MacBook Pro 13 with or without Retina?

I am currently a owner of a dell. I'm very interested in getting a Mac. I am trying to decide between the "new" MacBook Pro 13", or the model before it. After doing some research i found these pros and cons to getting the "new" one.

Pros:
-Display
-Lighter, smaller in size
-HDMI Port
-the keyboard is integrated and seems to feel better and be a bit smoother and easier to type on

Cons:
-Absence of Ethernet and Firewire ports
-No optical drive
-I read on a review that when viewing pictures on any browser but Safari that the pictures can lose quality. Also that the CPU was not strong enough to support the display 100%

I was leaning towards the older one because i can upgrade the CPU from an i5 to i7 for less than the new one with an i5. The keyboard is also holding me back.

Any input would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Liquinn said:

I'd say get the cMBP - you can always upgrade it down the road; whereas with the retina you're stuck with what you get.

Up to you though - I guess you're paying a premium for the retina display.

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What does the "c" mean in "cMBP"?

Thanks for the info

T5BRICK said:

I'd go for the base model cMBP. You can find them on sale for $999 if you look around. Upgrade to 16GB of RAM and swap the HDD for a 256GB SSD. You'd have a FAST setup for $200 less than the base rMBP.

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Classic.

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Thanks. What is the max amount of RAM you can install on them? also what type of SSD do you recommend? I was looking at the OWC SSD's, but theres two different types.

I heard the only thing you can upgrade on the rMBP is the hard drive because they soldered the RAM and glued the battery?

T5BRICK said:

2 x 8 GB 1600MHz RAM is what the 2012 models max out at. As for SSDs the Crucial M4 is good, the Samsung 830 is GREAT, and I've heard good things about some of the OCZ drives.

I don't like OWCs SSD offerings because they're Sandforce based(has had problems in the past) and they are overpriced.



Yeah, it's true, and there aren't many options for SSD replacements.

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I have a lot of experience with working with iPhones (screen, button, camera, battery, etc replacement) i watched some videos on changing the RAM and the HD and it looks like it is easy as pie.

What type of RAM do you suggest?

Also, if i change the RAM and HD before i even turn it on for the first time, is it going to effect anything? Is there something special i have to do in order to change either one besides physically changing them?

T5BRICK said:

It is very easy on the cMBPs. iFixit has lots of guides, but honestly for this kind of upgrade you don't really need it.



Corsiar, Crucial and g.skill are what I usually suggest. The 2 x 8GB 1600MHz Corisair kit has some bad reviews from Mac users on newegg, so I'd suggest the g.skill variant.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231582



If you upgrade your RAM, no you don't have to do anything. If you install a new HDD/SSD, you're going to need to reinstall the OS, but that's easy.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

But honestly, with your new computer I'd boot it up before you do any hardware changes. Just to make sure it works as it should.

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Thank you very much for your input. When you were talking about the base model cMBP, do you mean the the i5 base model, or the i7? If i go with the i7, the lowest HDD option i have is a 750gb, and the only RAM choice i have is 2 - 4gbs for 8gb total.

if i go with the i5, i have 2 RAM choices of 2 -2gb for 4gb or 2 -4gb for 8, and the smallest HDD option is 500gb.

The base model i5 is $1100, and i7 is $1400.
So basically for $300 more i get double the RAM, 250gb more in the HD and upgrade from i5 to i7 CPU.

T5BRICK said:

I'd go with the low end i5 model since you'll be upgrading the RAM and HDD yourself.

I'm not sure where you're located, but Frys has this model for $999.

http://www.frys.com/product/7091541?site=sa:adpages page:P4_FRI date:110212

I'm not sure how shipping and taxes figure into it because Frys is 15 minutes away and we don't pay sales tax in Oregon.

Or you could pick up a refurb from Apple, it's a little bit more but they've got free shipping. The warranty is the same either way.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FD101LL/A/refurbished-macbook-pro-25ghz-dual-core-intel-i5

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I'm in Florida. I just found out with my student discount I can get the same thing from apple for $999. Does the i7 even offer me much of an increase if im just doing some basic functions? (word processing, browsing the web, editing small videos)?

One of the biggest changes will be the office application, is there any talk about a new office for mac?

T5BRICK said:

I doubt you'd notice a difference for those tasks. I think there is about a 10% speed increase if you're actually stressing the computer.



I'm not sure about that. Usually Office for Mac comes out every couple years, I think I read that Office 2013 isn't going to be available on the Mac.

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Thanks again for all of your help. I think this is the last question i have. You suggested the samsung 830 SSD is the better of the ones you gave me. Which one do i need and where should i buy it from? im thinking about going with the 256GB for now as i can always sell it and upgrade. I found it on ebay for 180, is there somewhere you know of that offers a warranty or does it come with a manufacturer warranty?

On the Microsoft website they are selling the University edition to students for $99 with word, pp, excel, and outlook, and you can upgrade to the next version when i comes out for free. Sounds too good to be true to me...

T5BRICK said:

I watched for good deals on slickdeals and fatwallet. It goes on sale for $150~ every couple days at various resellers. If you shop around(or wait a few weeks, black friday...) you could save yourself some money. The SSD should have a manufacturers warranty, but sometimes even that is questionable if the seller isn't an authorized retailer for Samsung products.

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is this the correct one?
https://slickdeals.net/deals/ssd/

T5BRICK said:

Yeah unfortunately that deal is dead. I got mine from B&H when they were on sale for $162.

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They have different model numbers. do you know which one is the correct one? and also is the link you gave me earlier for the RAM the exact one i should get?

T5BRICK said:

MZ-7PC256B/WW - 256GB bare drive
MZ-7PC256D/AM - 256GB with desktop install kit
MZ-7PC256N/AM - 256GB with laptop install kit

Any one of them will work, they all have the same drive and you don't need the kit to install them in a MBP.

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Perfect. If i buy a HDD encloser instead of the kit, will it still be as easy to transfer the content?

T5BRICK said:

You could, but if you just take advantage of Internet recovery, you can just download and reinstall the OS.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

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You're a champion. Last question,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231582

this RAM upgrade set you gave me the link to, is it the exact one i need?