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15" rmbp or 15"cmbp? decision... decision

Badrottie

Badrottie

Suspended
Original poster
May 8, 2011
4,317
336
Los Angeles
I have trouble deciding which one to get. I am a digital artist with photoshop and light video editing with FCPX and iMovie. I suppose 8GB ram is enough and I understand I can't upgrade to 16GB in the future, right? That sucks. If I want to upgrade ssd and ram, I would go with cmbp. rmbp is very tempting for me but will rmbp with 8gb will do for photoshop and FCPX?

I don't know what to do. :( Money is not an issue. :apple:
 
Yes it's 8GB will suffice but 16GB is better and will help resale. Why not a BTO rMBP with 16GB ram?
 
Since RAM cant be upgraded later on the rMBP i will go with 16GB.
You can upgrade SSD on the rMBP after you get it, have seen some SSD blades on the market. Think they were around 512GB but do not hold me to it about the size.
I use the rMBP and love it, I am doing photo editing on it and love the screen.
"only" have the 256GB SSD since i have all my work on a external HHD with USB 3.0.
 
Badrottie said:
I have trouble deciding which one to get. I am a digital artist with photoshop and light video editing with FCPX and iMovie. I suppose 8GB ram is enough and I understand I can't upgrade to 16GB in the future, right? That sucks. If I want to upgrade ssd and ram, I would go with cmbp. rmbp is very tempting for me but will rmbp with 8gb will do for photoshop and FCPX?

I don't know what to do. :( Money is not an issue. :apple:
Click to expand...

rMBP 16GB ram.

@Schranke: OWC, 480gb
 
Get the rMBP with 16GB RAM. For me, once I get used to the retina screen, it's hard to go back to regular screen.
 
Badrottie said:
thank you very much for all replies…. :apple:
Click to expand...

In your OP, you said that money was not a factor. If so, isn't the clear choice a rMBP with 16 GB? Or did you mean that the price difference between the cMBP and rMBP models you are considering is negligible?
 
You can get a matte screen on the non-retina. This alone makes it leaps better than retina.
 
JesterJJZ said:
You can get a matte screen on the non-retina. This alone makes it leaps better than retina.
Click to expand...

As a counterpoint, it's funny you mention this -- I've only had my rMBP a few days, but until I read your comment, it never explicitly occurred to me that it has a glossy screen. For whatever reason, it's much less noticeable than it was on my predecessor machine (either a 2008 or 2010 MBP, can't remember) and I just never thought about it. In my opinion, the glossy screen is much less problematic than it used to be. Could just be my usage scenarios, though.
 
Geoffre said:
In your OP, you said that money was not a factor. If so, isn't the clear choice a rMBP with 16 GB? Or did you mean that the price difference between the cMBP and rMBP models you are considering is negligible?
Click to expand...

I am not buying it but the agency is buying one for me they asked me if I wanted a 17" MBP or retina MBP. So I haven't decided about rMBP until now. I did not ask them about 8GB or 16GB and I did not ask how do they order it for me because that is their money to spend on. I don't feel comfortable telling them what I want or need more memory. :apple:
 
Rhinoevans said:
get the cMBP. Retina screen not that big of a deal.
Click to expand...

That might be true (although I would argue to the contrary). The increased real screen estate, extremely fast SSD out of box and 0.5kg less weight do make a BIG difference though.

I don't see any reason not to go retina, especially if money isn't an issue. 16GB will be enough for the next few years at leas t (your CPU/GPU will be feeling obsolete before you 'run out of RAM') and the SSD is already approaching the limits of the SATA3 connection, so there is not much upgradeability there, aside storage space. And: as a photo/video editing professional, you will be using external storage anyway.

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Badrottie said:
I am not buying it but the agency is buying one for me they asked me if I wanted a 17" MBP or retina MBP.
Click to expand...

Don't go 17", its too heavy and significantly slower than the retina model...
 
Badrottie said:
I wish but it is up to the agency to spend money for me or not. :apple:
Click to expand...

Ahh I see, in that case we don't want to push our luck.

My main job is 3D mine modelling with the occasional of graphic/web design and 16Gb of RAM does the job well. Having more RAM is very important when I have to open multiple programs/files simultaneously and with that in mind I recommend 16gb of RAM regardless of what mbp you choose.

GL with the hunt, I do hope you'll get the Rmbp though.
 
Badrottie said:
I wish but it is up to the agency to spend money for me or not. :apple:
Click to expand...

Will they spend on refurb options? That would absorb the cost of the 16GB upgrade, which I think is very worth it for that kind of work.
 
Badrottie said:
I have trouble deciding which one to get. I am a digital artist with photoshop and light video editing with FCPX and iMovie. I suppose 8GB ram is enough and I understand I can't upgrade to 16GB in the future, right? That sucks. If I want to upgrade ssd and ram, I would go with cmbp. rmbp is very tempting for me but will rmbp with 8gb will do for photoshop and FCPX?

I don't know what to do. :( Money is not an issue. :apple:
Click to expand...

I like your sig...

Though after listening to people for 35 years I think it might just be a blessing not to be able to hear them. Remember think positive, there is always plus side to everything.
 
once you go retina you will look at the other screen, even new iMac etc, and you'll say to yourself "what a crap, I can see pixels" :)

Nothing looks the same after using retina for a while. It's a great experience and great laptop.

I would go for rMBP all the way!!!!!!!
 
leman said:
I don't see any reason not to go retina
Click to expand...

Non retina has a native firewire port and an extra drive bay. You can throw externals at me all day long, nothing beats an SSD for boot plus a 1TB 7200rpm drive in the same machine.
 
If money is not an issue better max out everything(RAM) and get the rMBP and an external HDD! Don't forget the external Hard Disk!! FCPX and Photoshop just needs big chunks of space! :p
 
GET THE RETINA! not a hard decision at all. And once you do, it will make all other computer screens obsolete.
 
Go with the classic MacBook Pro at least with those you can go past 1TB for storage, it beats always taking an external harddrive with you just to run those big programs.
 
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