Buying advice..

[tywehka]

Advice needed, please!!!

Able to buy macbook pro 2012 ONLY from bestbuy in january, no other option available. Four models to choose from:

1) Pro 15.4, 4 ram, 500 hdd, 1800 $
2) Pro 15.4, 8 ram, 750 hdd, 2200 $
3) Retina, 8 ram, 250 ssd, 2200 $
4) Retina, 8 ram, 512 ssd, 2800 $

Now i'm using 15.4, core2duo.
Planning to use new mac for about 4-5 years.
Field of use - architectural drafting, render, autocad, sketchup, vray, photoshop.

Can't choose from option 2 or 4. If i'm going with option 2, i'm planning to upgrade ram to 16, and replace dvd with 256 ssd, in money it will be close to option 4, but without retina. (i'm ok with 512 gb space).
If I'm going to option 1 + ram + ssd, video and cpu power will be enough for me?
Or maybe retina use too much GPU, and I should wait for second gen with updated video, if so, this is not an option, because of deadline.

Which way to go?

Thanks for advise.
Cheers

 

[669532]

All are powerful enough on the video front. Looks like a question of RAM to me, you've listed 4 models with 8 - yet you want 16gb?

 

[tywehka]

If 8 ram will be ok for five years in future I will stay with it, if not, and 16 gigs is a must, a will choose option 1 or 2, because bestbuy.com offers only retina with 8 gigs. The problem is, that I'm stuck with bestbuy, and I have no option to buy directly from apple with manual configuration, also cant wait for next gen retina.

 

[NewishMacGuy]

If you really want to keep this computer for 4-5 years, I'd the cMBP because its upgradeable, and upgradeable FAR more cheaply than buying the upgrades from Apple for either the cMBP or rMBP. Buy the base model cMPB and buy 8GB 3rd party RAM for $50 or less then sell your old RAM for $20 or so. Also buy a 3rd party HD or SSD (I'd buy a 750GB hybrid for $150 to get near SSD speed and plenty of storage), then either sell your old one for $25 or buy a case and use it as a backup drive.

Total cost = 1800 + 25 + 125 = 1950 for an 8GB machine that's blazing fast with a ton of storage, or 2000 for the same thing with a 500GB external backup drive made from your old HD. If you need 16GB down the line, you can add that later. Doing all that upgrading will take you less than an hour.

Or if the lightness + gorgeous screen are worth it to you (and the DVD drive + ethernet port are not)

Buy the base rMBP and sell it next year or the year after for a $250-500 loss and upgrade to the 2nd or 3rd gen rMBP which will have better (and more appropriate) graphics hardware and 802.11ac, and max that out when you do. That'll be the computer you want to keep for 4-5 years, this first rMBP is likely not.

I'm taking the second option BTW.

 

[maflynn]

With the retina model, I'd go with 16gb and the 256gb SSD. OWC is selling SSD upgrades for the rMBP so if you need a larger SSD down the road you can get one.