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Anyone regretting buying a cMBP?

Had the cMBP 13, sold it due to screen resolution being so poor, purchased both 13 and 15 rMBP (due to the terrible 13 inch reviews, which having owned one I think are unjustified). The 15 is the perfect desktop replacement, it is awesome, I cannot recommend one highly BUT for me the 15 isnt a portable machine and I can't justify having that amount of money in a laptop - £1530 at discount prices is something in hindsight I'm not comfortable with.

So I'm going rMBP 13. I've tested them side by side over 10 days - the 15 and the 13, thrown everything at them and honestly I can't see a difference in the applications I use barring 2 things: Video encode (Dual vs Quad was obvious) and Rendering a simple model (56 minutes vs 23 minutes). The cream on the 15 is having the highest resolution 1920 x 1200, is that worth the extra £330 and the extra speed, not really as I don't play games on the laptop and also I can pick up a very good monitor and still have change.

In terms of web and software quirks of retina, it's first gen, it is par for the course. Once you have read on a retina screen for a week or so, going back is difficult - I'm also struggling with an iPad Mini (recent purchase for added portability) vs iPad 4 (Sold due to iPad mini form factor).
 
No regrets at all, just upgraded my cMBP to 16GB in under 5 Minutes, Maybe I'll add an SSD Later. Upgradeability, DVD Drive, and Ethernet were things I wanted/needed so the cMBP was the best choise for me. Loving the 1650x1080 Glossy Screen, computer runs as smooth as Silk even my Linux/Windows VM's :)
.
 
Wow! Thanks all :)

It seems there's very little buyer's remorse on either side of the fence which is reassuring!

I'm hoping for a 15 inch anti glare to pop up on the refurb store. The plan is to run it as-is for a while before sticking in extra RAM and the 960GB Crucial SSD when it's released. Having done that, of course, I'll have spent retina money (or more) which makes me doubtful. However, I reckon that the 1680x1050 anti glare screen is plenty pretty enough for me and this way I'll get SSD speed with plenty of on-board storage and a superdrive. I really don't like the thought of having to have an external superdrive AND an external HDD all so that my laptop can be a bit thinner - more than a little self defeating IMHO.
 
No need to wait on the RAM if you get low on available RAM at all. Easiest upgrade you can possibly make that will yield instant benefits.
 
Count Blah said:
No need to wait on the RAM if you get low on available RAM at all. Easiest upgrade you can possibly make that will yield instant benefits.
Click to expand...

I'm not expecting to really start taxing the RAM just yet so might as well wait. You're right tho - first sign of getting near the limits, it's upgrade time!
 
rekhyt said:
Is the graphics issue that serious?
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Not really. Especially not when browsing, it's clear that the issue is with the rendering stack not a hardware problem. Webkit nightly versions of Safari have all but resolved any scrolling issues encountered in the browser. Bit of a bummer not to have it resolved in Chrome yet, but no doubt it will be eventually as they both use the same rendering engine.

Firefox has just updated for retina support. IE on Bootcamp is fine, even IE8, which I use for testing in work, is fine on retina.

To me, it just isn't that big an issue, and I've owned enough MacBooks to know when they have a problem.
 
thehustleman said:
The classic mbp is what the retina mbp should have been- UPGRADEABLE
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I agree with this. I am happy with the performance of my 2011 13" MBP. 16 gb RAM, i5, and an SSD and it does everything I need it to do. Got it in a trade a couple months ago. I have an i7 XPS 15 that I no longer use that I just bought in May 2012.
 
Dude, I love my Classic. 16GB of 1600 ram, 750GB hybrid drive. Soon to have an SSD in the optical drive bay. Has lots of ports, ethernet (we do have it on campus and it's screaming fast), and just as powerful as the Retina 13. I also know that it's a LOT easier to repair.
 
Bought a 13" cMBP, had it for a week, returned it and picked up a 13" rMBP instead and have had it a week. I don't regret it at all. I thought I could live with the 1280x800 max resolution on the cMBP considering the laptop was upgradable (HD, RAM). But with the price decrease of the rMPB's and the better max scaled resolution of 1680x1050 I figured I could go without the additional 8gb of RAM I would have put in the cMBP (16gb total). So far running this rMBP on just 8gb of RAM has been fine. I haven't had any issues and the laptop screen is stunning.
 
F1 Fan said:
There was a thread a while ago asking if anyone was regreting buying a rMBP and wishing they'd gone for a cMBP instead. The answer was an overwhelming "No".

Just wondering whether those of you who chose the cMBP over the retina are regretting it?
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Why would they?

- If you want a nice screen, get an external screen.
- You can upgrade the cMBP with off the shelf parts ( like a Samsung 840 Pro
- You can add SSD's in Raid setup if you remove the Super Drive. Then you can reach read and write speeds over 1000 MB/s
- Issues with 1st gen products like the rMBP.
- Free Super drive
- rMBP has only 1 year warranty on SSD and RAM. With the cMBP you can add your own RAM and SSD which have 5 year warranty.
 
glenthompson said:
I bought mine before the retina came out but would not replace it with one because I like the ability to upgrade.
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My position exactly also. I needed it for work, so had to buy when I did. I was coming from a 2009 MBP and was waiting for Haswell. Still might swap out again when it comes; I think it might be retina only at that stage...
 
I have a mid 2010 MBP and I love it. However if there wasa retina option at the time, I would be kicking myself. I would always buy the rMBP over anything. Sorry guys!
 
No at all. I got the cMBP for $1,800 base model and upgraded it to 16RAM ( $80 ) + 500GB SDD ( $300 ). All I wanted was a powerful laptop to be used mainly as a desktop ( connected to another monitor ) and only occasionally to carry it with me.
I was also looking for the best deal for my money, so I spent after all $2,180.
I couldn't live with less than 1/2 TB, and so the rMBP was way to high ( $2,700 the low end model with 16GB and 500GB )
Like that I got exactly the same power, with more ports, Ethernet, DVD which I replaced it with the original HDD, but I still have it, and the option to upgrade even more.
I saved more than $500 and to pay $500 only for the retina display was a robbery to my opinion. In my opinion only apple fanboys can go for such an expensive laptop only to browse, play some games and do some basic video editing.
I am extremely happy with my decision. It is a expensive laptop, but boy, this thing flies.
 
I just bought my cmbp and very happy. Got it at best buy at the 1099 price, reward zone points just paid for my ram upgrade. Now a trip to owc with change the hard drive to ssd and I have a machine that will be far more capable then what I need. My i5 mini has gotten the same treatment.

Maybe it's my mustang mentality but I enjoy a good platform and then customize it to my needs.
 
love mine (13" 2012 i7 w/ 16 gigs and two 750GB HDDs), but it would be definitely nice to have a 1080p IPS panel on this thing... also it could be a lot bigger, lots of wasted space on the 'bezel'. definitely its weakest point.

cheers
 
I had bought 2 cMBPs (13 and 15) and also don’t have any regrets. I will probably buy Retina in 3 or 4 years when the classic Macbooks are gone, but time will tell.
Anyways I bought 13” high end reurb - put SSD and 8 GB RAM in it and it’s perfect. I don’t even find the resolution to be bothering me - I sometimes work in InDesign on it and it handles everything just fine.
As for the 15 I bought it used - it’s high res anti glare and it had 2 SSD’s when I bought it! I put one SSD in the 13” and the 750GB from the 13” went into the 15” which is my desktop replacement hooked up to a external display.

Anyways - the set up I have now is my dream set up and I wouldn’t change my cMBPs for Retinas. I wuld only wish to change my Dell display for a Thunderbolt diplsay, but that’s a cost I can’t justify right now.
Therefore I can recommend anyone getting the cMBP - I know the Retina is nice, flashy, new, sexy and everything, but cMBPs are still great machines that give you more freedom to adjust them according to your needs.
 
Liquinn said:
What do you mean?
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I mean apple made a bad decision making the retina MacBook pro non upgradeable.


No reason for that foolishness.

You buy 4GB of RAM and you're stuck with 4 but with the classic, you buy 4 and can upgrade to 16gb yourself.

It's the reason ill never buy a MacBook Air or retina macbook
 
I have a Late 2011 13" and although I played around with the Retina and thought it was cool, Im not hating my classic. Its still the most powerful/fastest computer Ive ever owned. I upgraded the RAM to 8GB and Im happy with it. Might do some more down the line as my needs change.
 
I bought a used cMBP with Apple Care and no regrets. I love the feeling that I can upgrade on my own pace not on the time I am buying a brand new rMBP.
 
No regrets at all. I ordered a new 13" cMBP from amazon and set it up last night. I love the screen resolution (it fits my needs) and is IMO an upgrade from my 2010 macbook air. I will be upgrading the ram to at least 8GB and probably put in a SSD later on. I love that it is upgradable, I was forever plugged into an external drive with my MBA and was fighting with disk space. I can see how some would need a rMBP, but for me the cMBP is perfect. :)
 
thehustleman said:
I mean apple made a bad decision making the retina MacBook pro non upgradeable.


No reason for that foolishness.

You buy 4GB of RAM and you're stuck with 4 but with the classic, you buy 4 and can upgrade to 16gb yourself.

It's the reason ill never buy a MacBook Air or retina macbook
Click to expand...


I don't get it. THAT'S your problem with it? Can't upgrade the Ram? I'm waiting for the 15" 2nd generation. And when it comes out I won't blink a eye. Easy solution to the non upgradable Ram problem...Max out the Ram to 16 gig upon purchase. If you can't afford the $200 to max out the Ram, you probably shouldn't be buying a MacBook Pro retina in the first place. $200 isn't a deal breaker for me
 
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