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I need some help with a purchase ... Must be today

JSENNY25

JSENNY25

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 12, 2008
205
65
Ohio
Hi again. As of right now I have a 2012 13 inch base MacBook Pro that is upgraded to 16 GB of RAM.
I am not sure if I would rather keep it and upgrade to a solid-state drive or get the 13 inch retina.
I will be using a laptop every day at school for keynotes and other class activities for my students. I will also be using it for Photoshop, Illustrator and the entire CS6 suite because I am going back to school for instructional design. I need Adobe for class, but this is my go between computer (I have an iMac at home)

When it is all said and done I guess I am just looking for opinions on whether or not the extra real estate enabled by the retina display is worth me paying an extra couple of hundred dollars any input would be appreciated.

Please help!
 
well none of those adobe apps are updated for retina and who knows when any of them will be ready. some of them aren't even in the works (like indesign, after effects, etc)
 
I realize that (unfortunately). I guess I am trying to weight the benefits if upgrading the base cMBP (and paying for the upgraded like a SSD and the already purchased RAM) or just buying the rMBP and just being done with it.

Love the portability, but I have store credit at Best Buy and they do not offer the AIr in 8 gb, so it is either the cMBP (with upgrades) or a stock rMBP
 
You have a machine that is a year old or less, resist the urge to upgrade every time the lineup is updated. I am a freelance photographer and am still using my Late 2008 MBP on my shoots and it works just fine. Unless you are a trust fund baby, it makes no sense to update for your purposes. Put the money toward another pair of skinny jeans or some Chuck Taylor's.
 
This is what i did. I have a 2012 13" MBP. I have the i7 and put 16 GB of Ram in it.

For the SSD, I bought a 512 SSD from NewEgg, popped that into my MBP and used time machine to restore it.

Computer is SUPER fast and I LOVE IT.
Im not wasting my money on a retina MBP that is not upgradable. I think its dumb
JSENNY25 said:
I realize that (unfortunately). I guess I am trying to weight the benefits if upgrading the base cMBP (and paying for the upgraded like a SSD and the already purchased RAM) or just buying the rMBP and just being done with it.

Love the portability, but I have store credit at Best Buy and they do not offer the AIr in 8 gb, so it is either the cMBP (with upgrades) or a stock rMBP
Click to expand...
 
tcphoto said:
You have a machine that is a year old or less, resist the urge to upgrade every time the lineup is updated. I am a freelance photographer and am still using my Late 2008 MBP on my shoots and it works just fine. Unless you are a trust fund baby, it makes no sense to update for your purposes. Put the money toward another pair of skinny jeans or some Chuck Taylor's.
Click to expand...


Insight is one thing. Sarcasm and rudeness are just not needed. I am a 30 year old professional who buys a laptop once every few years.

I want the best laptop for money that I have available.
 
What you have is fine for years to come. Putting in a SSD would make it feel much zippier.
A retina screen is very nice though. I love mine!
 
rogo43 said:
This is what i did. I have a 2012 13" MBP. I have the i7 and put 16 GB of Ram in it.

For the SSD, I bought a 512 SSD from NewEgg, popped that into my MBP and used time machine to restore it.

Computer is SUPER fast and I LOVE IT.
Im not wasting my money on a retina MBP that is not upgradable. I think its dumb
Click to expand...

That is a good idea and probably what I'll end up doing. The biggest thing was the screen real estate. I never liked using my wife's MacBook Pro and i didnt know why untill i used a 13 inch MacBook Air and saw the 1400 x 900 display. There was much more room and I really liked it.

I guess I don't need the retina display but I really just liked the native 1400 x 9000 view.
 
tcphoto said:
you have a machine that is a year old or less, resist the urge to upgrade every time the lineup is updated. I am a freelance photographer and am still using my late 2008 mbp on my shoots and it works just fine. Unless you are a trust fund baby, it makes no sense to update for your purposes. Put the money toward another pair of skinny jeans or some chuck taylor's.
Click to expand...

lol !!
 
Suggestion: get a 15" rMBP with 16GB of memory. Personally I would get the CPU upgrade as well. Then I would sell the iMac and get a thunderbolt display for the rMBP. Don't forget an external drive for data you do not need to keep on the SSD, and a second external drive for Time Machine to do backups.

Naturally get ed discounts on the rMBP and ATD. If you were to purchase them at one time, the rMBP Apple Care would cover them both.
 
+1
13" 2011

rogo43 said:
this is what i did. I have a 2012 13" mbp. I have the i7 and put 16 gb of ram in it.

For the ssd, i bought a 512 ssd from newegg, popped that into my mbp and used time machine to restore it.

Computer is super fast and i love it.
Im not wasting my money on a retina mbp that is not upgradable. I think its dumb
Click to expand...
 
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