Is the Intel HD 4000 GPU good enough for everyday use?

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I am about to get a Mac, and right now I'm weighing two options that I can get.

I can get a new MacBook Air 2015 at the lowest specs:

  • 4 GB RAM
  • 2 core 1.6 GHz (turbo to 2.7) i5 CPU
  • 128 GB PCI-e SSD
  • 1366x768 screen
  • HD 6000 graphics (800ish GFLOPS)

Or, I can get a used (but in very good condition) 13 inch retina early 2013 MacBook pro with mid-tier configuration. Specs:

  • 8 GB RAM
  • 2 core 2.5 GHz(turbo to 3.1) i5 CPU
  • 256 GB PCI-e SSD
  • 2560x1600 screen
  • HD 4000 GPU (330ish GFLOPS)

I don't care about compactness or battery life, they aren't different enough between the two machines to affect my decision. The Pro has really good specs except for the GPU, but I plan to use the laptop more for development, schoolwork, and casual but not intensive gaming. After all, it is a Mac, not intended to be a gaming PC. For development (that may end up partially being gamedev) and schoolwork (google drive use), do you see any major reason the HD 4000 might cause problems?

Lukas Palmer

Posted 2015-08-11T03:10:22.833

Reputation: 3

Question was closed 2015-08-11T14:54:06.883

Some game development ay? One notable "positive" about going with the HD 4000 is that you'll find yourself coding for (more or less) a lowest-common-denominator graphics platform. That may well be a good thing, especially if you want to maximize your potential market. – misha256 – 2015-08-11T03:42:25.530

@misha256 that's a great point, since I'm definitely not planning on doing anything super advanced and graphically intensive, I'll have a good benchmark. – Lukas Palmer – 2015-08-11T03:48:28.647

I use the HD4000 in my Dell Laptop from 2013 and I have no issues so far under Windows 8 using dev tools (Visual Studio). – magicandre1981 – 2015-08-11T04:28:50.527

Answers

1

The HD 4000 will perform well for the tasks you're looking to do. As misha256 commented, you'll be developing for the lowest graphics capabilities which expands your userbase (providing you're doing that kind of development).

Tom's Hardware and Anandtech did a review of the HD4000 and you can view their comprehensive notes on the links (and surrounding pages on those links) below:

Tom's: Link

Anandtech: Link

Ben Sampica

Posted 2015-08-11T03:10:22.833

Reputation: 1 020

Asked: 2015-08-11T03:10:22.833

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Active: 2016-07-23T13:55:55.573