Macbook Pro advice

[liam-h]

Hi, I've been reading up as much as I can, but I think I need some advice now. I've narrowed my choices down to two macbook pros:

The first is a
2.6 GHz Quad i7
8gb DDR3
500Gb HDD @5400rpm
Anti glare retina display

The second a
2.4 GHz quad i7
8gb DDR3L
256Gb SSD
Retina Display

I would like to use the laptop for video editing on final cut pro X, but I think really I won't be doing a lot of this, only from time to time. I photography so I'd be using lightroom too, but I don't know if the hard drive speed will matter a whole lot with image processing? I do light gaming on my current laptop, nothing anymore taxing than the likes of verbal space program , but I would like to be able to run them well when i go on them.

I guess what I'm mainly asking is if the extra 0.2GHz of i7 will make a lot of difference, or whether it would be a better decision to get the SSD. I currently use a laptop with 256 Gb of storage so it'd be enough, but it would be nice for extra space, although I do have external drives.

Any help would be really appreciated, I hope my post isn't too jumbled up to understand , Thanks

 

[B...]

You would not notice the extra 0.2 GHz processor, but what you might notice is expandability of the cMBP. You can swap out RAM and the HDD easily, whereas the rMBP is (essentially) a closed system.

 

[Laco]

Hi, I've been reading up as much as I can, but I think I need some advice now. I've narrowed my choices down to two macbook pros:

The first is a
2.6 GHz Quad i7
8gb DDR3
500Gb HDD @5400rpm
Anti glare retina display

The second a
2.4 GHz quad i7
8gb DDR3L
256Gb SSD
Retina Display

I would like to use the laptop for video editing on final cut pro X, but I think really I won't be doing a lot of this, only from time to time. I photography so I'd be using lightroom too, but I don't know if the hard drive speed will matter a whole lot with image processing? I do light gaming on my current laptop, nothing anymore taxing than the likes of verbal space program , but I would like to be able to run them well when i go on them.

I guess what I'm mainly asking is if the extra 0.2GHz of i7 will make a lot of difference, or whether it would be a better decision to get the SSD. I currently use a laptop with 256 Gb of storage so it'd be enough, but it would be nice for extra space, although I do have external drives.

Any help would be really appreciated, I hope my post isn't too jumbled up to understand , Thanks

Certainly for what you are planning to do SSD is much more important than the 0.2 difference CPU. You will most likely not notice a difference in the CPU speeds but the SSD will make creating and copying pictures much faster.

 

[liam-h]

Thanks for the replies. Don't think I'd be upgrading anything after anyway, so that wouldn't really matter much. Think the SSD is probably the best option then!

Thanks again

 

[dragonjinse]

I was in the same shoes as you before.
If you don't plan to upgrade anything after purchase, I'd suggest you to get rMBP.

That's what I got and I love it!

 

[kant]

Hi, I've been reading up as much as I can, but I think I need some advice now. I've narrowed my choices down to two macbook pros:

The first is a
2.6 GHz Quad i7
8gb DDR3
500Gb HDD @5400rpm
Anti glare retina display

The second a
2.4 GHz quad i7
8gb DDR3L
256Gb SSD
Retina Display

You might want to look at this from MacMall.

http://www.macmall.com/p/Apple-MacBook-Pro/product~dpno~9529011~pdp.ibefgdj

I am about to pull the trigger on it. If it's not a refurb. That price is amazing.

I wanted a 2.6 with 4gb and 500gb 5400 rpm. 1909 from the Apple education store. Plan to upgrade RAM to 16gb and a bigger HD from OWC.

That MacMall machine means that for $90 more I can wait on the SSD HD prices to fall a bit and maybe wait on the RAM. But even if I upgrade RAM to 16gb, I can sell 2x4gb for more than 2x2gb would bring.

(I have to make a purchase before the end of August due to restrictions on the disability trust fund I'm using. Which means I can't wait for the new models. And I'd rather have the more powerful machine with matte, network port, and firewire port than a less powerful one with retina and forced to buy the Belkin thunderbolt dock.)

 

[tillsbury]

There's no doubt in my mind. Buying a computer nowadays without an SSD is ridiculous. Nothing else in the specifications above matters by comparison.

 

[liam-h]

Thanks for the macmall link, but unfortunately im in the UK! So I'd be buying from the apple store, I get the education discount on the apple store anyway

 

[kant]

There's no doubt in my mind. Buying a computer nowadays without an SSD is ridiculous. Nothing else in the specifications above matters by comparison.

I can't debate the performance difference because I haven't yet had a system with an SSD.

But I will beg to differ on your "ridiculous" assertion.

MacMall: $1999
NewEgg Samsung 840 Pro 256gb SSD: $239


Apple BTO Education: $2464
Apple BTO Education upgrade to 256gb SSD: $180


I find those specification rather compelling.

----------

Thanks for the macmall link, but unfortunately im in the UK! So I'd be buying from the apple store, I get the education discount on the apple store anyway

Ah. I'm sorry.

If you want Retina get the Retina.

If you want the non-retina, get it with the cheapest drive and order an SSD elsewhere. It's a 30 minute job to swap them out. Or get the mounting kit and pull the superdrive out and go dual HDs.

This is very likely going to be the last user upgradeable MBP according to speculation. That makes me sad. I really like Apple, but they their upgrade prices are highway robbery.

 

[foxf8]

idk about 30 min job to change out hard drives more like 5min but any way. ssd is night and day to normal hard drive and older year models of macbook pros all start out base model 5400rpm which is ridiculous its just another reason why Apple always has the title of being overpriced for what you get. but with new airs and rMBP you get ssd and good ram amount, actually keeps up with other pc hardware specs. but thats another story... but if your trying to justify having a "v8 mustang" or a "v4 honda civic" you tell me lol ill take the ssd any day of the week it has nothing to do with your reason of needing to justify having it. its like having a bmw with all the options and a massager in the seats and a 2 year free driver to drive u around! its way better experience having ssd vs normal spinning hard drive. old laptops, mac or pc there Machines at the end of the day. you replace a spinning hard drive with an SSD that 2-6+ year old Machine! well seem like its a brand new mid to high system.