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Advice for Macbook pro and hard drive

M

macbuyer007

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 17, 2014
6
0
I've never owned a mac. I want to buy a Macbook pro with retina display. Here are my requirements:

1. Screen should no be less than 15''
2. Need to edit some videos. Not heavy stuff but light editing of existing videos.
3. Need space to store a lot of videos.

I am thinking of buying 2.2GHz 15" (16GB, 256GB) Macbook pro. But I need a larger hard drive space than 256 GB(I may need 1 TB) and I need to back up those videos also. The price of the maccbook jumps high for a larger hard disk space? Are there any alternatives? Like you can buy an external portable drive, so you can hook it up to the macbook and use? And what is the easiest way back up stuff?

Please bear with me if my questions are silly but I am new to the mac world
 
macbuyer007 said:
I've never owned a mac. I want to buy a Macbook pro with retina display. Here are my requirements:

1. Screen should no be less than 15''
2. Need to edit some videos. Not heavy stuff but light editing of existing videos.
3. Need space to store a lot of videos.

I am thinking of buying 2.2GHz 15" (16GB, 256GB) Macbook pro. But I need a larger hard drive space than 256 GB(I may need 1 TB) and I need to back up those videos also. The price of the maccbook jumps high for a larger hard disk space? Are there any alternatives? Like you can buy an external portable drive, so you can hook it up to the macbook and use? And what is the easiest way back up stuff?

Please bear with me if my questions are silly but I am new to the mac world
Click to expand...

If you need a 15"+ notebook, the 15" rMBP is really the only choice that Apple provides. If you are tight on money, I would suggest looking at used or refurbished. Also look at the 2012 model. It is almost exactly the same computer internally, and it is exactly the same externally.

In terms of external storage, you can definitely use an external drive. A USB 3.0 enclosure is best for HDDs, and a Thunderbolt enclosure is best for SSD external drives. They are essentially plug and play.

I am not an expert on back ups, but time machine is a great feature that is preinstalled. You can also do backups over wifi. The Airport Time Capsule isn't necessarily the best or cheapest solution, but it is easy to set up.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/M...e+-+index-n@p&cp=k2-airport+time+capsule+-n@p

I would really look into getting a 2012 used 15" rMBP from ebay/craigslist. You can pick them up for a pretty good deal. If you have a budget of $2500 or more, then go ahead and buy new, but otherwise you should check out used models.

Matt
 
How about a classic/regular 15" (or even 17") MBP? Put a large drive in both the hard drive space and the optical slot (remove the optical drive). You could have up to 2TB of SSD or HDD space that way. Personally, I'd recommend this option with a reasonably sized SSD (128 or 256GB) and a 1TB hard drive in the optical - then, I'd make a Fusion drive of the two. That's what I'd do, and exactly what I have done with my Mini - a 128GB SSD and a 500GB HDD. :)
 
macbuyer007 said:
I've never owned a mac. I want to buy a Macbook pro with retina display. Here are my requirements:

1. Screen should no be less than 15''
2. Need to edit some videos. Not heavy stuff but light editing of existing videos.
3. Need space to store a lot of videos.

I am thinking of buying 2.2GHz 15" (16GB, 256GB) Macbook pro. But I need a larger hard drive space than 256 GB(I may need 1 TB) and I need to back up those videos also. The price of the maccbook jumps high for a larger hard disk space? Are there any alternatives? Like you can buy an external portable drive, so you can hook it up to the macbook and use? And what is the easiest way back up stuff?

Please bear with me if my questions are silly but I am new to the mac world
Click to expand...

Btw, all rMBPs come with all-flash memory; there are no hard disks in any of the Retina MacBookPros.

You haven't mentioned what kind of budget you're working with, but since a 15" screen is on your must-have list, with video editing, I would steer you towards the base model of the top tier 15" rMBP, because it has the GT750 discrete graphics, in addition to Iris Pro.

That particular model comes with a 2.5GHz quad core i7, 16GB of memory, 512GB of PCIe Flash storage, and lists for $2499, but if you were to get it from the refurb store, you could get it for considerably less (typically 15-30% off, and in some cases even more). There are also one year older models there with discrete graphics, for even less, so you should at least consider checking them out.

Apple's refurbishing process is quite thorough, and their offerings are in excellent condition, and quite often indistinguishable from new, with full warranty as well as return privileges. You may have to have a little patience for your 'perfect' machine to show up there, so you should check the store frequently, at least daily, and be prepared to act fast once you see what you like.

You could pick up an external USB3 or TB drive to augment your internal storage, if needed. They're not that expensive anymore, especially the former.

As far as backing up your laptop is concerned, there are many ways to do it, but one of the easiest ways is by connecting an external HDD, with at least twice the capacity of your internal storage, and using TimeMachine, which is part of your OS. Here's some info on that.

Best of Luck!
 
Thanks for all your responses. My budget is around 2k(I can go a little higher if needed) When I am spending so much, I want to buy something new(I know it is a mental thing even though Apple's refurb policy is good.)

Below are the prices from an authorized reseller(with no tax). For just 256 GB extra, the price diff is $349. Is this worth it? Or can I get a larger size eternal drive and/r backup drives for the price difference makes more sense?

2.2GHz 15" (16GB, 256GB) $1,899
2.2GHz 15" (16GB, 512GB) $2,249
 
Must disagree

gochi said:
honestly the retina isn't that big of a deal its like a gimick at best.
Click to expand...

I must say I love the retina screen on my rMBP, it is much better than the air and the old pro. pictures and HD video look fantastic but best of all text is a joy to read and that is the bulk of much computer use.
 
macbuyer007 said:
Thanks for all your responses. My budget is around 2k(I can go a little higher if needed) When I am spending so much, I want to buy something new(I know it is a mental thing even though Apple's refurb policy is good.)

Below are the prices from an authorized reseller(with no tax). For just 256 GB extra, the price diff is $349. Is this worth it? Or can I get a larger size eternal drive and/r backup drives for the price difference makes more sense?

2.2GHz 15" (16GB, 256GB) $1,899
2.2GHz 15" (16GB, 512GB) $2,249
Click to expand...

For me the price is worth having the extra space internally. I don't like carrying external drives to use when I'm traveling. Too much hassle. There's also the issue of making backups of an external. Most people don't integrate them into their normal backup routine.

You can buy an external drive for around $100.
 
Loving it

Got it last week. Loving it so far. I wish I bought it long time ago. Browsing, reading, moving between apps, watching videos is so smooth without any jitters. When I spend so much time on it, it is worth it. Everything is so smooth.

Now I have to install an Oracle database (Linux version) on it. Let me see how it goes.
 
My 2 pence...

Make it BTO from apple.com: Get the 256GB SSD in your MBP, get as much RAM stuffed in there as it will allow.

External drive: http://www.caldigit.com/T4/ -If you have the cash, get the SSD option, it's for editing, so it doesn't have to be enormous in capacity.

Backup drive: https://www.apple.com/airport-time-capsule/ -pretty simple.

Good luck!

macbuyer007 said:
I've never owned a mac. I want to buy a Macbook pro with retina display. Here are my requirements:

1. Screen should no be less than 15''
2. Need to edit some videos. Not heavy stuff but light editing of existing videos.
3. Need space to store a lot of videos.

I am thinking of buying 2.2GHz 15" (16GB, 256GB) Macbook pro. But I need a larger hard drive space than 256 GB(I may need 1 TB) and I need to back up those videos also. The price of the maccbook jumps high for a larger hard disk space? Are there any alternatives? Like you can buy an external portable drive, so you can hook it up to the macbook and use? And what is the easiest way back up stuff?

Please bear with me if my questions are silly but I am new to the mac world
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
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