2013 MacBook Pro verses 2012 MacBook Pro?

[Windows&Apple]

I know no one here can give an accurate answer, but as a newbie with Mac's in general, I'd like to know a few things before I make the leap to OS X. I'd like a laptop that can do the following:

• Medium-high audio editing (Logic Pro)
• Light-medium video/photo editing (Adobe CS6 Suite)
• Medium word processing (MS Word)
• Typical browsing, media consumption (iTunes)
• Needs to be portable (I'm in college, so I'm going to be moving around a lot)

but most importantly of all; I need it to be user upgradeable. I need the ability to take out my HDD and replace it with an SSD. I'd like to upgrade my RAM and if anything goes wrong, I'd like to fix it.

Now, my problem is the current hardware verses the new hardware. I heard a few rumours saying that Apple would discontinue the classic MacBook Pro and just have the 13 inch and 15 inch Retina MacBook Pro. This scares me because I'd like my next computer to be future proof, and having a computer like the Retina with no upgradeability pushes me away. I would like the 4th generation Intel core "i" processors, but I don't want to risk getting stuck with a disposable computer.

Questions:

1. What do you guys think? Will Apple discontinue the classic MacBook Pro or will Apple keep the classic MacBook Pro around for another generation?
   
2. Would the current gen 13 inch 2.5Ghz MacBook Pro with 8GB of RAM and an Intel 520 240GB SSD be able to complete the tasks I need to be done or should I wait for the 2013 update?

Thanks

 

[leman]

Would the current gen 13 inch 2.5Ghz MacBook Pro with 8GB of RAM and an Intel 520 240GB SSD be able to complete the tasks I need to be done or should I wait for the 2013 update?

Even a MacBook Air would be able to complete these tasks... the question is 'how fast?'. If you want a 13" model, then waiting for the new Intel CPUs could be a good idea, simply for their increased GPU performance. But we are talking about half a year or so here.

As to whether Apple will discontinue the cMBP - yes, definitely. But will it be this year? No idea.

 

[Liquinn]

If you need a cMBP then I'd buy now as Apple could discontinue the line.

 

[derbothaus]

but most importantly of all; I need it to be user upgradeable. I need the ability to take out my HDD and replace it with an SSD. I'd like to upgrade my RAM and if anything goes wrong, I'd like to fix it.

Then you need to get a non-Apple computer. They are accelerating the iToy model. They make it, they own it, only they fix it. People are buying retina's in droves. If they would have flopped we would see Apple add user accessibility back in but it ain't going to happen with all the apologists and super fans. They'll buy an Apple ****-Sandwich and say "Thanks for the opportunity".