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Buyers remorse with the rMBP?

maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Broadwell
Original poster
May 3, 2009
75,270
45,744
So now that the retina MBP is trickling into people's hands, and some less then positive news on performance has anyone incurred any buyers remorse with their rMBP?

I want to educate myself on what product will be the best fit and no laptop is perfect. The retina MBP has short comings, the classic MBP has its own set of short comings. By seeing what strengths and weaknesses each model has, I can be sure that my limited funds will be going to the best tool to fit my needs. Hearing what owners say both positive and negative helps that decision process
 
I have not experienced any problems other than some things not being optimized for the retina display. This is my first Mac with ssd and the boot time in incredible. It is expensive so if you don't need to do heavy work or need portability just go with the regular one.
 
I genuinely believe the Air is best for most people. The Pro, best for others. The biggest remorse I've seen is based on the lack of retina optimized apps, but that will only get better and better.
 
Itzmemark said:
It is expensive so if you don't need to do heavy work or need portability just go with the regular one.
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For me, I priced both out before pulling the trigger and I found the price difference to be minimal.

Its along the lines of being on the bleeding edge, the right tool for the me and making sure its a good fit.

I'll be using Aperture (until LightRoom is updated), photoshop, vmware so intensive wise I'm probably in the middle to upper end of needs.
 
I too was considering an rMBP as my next purchase. Personally, right now, I'm leaning towards a loaded 2012 13" MBA to replace both my 2009 MBP and 2008 uMB. My 2011 base 13" MBA has quickly become my favorite Mac of all time.

By the time I'm ready to do it though there might be a 13" rMBP which could be another option.

B
 
maflynn said:
I'll be using Aperture (until LightRoom is updated)
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Pro photographer here using Lightroom. Curious as to what update you are waiting for. If it's retina support, I wouldn't worry about staying with Aperture if you intend on switching. The photos will look fine. Menus just won't be optimal in the meantime.

Switching between LR and Aperture is not a walk-in-the-park. You need to pick one and stay with it. I genuinely believe LR is the far better choice in the long run.
 
I loved the rmbp I saw in person at BB. Ordered one within 24 hours of that lol. My biggest complaint with the rest of the macbook lineup is video hardware. Intel IGP in my opinion will always be practically worthless for any gaming or anything. Then the 13" macbook has the good 650m but with hald the vram and the 15" with the 1gb 650m costs more than the retina when configured in a similar way! I say rmbp all the way :)
 
Hell no! The rMBP is my favorite computer to date. The screen absolutely blows me away every day I use it. And I appreciate it being a bit thinner and lighter than the previous 15-inch MBP.
 
Fortimir said:
Pro photographer here using Lightroom. Curious as to what update you are waiting for. If it's retina support, I wouldn't worry about staying with Aperture if you intend on switching. The photos will look fine. Menus just won't be optimal in the meantime.

Switching between LR and Aperture is not a walk-in-the-park. You need to pick one and stay with it. I genuinely believe LR is the far better choice in the long run.
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Agreed, I already did it once :( I'm waiting (hoping) along with an update to photoshop, that we'll see Lightroom get a little love and be compatible for the retina display.

I do like LR for lots of reasons but if the images being displayed are "fuzzy" in the retina display because its not retina compatible then I may use aperture to hold new images until adobe updates LR and then move everything back over to LR
 
The only remorse I have so far is that I didn't order it on the 11th at zero hour. Next century, when I actually have it in hand, who knows.
 
maflynn said:
I do like LR for lots of reasons but if the images being displayed are "fuzzy" in the retina display because its not retina compatible then I may use aperture to hold new images until adobe updates LR and then move everything back over to LR
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Are you running LR on your rMBP now? I have LR 3 and pictures, both in preview mode and full screen mode, look fantastic on my rMBP. It's true that the menus aren't as sharp as optimized apps but at the scaling I normally use, 1680X1050, it's not an issue.
 
I have to admit that I was getting extremely nervous reading some of the negative posts on here, not to say that some of that criticism isn't valid, but I absolutely love rMBP. I haven't had any problems with OS X, my UI doesn't seem to lag anywhere near some of the other users here, and I installed Windows 8 preview with zero issues. The screen is incredible, the build quality is incredible. I'm downloading Battlefield 3 now, so I'll get back with impressions of that or anything else you guys have questions about.
 
The only thing I dislike so far about the rMBP is the max brightness level which is down from previous MBP's. My 27" iMac and Dell U3011 which I am used to working on are both very bright on high brightness settings and the rMBP on the highest setting is still 2-3 notches lower than the previous gen MBP. Anandtech tested it and said it was around a 20% decrease from last gen.

For users that typically keep their laptop on lower brightness settings this won't pose any sort of noticeable issue but for others like myself that like to keep it at near max brightness it's kind of a letdown that Apple couldn't increase the backlighting just a little more so that images and colors really popped.
 
burningrave101 said:
...but for others like myself that like to keep it at near max brightness.
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From the sound of it, you're taking photography pretty seriously. Keep in mind that brightness affects display calibration and there is always an "optimal brightness" for any given ambient lighting situation... and that is virtually never the brightest a display is capable of. The only time your monitor should ever be on max is if you are in bright, outdoor conditions... or occasionally an extremely bright windowed room.

Borrow/rent/buy a display calibrator sometime. They also calibrate your display brightness for optimal image quality. If you're used to max brightness, you may be disappointed with the "correct" brightness at first, but you will get used to it. I promise.

And yes, the "lag" complains are blown WAY out of proportion. It's essentially only for resource-hog websites like Facebook.
 
I have no buyers remorse. The thing that I wish I had known is that in general MBPs get pretty warm. Honestly, its not an issue under OSX with me but under Windows 7, my system gets fairly warm. I just wish it was a 'known' prior to buying, wouldn't have affected my choice though.
 
No buyers remorse here. There has been a log of conversation focused on the display (which is definitely a big improvement over my previous HRAG MBP). However, ignoring that for a minute the performance and design of this thing blows every other MBP I have owned out of the water. It is lightning fast and whisper quiet. I'm not regretting my decision to purchase or upgrade (2.6, 512, 16) for an instant.
 
So, one thing you gotta remember... when you hear bad news, it's from the people who HAVE bad news. You don't hear bad news (or any real news) from people who are content to extra happy about their machines.

I have had no troubles or problems - so far.
 
Sounds a lot like the antenna death grip again. Overhyped to hell given the product had higher levels of satisfaction than the last.
 
dailybibliotaph said:
Are you running LR on your rMBP now? I have LR 3 and pictures, both in preview mode and full screen mode, look fantastic on my rMBP. It's true that the menus aren't as sharp as optimized apps but at the scaling I normally use, 1680X1050, it's not an issue.
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I'm running LR4 (had to upgrade because my new Olympus OM-D wasn't supported in LR3) and I've been very happy with it. I'd stick with LR4 over Aperture if the sharpness of the images were sufficient for me to continue working in it.


mrsir2009 said:
It's just what happens when you buy a first-gen product: You get hiccups and bumps and problems. If you want to avoid all that buy the next gen rMBP.
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Agreed, that is the risk of purchasing a Rev-1 machine. I've bought a number of Rev-1 Macs, most have worked out without a problem, some had issues. I generally do not want to go on the bleeding edge but after comparing specifications and costs it made too much sense not to go with the rMBP.

I'm not suffering from buyers remorse but the 3-4 week delay in shipping my rMBP gives me time to reflect and validate whether its a good fit. The positive posts here in this thread certainly help that :)
 
Not one ounce of remorse. I love this thing. Its my first mac. All these small porblems you been reading on the board are minimal. Screen looks great. Its runs amazing. Buy it if you have the means.
 
seriously contemplated the RMBP but i'll be skipping this generation. as a dev/designer it will be useless to me as i'd have to use an external monitor anyway.

i can't see how it could suit anyones needs right now unless all you do is surf the web in safari or chrome canary. i mean, you can't even do simple word processing yet because theres no retina friendly word processor available.

for the people who are perfectly fine with their purchase, what the heck are you doing on it anyway? playing games? thats it? sure there may be a few aperture users but with no optimized photoshop version available, i can't see how this machine can be used for real work for a long time until apps are actually updated.
 
draughn101 said:
I have to admit that I was getting extremely nervous reading some of the negative posts on here, not to say that some of that criticism isn't valid, but I absolutely love rMBP. I haven't had any problems with OS X, my UI doesn't seem to lag anywhere near some of the other users here, and I installed Windows 8 preview with zero issues. The screen is incredible, the build quality is incredible. I'm downloading Battlefield 3 now, so I'll get back with impressions of that or anything else you guys have questions about.
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Interested to see how BF3 runs. I love my rMBP by the way. No regrets whatsoever.
 
The "Dude";15155106 said:
Interested to see how BF3 runs. I love my rMBP by the way. No regrets whatsoever.
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Still on the fence of buying bf3, but i already have it for the 360. With all the expansions.
 
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