Confused 15" cMBP or 15" rMBP

[nickandre21]

Well since my laptop is under replacement from apple and will take around 4 weeks to ship from another country(no apple stores)
I have decided to take the plunge and buy a new macbook this week which was anyways due in a couple of months.
The replacement would be used by my dad.

I intend on going in for the top of the line 15inch cMBP or the 2.7ghz retina with 16gb ram and 512gb ssd.

My usage includes final cut, logic pro, motion, after effects, aperture.
I do make use of the optical drive often.


What would be better suited to my usage? A bit better battery life?
Storage is my concern as my current macs 750 gb hdd had about 30 gb free.
But then again i do have a coupe of thunderbolt hdd.

Also i have been reading about the image retention issues on the retina should that bother me or has apple taken care of it?

 

[MikesGravity]

First off, if you are using Final Cut, Motion, AE, Aperture, etc. you shouldn't be running off the internal (5400 or 7200 RPM drives).

The main differences would be upgrading down the road. If you want a bigger hard drive, it's much harder to replace in the rMBP. If you want more RAM it's impossible. With a cMBP you can upgrade both rather easily.

If you go rMBP, decide what hard drive you can live with for the essentials and plan on using externals for the rest.

The cost of buying a cMBP, adding an SSD and 8 or 16GB or ram is going to come out to about the same as a rMBP plus you get the amazing screen and a better graphics card than the cMBP (same card, more ram with the rMBP).

For what you use it for, either would be great but you get the best screen around with the rMBP. From what I hear there are still issues with some LG screens, the Samsung screens are perfect.

Well since my laptop is under replacement from apple and will take around 4 weeks to ship from another country(no apple stores)
I have decided to take the plunge and buy a new macbook this week which was anyways due in a couple of months.
The replacement would be used by my dad.

I intend on going in for the top of the line 15inch cMBP or the 2.7ghz retina with 16gb ram and 512gb ssd.

My usage includes final cut, logic pro, motion, after effects, aperture.
I do make use of the optical drive often.


What would be better suited to my usage? A bit better battery life?
Storage is my concern as my current macs 750 gb hdd had about 30 gb free.
But then again i do have a coupe of thunderbolt hdd.

Also i have been reading about the image retention issues on the retina should that bother me or has apple taken care of it?

 

[BigJohno]

If you max out cmbp you can get same video card as retina.

 

[BuCkDoG]

Go with the Retina MacBook Pro. You will be glad you did once you actually start to use it.

 

[nickandre21]

First off, if you are using Final Cut, Motion, AE, Aperture, etc. you shouldn't be running off the internal (5400 or 7200 RPM drives).

The main differences would be upgrading down the road. If you want a bigger hard drive, it's much harder to replace in the rMBP. If you want more RAM it's impossible. With a cMBP you can upgrade both rather easily.

If you go rMBP, decide what hard drive you can live with for the essentials and plan on using externals for the rest.

The cost of buying a cMBP, adding an SSD and 8 or 16GB or ram is going to come out to about the same as a rMBP plus you get the amazing screen and a better graphics card than the cMBP (same card, more ram with the rMBP).

For what you use it for, either would be great but you get the best screen around with the rMBP. From what I hear there are still issues with some LG screens, the Samsung screens are perfect.

Thanks for your quick reply, I did check up on ssd pricing out here in India and the 512gb itself costs around $490 for the samsung 840 while 16gb laptop ram is hard to find.
the price difference between the cMBP with 2.6 ghz i7 8gb ram 750gb 7200 rpm hdd and the retina with 2.7 ghz i7 16gb ram and 512gb ssd is around $500. So i am kind of inclining more towards the retina.

I see you have the retina hows your experience with it, wrt to portability battery life and display.

 

[lagisibuk]

For what you use it for, either would be great but you get the best screen around with the rMBP. From what I hear there are still issues with some LG screens, the Samsung screens are perfect.

maybe for early 2013, this issues has been solved.

 

[nickandre21]

If you max out cmbp you can get same video card as retina.

hey well actually here in India we can only purchase whats stocked at the store we cannot customize. I had a word with the reseller and they told me to keep the retina at the first preference then the cmbp. With regards to graphics performance what will be better.

 

[lagisibuk]

If you max out cmbp you can get same video card as retina.

upppsss...
CMIIW...

1. video graphic card RAM is not like virtual ram on windows. when you want to upgrade VRAM of video card, you must upgrade your video card, not upgrade RAM of macbook.

2. I think, the different of retina display with non-retina display not depends on VRAM size, but technology display (retina).

 

[laurihoefs]

upppsss...
CMIIW...

1. video graphic card RAM is not like virtual ram on windows. when you want to upgrade VRAM of video card, you must upgrade your video card, not upgrade RAM of macbook.

2. I think, the different of retina display with non-retina display not depends on VRAM size, but technology display (retina).

I think he meant, that if you customize the cMBP in Apple Store, you can choose to get 1GB of video memory instead of the 512MB in the basic config. Take a look at the details under "Processors and Graphics" -section on the Apple Store page.

Of course this is not an available option, if you can't order a CTO version directly from Apple..

 

[lagisibuk]

I think he meant, that if you customize the cMBP in Apple Store, you can choose to get 1GB of video memory instead of the 512MB in the basic config. Take a look at the details under "Processors and Graphics" -section on the Apple Store page.

Of course this is not an available option, if you can't order a CTO version directly from Apple..

ouwhhh, IC ...

 

[makaveli559m]

Stick with a cMBP you can upgrade the RAM yourself to 16GB when you feel like it not to mention you also upgrade the Hard drive yourself even up to 2TB of space. Also that if you don't need the optical drive anymore you can also get another hard drive and have two hard drives running on your machines! Don't fall for others saying on wow the screen makes up for the lack of options! On a Retina you don't even have an Ethernet port! External devices cant be taken with you any where. The oddest thing that I have heard that pisses me off is when people say yes you can upgrade the hard dive and an add an optical drive to a Retina MBP externally?!

 

[mac82]

The oddest thing that I have heard that pisses me off is when people say yes you can upgrade the hard dive and an add an optical drive to a Retina MBP externally?!

Why should that piss you off? Both points are true. OWC, and possibly other companies, make SSD kits to upgrade the SSDs of rMBPs and MBAs. And you can add an optical drive to any Mac externally; ever heard of USB?

 

[farmermac]

i have both. with one day of use with the rMBP under my belt I really like the screen and light weightness but i miss the DVD drive and missing ports. Im not going to upgrade my desk at work and at home, so looks like the dongles are in my future (thunderbolt to ethernet & thunderbolt to firewire). Consider that if you want those ports. They are useful to me and I miss them

 

[collinmac]

I LOVE MY RETINA.

I only have 8gb RAM, but that will be plenty for me for 2-3 years. I was a MS Guy since 1986. Never again.

 

[JeffiJers]

I LOVE MY RETINA.

I only have 8gb RAM, but that will be plenty for me for 2-3 years. I was a MS Guy since 1986. Never again.

+1 I would be lost without this computer. (base 2013 15R)

 

[makaveli559m]

Why should that piss you off? Both points are true. OWC, and possibly other companies, make SSD kits to upgrade the SSDs of rMBPs and MBAs. And you can add an optical drive to any Mac externally; ever heard of USB?

You proved my point lol wow USB devices cant be taken with you everywhere I have no idea why you even responded it. It costs more money to upgrade that certain type of hard drive on the Retina MBP it isn't like you can use a standard 2.5 drive so don't even reply saying you can use Thunderbolt or USB it isn't the same like internal lol

 

[collinmac]

honestly, external drives are getting so small, unobtrusive, large in capacity and cheap, it's not as big of a deal as it used to be.

 

[mac82]

You proved my point lol wow USB devices cant be taken with you everywhere I have no idea why you even responded it. It costs more money to upgrade that certain type of hard drive on the Retina MBP it isn't like you can use a standard 2.5 drive so don't even reply saying you can use Thunderbolt or USB it isn't the same like internal lol

1: You stated explicitly that an optical drive cannot be added externally to the rMBP. You were wrong. As to whether someone would wish to carry around an external optical drive: that is entirely up to the individual. It is very small, thin, and weighs next to nothing. Not exactly a hardship. Besides, who even uses optical media anymore?

2: You stated that it pisses you off when people say you can upgrade the hard drive, and I asked why that should piss you off? Does reality often piss you off? Because it is absolutely true that people can upgrade the hard drives (SSDs, actually) in their rMBPs. If you meant that it is expensive to do so, then you should have stated that. Simply claiming that people can't upgrade their SSDs is false.

So on both points, you were wrong.

 

[NewishMacGuy]

Besides, who even uses optical media anymore?

The OP does:

"I do make use of the optical drive often."

He also needs a lot of disk space (more than you can get internally in the rMBP at any price):

"Storage is my concern as my current macs 750 gb hdd had about 30 gb free."

Given these factors and the PITA of carrying around external drives, the uMBP-15 would almost certainly be the better choice for the OP.

Hopefully he can find a 1TB hybrid drive at a reasonable price and do that upgrade himself.


___

 

[MikesGravity]

I see you have the retina hows your experience with it, wrt to portability battery life and display.

I love it man. I came from 2008 13" macbook pro and the 15" is just as light and thinner than the 13". I was worried about portability but now I carry it in a backpack daily and do not have ANY issues with having a bigger laptop, I couldn't ever go back to a 13". If you haven't see a retina in person, go see one. The body is fantastic, it's thin and light - and you have to see the screen, it's the best I've ever seen.

The battery life is better than my 2008 13" so I'm happy. Average use, web surfing, music, email, etc. etc. I get about 5-6 hours.

PLUS: Like other's have said, externals are so cheap these days... I carry a 1TB seagate portable USB 3.0 drive in my backpack with my music/photos on it. It doesn't even bother me. I also have the USB Superdrive but rarely use it these days.

 

[collinmac]

I honestly can't remember the last time I used an optical drive. It's all been USB for me.

 

[mac82]

The OP does:

"I do make use of the optical drive often."

He also needs a lot of disk space (more than you can get internally in the rMBP at any price):

"Storage is my concern as my current macs 750 gb hdd had about 30 gb free."

Given these factors and the PITA of carrying around external drives, the uMBP-15 would almost certainly be the better choice for the OP.

Hopefully he can find a 1TB hybrid drive at a reasonable price and do that upgrade himself.


___

Asking 'Who even uses optical media anymore' was rhetorical, as it seems to be going the way of the floppy disk. I'm well aware that the OP does; my point was more along the lines of: why? However, that was a minor point thrown onto the end of the main argument I was making.

As for requiring more storage than the rMBP allows, I completely sympathize. Even the 768GB SSD, which costs more than I could possibly afford, would not be large enough for me. I have made the compromise of a small SSD and a large USB3 drive, which really isn't much hassle at all. Unlike you, I would much rather have a retina screen, and have to use an external drive, than to continue to use the lesser, and soon to be discontinued, screen in the cMBP. To each his own.

 

[nickandre21]

The OP does:

"I do make use of the optical drive often."

He also needs a lot of disk space (more than you can get internally in the rMBP at any price):

"Storage is my concern as my current macs 750 gb hdd had about 30 gb free."

Given these factors and the PITA of carrying around external drives, the uMBP-15 would almost certainly be the better choice for the OP.

Hopefully he can find a 1TB hybrid drive at a reasonable price and do that upgrade himself.


___

well seagates momentus xt series isn't available out here the only option would be to import it via amazon which comes upto $350 and neither is the hgst travelstar 1tb7200 rpm available

it seems now I'm inclining towards the cMBP and with some more questions.

Whats better an internal hybrid hard drive or an external thunderbolt hard drive?
I read somewhere that the retina has better graphics than the cMBP whats your guys take on this.
we do have our tape decks that work on firewire but then there's even an adapter for it.
Right now money is not a limiting factor. But that doesn't rule that it should not be wisely spent
but anyways here's what the cMBP's pricing looks like along with the upgrades
cmbp $3100 with 1tb hybrid drive and 16 gb ram
and the retina without upgrades $3083

 

[makaveli559m]

1: You stated explicitly that an optical drive cannot be added externally to the rMBP. You were wrong. As to whether someone would wish to carry around an external optical drive: that is entirely up to the individual. It is very small, thin, and weighs next to nothing. Not exactly a hardship. Besides, who even uses optical media anymore?

2: You stated that it pisses you off when people say you can upgrade the hard drive, and I asked why that should piss you off? Does reality often piss you off? Because it is absolutely true that people can upgrade the hard drives (SSDs, actually) in their rMBPs. If you meant that it is expensive to do so, then you should have stated that. Simply claiming that people can't upgrade their SSDs is false.

So on both points, you were wrong.

1. I said that externally isn't the same like internal and I'm not one to have said that you can use an external device I never said that. External devices wont be the same like internals. I never said to use an external optical device I believe in built in onboard devices. As I computer tech I still use dvd drives and I still use dvds and not just downloaded media content.
2. It pisses me off when people say yes you can upgrade your hard drive or add an optical drive but externally :| You made my point about external devices. Do you see where I am getting at? Yes its misleading think about it, you think hey I can upgrade my Retina to a better hard drive than you think I could just go to Staples or Best Buy to get a 2.5 hard drive only to find out that its not supported. I rest my case, I made my point. External devices cant always be taken with you any where you go.

 

[MikesGravity]

External devices cant always be taken with you any where you go.

Why not? 100% of the time you are going to take your Macbook out of the house in some type of case/bag OR have on pants/shorts with pockets.... and with externals the size of a pack of cigarettes and requiring no external power, what's the problem??