Macbook Pro 16" upgrade? Off the shelf or add on memory etc

[O Design]

Hi  

 

My current Macbook Pro (late 2015)  is slow with VW 2019 / VW2020. I have waited for the Macbook Pro 16" to come out. I am in Australia and end of year sales at various electronics stores  are selling it at $400 cheaper than the Apple Store  for the standard off the shelf  models.  Upgrading the specs means getting it from Apple and spending a lot more  money ($1240 at least). The size of the hard drive is not an issue as I do not keep much on my laptop. I  have a souped up 2015 Imac in the office - it will be significantly slower than the new off the shelf 16" mind you according to the Cinebench R20 scores. I will upgrade the Imac sometime soon. I like to have 2 computers - can render on one and work on reports on the other when in the office and I do a lot of my work on the move both for my own clients and for other architects  hence I need a laptop. 

 

Has anyone had experience with the 16" performance with the i9 8 core, 16gb, 2.3 ghz 4gb,  5500m graphic chip for 3d VW for and rendering? I can upgrade the 16gb  memory later but NOT the graphics card  and it's memory.

 

If the off the shelf  model is fine with rendering in VW etc  I will take the saving and put that money and the money I would spend on upgrading memory etc  towards a new desktop.

 

Thanks

 

PS   I am in a Mac environment and all of the architects I work for use Apple so a PC is not an option. 

 

Edited December 30, 2019 by O Design
Clarity

[zoomer]

I think the 16" Macbook Pro is great for VW and standard RW Rendering.

Of course a same specced Desktop is faster and cheaper (iMac ?)

But for nearly all Adobe 2D and Video stuff, the MBP 16 is faster or

on par with a new 12 core Mac Pro though.

 

You can check Cinebench R15 or R20 results of those CPUs/devices,

as that is exactly what RW Rendering does. E.g. here

Double the CB points means just half the Render Time.

 

You can't change the RAM, it is also soldered.

16 GB may normally be enough for VW usage, 32 GB may be better

for the future.

 

If I would, I personally would go for the lower i9 8 core, 32 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD

and best GPU.

[Andrew Davies]

Hi 

 

I have a MacBook Pro 16".  I went for the 2.3 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9 and upgraded the memory to 32GB (as Zoomer says, this can't be done post purchase)

 

I had a 2017 MBP prior - it definitely feels snappier.  VWX 2020 still doesn't perform great on it though - so don't expect it to be a magic bullet.