Like a lot of you I was somewhat unenamoured with the new 2016 MacBook Pro lineup. A stupid touch bar does not an innovation make. Quite frankly I was a bit annoyed having waited 2 years for them to refresh the MacBook Pro only to be rewarded with lacklustre hardware and a price markup. So yeah screw you Apple, it’s time to check out some alternatives.
I have a few prerequisites of course:
At least 16 GB RAM #
As I do most of my development using Docker containers more memory is always good. Ideally I would love 32 GB, but I can live with 16.
13-15" screen #
13" is acceptable, 15" is nicer
Nice resolution #
1920x1080 just doesn’t cut it anymore.
After doing some research and watching/reading quite a few reviews & Hackernews/Reddit comments I’ve come up with the following alternatives:
So to compare prices (I’m in Holland, so prices will be in euros) I’ve decided to compare the 13" & 15" Mac Pros configured to my specifications to the competition.
13" #
| 2.4GHz 13-inch MacBook Pro | 3.3GHz 13-inch MacBook Pro | Dell XPS 13 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | 2.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i7-6660U | 3.3GHz dual‑core Intel Core i7-6567U | 2.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i7-7500U |
| RAM | 16GB 1866‑MHz memory | 16 GB 2133‑MHz memory | 16GB LPDDR3 1866‑MHz memory |
| HD | 512 GB PCIe‑SSD | 512 GB PCIe‑SSD | 512 GB PCIe‑SSD |
| Graphics | Intel Iris Graphics 540 | Intel Iris Graphics 550 | Intel HD 620 |
| Resolution | 2560x1600 | 2560x1600 | 3200x1800 |
| Price | € 2.539,00 | € 2.799,00 | € 2.007,39 |
15" #
| 2.6GHz 15-inch Macbook Pro | 2.7GHz 15-inch Macbook Pro | Dell XPS 15 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | 2,6‑GHz quad‑core Intel Core i7-6700HQ | 2,7‑GHz quad‑core Intel Core i7-6820HQ | 2,6‑GHz quad‑core Intel Core i7-6700HQ |
| RAM | 16 GB 2133‑MHz memory | 16 GB 2133‑MHz memory | 16 GB DDR4 2133‑MHz memory |
| HD | 512 GB PCIe‑SSD | 512 GB PCIe‑SSD | 512 GB PCIe‑SSD |
| Graphics | Radeon Pro 450 with 2 GB memory | Radeon Pro 455 with 2 GB memory | Nvidia GTX 960M with 2 GB GDPR5 |
| Resolution | 2880x1800 | 2880x1800 | 3840x2160 |
| Price | € 2.939,00 | € 3.199,00 | € 2479,29 |