Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Cmbp vs RMBP

MartinAppleGuy said:
If you wanted upgradability, I would recommend finding a good-as-new 2012 15" non retina MacBook Pro. This comes this an Nvidia GeForce GT 650m (1GB GDDR5 VRAM and not that far off the new retina models GPU, but it has a quarter of pixels to push), a 500GB HDD, 4GB of RAM and a quad core 3rd gen i5 that is only a little slower than the current offerings. I've seen good second hand models of these go for around £400-450.
Click to expand...

I agree with some of this, but do note that the base 2.3 GHz Mid-2012 non-retina came with 512 MB of VRAM, not 1 GB as all the Mid-2012 15" retina models did. The 2.6 GHz models came with 1 GB of VRAM. Also, note that the quad-core 2.3 GHz was an i7, not an i5.

The base 15" cMBP, if upgraded with RAM and SSD, will feel just as fast as a new retina model, and will be slightly slower on an absolute basis. Will you notice the difference speed-wise? Most likely not - if you do the sort of work where you would notice the difference, you probably need a different machine altogther, like a Mac Pro or a higher-end iMac.
 
I think the CMBP at this stage is no longer worth the price unless you can get an used one for $650-750 (almost half price literally)
 
blangst1 said:
Just moderate photo and video editing. Internet browsing and college related work.
Click to expand...

MS Word
MS PowePoint
MS Excel

Pages,
Keynote
Numbers

Evernote (OneNote is another option )
PCalc (basic to advanced calculations including RPN)
Skim (PDF reader & more)

Aperture (Think Apple have ceased to sell)
Gimp (free alternative to PS, good enough for casual use)
Handbrake (video encode)
Movist video playback (lots of options easy on the battery)
Skype

Alinof Timer (Countdown Timer)
Bettersnaptool (Better than Windows Snap)
Nocturne (Inverts display for lowlight use, & more)
SuperDuper (Drive clone/backup solution app, much better than Time Machine)

Avoid Flash & Chrome if possible as they are not overly well optimised for OS X. I use Office 2011, however Office 2016 preview is out for free trial presently. You may or may not require AV depending on the college network admin etc. Sorry can t help much with video etc. I use my Mac`s in heavy engineering.

You may also need to run Windows, as ever there are a multitude of options from duel booting to VM`s

Q-6
 
blangst1 said:
Just moderate photo and video editing. Internet browsing and college related work.
Click to expand...

For this kind of work, a MBA might be the better choice. In addition, you'll get a much more portable laptop. The only real downside of the MBA is the screen. I don't know which demands you have for photo editing, but if you know the difference between white balance and white point and if you want to edit RAW camera files the rMBP is the better choice. Either that or an external display. You don't need the ultimate speed. As I said before, a more affordable 2014 rMBP might do the trick for you.
 
Naimfan said:
The base 15" cMBP, if upgraded with RAM and SSD, will feel just as fast as a new retina model, and will be slightly slower on an absolute basis. Will you notice the difference speed-wise? Most likely not - if you do the sort of work where you would notice the difference, you probably need a different machine altogther, like a Mac Pro or a higher-end iMac.
Click to expand...

This is not true, unfortunately. The difference in SSD speed is very noticeable when opening apps and files. And there are plenty of people that would also notice the faster CPU + GPU. For example, programmers or people who work with LaTeX a lot.
 
leman said:
This is not true, unfortunately. The difference in SSD speed is very noticeable when opening apps and files. And there are plenty of people that would also notice the faster CPU + GPU. For example, programmers or people who work with LaTeX a lot.
Click to expand...

It really makes no diffreence when opening apps and files, even my 2010 with an ssd is so similar to my 2013 rMBP that I can't see a difference. Unless you a moving and copying huge files sequential read/write speeds are just a number.

That said the cMBP is bad value for money at this stage and the upgradeability of a HD and RAM means nothing if your CPU and GPU are out of date. More importantly the screen is worth any con you can come up with.
 
Samuelsan2001 said:
It really makes no diffreence when opening apps and files, even my 2010 with an ssd is so similar to my 2013 rMBP that I can't see a difference. Unless you a moving and copying huge files sequential read/write speeds are just a number.
Click to expand...

That might be the case when comparing to the 2013 model, but I meant the recent 2015 ones. Their ridiculous 1GB/s+ speeds are quite noticeable compared to SATA-based SSDs. Of course, this is subjective (but I can notice it quite strongly).
 
Also please put into consideration, your flexibility to replace hdd if it broken, or maximize the RAM later - this is a plus for cMBP. On the other hand, cMBP is less mobile (more weight) which sometime significant for some people (including myself).

z31fanatic said:
Look at it this way.
A cMBP is $1100. To get it even with RAM and SSD of the rMBP, you need to spend $60 on 8GB of RAM, and $100-120 for a 250GB SSD. So you're already at $1250. And you still have the crappy TN panel, and the 3 year old graphics.
With the rMBP you get the great retina screen, much better graphics, and twice as fast PCI-E SSD.

Easy choice in my opinion.
Click to expand...
 
leman said:
This is not true, unfortunately. The difference in SSD speed is very noticeable when opening apps and files. And there are plenty of people that would also notice the faster CPU + GPU. For example, programmers or people who work with LaTeX a lot.
Click to expand...

Uh, no.

Most people will never see the difference. While the new storage speeds are impressive, for most they are pointless. And to claim there is a "noticeable" difference from a Mid-2012 2.3 i7 to a "new" 2.2 GHz model or most people is incorrect. Most people wouldn't be able tell the difference from a Haswell machine to a Core 2 Duo.
 
Naimfan said:
Uh, no.

Most people will never see the difference. While the new storage speeds are impressive, for most they are pointless. And to claim there is a "noticeable" difference from a Mid-2012 2.3 i7 to a "new" 2.2 GHz model or most people is incorrect. Most people wouldn't be able tell the difference from a Haswell machine to a Core 2 Duo.
Click to expand...

Well, I don't have any empirical data to back up my point, so I guess we will have to agree to disagree. I am just talking from my experience. I have bough a number of 13" 2015 machines to replace older system (with SATA-based SSDs) and many of the employees who received the new machines have commented on how much faster opening documents and programs is. I also noticed the same in comparison to my 2012 rMBP.

And I guess some people will be more sensitive to it then others. I have a guy here who doesn't notice any difference between an SSD and a HDD. But thats an extreme case :)
 
I've always bought a new computer every year or two. I'm always underwhelmed by the barely noticeable improvement in speed -- until I try using the old one after a few weeks of using the new one. Then the old one always seems glacial and I wonder how I ever tolerated it.
 
Apple's laptops are in a class of their own but for the life of me I would never buy the 13" Cmbp. As much as I wish you could upgrade ram and hdd on the rMBP's I wouldn't be happy at all with a 1280x800 resolution display. I can live with the MacBook Air's 1440x900 display but that's because the design is thinner and lighter and i'm getting 12 day battery life for my compromise. I'd be one unhappy camper having a 4.5 pound thick machine with a dvd drive and extremely low res display. Not to mention it's extremely overpriced for what it offers. Go with the Rmbp you will not regret it. You could also look to getting a refurb model if you aren't concerned about force touch or faster flash speeds which 90 percent of people will never notice.
 
mayuka said:
For this kind of work, a MBA might be the better choice. In addition, you'll get a much more portable laptop. The only real downside of the MBA is the screen. I don't know which demands you have for photo editing, but if you know the difference between white balance and white point and if you want to edit RAW camera files the rMBP is the better choice. Either that or an external display. You don't need the ultimate speed. As I said before, a more affordable 2014 rMBP might do the trick for you.
Click to expand...




I have looked and considered the air but I'm afraid that the processor is just too slow for my taste.
 
blangst1 said:
I have looked and considered the air but I'm afraid that the processor is just too slow for my taste.
Click to expand...

Too slow in what exactly? What kind of applications do you need to run? There's not that much difference between the two. At least nothing that you would notice in normal work...
 
mayuka said:
Too slow in what exactly? What kind of applications do you need to run? There's not that much difference between the two. At least nothing that you would notice in normal work...
Click to expand...




Well I'm not sure exactly. Just in everything I have read people push the RMBP
 
Meister said:
The mba pocessor is too slow for your taste, but you don't know why ...
Click to expand...


Just from what I have heard anything too processor heavy can bog it down. In the next 6 months I may have to be running a program called solid works off of it.
 
blangst1 said:
Just from what I have heard anything too processor heavy can bog it down. In the next 6 months I may have to be running a program called solid works off of it.
Click to expand...

Well you'll have to run windows as well then because solid works is PC only (apart froma few specific little apps). Although it doesn'rt seem to require particularly high specs.

The reason that people reccomend the Pro is the screen at the same ram and SSD size the Pro and air are much the same price so at that point you might as well have the great screen unless you really want a couple of extra hours battery life.
 
blangst1 said:
Just from what I have heard anything too processor heavy can bog it down. In the next 6 months I may have to be running a program called solid works off of it.
Click to expand...
Get a windows laptop then.
There is no guarantee that the macbook you get will let you install windows.

Also, the current mba's cpu is more powerful than the one in the non-retina mbp.
 
redheeler said:
Windows 8 can be installed on any MacBook, through Bootcamp or a VM.
Click to expand...
No, this is not true.

I recently tried to install windows 8 on a 2013 mba through bootcamp with no success. I made several threads on here and called :apple: and microsoft. They told me that they both do not support running windows on mac.

I also googled this topic and there are many other people who have the same problem. After two days I gave up.
 
Meister said:
No, this is not true.

I recently tried to install windows 8 on a 2013 mba through bootcamp with no success. I made several threads on here and called :apple: and microsoft. They told me that they both do not support running windows on mac.

I also googled this topic and there are many other people who have the same problem. After two days I gave up.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you may have gotten a bad copy of 8 or something. I have 8.1 on both of my rMBPs (a 2012/2013) via bootcamp. I did have to make an iso image from windows 8.1 DVD first and then I just followed the prompts... Maybe it's a 8.0 vs 8.1 issue?

PS I did have have to use imgburn (a windows app) to make the iso file (on my windows gaming desktop), for some reason disk utility in OS X wasn't doing it correctly.
 
Meister said:
No, this is not true.

I recently tried to install windows 8 on a 2013 mba through bootcamp with no success. I made several threads on here and called :apple: and microsoft. They told me that they both do not support running windows on mac.

I also googled this topic and there are many other people who have the same problem. After two days I gave up.
Click to expand...

That is very strange.

I run Windows in Parallels now, but have installed it using Bootcamp before. There are several support documents on Apple's website relating to installing Windows on a Mac.

Are you sure it was a supported version?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back