MacBook Pro MD101LL/A or MF839LL/A?

[kcrossley]

I need a low end MBP for my wife. I'm trying to decide between a MBP MD101LL/A or a refurbished MF839LL/A. The MD101LL/A comes with 4GBs of RAM and a 500GB traditional hard drive, BUT it's easily upgraded to 16GB and a super fast SSD.

The MF839LL/A features a Retina display and is about 25% faster out of the box than the MD101LL/A, but I'm stuck with 8GBs of RAM and a 128GB hard drive, which means I'll also need an external drive.

What would you do?

 

[squarebreathing]

Do not buy the Macbook pro with the traditional HD and CD burner. This computer is over 4 years old technology wise and it is a terrible choice in 2016. Yes you could update it yourself with more ram and a SSD hard drive, but it still remains that the graphics card on it is ancient and the processor is slow as well. Another reason is that there is a possible chance that future operating systems (from 2017 on) will drop this computer due to the ancient hardware.

The best way to buy a Retina Macbook Pro is to buy a closeout model that is new, but a generation behind the current generation. The macbook pro refresh is likely coming in the next few months, so if you can wait I would recommend doing so. If you have to have one now, go to B&H Photo and check out their closeout specials.

If you need more space, I would recommend getting a Jet Drive. They are very cheap and are used in the Macbook pro's SD Card drive:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/flash-expansion-storage/ci/25504/N/3673094702

Pickup a system with at least 8GB of RAM.

 

[tubeexperience]

You can get a used MD101LL/A for $500.

It's a 4 years old tech, so I won't buy a new one.

You can upgrade the sh*t out of that thing.

16GB DDR3L 1600 for $50

480GB SSD for $110

 

[Appleaker]

If you need to, you can easily upgrade the ssd on the retina to a larger one, from companies such as OWC however these are quite expensive as they are much faster thank traditional ssd that you would put in the non-retina model.

As for RAM, 8gb is enough I think unless you are dong extensive tasks (or have a lot of chrome tabs).

Would you consider waiting for the new ones in a few months? What is your budget?

 

[squarebreathing]

The problem with used cMacbook Pros is that the screen has a defect after multiple years of use. There are burn in issues where the apple logo is due to some heat problem. I've seen many 3+ year cMacbook Pros with these burn in marks.

 

[kcrossley]

Waiting is not a problem, so I'm fine with that idea. Thanks guys.