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Need help, I want to buy a refurb MBPro

M

mrPulido88

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 5, 2014
4
0
Hello,

Like the title says, I'm not sure which model would be a better purchase. I already have an iMac where I do all my design work, so this MBPro would be more of a sidekick, with some image editing but nothing heavy.
I'm looking at 2 right now, they both are 13.3" with 8Gb of RAM

#1 - Feb 2013 Retina, Intel 2.6GHz Dual-core Intel i5, 256Gb Flash storage
I like that the screen is Retina, it's not that old, and the flash storage. However I've read that the Retina MBPro's had problems with graphics, and I'm not sure which models had them and how serious were them.


#2 - June 2012 NON-Retina, Intel 2.9GHz Dual-core Intel i7, 750Gb Serial ATA, 8x double-layer SuperDrive
While it's older, I like the fact that it has a faster processor, the RAM can be upgraded and it has a superdrive. Price is only $100 more than #1

Thoughts? or suggestions?

Thanks!
 
mrPulido88 said:
Hello,

Like the title says, I'm not sure which model would be a better purchase. I already have an iMac where I do all my design work, so this MBPro would be more of a sidekick, with some image editing but nothing heavy.
I'm looking at 2 right now, they both are 13.3" with 8Gb of RAM

#1 - Feb 2013 Retina, Intel 2.6GHz Dual-core Intel i5, 256Gb Flash storage
I like that the screen is Retina, it's not that old, and the flash storage. However I've read that the Retina MBPro's had problems with graphics, and I'm not sure which models had them and how serious were them.


#2 - June 2012 NON-Retina, Intel 2.9GHz Dual-core Intel i7, 750Gb Serial ATA, 8x double-layer SuperDrive
While it's older, I like the fact that it has a faster processor, the RAM can be upgraded and it has a superdrive. Price is only $100 more than #1

Thoughts? or suggestions?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Unless you're pegging the CPU at 100% capacity on a regular basis, the processor isn't much of a factor. And with how processor architectures change these days, the clock speed just doesn't tell the whole story like it used to. I wouldn't be surprised to see the 2.9 being roughly the same speed as the newer 2.6 in benchmarks.
 
Tomorrow said:
I would go with the Retina model with the flash storage. It's also nearly a year newer.
Click to expand...


snaky69 said:
Unless you're pegging the CPU at 100% capacity on a regular basis, the processor isn't much of a factor. And with how processor architectures change these days, the clock speed just doesn't tell the whole story like it used to. I wouldn't be surprised to see the 2.9 being roughly the same speed as the newer 2.6 in benchmarks.
Click to expand...

Thanks guys, I'm more inclined towards the Retina, BUT my only concern is the graphics issues they were having.
Do you know anything about them?
 
mrPulido88 said:
Thanks guys, I'm more inclined towards the Retina, BUT my only concern is the graphics issues they were having.
Do you know anything about them?
Click to expand...

Just a friendly reminder. If you go on a forum, ANY forum for ANY product, be it electronics or something else, you're going to hear about issues. These issues will appear to affect a very large number of users and be widespread.

Truth of the matter is, nobody bothers to search for a forum for a product, go through the sign up process, find the right sub-forum and then start a single thread to say "Hi, my name is XXX and my machine runs perfect.", never to be seen again. That just doesn't happen. People will go to forums to find information, discuss issues with the product, vent anger at the product or company or try to resolve their issues.

With that said, it is entirely possible that you get a faulty machine, nobody is immune to that. You MAY get a retina MBP with an issue called image retention. This is common in IPS panels, most have a very small degree of it, but in normal usage, it would be impossible to notice.

You MAY get a screen that has a yellow cast or tint to it. OS X comes with a display calibration tool built in, and you can probably compensate for your screen that way by calibrating it.

You MAY notice that OS X's UI lags a bit during some actions, as the integrated graphics on the 13" MAY struggle to push so many pixels.

Then again, you'll probably get a machine with none of those issues, and even if you do, that's what a warranty is for.
 
mrPulido88 said:
Thanks guys, I'm more inclined towards the Retina, BUT my only concern is the graphics issues they were having.
Do you know anything about them?
Click to expand...
If the retina is $100 cheaper, then why would you even consider the mbp 2012?

Pros for the retina:
  • Much, much faster storage!
  • Better graphics (on the late 2013)
  • Smaller, thinner, lighter
  • Much better battery life (on the late 2013)
  • Much better screen
  • Better cpu (on the late 2013)
  • Thunderbolt 2 and hdmi ports

Pros for the non-retina:
  • DVD, ethernet, firewire
  • Replaceable, but slow sata storage
  • Replaceable ram

Taking the retina, especially for the cheaper price, is an absolute no brainer imo.
To avoid the UI lag on the retina, just insall switchresx and turn hidpi off.
Even without the amazing screen the late 2013 retina is worlds more powerfull.
 
Last edited:
I would avoid the feb 2013 retina macbook because of the HD 4000 gpu. Late 2013 MBPs shipped with haswell & iris gpu which is quite a bit better than HD 4000.

Since you already have an iMac, an 8gb retina macbook with 256 gb ssd should be more than enough for you. Just try and get the late 2013 model instead. It's about $100 more than the feb 2013 model but it should be worth it IMO.
 
Thanks for the replies!
I'll stick with the Retina version.
I just realized I haven't used a CD or DVD in months, so that wouldn't really be an issue

Thanks again!
 
If you really need a DVD drive, you can get decent 3rd-party externals for under $30 or so...
 
I just got a late 2013 rMBP for 1599 on refurb. Not quite the top model. It's a bit lighter than the feb 2013 and has the better graphics.
 
Some rMBP have issues with heat though. I early 2013 rMBP was like an oven even when idling, I had to return that one. The second one runs perfectly fine. So watch out for any "weird" things the first couple of days.
 
Fishrrman said:
If you really need a DVD drive, you can get decent 3rd-party externals for under $30 or so...
Click to expand...

Yeah I'll be looking into that, although I might go the BluRay route if I find something not so expensive... Any recommendations?

JHUFrank said:
I just got a late 2013 rMBP for 1599 on refurb. Not quite the top model. It's a bit lighter than the feb 2013 and has the better graphics.
Click to expand...

I just got the same model, 2.4GHz i5 and 8Gb RAM for 1300 including tax. Not a bad deal! It was the only one left with those specs

RianT said:
Some rMBP have issues with heat though. I early 2013 rMBP was like an oven even when idling, I had to return that one. The second one runs perfectly fine. So watch out for any "weird" things the first couple of days.
Click to expand...

Yeah I'll be looking for any weird bugs or issues, although I'm confident that the late 2013 models don't have some of those issues as the previous version.





----------

Well, guess what...

I just made the purchase!

Late 2013 rMBP
2.4GHz i5
8Gb RAM
256Gb Flash Storage
Intel Iris graphics

All for $1,189 plus tax

I'll be posting back on Wednesday when I get it!
Thanks for your comments guys
 
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