I'm just putting my own experience forward to address some of the negativity around the 13" rMBP here.
I unfortunately had to get an emergency replacement for my mid-2010 15" MBP this week. It was the top-of-the-line retail 15" model when it was purchased, with a 2.66 i7 dual core and discrete NVIDIA graphics. As a student though who only does some HD editing in FCP 7 once in a while (and not as a profession), I realized that for my new machine, I didn't really need a similarly-tiered model. Additionally, I really wanted a 13" because my old 15" was usually larger than the desks in class!
Enter the 13" rMBP, which I got with an i5 and 256 GB. I love it and meets all of my needs. Surprisingly, even without discrete graphics, this machine has easily outperformed by top-model 2010 MBP when running games like Portal 2. I'm running it with nearly all of the settings turned up to max. (The exceptions are resolution and anti-aliasing, which I have one setting below max.) My 2010 MBP, which did have discrete graphics, was unable to pull a playable framerate with those settings. If Intel keeps this up with the improvement of their integrated graphics, those in the industry who say graphics cards will soon go the way of the sound card are absolutely right, and it may happen sooner rather than later.
Sure, this computer isn't going to win any awards for rendering times in FCP. However, the SSD definitely contributes to making it go along at least a little faster than my old 2010 MBP did. As someone who doesn't use FCP every day, the level of performance I get out of this machine is just fine. In fact, the ability to upscale the resolution on the retina display gives me even more real estate for my timeline than I used to have, which itself is a BIG DEAL for me on such a small machine!
Yes, this machine does have a high price tag, and if you do intense CPU tasks on the job every day, it's to your benefit to upgrade to the 15" model and makes financial sense. But if you want a computer with lots of power for simple FCP editing that can still handle the graphics of some fairly recent games very well without sacrificing portability, the 13" rMBP is a great machine, and I don't regret purchasing it over the 15".
I unfortunately had to get an emergency replacement for my mid-2010 15" MBP this week. It was the top-of-the-line retail 15" model when it was purchased, with a 2.66 i7 dual core and discrete NVIDIA graphics. As a student though who only does some HD editing in FCP 7 once in a while (and not as a profession), I realized that for my new machine, I didn't really need a similarly-tiered model. Additionally, I really wanted a 13" because my old 15" was usually larger than the desks in class!
Enter the 13" rMBP, which I got with an i5 and 256 GB. I love it and meets all of my needs. Surprisingly, even without discrete graphics, this machine has easily outperformed by top-model 2010 MBP when running games like Portal 2. I'm running it with nearly all of the settings turned up to max. (The exceptions are resolution and anti-aliasing, which I have one setting below max.) My 2010 MBP, which did have discrete graphics, was unable to pull a playable framerate with those settings. If Intel keeps this up with the improvement of their integrated graphics, those in the industry who say graphics cards will soon go the way of the sound card are absolutely right, and it may happen sooner rather than later.
Sure, this computer isn't going to win any awards for rendering times in FCP. However, the SSD definitely contributes to making it go along at least a little faster than my old 2010 MBP did. As someone who doesn't use FCP every day, the level of performance I get out of this machine is just fine. In fact, the ability to upscale the resolution on the retina display gives me even more real estate for my timeline than I used to have, which itself is a BIG DEAL for me on such a small machine!
Yes, this machine does have a high price tag, and if you do intense CPU tasks on the job every day, it's to your benefit to upgrade to the 15" model and makes financial sense. But if you want a computer with lots of power for simple FCP editing that can still handle the graphics of some fairly recent games very well without sacrificing portability, the 13" rMBP is a great machine, and I don't regret purchasing it over the 15".
