Solved! Should I update my 2013 MacBook Pro?

[gibbon22]

I have a 2013 Macbook Pro, Intel core i7, 4 core, 2.6GHz, 16GB DDR3 Ram, 1 TB non ssd drive, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M. It was pretty close to top of the line when I bought it.

I'm thinking about upgrading. This is my work computer, but I log onto Dungeons and Dragons Online, Forge of Empires, and Civilization 6 every so often. Rare video conferencing, semi regular Skype calling, a lot of .pdfs and Salesforce. So my needs are what I'd call... midrange.

The SSD I'm comfortable is enough of a jump to make it almost worth it by itself. But I just don't know enough about about the new chips, graphics, and RAM to make an educated decision about the new MacBook Pro's.

Is the i9 chip that much better than the i7 that's offered? Is the i7 enough of an improvement over what I have currently to buy it? I tried to look at the Tom's GPU hierarchy, but didn't see the chips offered by Apple listed.

Is 16GB of RAM still enough, or should I jump to 32?

And finally, is the Radeon Pro Vega 20 significantly superior to Pro 560x? I used the computer games on laptops check, against Civ6, and my current card is green for low and medium. The 560x is green for all but 4k, and the Vega is green for everything. That's good, but I'll hold this laptop for another 5-6 years. What's the current thoughts on video cards? Do I splurge, or are we still in the 'premium pricing' timeframe for the Vega cards?

I'm all about value, so I'm really interested in quantifying the differences. i.e. am I paying a 20% premium on a part for a 200% improvement or a 10% improvement?

 

[Gaidax]

I have 2018 15inch with Touch Bar - base model I7 2.6-4.3 with 16GB ram 560X and 512 SSD.

The good:

8th gen CPU finally made this 6/12 cores jump and this shows, really can throw everything at it and there is no shortage of power there.
Trackpad - absolutely huge amazing trackpad.
SSD - the way it's done here it's not only good, it's stellar fast and there is legitimately nothing as fast as what they have here with direct PCIE solder.

Overall this combination makes it a great workhorse on the move.

The bad:
Radeon 560X PRO despite the explosive name, is very weak. It's about 1050GTX level, forget driving native resolution with it, it's barely passable for 1080p. Good for "emergency" gaming at mid settings at 1080p at most.
Only Type-C Thunderbolt connectors, no old USB, no card reader, no nothing else. Prepare to toss another 200 bucks on cables, docks and what not. It is the future yes, but this future is not really here yet.

The ugly
Non-4K screen - screen itself is amazing good, but it is some sort of bastard 1440p to 4K resolution and IMO at 2018 for the price? That's just bad, no other word there. Honestly I would not upgrade until they get their shit together and get either 4K or greater on screen there.

 

[gibbon22]

Thanks, that's really helpful, especially the bit about the screen. I wouldn't even have thought to look at that.

Does anyone have experience with the higher graphics cards?