I just can't decide!!!!

[MyAppleWorld]

SO

Last year i bought a 13" cMBP and manually upgraded to 16GB RAM

With all intentions of running multiple virtual machines (server 2008, exchange, sql) for my microsoft exam training.

I did not use the laptop for this purpose and probably won't until atleast March 14. I had basically just been using the laptop for facebook, music etc but battery life annoyed the hell out of me because of drain during sleep.

So I decided to sell cMBP and my 16GB ram and i've made a loss of £180 in 12 months- I've done well!

I was all set to get a Macbook air with 8gb ram and figured that would be enough to run the occasional VM and if my VM needs get serious next year then I might get a mini and run it 24/7 in the home and access remotely.

Now apple have gone and thrown in a haswell 13" rMBP for near the same price as the air!
ALSO i have the option for 16GB RAM - Eliminating the need for a mini in the future.

How on earth will I decide??

I'm worried about UI lag on retina MBP mainly

 

[Tears Apart]

The UI lag shouldn't be the deciding factor.

Since you need the performance, this is a no brainer - just get the rMBP.

The only advantage of the MBA is half a pound weight less (that admittedly can be felt) and the battery life.

IMHO not enough to justify it over the rMBP...

 

[MyAppleWorld]

i had intentions of getting a speck case because with the cMBP i had a zipped case and I found this a barrier to using the device.

I know the air still looks awsome and slim with a spec case - I am worried a rMBP with spec case will add too much bulk. I'm being material here, not practical

i don't actually travel, just round the house!

 

[agaskew]

If you have the readies get the rMBP with 16Gb. You'll save the cost of a Mini later on, the speed is great and the display is too!
I have a Speck case on my 15" rMBP, its a little thicker for sure, but not that much and better than hundreds of scratches!

 

[MyAppleWorld]

If you have the readies get the rMBP with 16Gb. You'll save the cost of a Mini later on, the speed is great and the display is too!
I have a Speck case on my 15" rMBP, its a little thicker for sure, but not that much and better than hundreds of scratches!

You are right about saving cost on a mini later on...however if this is my intention then i also won't eed 512gb ssd either

im now actually thinking rmbp 13"/256/8gb - this would also ship in 24 hrs!!!!

this saves me £400 to put towards a mini later on

or its 13/512/16gb

13/256/16gb wouldn't give me the storage for my virtual machines

custom rMBP were showing 1-3day despatch but now says 1-2 weeks

 

[agaskew]

You are right about saving cost on a mini later on...however if this is my intention then i also won't eed 512gb ssd either

im now actually thinking rmbp 13"/256/8gb - this would also ship in 24 hrs!!!!

this saves me £400 to put towards a mini later on

or its 13/512/16gb

13/256/16gb wouldn't give me the storage for my virtual machines

custom rMBP were showing 1-3day despatch but now says 1-2 weeks

I see what you mean, as soon as you bump the memory to 16Gb, the dispatch time goes to 1-2 weeks for any of the 13" rMBPs. That sucks.
You might get one quicker if you try an Apple store but I don't know if you are near any.

Your requirements is, or was, to run multiple VMs. If that is likely in the future life of this machine, 16Gb will be good. I have a 2012 15" rMBP 2.7/16Gb/768Gb and can run 3-4 VMs at once for building, testing and demonstrating server based solutions with stuff like dual SQL/Oracle databases with failover. The speed of SSD and the headroom of 16Gb has been such a benefit over the previous HDD/8Gb MBP I used before. Plus, I can easily carry it to a customer site, plug it in to a projector and resume VMs in a couple of minutes. It means I have to be disciplined with disk space usage, and throw away unused VMs.

Your requirements may not be the same, but as you know the rMBP is pretty much non upgradeable so IMO it makes sense to get the best you can now.

 

[MyAppleWorld]

I see what you mean, as soon as you bump the memory to 16Gb, the dispatch time goes to 1-2 weeks for any of the 13" rMBPs. That sucks.
You might get one quicker if you try an Apple store but I don't know if you are near any.

Your requirements is, or was, to run multiple VMs. If that is likely in the future life of this machine, 16Gb will be good. I have a 2012 15" rMBP 2.7/16Gb/768Gb and can run 3-4 VMs at once for building, testing and demonstrating server based solutions with stuff like dual SQL/Oracle databases with failover. The speed of SSD and the headroom of 16Gb has been such a benefit over the previous HDD/8Gb MBP I used before. Plus, I can easily carry it to a customer site, plug it in to a projector and resume VMs in a couple of minutes. It means I have to be disciplined with disk space usage, and throw away unused VMs.

Your requirements may not be the same, but as you know the rMBP is pretty much non upgradeable so IMO it makes sense to get the best you can now.

I went through this exact dilemma last year hence bought cMBP as a compromise and upgraded the ram to 16gb for £50 from crucial!

I could argue every use case - its hard to know whats right!