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Just bought a new MacBook Pro Retina, and I think I have buyers remorse

C

clarkjames

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 21, 2010
15
0
Ok, so to cut a long story short we inherited some money, which allowed me to upgrade my 2008 macbook pro. I'm a photographer and I went for the 15" retina for the speed/portability.

It's a great machine, but i've been using it a few days now and realise how much I'm connected to an external display, I haven't even undocked it yet!
I still want to keep retina though, although I no longer thing the standard model is a poor choice.

I really wanted haswell models to come out at wddc, I intend to keep the machine for 3 years at least, but they didn't come out so I was forced to buy one as I had a lot of work to do and my old laptop wasnt up to the task. I had to get 8gb ram because that was all they had in stock, i've seen my page file go mental (at the moment it's 64gb), so I do wish i'd got 16gb. Once i've finished this job I can think about returning the macbook as it's in the 14 day returns period, and get the 16gb ram option sent to my house.

So the question is- get a 16gb model right now and be slightly annoyed when haswell comes out (not even sure what the main benefits are, battery life and wireless AC?), or keep this one, sell when haswell comes out for probably about what I paid for it and get a 512gb haswell with 16gb ram.

I also got 3 year apple care becuase it was too good to refuse with UK educational discount.

So what do you think, go 16gb now or wait till haswell?

battery life would be nice, but it's wireless AC really excites me, i'm currently using my old laptop as a server and if I got a wireless AC dongle and router I would have a pretty fast wireless server access using built in ac on haswell.
 
The wife and I are photographers with maxed out rMBPs as our only computers. When we are in the field, nothing beats the large SSDs for fast photo collection and the 15" retina screen is great for initial culling and editing during 2 week field trips.

When we get home the rMBPs go into BookArc stands and hooks up via thunderbolt to calibrated ATDs for final editing. Once the photos are edited, they are moved off the LR folders on the SSD to the LR folders on LaCie RAID 1 arrays. Time Machine backs up the entire file system to a 3TB drive for each of us. Then we have an internet server for offsite backup.

IMHO: no 15" screen beats a calibrated 27" his res monitor for final editing. Use a laptop screen for what it is intended for....work in the field/road. At home/office, use a calibrated monitor with significant real estate so you can zoom in and have plenty of space for tool panels.
 
thejadedmonkey said:
Return it if you're not happy. Personally I think the retina MBP is overpriced, but that's just me.. and in America.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I can see Apple either cutting the starting price by 100$ or so, or just upgrading the base model, either way I think it will overall be somewhat cheaper. As for the CPU haswell gives it maybe a 10-15% boost the real benefactors as you said are in the wifi and battery life, with the rMBP getting about 7 hours or so, I can see the new haswell getting about 10 maybe more on a single charge, I'm very excited about that. In addition, the new macbook airs shipped with the new SSDs that offer almost the speed and a half of the current SSDs shipped with the rMBP.

For you, this would be your biggest benefit, considering the video/photo projects and such you mentioned. On top of all that said, I would at least wait till BTS and see what deals there are then and possibly, the new rMBP may launch with BTS, I'd wait till mid-july to make your decision, by that time we will have a real good chance of knowing when the refresh will be if it doesn't release even before that. I believe apple is waiting for the Iris Pro or w.e which intel doesn't release till the start of july, I'm sure apple has it already, but they can't launch a laptop with a new GPU that intel hasn't even announced yet. I could very well see a refresh sometime in July coinciding with BTS, because BTS should have very well been out by now with all the deals.
 
i think you should keep your current Mac.
when haswell comes you then can decide whether you should get it or not, or sell your current MBP and get the 16GB ivy bridge version which should be sold at discounted prices by retailers to quickly clear up the existing stock.
 
thejadedmonkey said:
Return it if you're not happy. Personally I think the retina MBP is overpriced, but that's just me.. and in America.
Click to expand...

price isnt the issue here (although i'm not made of money either)
rather it's a question of: buy something and keep it for many years, or buy something and re-buy latest version every year

I did the maths and my 2008 macbook pro is now worth at best £300, that's a £600 drop in 4 years as I paid 900 for it (and that was a good price back then)( so a drop of £150 per year), so if I could re-sell and buy a new one every year and lose less than 150 i'd be getting a good deal.

My question specifically is get 16gb now or wait for haswell, and if I get haswell do I max out or only buy what I need and re-assess when they're refreshed.

apple clearly want us to buy the new ones every time, hence why they retina's are no longer upgradeable, i'm just trying to understand whether i'm comfortable with that
 
clarkjames said:
price isnt the issue here (although i'm not made of money either)
rather it's a question of: buy something and keep it for many years, or buy something and re-buy latest version every year

I did the maths and my 2008 macbook pro is now worth at best £300, that's a £600 drop in 4 years as I paid 900 for it (and that was a good price back then)( so a drop of £150 per year), so if I could re-sell and buy a new one every year and lose less than 150 i'd be getting a good deal.

My question specifically is get 16gb now or wait for haswell, and if I get haswell do I max out or only buy what I need and re-assess when they're refreshed.

apple clearly want us to buy the new ones every time, hence why they retina's are no longer upgradeable, i'm just trying to understand whether i'm comfortable with that
Click to expand...

Look at my post 2 comments up, that should offer some ideas.
 
i don't get why people buy last year's model when the new one is gonna be released in a couple of months... it's obvious, but people still ignore it.

you had a working macbook pro to begin with, but spent around $2k on last year's technology.
 
MCAsan said:
The wife and I are photographers with maxed out rMBPs as our only computers. When we are in the field, nothing beats the large SSDs for fast photo collection and the 15" retina screen is great for initial culling and editing during 2 week field trips.

When we get home the rMBPs go into BookArc stands and hooks up via thunderbolt to calibrated ATDs for final editing. Once the photos are edited, they are moved off the LR folders on the SSD to the LR folders on LaCie RAID 1 arrays. Time Machine backs up the entire file system to a 3TB drive for each of us. Then we have an internet server for offsite backup.

IMHO: no 15" screen beats a calibrated 27" his res monitor for final editing. Use a laptop screen for what it is intended for....work in the field/road. At home/office, use a calibrated monitor with significant real estate so you can zoom in and have plenty of space for tool panels.
Click to expand...
\

thanks, looks like you have a great setup there!

I use a 26" monitor, but I was thinking of getting a 27", probably the older cinema display rather than the thunderbolt- and get the thunderbolt when they make them less reflective and usb 3.

or- get a used 27" imac to use as a monitor and 24/7 file server (and sell my old laptop)

bbishop93 said:
Agreed, I can see Apple either cutting the starting price by 100$ or so, or just upgrading the base model, either way I think it will overall be somewhat cheaper. As for the CPU haswell gives it maybe a 10-15% boost the real benefactors as you said are in the wifi and battery life, with the rMBP getting about 7 hours or so, I can see the new haswell getting about 10 maybe more on a single charge, I'm very excited about that. In addition, the new macbook airs shipped with the new SSDs that offer almost the speed and a half of the current SSDs shipped with the rMBP.

For you, this would be your biggest benefit, considering the video/photo projects and such you mentioned. On top of all that said, I would at least wait till BTS and see what deals there are then and possibly, the new rMBP may launch with BTS, I'd wait till mid-july to make your decision, by that time we will have a real good chance of knowing when the refresh will be if it doesn't release even before that. I believe apple is waiting for the Iris Pro or w.e which intel doesn't release till the start of july, I'm sure apple has it already, but they can't launch a laptop with a new GPU that intel hasn't even announced yet. I could very well see a refresh sometime in July coinciding with BTS, because BTS should have very well been out by now with all the deals.
Click to expand...

thanks, I guess BTS is a educational store only thing, because unfortunately my discount expires in a month, unless I get a friend to buy it for me

devilcm3 said:
i think you should keep your current Mac.
when haswell comes you then can decide whether you should get it or not, or sell your current MBP and get the 16GB ivy bridge version which should be sold at discounted prices by retailers to quickly clear up the existing stock.
Click to expand...

thanks, I get educational discount now but it expires real soon- and afaik it's only apple that has the 16gb upgrade option, other retailors only sell the 16gb with 512gb 2.7 ghz cpu, the bigger ssd and faster cpu aren't interesting to me as I work off big external drives anyway.

so if I wanted a cheaper 16gb upgrade i'd have to get it now, within the 11 days I have left to return, Maybe I should just get it, the resale value would be proportionally higher- i.e. I wouldn't lose any money and then I can think if I even want haswell, and whether the increased battery life is useful or not, maybe it isn't, after all it's not portable like an air.
 
bbishop93 said:
Agreed, I can see Apple either cutting the starting price by 100$ or so, or just upgrading the base model, either way I think it will overall be somewhat cheaper. As for the CPU haswell gives it maybe a 10-15% boost the real benefactors as you said are in the wifi and battery life, with the rMBP getting about 7 hours or so, I can see the new haswell getting about 10 maybe more on a single charge, I'm very excited about that. In addition, the new macbook airs shipped with the new SSDs that offer almost the speed and a half of the current SSDs shipped with the rMBP.

For you, this would be your biggest benefit, considering the video/photo projects and such you mentioned. On top of all that said, I would at least wait till BTS and see what deals there are then and possibly, the new rMBP may launch with BTS, I'd wait till mid-july to make your decision, by that time we will have a real good chance of knowing when the refresh will be if it doesn't release even before that. I believe apple is waiting for the Iris Pro or w.e which intel doesn't release till the start of july, I'm sure apple has it already, but they can't launch a laptop with a new GPU that intel hasn't even announced yet. I could very well see a refresh sometime in July coinciding with BTS, because BTS should have very well been out by now with all the deals.
Click to expand...

when the first unibody 15" macbook pro came out it was 1999.

its 2013, and the base starts at what 1799? not much of a drastic difference lolz
 
definitive said:
i don't get why people buy last year's model when the new one is gonna be released in a couple of months... it's obvious, but people still ignore it.

you had a working macbook pro to begin with, but spent around $2k on last year's technology.
Click to expand...

A) I didn't buy the laptop, it wasn't my money, I would have waited but I had to accept the money right then otherwise it might have been retracted/spent on something else.
to be honest I wish i'd bought it 3 months ago

B) it was peak season for my job (photographer) and I made £1800 in one week, so it has been more than paid off- I needed the laptop to make that money as my old computer is far too slow to process files quick enough. basically it was a necessary purchase.

So now the job has been done I could return the laptop and keep using my old one, but I don't really want to do that, and if I kept it and sold it for haswell I bet i'd sell it for exactly what I paid for it.

a couple of months is a long time too, for something that gets used professionally every day, my old laptop was just too slow and annoying, taking minutes to load a picture to photoshop, now it does it in seconds
 
definitive said:
i don't get why people buy last year's model when the new one is gonna be released in a couple of months... it's obvious, but people still ignore it.

you had a working macbook pro to begin with, but spent around $2k on last year's technology.
Click to expand...

Well a few reasons spring to mind:

1) You need a new computer now (always the best reason to buy btw). That may be because your old one is dying / dead or for whatever reason you have to make the purchase now or not at all (work machines frequently fall into that category).
2) The existing machine meets your needs and you'd prefer to buy now than wait a few more months.
3) The existing model has been around for long enough to have the bugs worked out and is a known quantity.
4) The expected upgrades aren't significant enough to the individual to be worth bothering with (almost the same as point 2 but approached from the other direction).

In this particular instance the 15" rMBP isn't likely to see massive jumps in performance from Haswell as it has a discrete GPU. Battery life will improve, certainly, but it's already on 7 hours so it's a nice to have, not critical feature (and Mavericks will likely help further in that regard). 802.11ac isn't hugely useful right now for most people which leaves the SSD upgrade to PCIe. Now that does bring a useful speed boost but, again, it's not night and day like the move from HDD to SSD was. So really it just comes down to personal preference in the end as to whether you want the machine now or later and how much you value the extra features. Certainly buying the current rMBP doesn't strike me as a silly move at all.
 
Chuck-Norris said:
when the first unibody 15" macbook pro came out it was 1999.

its 2013, and the base starts at what 1799? not much of a drastic difference lolz
Click to expand...

Umm for me and any sensible consumer, I think for a new/upgraded/better computer AND 200$ cheaper starting, is a pretty good deal. I wasn't talking about the current retina going down in price I was talking about the new haswell one, it could start cheaper, or start at the same price with a better base model.
 
Can you buy from the Apple refurbished site in the UK?

Remember this: Apple just refreshed the Retina MBPs in February. This is why the immediately prior models are available for greatly reduced prices from the Apple Refurbished store.

Forgetting this, I foolishly sold my 2011 MBP 15" a few days before WWDC in anticipation of the new Haswell models, and I was left without a computer to work on. Backed against the wall, I bought the refurbished 15" Retina 2.6ghz, 512gb SSD, 16gb RAM for only $2189 -- a whopping $612 savings over the current 2.7 ghz model similarly configured. It's a FABULOUS machine!

Apple refurbished products are re-built (mine was built three weeks ago) and carry the same Apple warranty as new models.

As it stands, there will be no new Macbook Pros until October, following the normal schedule. (If Haswell had been ready in February, we would have seen Haswell MBP's then, instead of the minor processor bump models Apple released.)

But fret not: so far, reports are indicating Haswell brings only a minor increase in CPU performance, while the huge battery life gains seem confined to the ULT chip-equipped machines, such as the Macbook Air (see this Verge article: http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/13/44...ell-deliver-on).
 
prospervic said:
Remember this: Apple just refreshed the Retina MBPs in February. This is why the immediately prior models are available for greatly reduced prices from the Apple Refurbished store.

Forgetting this, I foolishly sold my 2011 MBP 15" a few days before WWDC in anticipation of the new Haswell models, and I was left without a computer to work on. Backed against the wall, I bought the refurbished 15" Retina 2.6ghz, 512gb SSD, 16gb RAM for only $2189 -- a whopping $612 savings over the current 2.7 ghz model similarly configured. It's a FABULOUS machine!

Apple refurbished products are re-built (mine was built three weeks ago) and carry the same Apple warranty as new models.

As it stands, there will be no new Macbook Pros until October, following the normal schedule. (If Haswell had been ready in February, we would have seen Haswell MBP's then, instead of the minor processor bump models Apple released.)

But fret not: so far, reports are indicating Haswell brings only a minor increase in CPU performance, while the huge battery life gains seem confined to the ULT chip-equipped machines, such as the Macbook Air (see this Verge article: http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/13/44...ell-deliver-on).
Click to expand...


I was also considering the refurb models, it was £200 less for the same spec, but I heard there were a number of small upgrades to the 2013 model (45 minutes extra battery, slightly faster sad, less of a screen lottery), so I went with the new one mostly because I needed it there and then so couldn't wait 2 days for shipping.

Still am tempted to get the older version though.

I got student apple care for £60, if I got a refurb model I think i'd have to pay £180 for apple care- or can you get student apple care with a refurb model, because if you can i'd do that for sure.
 
bbishop93 said:
Umm for me and any sensible consumer, I think for a new/upgraded/better computer AND 200$ cheaper starting, is a pretty good deal. I wasn't talking about the current retina going down in price I was talking about the new haswell one, it could start cheaper, or start at the same price with a better base model.
Click to expand...

do you not comphrehend what i was saying?

i was tryin to explain using past pricing on macbooks then the model eventually does get cheaper after each upgrade but not very much

----------
bbishop93 said:
Umm for me and any sensible consumer, I think for a new/upgraded/better computer AND 200$ cheaper starting, is a pretty good deal. I wasn't talking about the current retina going down in price I was talking about the new haswell one, it could start cheaper, or start at the same price with a better base model.
Click to expand...

P.s- have fun waiting till october for haswell LOL
 
Chuck-Norris said:
do you not comphrehend what i was saying?

i was tryin to explain using past pricing on macbooks then the model eventually does get cheaper after each upgrade but not very much

----------



P.s- have fun waiting till october for haswell LOL
Click to expand...

Oh I comprehended what you were saying I just thought you may have also had a different interpretation because of how stupid that comment was. Any consumer would be happy with a newer more powerful computer for less, even if its a mere 100$ how can you not say its worth waiting a month or two for a cheaper, next generation product? Unless you NEED it now. And we'll see, everyone has their theories I don't see how you could be so cocky and confident about yours unless you're either naive...or you just recently bought a rMBP so you're hoping for a longer wait till the next refresh. I really don't understand people who want for the worst for other people on something as silly as a computer. What do you care if haswell rMBP is released next month? What you hate seeing hundreds or thousands of people happy? Something is wrong with you then.

P.s - No one knows when haswell will be released except Apple LOL
 
bbishop93 said:
Oh I comprehended what you were saying I just thought you may have also had a different interpretation because of how stupid that comment was. Any consumer would be happy with a newer more powerful computer for less, even if its a mere 100$ how can you not say its worth waiting a month or two for a cheaper, next generation product? Unless you NEED it now. And we'll see, everyone has their theories I don't see how you could be so cocky and confident about yours unless you're either naive...or you just recently bought a rMBP so you're hoping for a longer wait till the next refresh. I really don't understand people who want for the worst for other people on something as silly as a computer. What do you care if haswell rMBP is released next month? What you hate seeing hundreds or thousands of people happy? Something is wrong with you then.

P.s - No one knows when haswell will be released except Apple LOL
Click to expand...


well im sorry that comment has influenced your life so hard you needed to write some crazy long post :D

in regards, to apple releases, the new imacs were released 6 months later when the macbook pros were launched. there is no special event during the summer, so its definately the fall we will see new macbook pro retins
 
Chuck-Norris said:
well im sorry that comment has influenced your life so hard you needed to write some crazy long post :D

in regards, to apple releases, the new imacs were released 6 months later when the macbook pros were launched. there is no special event during the summer, so its definately the fall we will see new macbook pro retins
Click to expand...

That post probably took me about 1min tops to respond, Idk if you know the meaning of the term "long". Secondly, that's right cause apple always follows exactly the same pattern year after year? Oh wait a refreshed retina in february...4 months from last october..yep. Hey when guess what were just approaching 4 months from february right as the new Iris is about to be announced by intel...hmm. And following Apple's strict "by law" schedule why hasn't BTS happened yet? hmm idk. Not to mention it's not uncommon for apple to do "silent updates" no conference just a simple announcement and refresh. Hmm you mean Apple doesn't always have a special event to update a current product? You have your theory but that's all it is, a theory, and for you to just declare it as fact shows how incompetent you are.
 
bbishop93 said:
That post probably took me about 1min tops to respond, Idk if you know the meaning of the term "long". Secondly, that's right cause apple always follows exactly the same pattern year after year? Oh wait a refreshed retina in february...4 months from last october..yep. Hey when guess what were just approaching 4 months from february right as the new Iris is about to be announced by intel...hmm. And following Apple's strict "by law" schedule why hasn't BTS happened yet? hmm idk. Not to mention it's not uncommon for apple to do "silent updates" no conference just a simple announcement and refresh. Hmm you mean Apple doesn't always have a special event to update a current product? You have your theory but that's all it is, a theory, and for you to just declare it as fact shows how incompetent you are.
Click to expand...

you keep yapping while iil enjoy my retina macbook pro :D

your facts are invalid
 
clarkjames said:
I was also considering the refurb models, it was £200 less for the same spec, but I heard there were a number of small upgrades to the 2013 model (45 minutes extra battery, slightly faster sad, less of a screen lottery), so I went with the new one mostly because I needed it there and then so couldn't wait 2 days for shipping.

Still am tempted to get the older version though.

I got student apple care for £60, if I got a refurb model I think i'd have to pay £180 for apple care- or can you get student apple care with a refurb model, because if you can i'd do that for sure.
Click to expand...

Don't know about student Applecare (I'm not a student.) As for the 2013 upgrades, MacWorld and other sites are reporting only a 3% increase in performance between the 2012 and 2013 models. Anantech.com says the Sandisk SSD used in the newer model is actually slightly slower than the Samsung SSD in the 2012 MBP. Also, there were some initial problems with these Sandisk SSDs in MBPs: https://www.macrumors.com/2013/03/0...eriencing-fan-issues-related-to-sandisk-ssds/

The main point is you said you needed it now. That's what counts. If I hadn't sold my 2011 MBP I most certainly would have waited until October.
Besides, if we're wrong, and Haswell is an extrodinarily revolutionary update (which I seriously doubt), we can always resell for a good price. (Just look on Ebay to get empty original boxes.)

Looking forward to Broadwell in 2014 -- that's supposed to bring seriously increased power as well as battery life.
 
prospervic said:
Looking forward to Broadwell in 2014 -- that's supposed to bring seriously increased power as well as battery life.
Click to expand...

Broad well won't be making an appearance in 2014. Intel has shifted it's plans and now plans to introduce a Haswell refresh in 2014 and Broadwell in 2015. I guess they are not ready to show off 14nm yet oh well ;(
 
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