Looking to buy a new Macbook Pro - advice needed

[Venga]

Dear BG

I am looking to buy a new Macbook Pro (yeah, boo! hiss! etc etc).

I’ll lay down a bit of information about myself and then the two options i have in an attempt to shed some light on the situation!

Me

Im a Graphic Designer. I spend about 9 hours a day on either Photoshop, Illustrator or In Design. I never do 3D work and rarely do any animation. I occasionally code.

I don’t game on the machine. 95% of the free time is spent on the internet either browsing or watching tv.


Macs

I have two options when it comes to Macbook Pros to buy.


OPTION 1 (Second hand but in amazing condition - very well looked after)

Macbook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013)
Processor - 2.4 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory - 8GB 1600 MHz DDR3 - (This CAN’T be updated because it is fused to the motherboard)
Graphics - Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB PLUS Discrete NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M
Storage - 256 GB Flash Storage

PRICE - Unsure - need to make an offer - £2000 Brand new.


OPTION 2 (A new machine)

Macbook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, New)
Processor - 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.4 GHz
Memory - 16GB 1600 MHz DDR3 - (I would update too 16GB when purchased.)
Graphics - Intel Iris Pro Graphics
Storage - 256 GB Flash Storage

PRICE - £1599 (£1359 with 15% Student)


The main differences between the two machines are:


OPTION 1
Discrete Graphic Card

OPTION 2
Turbo Boost of 3.4GHz on professor
16GB Ram


So in a rough attempt to sum up

1 - Which machine is better suited for me?
2 - How much should i offer for the second hand machine?
3 - Is a discrete graphics card better than extra 8GB ram + a brand new mac?

Or surprise option 4 - are apple planning to release a new Macbook Pro anytime soon!?



Any help on this will be massively appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

[The Stig]

The GT650m is a decent card but on a retina screen that might prove futile if you play (modern) games at native res. As you don't even play games, the Iris Pro should do you good (there's still a gap, but it has been closed somewhat these days).

I would try and chuck £500 at that machine (but whenever Apple products are involved, second hand prices varies greatly. Some people just put too much of a value on it). The 16gb Ram of the new model would make it last for you.

Would go brand new personally, I rather not introduce the risk of the machine potentially developing a fault unbeknownst to itself later down the line. Everything will just be a pain in the ass to fix.

[nayaminfenrir]

While some people have had luck buying 2nd hand tech, I never have. If you could afford it, go with the newer machine. You'll know what you're getting, and you'll have warranty backup if anything goes wrong. Also, 16GB RAM is pretty important for what you're doing.

.02

[Darus Grey]

Given your needs, get the machine with more ram. Ram is more of a limit to Adobe than CPU.


Also, depending on time-frame, in the near future(next month or two) I might be upgrading and would have a 15inch Retina 2.3ghz/16GB/ Nvidia 750M model for sale. If you're not planning to buy for awhile should check in with me

[Venga]

Cheers for the replies guys.

I've asked around a few other places and more people seem to feel the second option is the way forward. Apparently the Intel Iris card is more than capable of handling Photoshop and as nayaminfenrir said, the ram seems vital too.

Plus getting a new machine is always nice :D

[The Stig]

Intel Iris should be irrelevant here (Photoshop is more CPU intensive than GPU as far as I know).

But Iris is good that if you need to run some games it'll run them, just not pretty, but it's slightly better than the Intel HD series. I don't have the proper figures as it depends on the CPU, but either way without an onboard card is that it'll probably run cooler with no dedicated GPU to worry about.