it is lesser than 8GB then go for the i7.

[Tarun10]

7 minutes ago, C2HWarrior said:

MacOs and gaming do not get along. On top of that you've no dedicated GPU to speak of in the 13' MacBook Pro. Imo the matebook X pro is better suited to your needs. The 2018 MacBook Pro costs over $2000 to get just one of the upgrades. The Matebook gives you a 512gb SSD, the same i7 and 16gb of ram AND an mx150 all for under $2000. The mx150 will really help out in gaming.

Agree totally but he needs MacOS for iOS App development.

[Tarun10]

5 hours ago, FilipPitak said:

When it comes to the temperatures while gaming, I have a cooling mat for such cases. However, I was just curious what will be better for GTA5 even though I haven't played it over a year now. 

 

So having 16GB RAM would be useless without a "compatible"/fast enough CPU?

GTA V will be very tough to play unless you keep all settings on low. i7 will get near 80c but it will easily maintain its base clock and a little more with no problem.

Usually i5 have lesser cores than i7 and the clock speed is also lower but that does not always signify more speed. More RAM is like having more space to store files from current programs. Since RAM is very fast the files in RAM will load much quicker and this can be an advantage to some types of programs like video editing but beyond a certain limit there are no benefits.

[SeraphicWings]

You are NOT going to play GTAV, or any AAA games on a Macbook, at all, especially with the integrated GPU

 

My 2017 15 inch with a Radeon 560 struggles to play Left 4 Dead 2 at optimal resolution and settings, and it's a 9-year-old game, don't know about Fornite though. But one thing's for sure: MacOS aren't designed with gaming in mind.

 

For me I'd pick the 16GB RAM, since the i7 in the 13 inch isn't 6-cores but a better turbo boosted (which is completely unnecessary because it's gonna end up throttling before even reaching maximum turbo speed anyway), and 16GB RAM is necessary for stuffs like Photoshop, Illustrator or Premiere.

 

Oh, and try learning Final Cut Pro or Davinci Resolve. Premiere is just, suck hard, on MacOS

[Zando_]

Go for the quad core 13" if at all possible, later on you can buy a 580 or something and an eGPU box to run games better in bootcamp. The stock GPU is designed for work stuff like photo editing and video editors like FCP X that work very well with CPU + GPU. You should be able to play some less intensive games but like others said the MacBook Pros can throttle under load (IMO Apple pushed for too thin of a body for the hardware). Oh, and go for 16GB RAM for sure, 8GB is the least you want and that's if you're only doing light multitasking, though macOS is a lot easier on RAM than Windows you'll still hit the limit pretty fast if you've got a lot of stuff open.

[C2HWarrior]

2 hours ago, Tarun10 said:

Agree totally but he needs MacOS for iOS App development.

Didn't even see that whoops. Guess id pick the processor then.

[anonvx]

On ‎8‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 3:27 AM, FilipPitak said:

When it comes to the temperatures while gaming, I have a cooling mat for such cases. However, I was just curious what will be better for GTA5 even though I haven't played it over a year now. 

 

So having 16GB RAM would be useless without a "compatible"/fast enough CPU?

I'm telling you right now I don't think u can even get GTA V on MacOS. GTAV is intensive so expect 20-30 fps if ur lucky.