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Do you think the base rMBP will last a good 4-5 years before becoming "outdated?"
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Yes. It will definitely last 4-5 years.
The hardware is pretty much top of the line, so you are automatically future-proofing yourself for the next 2 or 3 years. After that, it won't be the best of the best, but it'll still be good.
As long as you take care of it, it should last even longer.
The hardware is pretty much top of the line, so you are automatically future-proofing yourself for the next 2 or 3 years. After that, it won't be the best of the best, but it'll still be good.
As long as you take care of it, it should last even longer.
I should still be usable
My 2007 MBP is still usable, although I don't use it
I have upgraded to a 2011 MBA
In 5 years you will likely have already moved on to something else
My 2007 MBP is still usable, although I don't use it
I have upgraded to a 2011 MBA
In 5 years you will likely have already moved on to something else
Unfortunately, five years from now there won't be a better screen available, and very, very few that are as good. Cellphones keep advancing but computer screens - especially laptop screens - keep getting less expensive but also of poorer quality.
My 06 Macbook lasted 6 years however it's no longer able to run the applications that I need to run quick and efficiently also ML wasn't supported on it so it was just another reason for me to upgrade.
So I think if that lasted 6 years that should easily last 4-5 years depending on your usage down the line.
So I think if that lasted 6 years that should easily last 4-5 years depending on your usage down the line.
After 5 years, memory may become a major constraint for any serious tasks. GPU may also be an issue for graphics intensive applications.
Would we still be using emails at the time? Who knows? Too many unknown issues to worry about. Electronic gadgets tend to become out-dated very fast. Make your choices based on current and near term requirements.
Would we still be using emails at the time? Who knows? Too many unknown issues to worry about. Electronic gadgets tend to become out-dated very fast. Make your choices based on current and near term requirements.
The $64,000 question is whether the graphical constraints that some people are currently experiencing can be redressed in such fashion that future applications prove no more taxing for a v1 MBPr than an identically equipped MBP. If not, the former will bump its head against any hypothetical performance ceiling sooner. I don't know that anyone's crystal ball is HDPI here.
But from the perspective of 4-5 years, 16GB RAM will probably win you an additional year of satisfactory performance vs. half that amount, whatever the system.
Consider how fast applications grow in size, it is unlikely the 256 GB SSD will be enough in 5 years.
Depends on how the person uses it. My friend has a 2006 Black MacBook with the original hard drive and she doesn't even complain about not enough space. She does have an external hard drive to store her photos (excess of 20k last time she showed me)
I think it will be. The retina MBP is my first mac, and considering i've purchased and used less powerful windows machines for 4-6 years without issue, i would think the same would apply here. Of course, the life of a system depends on the user, i'm only speaking on my behalf.
Considering how well Mac's hold their value, in 4-5 years you'll still have a nice chunk of change as down payment on your subsequent purchase.
Considering how well Mac's hold their value, in 4-5 years you'll still have a nice chunk of change as down payment on your subsequent purchase.
I don't know about that , this is the first version and as always the 2nd version is always better
I think a person's downloading habits are far more decisive than application size.
And the 3rd is better than the 2nd and so on and so forth. It will still work just as well.
I had a 2008 Macbook before I switched to a rMBP. The only issue it had was the airport card got really hot when streaming netflix over WiFi. Otherwise, it worked just fine. I would expect a similar result or better with a current MBP.
Which reminds me: strange that the MBP is now tagged "mid-product cycle" (unlike the MBA) in the buyer's guide. Based on what I've read here, a Haswell refresh is unlikely before June 2013 at the absolute earliest. Any movement prior would have to involve prices/base configurations. We don't even have a firm launch date for Haswell yet.
What do you consider outdated?
In my case I will wait to buy a Retina MacBook when the rest the line is updated with the Retina Display.
I bought the late 2008 unibody when it came out, in a few months it was updated.
In my case price wise I overpaid. Battery wise it sucks and it is even worse than the previous models. And some hardware manufacturing quality issues within and out of warranty.
If you can wait some months it might be better.
In my case I will wait to buy a Retina MacBook when the rest the line is updated with the Retina Display.
I bought the late 2008 unibody when it came out, in a few months it was updated.
In my case price wise I overpaid. Battery wise it sucks and it is even worse than the previous models. And some hardware manufacturing quality issues within and out of warranty.
If you can wait some months it might be better.
Early reports says it's coming out as early as march and as late as June. Like I was saying People keep forgetting this the first version and if you go by apple history the 2nd version is alway better by alot
Haswell itself, yes. So presumably an Apple-side Haswell refresh would follow at least a couple of months later.
Just curious, what changes do you expect to make the 2nd rMBP will be better "by a lot". The rMBP wasn't really as big a change as the MBA. The MBA was extremely under powered because the ULV CPUs weren't really all that great. This isn't the case with the rMBP, it has close to the best hardware currently available.
I expect minor boosts in performance, CPU, GPU, storage space and a cost reduction. Just like with the latest cMBP update.
The latest cMBP didn't come down in cost. The numbers have been $1800 and $2200 for a while. The $1800 one closely follows the component price points of the $1800 late 2011 cMBP. I expect either the design or some of its features will migrate into the cheaper price points in one to two years. Intel is optimizing much more in favor of gpu gains than it was in the past. Soon such a thing will be feasible. This is typical. Debut something on the high end. As capacity ramps up and growth slows there, trickle similar features into lower price points.
Poorly worded on my part. You're right the cost didn't change, and I didn't mean for it to come off that way. That was more in reference to the evolution of the MBA. The spec bumps are what I was referring too when comparing with the latest cMBP.
The Retina display itself is the one that's limiting the rMBP's performance right now. They're still trying to optimize the OS X to be more responsive in higher resolutions, Safari's scrolling/lagging issues and so on.
It demands so much resources from GPU/CPU that even 20-30% improvement in GPU will make a huge difference in the GUI responsiveness and that can happen next year or two years from now.
If rMBP didn't have the retina display, then yes, it'll last a good 5-6 years.
Since it does have it, it'll be outdated by next year or two depending on how fast they improve the GPUs and OS X.
Anandtech talked a lot about this in depth if you want to understand this more.
It demands so much resources from GPU/CPU that even 20-30% improvement in GPU will make a huge difference in the GUI responsiveness and that can happen next year or two years from now.
If rMBP didn't have the retina display, then yes, it'll last a good 5-6 years.
Since it does have it, it'll be outdated by next year or two depending on how fast they improve the GPUs and OS X.
GPU is the current killer in rMBP, it's already being pushed to the limits because of the double-sampling > downscaling it has to do and the current GPUs are not designed to push that amount of pixels at high speed.
Anandtech talked a lot about this in depth if you want to understand this more.
Ohh.. it wasn't meant to be nitpicky. I thought you meant that the slight to moderate upgrades of the $2200 version migrated into the $1800 version and the rMBP took over the $2200. I think it's a given that something similar will happen in the 13" space eventually. If they're going with integrated graphics, it could be a couple cycles, but it may be very feasible by Broadwell without lag. Intel has taken a much different approach to integrated graphics compared to a few years ago.