Anyone regretting buying a cMBP?

The rMBP, like all first-generation Retina devices, seems to have that "Once you use it you can't go back" effect. I didn't try one in the store before I bought it, and I was very close to just going with a maxed out cMBP, even stooping so low as to choose the 1TB HDD.

So glad I didn't make that mistake. But if I had, I wouldn't have known what I was missing, coming from a mid-2009.

F1 Fan said:

There was a thread a while ago asking if anyone was regreting buying a rMBP and wishing they'd gone for a cMBP instead. The answer was an overwhelming "No".

Just wondering whether those of you who chose the cMBP over the retina are regretting it?

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People who went for the Classic did so for a very specific reason: upgradeability. There's no questioning the appeal of having some control over the components in your computer.

The lack of any real difference in price and the appeal of an IPS display (not even as much the resolution, fantastic though it is) drove me in the other direction, but I can certainly see an argument for the Classic.

Asuriyan said:

People who went for the Classic did so for a very specific reason: upgradeability. There's no questioning the appeal of having some control over the components in your computer.

The lack of any real difference in price and the appeal of an IPS display (not even as much the resolution, fantastic though it is) drove me in the other direction, but I can certainly see an argument for the Classic.

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Yeah it's nice having the option to upgrade. I chose the Classic because 1. I didn't have the extra cash for a retina model 2. I wanted to be able to upgrade and 3. I really didn't need a retina I mean it would be nice. But my cmbp does what I need it to. I <3 my Mac.

No regrets so far. Upgraded the RAM already, thinking about when/how to upgrade the HD in the semi-distant future. I have a monitor I can hook it up to for a better experience if need be.

Basically, all my computers eventually end up coming close to maxing out the HD. I didn't think I could get a rMBP with reasonable space for under $3K. Sorry, I"m not spending $3K on a computer.

I regret buying a rMBP XD. SHOULD HAVE WAITED FOR REV2!

Maybe I'm overly sensitive or something but when I'm on the intel gpu browsing gives me headaches. And you can take advantage of the higher "resolution modes" without taking tremendous performance hits.

Meever said:

I regret buying a rMBP XD. SHOULD HAVE WAITED FOR REV2!

Maybe I'm overly sensitive or something but when I'm on the intel gpu browsing gives me headaches. And you can take advantage of the higher "resolution modes" without taking tremendous performance hits.

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Is the graphics issue that serious?

I bought mine before the retina came out but would not replace it with one because I like the ability to upgrade.

I needed a quad core before onboard Ethernet, Firewire, and Disc got phased out completely. Was looking as though this will be the last chance. So I upgraded to 16GB Memory and a Samsung 840 Pro SSD. It is really fast. Faster than trying to push all those pixels with same HW. Pretty happy but would have liked an IPS 15" at 1680x1050 native.

derbothaus said:

I needed a quad core before onboard Ethernet, Firewire, and Disc got phased out completely. Was looking as though this will be the last chance. So I upgraded to 16GB Memory and a Samsung 840 Pro SSD. It is really fast. Faster than trying to push all those pixels with same HW. Pretty happy but would have liked an IPS 15" at 1680x1050 native.

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+1 Nice display and cool form factor, but for my needs the cMBP was far better choice.

Agreed, an IPS display that isn't pushing to so many pixels would have been nice. I've used the rMBP, and even at the "Best for Retina" setting, it still isn't as smooth as my cMBP. When scaling, the performance was even worse. While it's a nice gimmick, it taxes the hardware for no reason, especially when the retina display scales to show lower resolutions anyway.(So basically, I get the same damn screen real estate of a cMBP, only it looks prettier)

Not to mention, for the price, the 16GB RAM and get 768 GB worth of storage would cost me a fortune on the rMBP.(I don't care if it's an SSD, I need space. Also, don't tell me about external drives, because I live a dorm with a small-a$$ desk and don't have the space for it)

P.S. If there is anything I learned from my expierence with my iPad Gen 1, never by first gen Apple Tech. 2 People who I personally know with rMBPs both had screen issues.

F1 Fan said:

There was a thread a while ago asking if anyone was regreting buying a rMBP and wishing they'd gone for a cMBP instead. The answer was an overwhelming "No".

Just wondering whether those of you who chose the cMBP over the retina are regretting it?

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Nope, not in the least. I recently bought a 2012 MBP, i7, 16GB RAM and a 512GB Samsung 830 SSD and I love the thing. All I was looking for in a laptop was a 15" screen, at least 8GB RAM and at least a 256GB SSD. Well I found this one in our own Marketplace at a reasonable price.

(Note about the Marketplace: Before you can access the Marketplace forum, you need a minimum post count of 250, as displayed in your User Profile, and you must have been a MacRumors member for at least 180 days (about 6 months). )

Retina or not, wasn't a big deal to me. I can easily live without it.

If my Samsung 840 Pro SSD install goes without a hitch (no OSX FW) i'll be very happy with my classic 2012 13" MBP purchase. I have already upgraded the RAM from 4GB to 8GB without any problems.

Not at all. I'm not interested until rMBP's are 100% free of UI jank. If that happens with Haswell I'll get make the jump then, but I'm expecting to have to wait until Broadwell. Buying first-gen never pays off.

Asuriyan said:

People who went for the Classic did so for a very specific reason: upgradeability.

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Bingo. I have big-assed external monitors to do serious "visual" work on.

I love my cMBP

I started with a 13" rMBP and after some time realized that I really wanted that larger display offered by the 15". I didn't have the cash for the 15" rMBP but found a great open box buy at Best Buy for a 15" cMBP about a week or two ago. I put 8gb Crucial RAM in it and am looking forward to putting an SSD drive in eventually. I figure I can get a hi-res monitor later if resolution ever really bothers me. As things are now though, I'm not having any complaints with my 900 resolution display and I love not having any issues with Safari browser scrolling like I did with the rMBP I exchanged.

I am really hoping that Apple relaxes about upgradability in the next release though as I'm imagining I'm going to want to replace this in a few years and it's going to be a bummer to be forced to buy the machine with it upgraded before prices have a chance to come down or I have to wait even longer to save up the money to buy the thing future proofed up front.

I'm doing very well with my 13" cMBP 2012 i7. I love it and have no regrets.

NMF said:

Not at all. I'm not interested until rMBP's are 100% free of UI jank. If that happens with Haswell I'll get make the jump then, but I'm expecting to have to wait until Broadwell. Buying first-gen never pays off.

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You only need to wait until they code the OS properly.

I wonder does anyone regret making their decision at all?

Ploki said:

I wonder does anyone regret making their decision at all?

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Always tough as most people don't sit and stew in regret for too long. They just make a decision, sell, and get what they really want. Do it now while you still have re-sell value, right? If I regretted my decision I'd get a retina. Most people that have them also probably have some form of disposable income or credit. People usually are not stuck for too long when they were already in the market for a $3000.00 computer. My 2 cents on the lack of able posters.

I have absolutely no regrets (so far) of my 15" cMBP.

I went for the regular cMBP and love it, no I dont regret not getting the Retina at all.... I have used it and actually prefer my cMBP and I love the screen, plus I can upgrade it and have a dvd drive which was important for me to use for my photography dvd slideshows. Plus all the ports on my cMBP was important for me I feel that I am getting more for my money with what I choose. If I really want a ssd drive and can alway upgrade to that later, i have already upgraded the ram myself to 16gb.

My cMBP rocks! No regrets! I paid less than 50% of retail for it! That really helps with regret.

None at all what so ever. You can't upgrade a retina. Thats a huge problem for me. I put a better SSD for 200 dollars that costed 300+ to get from Apple. I also upgraded the RAM and probably will do more in the future.

I have a plan in a few month to do the optical drive SSD switch with another 840 Pro, and I will RAID 0 it. This means probably close to a 1000 read/write. It makes me happy to know I will be able to do this.

I can live without the screen.

It's a shame Apple went the route of soldered parts. I know it was (maybe) necessary for making it slimmer, but it really sucks.

I've played around with a co-workers 15" cMBP and 13" cMBP. They just feel old and dated, almost like the pre-unibody MBP did.

F1 Fan said:

There was a thread a while ago asking if anyone was regreting buying a rMBP and wishing they'd gone for a cMBP instead. The answer was an overwhelming "No".

Just wondering whether those of you who chose the cMBP over the retina are regretting it?

Click to expand...

Hi,
I bought the cMBP with 8g of ram, 750G HDD and HD anti-glare screen and it cost me 2 329,00 $ plus taxes, here's the exact cfg:


PROCESSOR 065-0786 2.6GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7
MEMORY 065-0788 8 GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM -2x4GB
HARD DRIVE 065-0791 750GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400
OPTICAL DRIVE 065-0797 8x Double-Layer SuperDrive
DISPLAY 065-0801 MBP 15" HR Antiglare WS Dspl
KEYBOARD AND DOCUMENTATION C065-0815 KYBD/USER'S GUIDE-CAN
COUNTRY KIT 065-0822 COUNTRY KIT

Then for christmas I gave my wife a MBA. Wow, flash memory! So I upgraded my cMBP with a 512MB SSD from OWC and 16 GB ram from OWC, Well I bought a few other things as well and the bill was around 1K and I had to pay 300$ duty taxes so in total: 1300$.

cMBP + upgrades total: 2 543,88 $ + 1300$ = 3843,88$

now look: a RMBP:

2.4GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz
16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
512GB Flash Storage
Backlit Keyboard (English) & User's Guide
Accessory Kit

Plus a super drive

2778,00 plus taxes in Canada (15,5% or so) 3210,26$

By the way, I rarely use the dvd drive.

So IMO, it is better to buy the rMBP and max it out. But I'm an IT consultant and sometimes the glare would be an issue for me so I don't regret my purchase and when I'm home ( wich is my office too) I always plug it into my 2009 27 inches iMac that I use as an external screen.

Don't get me wrong, I love my cMBP, it is powerful and all but still, going back I would probably buy a maxed out rMBP. There are some complaints here from users who has had trouble with them but most people don't have any issue. But man, the SSD is a must!

Hope it helps!

Definitely no regrets!! I have the base model 13" cMBP. Best computer I've ever owned. I upgraded the Ram and put in an SSD....and after all that I can still upgrade again if I want/need to. I just love that about the computer.