Should I get the Touchbar or not? (PLEASE HELP)

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Level 1

4 points

Should I get the Touchbar or not? (PLEASE HELP)

Hello everyone,

(Budget around $2000 for a 13 in Macbook Pro). I will use this computer primarily for school (psych major), video/image editing, itunes and maybe the occasional game. I want it to last me a while and don't know whether I should just ditch the touchbar for a better processor and if it really makes a difference. I usually only have 3 applications at most open at once which are itunes, final cut pro and some kind of browser. Is it even worth getting 16gb of ram? or should I go for 8gb and more storage... I need some help!!!

I am not sure whether I should get the: $1969.00

Touch Bar and Touch ID
3.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz
16GB 2133MHz LPDDR3 memory
256GB SSD storage
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650
4 Thunderbolt 3 ports

Or whether I should go no touchbar: $1899.99

2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.0GHz
16GB 2133MHz LPDDR3 memory
256GB SSD storage
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640
2 Thunderbolt 3 ports

MacBook Pro

Posted on Jun 25, 2017 9:05 PM

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Answer 1

tjk

Level 9

51,192 points

Jun 25, 2017 9:45 PM in response to Joffregaming

Hi,

I would go for the non-TB model, with 16GBs of RAM, and if at all possible, 512GBs of storage.

Research the TB and see if you would really use it. I wouldn't.

16GBs of RAM is for sure. 8GBs will suffice for now, but as OSes and apps get more and more RAM hungry to run efficiently, 16GBs will be much needed. If it's a choice between 16GBs of RAM and 512GBs of storage, get the RAM.

The TB model has two extra Thunderbolt 3 ports, so you'll have to decide if you need them or not. If so, that's obviously a big factor. It also has slightly stronger graphics support.

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Answer 2

Jun 26, 2017 9:23 AM in response to Joffregaming

Absolutely get the 16gb ram. If you want a computer to last you a while as you said, one of the things which definitely prolongs the usefulness of a laptop is to have enough ram. Storage may feel a bit tight at 256gb, unless you do a lot of your storage in the cloud, so if you can swing 512gb you'll be happier. That said, if you have to choose between ram and storage, I personally always recommend ram, since it extends the usefulness of the computer by a year or two.

I suspect you won't see much difference in the output of those two processors. They seem to perform similarly on Geekbench.

Regarding the touchbar, that's a preference thing. I was torn between the two myself; but what made the decision was that the touchbar has no manual brightness control. So people report that if you have the screen and keyboard at the dimmest setting, the touchbar is positively glaring in contrast.

Hope that helps.

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