Old macbook pro retina display early 2013 vs new macbook pro with similar specs

studioduck wrote:

I was thinking the updated MacBook pros would have far superior specs, but on first look it looks like they don't.

Thanks for the reply - can you tell me why the newer processors are faster when they have the same name/info? Are you saying the same processors are actually not the same or improved somehow that doesn't show in the normal specs? Thanks,

Not the same...

Everything is faster:

more cores

hyper threading

enhanced turbo boost

faster RAM speed

etc

All this combined— with current consumption, power consumption, Processor temperature, etc

otherwise we would all be running vintage 2013's

See Mac products vintage worldwide

ref: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624

In addition to what @leroydouglas has mentioned newer CPUs may also include more integrated hardware features for faster processing of encryption methods and encoding/decoding commands which can increase the performance of systems which use Filevault and video editing encoding/decoding processing.

Besides it is hard to actually tell what you are getting with Intel CPUs by the way Intel confuses things by only putting certain new features in various new CPUs and sometimes staying on old technology for other "new" CPUs that just get a change in name only. Typically though newer CPUs are not usually slower than older generations as there are a lot of trade offs that may even out overall performance. I don't know enough about each specific Intel CPU as their abilities and performance characteristics are so complicated to decipher (not an Intel fan anyway as they have burned me multiple times in the past -- Intel likes to twist the truth too).

You may want to look at software issues by running EtreCheck and posting the report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper. You may also want to run the Apple Diagnostics to see if any hardware issues are detected.

Also run Disk Utility First Aid on the hidden Container to see if there are any file system issues which can easily slow down a Mac. In order to see the hidden Container you need to click "View" within Disk Utility and select "Show All Devices" so that the hidden Container appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. Even if First Aid shows everything as "Ok" click "Show Details" and manually scroll back through the report looking for any unfixed errors. If you find any unfixed errors, then you will need to erase the whole physical drive and restore from a backup or clone. For some reason First Aid lies to users about the actual condition of the file system. I have encountered multiple Macs in our organization that had severe performance issues caused by file system issues, yet First Aid said everything was "Ok", but the report actually showed unfixed errors. Erasing the whole drive and restoring from a clone also restored the lost performance of the system on those same systems.

Also computers run slower because the software and OS may not be as well optimized anymore with later versions as the software may be pushing the limits of the older systems.

studioduck wrote:

Hi all - My MacBook pro is old, early 2013 version. I'll post the specs below. As it stands now, it feels like there's certainly occasions, usually when I'm running multiple apps, when the computer is very sluggish and "chugs". Seeing as how it's been nearly 9 years, I was thinking the updated MacBook pros would have far superior specs, but on first look it looks like they don't. I have an Intel core i7 2.7ghz processor with 4 cores. The newer computers (I'm looking at refurbished ones directly from Apple which is how I always buy) are only showing i7 2.6Ghz processors or i9 2.3ghz processors, but with more cores. Can you help me on if I'm missing something? I don't want to buy a brand new computer if it has nearly the same specs, but feel like I'm maybe missing something that others smarter on here may know and help me with. I know when I bought in 2013 I got the best I could get at the time. My workflow varies from running basic applications to video and audio editing/production. Any feedback and thoughts greatly appreciated.

Current specs:

 Model Name: MacBook Pro

  Model Identifier: MacBookPro10,1

  Processor Name: Intel Core i7

  Processor Speed: 2.7 GHz

  Number of Processors: 1

  Total Number of Cores: 4

  L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

  L3 Cache: 6 MB

  Hyper-Threading Technology: Enabled

  Memory: 16 GB

  Boot ROM Version: 421.0.0.0.0

  SMC Version (system): 2.3f36

Capacity: 500.28 GB (500,277,790,720 bytes)

  Model: APPLE SSD SD512E  

The newer computer processors are faster.

It never pays to get too far behind in the software or hardware.

a caveat—

Big Sur is the end of the line for a late 2013 MBP it will not run the next macOS Monterey.

Catalina is the end of the line for early 2013 MBP