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Is the 2.8GHz MacBook Pro Retina worth the $220?

E

ehmjay

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 26, 2006
99
10
In the market for a new laptop, and pining for the MBP Retina. Now, obviously I'm going to keep waiting a little longer in hopes that they get the new processors of the MBA (though I'm guessing they're not going to do so during the summer while the student deal is on, sadly). But I'm curious, is it worth going from the 2.7GHz to the 2.8GHz for $220? I'd much rather put that $220 towards getting the bigger 768GB harddrive (especially since I wont be able to upgrade that easily myself).

I understand that 2.8 > 2.7, but I'd love to know *how much* better it is, and if it justifies the rather large price tag.

I am a video editor, and while most of the crazy heavy duty stuff I do at the office on a MacPro, having a nice beefy laptop for home is really helpful. That said I'm upgrading from an old 2.53 GHz i5 Unibody so it's already a nice step up.
 
Nope, not worth it.

Go for 768GB SSD.

In fact, in my opinions, if you can, save that $220 for an external Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 storage solution. Unless you want to keep everything compact.
 
It will lower your render times with roughly 4-5%. Is $220 worth 4-5% to you?

If I were you, I'd put the money toward the 768GB instead.
 
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you would probably notice and appreciate the extra SSD capacity a lot more than the additional clockspeed on the processor. I vote 768GB SSD
 
ehmjay said:
But I'm curious, is it worth going from the 2.7GHz to the 2.8GHz for $220? I'd much rather put that $220 towards getting the bigger 768GB harddrive (especially since I wont be able to upgrade that easily myself).
Click to expand...
You answered your own question. Worth is always highly subjective no matter what the topic. Only you can say whether it's worth it to you or not.

ehmjay said:
I understand that 2.8 > 2.7, but I'd love to know *how much* better it is, and if it justifies the rather large price tag.
Click to expand...
Do the math. 2.7/2.8*100 = ~96%. Justify is also highly subjective. Is 4% more worth $220 to you?
 
Yes its worth it.....DO IT! I have no reasoning other than more power more power more power.
 
This one's easy... if you're one of those people who will always wonder if you made the right choice every time you get even a minor slowdown... than do it.

If not - use the 220 for more storage -
 
For video editing and rendering there is at least an argument to be made for the extra 100MHz. Especially considering you can't upgrade the processor later.

The extra 256GB of SSD space is pricey. And that is something that can be upgraded later.
 
falconeight said:
Yes its worth it.....DO IT! I have no reasoning other than more power more power more power.
Click to expand...

Jeremy Clarkson, is that you?

Thanks for all the insight everyone. As I mentioned, the stuff I'd be doing on the machine is mostly personal stuff and while 4-5% is certainly nothing to sniff at, if I'm doing something super crazy heavy I'd likely be doing it at the office on a MacPro.

ValSalva said:
For video editing and rendering there is at least an argument to be made for the extra 100MHz. Especially considering you can't upgrade the processor later.

The extra 256GB of SSD space is pricey. And that is something that can be upgraded later.
Click to expand...

this is a very good point mind you, though I was under the impression the HDDs on the Retina machines can't be upgraded?

I'm also the kind of person who is insane about his disc space - my current laptop has a 750gb HDD with 220 gbs of free space. As soon as that number starts to dip too much I freak out and start deleting.

So I kind of feel that knowing myself the HDD would be a better option. But there is also something to be said for waiting a little longer to get both. Hopefully the machine will get rev'd soon and will make the choice easier (but that back to school discount/app store card is so hard to pass up).
 
The 2.8 also has 2MB more L3 cache. That might mean something to your workflow.

But a bigger SSD will probably save you more time being able to avoid an external drive.
 
ehmjay said:
Jeremy Clarkson, is that you?

Thanks for all the insight everyone. As I mentioned, the stuff I'd be doing on the machine is mostly personal stuff and while 4-5% is certainly nothing to sniff at, if I'm doing something super crazy heavy I'd likely be doing it at the office on a MacPro.



this is a very good point mind you, though I was under the impression the HDDs on the Retina machines can't be upgraded?

I'm also the kind of person who is insane about his disc space - my current laptop has a 750gb HDD with 220 gbs of free space. As soon as that number starts to dip too much I freak out and start deleting.

So I kind of feel that knowing myself the HDD would be a better option. But there is also something to be said for waiting a little longer to get both. Hopefully the machine will get rev'd soon and will make the choice easier (but that back to school discount/app store card is so hard to pass up).
Click to expand...

They are not HDDs. They are SSDs. Completely different. It's like a flash drive in the place of a Hard Drive. No moving parts= less heat and 4 To 5 times faster. Different world completely
 
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