Buying Advice?? Please and Thank You

[happypeople]

Hello Everyone!

I am looking for some buying advice on the rMBP and would appreciate any opinions or tips anyone is wiling to share with me.

I am currently using a mid 2009 13" MacBook Pro
2.53 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo,
4GB ram,
480 GB transcend SSD that I installed,
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256MB).

I am interested in getting the 15" rMBP with the following specs:
2.8GHz quad core intel core i7, turbo boost up to 4.0GHz
512GB PCIe SSD
16GB ram
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M

My use is extremely varied. I am a university student doing physics & energy science, looking to transfer to engineering. So my computer will be used everyday for school work.

I also use Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom daily as well as other photography software. (Note that I will be using external drives to store my raw images and edited images. If anyone has any recommendations on any reliable usb 3 or thunderbolt 1 or 2 portable external drives that are not super expensive, I would appreciate the feedback.)

I do some minor video editing and rendering in 720p and 1080p.
I would like the ability to run 1-2 displays at 1920 x 1080 at 60-120Hz if possible. (Not sure what cables / adapters I would need for this).

Very light and infrequent gaming, nothing more than Civilization 5, minecraft and maybe portal every now and again.

I also primarily use my computer for my movie viewing and music listening - my entire music collection will be stored on the machine and not on external drives. I do not use iCloud for my iPhone or iPad backups.

I always have at least 4 desktops running at once. The ability to have multiple browsers, Photoshop, Lightroom, iTunes, pages, one note and any other software running smoothly all at once is ideal.

I probably won't upgrade this machine for another 5 years if not longer, so I would like to future proof myself as much as possible. I am in no rush to make a purchase and am seriously considering waiting till the broadwell refresh and am just looking for other people's opinions on what I should do and if these specs seem like a good choice for my needs.

Thank you!

 

[voyager1]

Hdmi?

im considering buying a new mbp retina 13 and hooking it up to my samsung hd monitor. i have however read multiple comments online all complaining about a problem with the hdmi interface when considering attaching the mpr13 to a monitor. i need to know if this is a widespread problem affecting all mpr 13 computers or is it isolated. i cannot buy the macbook until i know for sure i can connect via hdmi to my hdmi screen. many thanks.

 

[simonsi]

im considering buying a new mbp retina 13 and hooking it up to my samsung hd monitor. i have however read multiple comments online all complaining about a problem with the hdmi interface when considering attaching the mpr13 to a monitor. i need to know if this is a widespread problem affecting all mpr 13 computers or is it isolated. i cannot buy the macbook until i know for sure i can connect via hdmi to my hdmi screen. many thanks.

You can buy, try and return if you get issues - that is what the 14-day return period is for....

 

[maflynn]

I always have at least 4 desktops running at once. The ability to have multiple browsers, Photoshop, Lightroom, iTunes, pages, one note and any other software running smoothly all at once is ideal.

I probably won't upgrade this machine for another 5 years if not longer, so I would like to future proof myself as much as possible. I am in no rush to make a purchase and am seriously considering waiting till the broadwell refresh and am just looking for other people's opinions on what I should do and if these specs seem like a good choice for my needs.

Thank you!

Based on your usage, the configuration you have shown should be able to handle it. The only question I have is the 512GB SSD storage. If you'll be storing your images on an external drive do you need that large of an SSD?

 

[happypeople]

Based on your usage, the configuration you have shown should be able to handle it. The only question I have is the 512GB SSD storage. If you'll be storing your images on an external drive do you need that large of an SSD?

You bring up a very good point, while the 512GB SSD might be a little much.
I used to have a 250GB HDD in my current MBP, but it was constantly full, and since I upgraded it to a 480GB SSD, I wouldn't want to go back to having less storage. I have a lot of documents and some photographs as well as software on my computer at all times, as well as a couple movies and music. So having the extra storage is nice, as it allows me to not have to constantly be cleaning my drive.
Plus, when I am not at home or when traveling just being able to unload raw images onto my machine and not have to worry about external drives is very helpful.