15 in rMBP base model + nvidia 750

[thurgood]

Up to now, I had only been considering a 13in rMBP with the generic education discount (probably something like: 2.6/8gb/256: $1672 with Applecare)

but I just learned that my school is offering this configuration for the 15in (obviously not available through apple stores):
2.0/8gb/256/nvidia 750
It's $2117 with 3 year AppleCare included.

Now I'm tempted by the 15in: just seems like really good value. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Bigger screen would certainly be nice for me, but I'm not sure how much of a battery tradeoff there is, so I do have some concerns about that.


Thanks
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[ahhitsalan]

I thought the 750 is only in the higher end models. :O

 

[53kyle]

I thought the 750 is only in the higher end models. :O

You are right, the base model has no 750m.

 

[thurgood]

You are right, the base model has no 750m.

Yes I know that, that's why I said it's obviously not available through Apple. My university arranges custom configurations with Apple that are not available otherwise. That's why i'm asking for some advice on it, since there's no thread on this configuration.

 

[53kyle]

Yes I know that, that's why I said it's obviously not available through Apple. My university arranges custom configurations with Apple that are not available otherwise. That's why i'm asking for some advice on it, since there's no thread on this configuration.

In that case, this is a pretty good deal as long as you are good with a 256 GB SSD. It is basically just like the base model of last year, both spec and price wise, but this one has better battery (I'm interested to see if it has better battery life than the high end rMBP) and minor CPU and GPU upgrades.

 

[Xerotech]

Yes I know that, that's why I said it's obviously not available through Apple. My university arranges custom configurations with Apple that are not available otherwise. That's why i'm asking for some advice on it, since there's no thread on this configuration.

That's a great deal, I would jump on it.

 

[Orr]

Do you have a bridge to sell me too? I have my checkbook and pen ready!

 

[Scott7975]

Up to now, I had only been considering a 13in rMBP with the generic education discount (probably something like: 2.6/8gb/256: $1672 with Applecare)

but I just learned that my school is offering this configuration for the 15in (obviously not available through apple stores):
2.0/8gb/256/nvidia 750
It's $2117 with 3 year AppleCare included.

Now I'm tempted by the 15in: just seems like really good value. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Bigger screen would certainly be nice for me, but I'm not sure how much of a battery tradeoff there is, so I do have some concerns about that.


Thanks
\

That's a pretty good deal with the applecare included. I was going to say that for 4 hundred more bucks you could double the ram, ssd space, and get the 2.3 processor... then I saw the applecare.

The only thing I would think about is its an oddball configuration. People are having problems with the normal builds.

 

[thurgood]

That's a pretty good deal with the applecare included. I was going to say that for 4 hundred more bucks you could double the ram, ssd space, and get the 2.3 processor... then I saw the applecare.

The only thing I would think about is its an oddball configuration. People are having problems with the normal builds.

Ya, I was trying to think about whether there would be downsides to having an uncommon configuration. I'm assuming there are other universities with similar configurations, but regardless the numbers won't be that high. This could potentially pose problems with support, and if i find myself in the musical chairs exchange of laptops to try to get a decent screen, that whole process might be even more torturous.

The basic issue for me is that I don't really need the power of the 15 in. My ideal form factor/screen is 15, but I had resigned myself to getting the 13 because i just couldn't quite justify the price differential (I'm on a graduate stipend).

Now that my university's offering what seems to be pretty good value, I'm up in the air again.

 

[Scott7975]

Ya, I was trying to think about whether there would be downsides to having an uncommon configuration. I'm assuming there are other universities with similar configurations, but regardless the numbers won't be that high. This could potentially pose problems with support, and if i find myself in the musical chairs exchange of laptops to try to get a decent screen, that whole process might be even more torturous.

The basic issue for me is that I don't really need the power of the 15 in. My ideal form factor/screen is 15, but I had resigned myself to getting the 13 because i just couldn't quite justify the price differential (I'm on a graduate stipend).

Now that my university's offering what seems to be pretty good value, I'm up in the air again.

Sounds like the 15 in screen is what you are after. If it were me, I would probably buy the 15. Even if it has problems, Apple still has to take care of them. Who knows, you might end up with the normal configuration if that one has enough issues, for no added cost.

The other route you could take, if money is tight, is to buy the Ivy Bridge model to save money. Performance wise, its pretty close.

 

[thurgood]

Sounds like the 15 in screen is what you are after. If it were me, I would probably buy the 15. Even if it has problems, Apple still has to take care of them. Who knows, you might end up with the normal configuration if that one has enough issues, for no added cost.

The other route you could take, if money is tight, is to buy the Ivy Bridge model to save money. Performance wise, its pretty close.

ugh, so I ended up chickening out on this. ended up getting 13 in. 2.6/16/256... im hoping when it arrives, I'll stpo thinking about it, but still mulling it over in my head

 

[monkeydax]

Up to now, I had only been considering a 13in rMBP with the generic education discount (probably something like: 2.6/8gb/256: $1672 with Applecare)

but I just learned that my school is offering this configuration for the 15in (obviously not available through apple stores):
2.0/8gb/256/nvidia 750
It's $2117 with 3 year AppleCare included.

Now I'm tempted by the 15in: just seems like really good value. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Bigger screen would certainly be nice for me, but I'm not sure how much of a battery tradeoff there is, so I do have some concerns about that.


Thanks
\

wow if they really had such a configuration i'm sure a thousand people out there would be ready to get their hands on it.

 

[thurgood]

wow if they really had such a configuration i'm sure a thousand people out there would be ready to get their hands on it.

ya, im still so unsure about my decision. it would still be a few hundred dollars more than the 13 in. configuration i chose (which was tax-free-- the 15 in would be taxed which is not included in the price above).

a little sad that my chess engine will take quite a hit from quad core to dual core.

other than that, battery/portability were plusses for the 13, screen size a minus, power a minus (mainly for the chess engine, i dont use anything else that is heavy duty). and ultimately that few hundred dollars ended up mattering quite a bit in my decision making for better or worse.

 

[zI INFINITY Iz]

wow if they really had such a configuration i'm sure a thousand people out there would be ready to get their hands on it.

Are we sure it's not just a mistake? I'm fairly new to the Mac world, but I've never heard of school's getting custom configurations. An aMac store in the Netherlands where I've been too a few times also stated a 750M with the base model. I told them and it was a mistake. So it's not uncommon for this to be a mistake.

Indeed a lot of people would have wanted a base version with a 750M dGPU.

 

[monkeydax]

Are we sure it's not just a mistake? I'm fairly new to the Mac world, but I've never heard of school's getting custom configurations. An aMac store in the Netherlands where I've been too a few times also stated a 750M with the base model. I told them and it was a mistake. So it's not uncommon for this to be a mistake.

Indeed a lot of people would have wanted a base version with a 750M dGPU.

Yeah it is indeed pretty unheard of, I am really questioning if this configuration really exists, custom made for the school or not.

 

[Orr]

The OP goes to a magical school of distorted reality. Unless of course they are truly special enough to have a small factory line in Foxconn devoted solely to their institution where dGPUs are being put in only a select number of base 15" Haswell models based upon a handful of orders from the students there. And the secrecy around this particular assembly line is top notch so that word doesn't leak out that Apple is indeed producing the 15" rMBP that so many want but are unable to get. But the profit margins for selling 50 of these at extreme discounted educational prices to said institution are undoubtedly worth the extra assembly, covert costs, and potential backlash just to make the OP think long and hard about which model to purchase!

 

[orangezorki]

The OP goes to a magical school of distorted reality. Unless of course they are truly special enough to have a small factory line in Foxconn devoted solely to their institution where dGPUs are being put in only a select number of base 15" Haswell models based upon a handful of orders from the students there. And the secrecy around this particular assembly line is top notch so that word doesn't leak out that Apple is indeed producing the 15" rMBP that so many want but are unable to get. But the profit margins for selling 50 of these at extreme discounted educational prices to said institution are undoubtedly worth the extra assembly, covert costs, and potential backlash just to make the OP think long and hard about which model to purchase!

Apple do have a long history of offering education only models to institutions, so I think it is entirely possible. For a while, the eMac was edu only, so it can even stretch to completely different models. This config is just a reshuffle of parts already widely used, so I don't see why a different assembly line is required - just a special order BTO.

Also, don't underestimate the importance Apple places on this sort of market. The OP getting a decent Mac now could translate into loyal customer buying 15 or more high-end computers in the coming 40+ years of his/her working life. Not to mention all the possible services and extra (standard) computers that they can sell to the college if this is what it takes to offer the institution a complete solution.

Having said all that, I also wonder if a typo on behalf of the college is more likely…

David

 

[kwokaaron]

Are we sure it's not just a mistake? I'm fairly new to the Mac world, but I've never heard of school's getting custom configurations.

Having said all that, I also wonder if a typo on behalf of the college is more likely…

Yeah it is indeed pretty unheard of, I am really questioning if this configuration really exists, custom made for the school or not.

Yeah same. My old school also offers discounted MacBooks, Macbook Pros and iMacs with 3-years of school on-site applecare coverage but we've never had any special configurations

 

[Count Blah]

I'm guessing it's a mistake on the schools part. My airline was advertizing a 13" rMBP with a 650m dGPU miles/reward computer, a couple months ago. I politely informed them of their mistake in specs.

Sadly, they did not give me one as a reward for setting them straight.

 

[thurgood]

The OP goes to a magical school of distorted reality. Unless of course they are truly special enough to have a small factory line in Foxconn devoted solely to their institution where dGPUs are being put in only a select number of base 15" Haswell models based upon a handful of orders from the students there. And the secrecy around this particular assembly line is top notch so that word doesn't leak out that Apple is indeed producing the 15" rMBP that so many want but are unable to get. But the profit margins for selling 50 of these at extreme discounted educational prices to said institution are undoubtedly worth the extra assembly, covert costs, and potential backlash just to make the OP think long and hard about which model to purchase!

well, you're obviously free to believe what you wish. my main concern was to solicit advice and im happy to rephrase it as: if I had a choice between unicorn device 1 and real device 2 at these price points, what should i do. (in the op, i think underestimated the extent to which budget constraints would affect my decision making in the haze of enthusiasm from learning of this great deal--again imaginary if you like)

That said, just to humor you (of course you can just say all this is made up too):
My initial reaction was "this must be a typo". so I called the office in charge of these matters and the person in charge of the computer/tablet procurement program informed me that it was not a typo. The office negotiates with Apple after consulting various departments in the university, and the architecture school had placed high priority on dGPU. I have no idea how the negotiation process works, but as she explained finalizing the terms with apple is precisely why they had nothing for sale/and no information to give inquiring students until weeks after the release. They also know nothing of what models Apple will be introducing until the announcement just like everyone else, so then it takes some time to sort out what to offer. As it happens, the 13 in rMBP the university is offering is just the normal base 13in config, which is why I ended up not buying through them.

It is also worth noting that the school does not carry any stock of these computers. so i could not right now walk into some store and purchase it. Rather they are shipped from the companies directly to the buyers. There is a blanket caveat (not just on apple computers) that delivery could take up to one month, though normally the computers arrive sooner. I'm at the point where I need one ASAP so I tried to see if I could get any guarantees on ship dates (and they could not provide one--another one of the considerations that made it a tiny bit easier to forego making the purchase). One of the reasons for this, she explained, is that the involved companies install the university software bundle themselves (things like MS Office, JMP PRO, etc) so what we receive is the laptop in unopened apple packaging just like everyone else with the university included software pre-installed. (The software alone probably amounts to hundreds of dollars, but I didnt mention this, because a) the software is separately avaiable for purchase from the school for highly subsidized prices anyways and b) i already have all the licensingfor what i need). That's all to say, somewhere in the manufacture/package/ship line, extra work is being done anyways (even on normal configurations).

I have spent time in one capacity or another at 4 universities (welcome to being an academic), and I know at least one other one received custom computers (not sure if from apple--i wasnt looking for an apple at the time), so it's perhaps not as unusual of a practice as you think. As for the other two, I simply don't know.

 

[john123]

I, for one, say you should buy it only so that you can screenshot the System Profiler information.

I join the skeptics though. This would be a huge pain in the butt from a manufacturing standpoint, and I can't fathom the return on it. It seems...unlikely.

 

[thurgood]

I, for one, say you should buy it only so that you can screenshot the System Profiler information.

I join the skeptics though. This would be a huge pain in the butt from a manufacturing standpoint, and I can't fathom the return on it. It seems...unlikely.

hah, ya. maybe we can start a fund. ill use it to buy the laptop. and if i can produce the screenshot, i get to keep the money?

anyways, i see that the discussion has now veered way off track. i'm happy to let the thread die and i can just be that troll who showed up one time with a funny computer.

I'm still sort of invested in the question. like i said, it wasnt an easy choice for me. but my 13in hasnt even arrived yet, so things could change once i open it and i see that it's perfect/not perfect at all for me.

and honestly im not sure how much depends on the GPU for me anyways, so if i still find myself mulling over things a couple weeks from now, ill just take my questions to the other 13 v. 15 threads. base+gpu for $x just seemed like good value. but really expensive things one cannot afford can also be good value. add to that that I dont do anything graphics intensive anyways, so my larger question still remains for me:

im happy to just think of it in terms of $2300 (including tax) for 15 in base (w/o gpu) including applecare v. $2030 13 in. 2.6/16/256 including applecare. i dont do anything graphics intensive anyways so let lets just say thats what im working with, since at this point I doubt it's a gpu that's going to tip the scales.

HEAR THAT? IM JOINING THE SKEPTICS.

my first go at this: a combination of that extra $300+potentially waiting a month+being more risk averse in terms of avoiding a bad screen, and having minor doubts about portability, etc. tipped the scale.

im hoping ill just fall in love with the 13 in and it wont be an issue. but the 15in screen real estate is a big deal for me. that's the main reason I'm still talking about a laptop i ended up not buying.. I don't need a huge amount of power. The one thing I do that is very demanding of the cpu is my chess engine, but i guess even quad core is fairly limiting as far as chess computing goes.

 

[tinnyms3]

That's a typo.

 

[john123]

Well getting back on track, it's a pretty good deal overall. Basically, compared to the current $250 off being offered at Best Buy/B&H, and factoring in EDU pricing for AppleCare, you're paying ~$125 for the dGPU. That's super tempting.

 

[thurgood]

Well getting back on track, it's a pretty good deal overall. Basically, compared to the current $250 off being offered at Best Buy/B&H, and factoring in EDU pricing for AppleCare, you're paying ~$125 for the dGPU. That's super tempting.

well im just now seeing that BH has 15 in. base model for 1750 (and Im not in NY so no additional tax). That's what i paid for 13 2.6/16/256.

So looks like this will solve everyone's problems. I get a 15 for the same price as I paid for the 13, and we can kill the does the university configuration exist controversy.

13 2.6/16/256
15 2.0/8/256

If the above two are the same price, is there any argument (other than personal tastes about portability) for getting the 13in? Or is the 15 quite obviously better?