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yjchua95

macrumors 604
Apr 23, 2011
6,725
233
GVA, KUL, MEL (current), ZQN
Jealous you got one as a gift! How significant was the transition/upgrade? Radeongate can definitely be scary.

Wasn't significant at all, I just restored the rMBP with a Time Machine backup and continued using it like normal :)

The only noticeable difference is the much better screen when indoors, and much worse glare when outdoors.

Graphics performance was a huge jump (from 1GB 6750M to 2GB GT750M), and I can play BF4 at around 45-50fps with a mix of high and ultra settings, FXAA and 16xAF, 1680x1050. It can easily shoot into around 60fps in quite a few situations in BF4.

Otherwise, it's all but identical in everything else :)
 

Essenar

macrumors 6502a
Oct 24, 2008
553
186
The 15" non-Retina unibody is still my favorite form factor. It's the 'real' MacBook Pro. Even when I had a 15" Retina with 650M, I couldn't help but feel like it was a bigger Air.

The upgrade path on it is insane. 16GB of DDR3 ram, dual SSD's, quad core Ivy Bridge at potentially 2.3 or 2.7 GHz. It's far from an underpowered machine. If you can pick one up refurbished, throw Apple Care on it and call it a day. You can deal with the ram upgrades later.
 

BigRed1

macrumors 6502
Dec 13, 2011
291
63
I couldn't agree more. Of all the machines out there the 15" cMBP is my favorite. I think a refurb unit is my next machine. It's an awesome Logic Pro machine.
 

Kashchei

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 26, 2002
1,148
5
Meat Space
I wanted to thank everyone who shared their time and expertise in helping me decide on my new machine. I have not been impressed with the hybrid drive on my office iMac, so I didn't think a pure SSD drive would be much better. Once I went to an Apple store and tried out the rMBP next to the 13" non-retina MBP, the choice became obvious. The former ran as fast as a stabbed rat! I ultimately ordered a 15" rMBP since my eyes are bad and I just got my tax return, but I wanted to thank everyone who contributed to this thread. You all have no idea how long I considered each of your opinions before making my final choice (my wife joked last night that I must have brought the topic up 82 time since I originally started this thread, which may or may not have been an exaggeration). I cannot thank you enough for all your help!

Kashchei
 

Meister

Suspended
Oct 10, 2013
5,456
4,310
I wanted to thank everyone who shared their time and expertise in helping me decide on my new machine. I have not been impressed with the hybrid drive on my office iMac, so I didn't think a pure SSD drive would be much better. Once I went to an Apple store and tried out the rMBP next to the 13" non-retina MBP, the choice became obvious. The former ran as fast as a stabbed rat! I ultimately ordered a 15" rMBP since my eyes are bad and I just got my tax return, but I wanted to thank everyone who contributed to this thread. You all have no idea how long I considered each of your opinions before making my final choice (my wife joked last night that I must have brought the topic up 82 time since I originally started this thread, which may or may not have been an exaggeration). I cannot thank you enough for all your help!
Kashchei
a good choice. Enjoy :)
 

ecschwarz

macrumors 65816
Jun 28, 2010
1,433
354
And to add some comments to the OP's question, it's not that out of step with Apple's current "new" products. It's got the same CPU and GPU as the Mac mini, and the Retina MacBook Pro that was sold until last October. I'd look for discounts/refurbs/used at least, but it certainly is a good machine to get and then eventually upgrade in the future yourself.

Some argue the philosophy of the optical drive and extra ports, but that will just give you more expansion for only a bit more weight (especially if you eventually do replace the optical drive with something else).

I will agree with the battery life complaints. The battery life is certainly better than a vast chunk of the competition, but it's a bit less than Apple's newer models.

As for wifi, 802.11ac is certainly nice and fast, but if your main networks are still based around 802.11n, that should be fast enough for everything. Plus, most ISPs only dream of touching 802.11n speeds, so you won't necessarily get faster internet, just faster computer-to-computer transfers. Finally, you could always take advantage of gigabit ethernet. ��

That being said, I certainly would say that at full price, it's a tough call—I'd be inclined to lean towards a rMBP or MBA.
 
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