# Mac Book Pro 13 and Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650.



## Tinchohs (Jun 9, 2017)

I'm considering moving from a 15 inch top of the line to a 13 inch top of the line Mac Book Pro. I wanted to know if anyone is currently using this configuration (or similar) to run Lightroom. I shoot RAW between 24 and 50 MB files, mostly no video editing. Would this be an adequate choice or will I regret the downgrade? Thanks so much. m.


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## Johan Elzenga (Jun 9, 2017)

Tinchohs said:


> I'm considering moving from a 15 inch top of the line to a 13 inch top of the line Mac Book Pro. I wanted to know if anyone is currently using this configuration (or similar) to run Lightroom. I shoot RAW between 24 and 50 MB files, mostly no video editing. Would this be an adequate choice or will I regret the downgrade? Thanks so much. m.



I use a maxed out 13" MacBook Pro 2016 with Touchbar when I travel, and I'm very happy with it. I can't compare it with a 15" however, because my previous MacBook was a 2011 MacBook Air.


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## Victoria Bampton (Jun 9, 2017)

Is it your only/main machine, or secondary? If it was main, I'd go 15" for its quad core processor and separate graphics card. For a secondary machine, 13" dual core works great.


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## clee01l (Jun 9, 2017)

I have a late 2012 13" MBP. I'll go along with what the others have said.   The dual core makes a great travel machine. But it would be tiresome if it were the only machine that I had for LR. 
My (older) intel graphics does not meet LR's requirements as a GPU. At this point, using the GPU for an additional processor isn't that beneficial (albeit would give you a third core in the develop mode where it is used).


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## Tinchohs (Jun 9, 2017)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Is it your only/main machine, or secondary? If it was main, I'd go 15" for its quad core processor and separate graphics card. For a secondary machine, 13" dual core works great.


Thanks Victoria. This helps. It would be my only computer. I wanted to lighten the load for those times I travel - for photography and non-photography. But it seems based on the feedback that it would not be ideal for every day as the only computer.


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## Victoria Bampton (Jun 9, 2017)

It's certainly usable, but it wouldn't be my choice as a main machine. Obviously it would depend on how much editing you plan to do, and how much time you have to spare, but I'd go 15" in your situation (and that comes from a 2016 13" owner).


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## PaulJK (Dec 10, 2017)

Tinchohs said:


> I'm considering moving from a 15 inch top of the line to a 13 inch top of the line Mac Book Pro. I wanted to know if anyone is currently using this configuration (or similar) to run Lightroom. I shoot RAW between 24 and 50 MB files, mostly no video editing. Would this be an adequate choice or will I regret the downgrade? Thanks so much. m.



Hi, I recently bought the late-2017 13" Macbook Pro (without touchbar) and it runs Lightroom and Photoshop absolutely fine with RAW files even over long periods. I previously had a mid-2014 15" macbook pro.  There hasn't been any difference yet.  I also use Adobe Illustrator a lot as well (but not Premiere Pro).


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## Tinchohs (Dec 10, 2017)

PaulJK said:


> Hi, I recently bought the late-2017 13" Macbook Pro (without touchbar) and it runs Lightroom and Photoshop absolutely fine with RAW files even over long periods. I previously had a mid-2014 15" macbook pro. There hasn't been any difference yet. I also use Adobe Illustrator a lot as well (but not Premiere Pro).



Thanks Paul. I appreciate this update. Although I use Lightroom, it's not a heavy use. I don't shoot professionally and I have always a fine art long term project running, but it's simple. No video, just RAW images. So I'm tempted, specially because I travel for work, to have a lighter machine.  m.


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## PaulJK (Dec 10, 2017)

No problem.  I did a search for this question yesterday because I couldn't decide myself for a couple of months and there weren't any real answers. So I thought I'd provide a real-world answer as opposed to being just another 15" user taking a guess. The MacWorld site said it's not the best choice for creatives (in comparison to the 15", which is an obvious thing to say), but they are assuming 'creatives' will do a lot of intense 3D and Video. The 13" pro has a different / better processor now to when it first came out as well. Because my 15" pro had a separate graphics card I was worried having an integrated one would cause problems, but it doesn't at all. I often have half a dozen RAW files open at any one time, and I've also yet to encounter a situation where the screen size has been an issue either (which I thought might be the case with the Adobe Illustrator work that I do - although in fairness I do have a large desktop monitor if this ever did become a problem). Anyway, I absolutely love it and saved myself £1000 because I almost got the 15" with touchbar (which is an amazing computer to be fair).  The one I went for was the 8GB / 256GB without the touchbar.  I'm actually away at the moment visiting friends, but what I might do when I get back is see how many RAW files I'll need to open / edit before the lag kicks in.  I have a Canon 6D and the out of camera RAW files tend to be around 25-27MB.


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## PaulJK (Dec 10, 2017)

One thing I would add as well is if I was going to go for the maxed out / top of the range 13", in that case I would have gone for 15" because the price differential there isn't that great and you'd end up getting a lot more for the extra few hundred pounds / dollars of the 15". I went for the above option because it was a big cash saving and I didn't see any reason to get a top of the range 13" either


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