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Buying a Macbook Pro, have some questions

egeek84

egeek84

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 26, 2010
448
160
Northern California
Hey guys, i'm getting my tax refund check soon and I am planning on buying a macbook pro.

TBH, if the Macbook Air had retina then I would buy it instead but the Retina screen is a deal breaker for me so thus, I have committed to getting the Macbook Pro.

However my question is, do I really need to spend a little extra and get the 256SSD and 8GB of Ram?

I mean first off, I don't care about storage. Especially since everythign is in the cloud these days, 128 will be more than enough for me.

However I am more concerned about the RAM. I know Mavericks made it so it makes use of your memory better but I know 4GB is still pretty small.

I don't plan on playing too many games or doing anything hardcore on my Mac, this will be a machine primarily to check my email, do some word processing, surf the net, listen to music, just casual stuff.

What do you guys suggest? Thanks.
 
egeek84 said:
Hey guys, i'm getting my tax refund check soon and I am planning on buying a macbook pro.

TBH, if the Macbook Air had retina then I would buy it instead but the Retina screen is a deal breaker for me so thus, I have committed to getting the Macbook Pro.

However my question is, do I really need to spend a little extra and get the 256SSD and 8GB of Ram?

I mean first off, I don't care about storage. Especially since everythign is in the cloud these days, 128 will be more than enough for me.

However I am more concerned about the RAM. I know Mavericks made it so it makes use of your memory better but I know 4GB is still pretty small.

I don't plan on playing too many games or doing anything hardcore on my Mac, this will be a machine primarily to check my email, do some word processing, surf the net, listen to music, just casual stuff.

What do you guys suggest? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Since neither of these parts are upgradeable, the 256GB SSD and 8GB of RAM sounds like a good option for your needs. It should be able to last for at least 3-5 years on that specs.
 
128GB and 4GB RAM based of YOUR usage - most people over buy and most people encourage others to over buy.

Only reason you should potentially get higher specs is if you plan to keep this rMBP a long time and your tasks will change so that you will need significantly more RAM or storage.
 
TBH, if the Macbook Air had retina..

egeek84 said:
.. TBH, if the Macbook Air had retina then I would buy it instead but the Retina screen is a deal breaker for me so thus, I have committed to getting the Macbook Pro...

I don't plan on playing too many games or doing anything hardcore on my Mac, this will be a machine primarily to check my email, do some word processing, surf the net, listen to music, just casual stuff...
Click to expand...

I'll go the 'other way' and ask The Obvious (well, to me at least) ** WHY do you 'need' Retina Screen at all, if that ^ is all you are wanting/needing the computer to do..?? Email/Music and Word Processing will NOT look any better for sure.. ** If you just WANT one for the sake of having one, then I guess go ahead, but if you are asking here, and trying to analyze objectively, then Buy What You Need.. or Need What You Buy.. :apple:

That being said, it surely doesn't matter to me, I say: BE a Happy Consumer!! :)
 
8GB is good enough for anything else but 256GB SSD is another story. I wish I could have 512GB or more because right now my 2012 rMBP with 8GB and 256GB SSD, I only have less than 107GB free left so no more new Apps to add. So it depends on what Apps you want to add in the future. :apple:
 
Spink10 said:
128GB and 4GB RAM based of YOUR usage - most people over buy and most people encourage others to over buy.

Only reason you should potentially get higher specs is if you plan to keep this rMBP a long time and your tasks will change so that you will need significantly more RAM or storage.
Click to expand...

Do this if you like to see the Spinning Beach ball of boredom
 
I have an MBA 11" 4GB/64GB for ultra-light portable use, it is fine for email (work Exchange sync's fine), web etc etc, it also has ALL my apps (inc Aperture and Xcode) but almost no media (special Aperture and iTunes libraries)...and it runs 10-15GB free.

Based on my use then you would have approx 60-70GB available for media on a 128GB and....well you can do the math.

Being all-flash makes up for 4GB TBH..

YMMV
 
I think 4gb may be enough, though barely, but I think as you won it, you'll find it to be inadequate. Apps and the OS will become more bloated (its the natural order of things) and 8GB is a safe bet imo.

I'd prefer 256GB SSD myself but my storage needs seem to be a bit more then yours.
 
I had the same questions yesterday when I bought my Retina but I ended up getting the 4/128GB. I get rid of computers more often than not so I figured I don't do enough intensive work to justify the higher specs. I've enjoyed it so far and it hasn't had any issues. If you plan on keeping longer than 2.5 years I would get the 8/256GB though.
 
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