Which "budget" 256 GB Retina MacBook Pro to get?

[dmk1974]

I know I put up a lot of polls and comparisons, but all of your responses are very helpful. After showing my brother (who is a teacher) my new 13" rMBP that I am evaluating, he's tempted as well. I have a Mac Mini for storing all of my media files in the household, but he would like to get an upgraded 256gb version.

Comparing some of the retina options with 256 GB storage (which all come with 8 GB RAM as well), which option would seem the be the best choice for roughly $1500 or less?

2013 (early) rMBP 13" ME662LL/A

• $1214.99 Best Buy (Open Box)
• i5 2.6 GHz Ivy Bridge
• Intel HD 4000 Graphics

2013 (late) rMBP 13" ME865LL/A

• $1399.00 Apple (w/his teacher discount) [$185 more than ME662LL/A]
• i5 2.4 GHz Haswell
• Intel Iris Graphics

2013 (early) rMBP 15" ME664LL/A

• $1529.99 Best Buy (Open Box) [$130 more than ME865LL/A]
• i7 2.4 GHz Quad-Core Ivy Bridge
• Intel HD 4000 + GeForce GT 650M Graphics

What do you guys think? His use will mainly be web browsing, playing videos and music, very light gaming, and Microsoft Office apps. Thanks!

 

[Meister]

I know I put up a lot of polls and comparisons, but all of your responses are very helpful. After showing my brother (who is a teacher) my new 13" rMBP that I am evaluating, he's tempted as well. I have a Mac Mini for storing all of my media files in the household, but he would like to get an upgraded 256gb version.

Comparing some of the retina options with 256 GB storage (which all come with 8 GB RAM as well), which option would seem the be the best choice for roughly $1500 or less?

2013 (early) rMBP 13" ME662LL/A

• $1214.99 Best Buy (Open Box)
• i5 2.6 GHz Ivy Bridge
• Intel HD 4000 Graphics

2013 (late) rMBP 13" ME865LL/A

• $1399.00 Apple (w/his teacher discount) [$185 more than ME662LL/A]
• i5 2.4 GHz Haswell
• Intel Iris Graphics

2013 (early) rMBP 15" ME664LL/A

• $1529.99 Best Buy (Open Box) [$130 more than ME865LL/A]
• i7 2.4 GHz Quad-Core Ivy Bridge
• Intel HD 4000 + GeForce GT 650M Graphics

What do you guys think? His use will mainly be web browsing, playing videos and music, very light gaming, and Microsoft Office apps. Thanks!

with his use, y doesn't he get an mba or iPad air?

 

[Hungry&Foolish]

http://store.apple.com/us/product/F...z-dual-core-intel-core-i5-with-retina-display

Keep refurbs in mind as well.

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With cheap external storage.

 

[dmk1974]

http://store.apple.com/us/product/F...z-dual-core-intel-core-i5-with-retina-display

Keep refurbs in mind as well.

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With cheap external storage.

That one is only 128 GB though (I actually compared it in a different thread). But for this poll/thread, it's just for internal storage.

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with his use, y doesn't he get an mba or iPad air?

MBA is a good laptop too, but like me, he really likes the retina display.

 

[dmk1974]

No love yet for the early 2013 13". Seems like the best "value", but then again, maybe not? While not part of this poll, that early 2013 13" rMBP is only $15 more than what my brother can get the late 2013 13" base rMBP for (only $1199 because of his teacher discount). For about the exact same price, the early 2013 gives 2x the RAM and 2x the storage space, but the tradeoff is the HD 4000/Ivy Bridge/battery life.

I sure wish BB had one of their 10% off open-box coupons going right now!

 

[dmk1974]

Another question: Does anyone have the BlackMagic DiskSpeedTest results for the 2012 retina 256 GB drive vs the 2013 retina 256 GB drive? I had read that the 256 GB drives are faster than the 128 GB drives, but wasn't sure how much more the 256 GB was from 2012 to 2013.

On my 2013 Haswell MBA and 2013 Haswell rMBP, both are 128 GB and get about 300 write and 700 read.

 

[iWeekend]

Personally, my new late 2013 13" 256 drive is hitting 670/730 on Blackmagic this morning.

 

[dmk1974]

Personally, my new 13" 256 drive is hitting 670/730 on Blackmagic this morning.

The late-2013? Wow, that's a great write speed!

 

[dmk1974]

Any other SSD speedtest results out there? Especially for the early-2013 version. Thanks!

 

[dmk1974]

Anyone? Looks like that early-2013 13" finally got a vote!

 

[rMBP2013]

Any other SSD speedtest results out there? Especially for the early-2013 version. Thanks!

From my research, the larger the SSD the faster it will be.

 

[orangezorki]

In terms of what will be usable for longer, the 15" option wins hands down. Yes, it does have a slightly shorter battery life, and costs a touch more. But quad core and dedicated graphics will blow the 13" versions out of the water.

 

[Gonzo3333]

Another question: Does anyone have the BlackMagic DiskSpeedTest results for the 2012 retina 256 GB drive vs the 2013 retina 256 GB drive? I had read that the 256 GB drives are faster than the 128 GB drives, but wasn't sure how much more the 256 GB was from 2012 to 2013.

On my 2013 Haswell MBA and 2013 Haswell rMBP, both are 128 GB and get about 300 write and 700 read.

Here is a BlackMagic Disk Speed test. I have a 2.6Ghz / 256GB / 16GB ram 2012 rMBP.

For some reason I am unable to upload the file. They are all below the maximum file size. Oh well.

Anyway the write speed is 403.7 MB/s and the read is 451.9 MB/s. I am using the 5GB test.

 

[dmk1974]

Not sure if this data would translate similarly to the first 2 listed in this poll (since they are the 13" versions), but here's some battery data that I recorded using the late-2012 8/128 version as well as the late-2013 4/128 model. These are my actual use test results, both using Mavericks, and the conditions described below.

Settings:
Battery Health App
Chrome: AdBlock, FlashBlock, Lastpass
Chrome, Mail, iMessage, Dropbox
12/2 dots screen/kb brightness, BT off

Late-2012 rMBP 13" 8/128 (Mavericks 10.9)

1440x900 retina resolution (same lag noticed vs 2013 rMBP)
40min/13.4% used 4:58 pace
1680x1050 retina resolution (much more lag noticed vs 2013 rMBP)
104min/37.5% used 4:37 pace
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1440x900 non-retina resolution (using QuickRes)
31min/8.1% used 6:22 pace
1680x1050 non-retina resolution (using QuickRes)
94min/25.1% used 6:14 pace

*********************************

Late-2013 rMBP 13" 4/128 (Mavericks 10.9)

1440x900 retina resolution
228min/55.3% used 6:52 pace
1680x1050 retina resolution
322min/82.7% used 6:29 pace
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1440x900 non-retina resolution (using QuickRes)
144min/29.1% used 8:14 pace
1680x1050 non-retina resolution (using QuickRes)
34min/6.3% used 8:59 pace
1920x1200 non-retina resolution (using QuickRes)
237min/45.6% used 8:39 pace