A CPU Upgrade Comparison: MacBook Pro 13 vs 16-Inch Models

When it comes to upgrading your MacBook Pro, one of the most important decisions you'll make is what CPU to choose. In this article, we'll compare two popular models: the base 13-inch MacBook Pro and its upgraded counterpart, the 16-inch model with a higher-end CPU.

The CPU Upgrade

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In our research, we found that the CPU upgrade from the standard i5 8th generation processor to the i7 10th generation quad-core processor increases performance in multi-threaded tasks. However, it only provides slightly more performance on single-threaded tasks. For example, our tests showed that the i7 processor scores around 1100 on single core and 4,100 on multi-core. In comparison, the lower-end CPU scores around 940 on single core.

Comparison with Other CPUs

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However, this upgrade comes at a cost - $300 extra for the upgraded model. But how does it compare to other CPUs available in the market? Our research found that there are many mid-2019 MacBook Pro models with 10th generation i5 processors that offer similar performance to the upgraded model. In fact, some of these models score even higher on multi-core tests, indicating better performance for tasks like video editing and software development.

The Tenth Generation i5

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So, what makes the tenth generation i5 processor so special? According to Intel's naming conventions, it's actually just a rebranding of the 10th generation i7-1088NG7. However, our tests showed that this CPU performs significantly better in multi-threaded tasks than its lower-end counterpart.

Upgrading Your MacBook Pro

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So, should you upgrade your base model MacBook Pro to the higher-end version with an i7 processor? Our research suggests that it may not be worth it for every user. However, if you need more performance for tasks like video editing or software development, the upgraded model is definitely worth considering.

Specing Up Your MacBook Pro

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But how far should you take this upgrade? According to our tests, adding an extra 8GB of RAM for $100 is a good starting point. However, beyond that, it's not clear whether upgrading the CPU or storage makes sense. The full-size model with more storage and graphics performance seems like a better value proposition at the price.

Conclusion

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In conclusion, the decision to upgrade your MacBook Pro depends on your specific needs and budget. If you're looking for an entry-level model, the base 13-inch MacBook Pro is still a great option. However, if you need more performance or want the best of the best, the upgraded 16-inch model with an i7 processor is definitely worth considering.

Recommendation

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For our recommended machine, we suggest opting for the four-port model with the 10th generation i5 processor, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. This will give you a great balance between performance and price, and you'll get access to all the features you need without breaking the bank.

Recommendation for Upgraded Model

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If you're willing to spend more money and want the best of the best, we recommend opting for the full-size 16-inch model with an i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage. This will give you top-notch performance, graphics capabilities, and a premium build quality that justifies the higher price tag.

Final Thoughts

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For this video, I hope you found our comparison of the MacBook Pro models useful. If you're in the market for a new laptop, we'd love to hear your thoughts - be sure to give us a thumbs up if you found our article helpful!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enApple has released the new 20/20 update to the MacBook Pro 13 inch and there are two different models to choose from if you're in the market for one of these notebooks which model should you buy in a previous video we had a look at these specifications for these notebooks and considered the pricing information but at that time we didn't have any benchmarks and we didn't know what was inside these notebooks well now of course the 20/20 MacBook Pro 13 inches out in the wild people are posting their benchmark results up to Geekbench and these laptops have been featured in a couple of tear downs so we can get an idea of what's actually inside the laptop so there are basically two models to choose from one of them has two Thunderbolt 3 ports and the other one has four Thunderbolt 3 ports so to keep things simple I'm going to refer to these two editions as the 2 port and the 4 ball now what you need to know from the outset is the 4 port version has the 10th generation Intel processors in so that means much faster graphics performance the 2 port model still has the 8th generation Intel processors nothing wrong with the 8th generation processors but let's have a look at the different specifications on the Apple website now last time we looked at prices in pounds so this time we'll have a look in dollars for our us washers when you look at these specifications on the Apple website and the information about the product the only difference is it would seem is that the full port model has those extra two Thunderbolt 3 pause and it has the 10th generation processors which does mean faster RAM but Apple doesn't make any other information available about the differences between these two systems externally the laptops appear identical apart from one has two additional Thunderbolt 3 ports they have the same display it's the same chassis the same touch bar and they both have the new magic keyboard like the one that's on the 16 inch MacBook Pro but when you open up the laptop inside they are different and certainly it's the same as last year's notebooks the two port model has a single cooling fan whereas the 4 port model has two cooling fans so arguably the thermal performance in the 4 port version is better there is another slight difference that you'll see as well and that is that the batteries are slightly different in the models and the reason for that is because in the full port model it makes room for some larger speakers the audio performance on the football model is better than the two-port model of course the main difference internally is the full port model has the tenth generation Intel CPUs and this means the updated iris pro graphics which will give you significantly better graphics performance particularly when you consider that the two port version has the iris plus 645 graphics so there's quite a decent jump in performance with the new test generation Intel CPUs and the other thing that changes of course with those new generation of CPUs is that the RAM is faster so those are the differences that's what you need to know the question is which one do you buy if we have a look here on the the Apple website we can see that the entry-level price is one thousand two hundred and ninety nine dollars I'm not going to bother with any of this $99 business which is call it $1300 because that's what it is so thirteen hundred and for an additional hundred dollars you can double the RAM so I would say that's a decent laptop for $1400 to have that 1.4 gigahertz quad core i5 and 16 gigs around 256 gig SSD yeah decent value decent laptop at that money now what is the CPU well it's the i-5 82 57 you you see we just opened up deep bench five here and you see there are almost 10,000 results here and for a single core performance on multi-core performance you'll see there's a fairly wide variation in the posted results here you can see these are all the mid 2019 map of Pro 13 engine so it's the same CPU as the previous generation here we could see the MacBook Pro 16 comma 3 so that's the new 2020 model and that wide variety of results is because not everybody knows how to run a benchmark you don't want to have other things running on the computer it wants to be plugged into an external power source the temperature of the room that you're in is going to make a difference to the performance if you're in a really hot climate laptop is not going to perform as well because it will heat up faster so simple thermodynamics really so what we have to do is just take what we think is a reasonable score from here so I'm going to cool it and say that this CPU scores 940 ish on single core and about 4,000 on multi-core there's enough 4,000 plus scores there to make me fairly confident in in that performance so how does that then compare to the next CPU up so if you have a look if we can let's just select this particular 13-inch MacBook Pro we'll see that there is an upgrade option on the CPU and we can boost it up to a 1.7 gigahertz quad-core this particular CPU model is the i7 8 5 5 7 u and again let's jump into Geekbench and just have a look at the the benchmarks only 402 results found which gives you an idea of the the number of these that are gets sold compared to the i5 versions again many of these are mid 2019 notebooks but you will find some 6 comma threes in there which is the 2020 Edition again massive variety in the scores so I'm gonna call it and had a good look through lots of different pages I think you're probably going to be looking at about 1100 on single core about 4,100 on multi-core well that tells you is that this I 7 processor only gives you slightly more performance on multi-threaded tasks it is quite a bit quicker a single-threaded now is that worth $300 I don't think it is so if we spec up a notebook I've put the CPU upgrade on with the extra $300 I've added the 16 gigs of ram because of course why wouldn't you let's leave it at 256 gig of storage and we're up to $1,700 now let's just go back to the main page again and have a look at the difference between the machines we can get into the four port model for just $100 more and for that extra hundred dollars we're getting a the 10th generation I 5 16 gigs of ram that's fast around I'm a getting 512 gigabytes of storage now you could be thinking an i-5 is not going to be as good as an i7 but that's actually not the case Intel's naming conventions are really quite misleading and in this case the i5 process of the 10th generation is the 10:38 ng7 let's jump into Geekbench it's got loads of these that have just been uploaded the MacBook Pro 16 , - that's the four for model 16 comma 3 is the tuple model have a look at the results that we're seeing here again a huge variety but I'm going to call it and say that it's about twelve hundred and forty on single core and 4440 on multi-core now that means the performance is actually better in this tenth generation I 5 than it is in the eighth generation i7 that you can spec on the two-port model it's actually quite a bit better and particularly when you consider the upgrade to the graphics performance I see absolutely no reason at all to spec up the two-port model with the i7 and that's really the simplicity of the buying advice here I think if you want an entry-level MacBook Pro the 13 hundred pound model is a really good computer for that price add an extra hundred dollars get yourself up to 16 gigabytes around that's a great machine for that price but as soon as you start specking up anything else if you spec up the CPU or you spec up the storage you get so close to the price of the full port model that it doesn't make sense to upgrade the two-port model why wouldn't you just pay the extra get those two additional Thunderbolt 3 ports get the better thermal performance get the better graphics performance and the tenth generation CPUs get that faster Ram you'll get more storage I think the storage is actually faster as well in the full court model and not forgetting that it sounds better as well you've got better speakers now obviously $1,800 as an entry point to the full court model is more expensive than $1300 no it's common but you are getting so much more for your money now just to be clear I'm not saying don't buy the two-port model I think that was a perfectly good machine for many use cases what I'm saying is it just doesn't make sense to upgrade it sure stick the extra eight gig of ram in for $100 but that's really as far as you should take it if you feel that you need more performance than that then you should be looking at the four port model can I say for this video I hope you found that useful if you're looking at buying one of these machines if so please give me a thumbs up and if you're not already subscribed to the channel you know today I'll see you next time for some more keyApple has released the new 20/20 update to the MacBook Pro 13 inch and there are two different models to choose from if you're in the market for one of these notebooks which model should you buy in a previous video we had a look at these specifications for these notebooks and considered the pricing information but at that time we didn't have any benchmarks and we didn't know what was inside these notebooks well now of course the 20/20 MacBook Pro 13 inches out in the wild people are posting their benchmark results up to Geekbench and these laptops have been featured in a couple of tear downs so we can get an idea of what's actually inside the laptop so there are basically two models to choose from one of them has two Thunderbolt 3 ports and the other one has four Thunderbolt 3 ports so to keep things simple I'm going to refer to these two editions as the 2 port and the 4 ball now what you need to know from the outset is the 4 port version has the 10th generation Intel processors in so that means much faster graphics performance the 2 port model still has the 8th generation Intel processors nothing wrong with the 8th generation processors but let's have a look at the different specifications on the Apple website now last time we looked at prices in pounds so this time we'll have a look in dollars for our us washers when you look at these specifications on the Apple website and the information about the product the only difference is it would seem is that the full port model has those extra two Thunderbolt 3 pause and it has the 10th generation processors which does mean faster RAM but Apple doesn't make any other information available about the differences between these two systems externally the laptops appear identical apart from one has two additional Thunderbolt 3 ports they have the same display it's the same chassis the same touch bar and they both have the new magic keyboard like the one that's on the 16 inch MacBook Pro but when you open up the laptop inside they are different and certainly it's the same as last year's notebooks the two port model has a single cooling fan whereas the 4 port model has two cooling fans so arguably the thermal performance in the 4 port version is better there is another slight difference that you'll see as well and that is that the batteries are slightly different in the models and the reason for that is because in the full port model it makes room for some larger speakers the audio performance on the football model is better than the two-port model of course the main difference internally is the full port model has the tenth generation Intel CPUs and this means the updated iris pro graphics which will give you significantly better graphics performance particularly when you consider that the two port version has the iris plus 645 graphics so there's quite a decent jump in performance with the new test generation Intel CPUs and the other thing that changes of course with those new generation of CPUs is that the RAM is faster so those are the differences that's what you need to know the question is which one do you buy if we have a look here on the the Apple website we can see that the entry-level price is one thousand two hundred and ninety nine dollars I'm not going to bother with any of this $99 business which is call it $1300 because that's what it is so thirteen hundred and for an additional hundred dollars you can double the RAM so I would say that's a decent laptop for $1400 to have that 1.4 gigahertz quad core i5 and 16 gigs around 256 gig SSD yeah decent value decent laptop at that money now what is the CPU well it's the i-5 82 57 you you see we just opened up deep bench five here and you see there are almost 10,000 results here and for a single core performance on multi-core performance you'll see there's a fairly wide variation in the posted results here you can see these are all the mid 2019 map of Pro 13 engine so it's the same CPU as the previous generation here we could see the MacBook Pro 16 comma 3 so that's the new 2020 model and that wide variety of results is because not everybody knows how to run a benchmark you don't want to have other things running on the computer it wants to be plugged into an external power source the temperature of the room that you're in is going to make a difference to the performance if you're in a really hot climate laptop is not going to perform as well because it will heat up faster so simple thermodynamics really so what we have to do is just take what we think is a reasonable score from here so I'm going to cool it and say that this CPU scores 940 ish on single core and about 4,000 on multi-core there's enough 4,000 plus scores there to make me fairly confident in in that performance so how does that then compare to the next CPU up so if you have a look if we can let's just select this particular 13-inch MacBook Pro we'll see that there is an upgrade option on the CPU and we can boost it up to a 1.7 gigahertz quad-core this particular CPU model is the i7 8 5 5 7 u and again let's jump into Geekbench and just have a look at the the benchmarks only 402 results found which gives you an idea of the the number of these that are gets sold compared to the i5 versions again many of these are mid 2019 notebooks but you will find some 6 comma threes in there which is the 2020 Edition again massive variety in the scores so I'm gonna call it and had a good look through lots of different pages I think you're probably going to be looking at about 1100 on single core about 4,100 on multi-core well that tells you is that this I 7 processor only gives you slightly more performance on multi-threaded tasks it is quite a bit quicker a single-threaded now is that worth $300 I don't think it is so if we spec up a notebook I've put the CPU upgrade on with the extra $300 I've added the 16 gigs of ram because of course why wouldn't you let's leave it at 256 gig of storage and we're up to $1,700 now let's just go back to the main page again and have a look at the difference between the machines we can get into the four port model for just $100 more and for that extra hundred dollars we're getting a the 10th generation I 5 16 gigs of ram that's fast around I'm a getting 512 gigabytes of storage now you could be thinking an i-5 is not going to be as good as an i7 but that's actually not the case Intel's naming conventions are really quite misleading and in this case the i5 process of the 10th generation is the 10:38 ng7 let's jump into Geekbench it's got loads of these that have just been uploaded the MacBook Pro 16 , - that's the four for model 16 comma 3 is the tuple model have a look at the results that we're seeing here again a huge variety but I'm going to call it and say that it's about twelve hundred and forty on single core and 4440 on multi-core now that means the performance is actually better in this tenth generation I 5 than it is in the eighth generation i7 that you can spec on the two-port model it's actually quite a bit better and particularly when you consider the upgrade to the graphics performance I see absolutely no reason at all to spec up the two-port model with the i7 and that's really the simplicity of the buying advice here I think if you want an entry-level MacBook Pro the 13 hundred pound model is a really good computer for that price add an extra hundred dollars get yourself up to 16 gigabytes around that's a great machine for that price but as soon as you start specking up anything else if you spec up the CPU or you spec up the storage you get so close to the price of the full port model that it doesn't make sense to upgrade the two-port model why wouldn't you just pay the extra get those two additional Thunderbolt 3 ports get the better thermal performance get the better graphics performance and the tenth generation CPUs get that faster Ram you'll get more storage I think the storage is actually faster as well in the full court model and not forgetting that it sounds better as well you've got better speakers now obviously $1,800 as an entry point to the full court model is more expensive than $1300 no it's common but you are getting so much more for your money now just to be clear I'm not saying don't buy the two-port model I think that was a perfectly good machine for many use cases what I'm saying is it just doesn't make sense to upgrade it sure stick the extra eight gig of ram in for $100 but that's really as far as you should take it if you feel that you need more performance than that then you should be looking at the four port model can I say for this video I hope you found that useful if you're looking at buying one of these machines if so please give me a thumbs up and if you're not already subscribed to the channel you know today I'll see you next time for some more key\n"