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Macbook or MacBook Pro with Retina?

Samuelsan2001 said:
If you open up and run your worst case workload and then take a look and see how it's going.

To be honest unless you are running multiple VM's or using very RAM hungry apps then 8GB is usually a great amount.
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I just tried that and with Photoshop, iMessages, iPhoto, pages, Powerpoint and 2 Safari tabs open along with Netflix i get too:

7.97 GB of memory used

and that for me is worst case scenario, i usually only have Pages open along with a couple of internet tabs at any one time, i usually focus on the one thing i'm doing at a time and try not to have too many things running in the background.
 
Dave245 said:
I just tried that and with Photoshop, iMessages, iPhoto, pages, Powerpoint and 2 Safari tabs open along with Netflix i get too:

7.97 GB of memory used

and that for me is worst case scenario, i usually only have Pages open along with a couple of internet tabs at any one time, i usually focus on the one thing i'm doing at a time and try not to have too many things running in the background.
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Ignore memory used look at the graph and and the swap used... As long as the graph is green and the swap used is low then you are good.

Wired Memory is what is being used by apps the rest is still available if needed but being used as cache because not using it is wasting it.
 
Samuelsan2001 said:
Ignore memory used look at the graph and and the swap used... As long as the graph is green and the swap used is low then you are good.

Wired Memory is what is being used by apps the rest is still available if needed but being used as cache because not using it is wasting it.
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yea it remains green even with all of the other stuff i mentioned open. After doing this i think i will stick with 8GB Ram for which ever machine i choose next it not only saves money but if i'm not using more than 8 then it's pointless.
 
Ditto for you don't need 16GB Ram.

People don't understand that empty RAM is useless RAM, so the OS puts RAM that's just sitting there to use.

Samuelson has it correct that you need to look at the pressure graph and as long as it's in the green, you're good.

Get the 13" rMBP and call it a day. You'll be fine with the 256/8GB version.
 
Honestly though, future-proofing by upgrading the ram is way over-exaggerated. The amount of ram, CPU, and all other components in the standard macbook models is pretty much mature enough that it most likely wouldn't have massive changes in the future.

The graphics card is probably the only component I can think of that has continuous impactful improvements. If you look into the macs that OS X Yosemite supports, it's nearly always the graphics card that is the limiting factor.
 
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Dave245 said:
With the student discount it makes the rmbp a more attractive purchase, and to future proof it (i plan on keeping for 4-5 years) i was thinking the middle to high end 13" my current 2011 15" mbp has been a great machine, it has never let me down but it is now starting to slow and with Yosemite it takes longer to boot up and iPhoto and iMovie takes a while to open up and can be a little sluggish when using. I've also been attracted to the new rmbp because of the SSD speeds (i hear they are a lot better than my current machine) and the retina screen would probably be a nice addition too.

Also because i'm on my third and final year at university i think it would be best to make final use of my student discount before i graduate and can no longer use it.
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It's a good idea, just try and go for the 16GB of RAM like I said, in my opinion it will be one of the best options to spec up for future proofing.
The retina display is incredible as is the PCI-e SSD. I find the SSD in this is jaw droppingly fast - but if they have doubled the speed then it is simply ridiculous, personally in everyday use I doubt you'd notice but it's a nice addition none the less, personally mine is around the 700MB/s mark. Really does make loading programs and booting up the system painless and almost instant. Whenever I go back to a system that uses a HDD it's painfully obvious just how slow and dated it feels, as well as the annoying whirring and clicking sounds HDD's make.

Definitely use it, I'm still extremely happy with my Mac.
 
SCOLANATOR said:
It's a good idea, just try and go for the 16GB of RAM like I said, in my opinion it will be one of the best options to spec up for future proofing.
The retina display is incredible as is the PCI-e SSD. I find the SSD in this is jaw droppingly fast - but if they have doubled the speed then it is simply ridiculous, personally in everyday use I doubt you'd notice but it's a nice addition none the less, personally mine is around the 700MB/s mark. Really does make loading programs and booting up the system painless and almost instant. Whenever I go back to a system that uses a HDD it's painfully obvious just how slow and dated it feels, as well as the annoying whirring and clicking sounds HDD's make.

Definitely use it, I'm still extremely happy with my Mac.
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That's my thinking with the SSD being faster and the retina display plus the battery life, it should make a nice upgrade from my current 2011 MBP.

Android300zx said:
New Macbook [no body]
Macbook Pro [nice bumper and chest]

Again, get the Macbook Pro.
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Yea I've decided to go with the Macbook Pro, now all I've got to decide is between the 256, 512 or 1TB SSD but with the price of SSD being high i may go with the 512.
 
Dave245 said:
That's my thinking with the SSD being faster and the retina display plus the battery life, it should make a nice upgrade from my current 2011 MBP.



Yea I've decided to go with the Macbook Pro, now all I've got to decide is between the 256, 512 or 1TB SSD but with the price of SSD being high i may go with the 512.
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Get the Macbook if you want some STYLE. :cool:

Lol just kidding, the Macbook suits your needs undoubtedly, but I recommend the pro because spec wise speaking it will have a longer life span than the macbook. I hope your every penny spent can last as long as they could.
 
Buy the Retina MBP if that's your only computer..
Much better value and much more powerful.
The new Macbook is essentially an overpriced netbook (and with only one port).
As a second computer used for travel only I'd recommend the Macbook but for anyone who intends to use it as their one and only computer,Retina MacBookPro is the clear winner.
 
ColdShadow said:
Buy the Retina MBP if that's your only computer..
Much better value and much more powerful.
The new Macbook is essentially an overpriced netbook (and with only one port).
As a second computer used for travel only I'd recommend the Macbook but for anyone who intends to use it as their one and only computer,Retina MacBookPro is the clear winner.
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The dreaded netbook. Cheap underpowered pieces of ****. Screens with such low resolutions they that couldn't even display apps properly, and the Intel Atom processors were pure rubbish.

The MacBook Air, Intel's ULV CPUs, and Ultrabook standard really saved small form factor thin and light notebooks. I'm curious to see how this Core M processor performs.
 
I had the same decision

I went with the rMBP for the simple reason as I wanted more ports. I didn't think the added mobility/battery life was worth the sacrifice of limited ports.
 
Dave245 said:
Weight and portability isn't really an issue as i already carry around my 15" 2011 Macbook Pro everyday to university and back home (I commute).
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Then the rMBP 13" is the one to go, you won't regret, promised.

Samuelsan2001 said:
Not really the Macbook is the hot chick, young beautiful slim, and empty headed....
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No, you misunderstood me (or I misunderstood him), to me the MBP is the sexy one.
 
Put it this way...

Right now, my late 2013 rMBP with 8GB is running a secondary display, a Citrix Connection to work, a Windows XP Virtual Machine running a SQL Server, iTunes playing an album, Safari with 7 tabs open, Messages, Calendar, Notes, and Mail open.

I have 1GB of RAM free and it's still running like a dream, with memory pressure sitting at 26%.

Get the MacBook Pro.

EDIT: With that said, I'm on Mavericks. Would be a completely different story on Yosemite.
 
It wouldn't

yep-sure said:
Put it this way...

Right now, my late 2013 rMBP with 8GB is running a secondary display, a Citrix Connection to work, a Windows XP Virtual Machine running a SQL Server, iTunes playing an album, Safari with 7 tabs open, Messages, Calendar, Notes, and Mail open.

I have 1GB of RAM free and it's still running like a dream, with memory pressure sitting at 26%.

Get the MacBook Pro.

EDIT: With that said, I'm on Mavericks. Would be a completely different story on Yosemite.
Click to expand...

Yosemite is just as good with RAM as Mavericks as far as I can see a few hundred mb for handoff features makes little difference....
 
If you go 16GB RAM, I'd consider upgrading to 15''..

Thats what I did since 16GB RAM comes as standard and quad core processor. and bigger screen.

And the 15'' is light as it is. Honestly weight between any of the MacBooks is now neglligible unless you're a stick insect.
 
aoaaron said:
If you go 16GB RAM, I'd consider upgrading to 15''..

Thats what I did since 16GB RAM comes as standard and quad core processor. and bigger screen.

And the 15'' is light as it is. Honestly weight between any of the MacBooks is now neglligible unless you're a stick insect.
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Even with the older parts in it at $1999?
 
dexterbell said:
Who pays full price for a MacBook? They are almost always on sale somewhere and I found one that wasn't even two months old and hardly used on CL for $1500.
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The problem is taking it back to the Apple store in the event of an problem or issue.
 
AdonisSMU said:
The problem is taking it back to the Apple store in the event of an problem or issue.
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Why ? The rest of the original one year warranty would still be valid. That's at least 10 months. Plus I'm sure you can still extend it by buying AppleCare for it.
 
Mr.C said:
Why ? The rest of the original one year warranty would still be valid. That's at least 10 months. Plus I'm sure you can still extend it by buying AppleCare for it.
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Yes to both. Even if someone has bought Apple Care and you buy their computer, it follows the computer, not the buyer.
 
this past couple of days i have been thinking about a Macbook Air instead, the battery life is longer at 12 hours and with the SSD i'm assuming it will be more faster than my current 15" Macbook Pro 2011?

Also Apple have updated them with faster processors and faster SSD's i believe
 
But

Dave245 said:
this past couple of days i have been thinking about a Macbook Air instead, the battery life is longer at 12 hours and with the SSD i'm assuming it will be more faster than my current 15" Macbook Pro 2011?

Also Apple have updated them with faster processors and faster SSD's i believe
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You lose out on the retina display, thats your issue. They have also updated the 13 inch rMBP to broadwell, with force touchpads. If you are thinking a dual core computer the rMBP is still the best all round package.
 
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