MacBook Pro purchase advice

[jonthegeologist]

After 5 great years, my white Macbook is almost at the end so I'm on a search for a replacement.

MacBook Pro v MacBook Air
I have 2 small children and laptops often get knocked about. I worry that a MacBook Air is too fragile. Feels like a Pro is the right direction. Am I mistaken? What's your feedback

Retina v. standard
I don't do heavy crunching, I don't do graphic work so I don't think I need a retina screen and don't feel I could justify the price. Is it significantly better that makes the additional £ spend worthwhile?

HDD v. SSD
I've only ever had HDD but I'm feeling drawn to the SSD due to speed and noise. I've only got 120GB drive in my old laptop which is some 80% full as most storage is on my 1TB iMac. I would go fusion but that's not available. Any experiences of SSD to share -- worth the investment?

Any hardware recommendations or important criteria I've overlooked? Cheers.

 

[Rhinoevans]

I bought the cMBP. I also did not need the Retina, and really want to be able to upgrade Ram and HD on my own.

I also want to get an SSD, but the 500G HD in my new cMBP is just find for now, and I don't mind that it takes an extra 15 sec to boot! When the prices of the 512 SSD drop a bit more then I will also upgrade the HD. For me 256 is not enough.

Also did not want to spend the cash upfront for a Retina 16G and 512 SSD ($2899).

$1799 was easier to swallow. Then added Ram ($100), and SSD later ($400).


Good luck in your decision

 

[robvas]

MacBook Pro v MacBook Air
I have 2 small children and laptops often get knocked about. I worry that a MacBook Air is too fragile. Feels like a Pro is the right direction. Am I mistaken? What's your feedback
Get a case - they're equally fragile when it comes to dents, spills, and kids stepping on them

Retina v. standard
I don't do heavy crunching, I don't do graphic work so I don't think I need a retina screen and don't feel I could justify the price. Is it significantly better that makes the additional £ spend worthwhile?
The retina is for great looking text

HDD v. SSD
I've only ever had HDD but I'm feeling drawn to the SSD due to speed and noise. I've only got 120GB drive in my old laptop which is some 80% full as most storage is on my 1TB iMac. I would go fusion but that's not available. Any experiences of SSD to share -- worth the investment?
I'd never go back to a standard HD.

 

[stevelam]

After 5 great years, my white Macbook is almost at the end so I'm on a search for a replacement.

MacBook Pro v MacBook Air
I have 2 small children and laptops often get knocked about. I worry that a MacBook Air is too fragile. Feels like a Pro is the right direction. Am I mistaken? What's your feedback

Mistaken. the MBP is not really any more damage-proof than the air.

Retina v. standard
I don't do heavy crunching, I don't do graphic work so I don't think I need a retina screen and don't feel I could justify the price. Is it significantly better that makes the additional £ spend worthwhile?

Its a good screen but if you have no actual use for it then I don't see the point besides "great looking text". If you think thats worth the premium then by all means go for it. But if you're not utilizing the screen, then I really don't think the performance trade off will be worth it to you (random slow laggy UI, browser issues, scroll lag issues, etc on the retina macbook)

HDD v. SSD
I've only ever had HDD but I'm feeling drawn to the SSD due to speed and noise. I've only got 120GB drive in my old laptop which is some 80% full as most storage is on my 1TB iMac. I would go fusion but that's not available. Any experiences of SSD to share -- worth the investment?

prices are slowly coming down and making SSD worth it, so yes.

 

[NewishMacGuy]

Letting small children near an rMBP is unwise. I don't even let mine near my cMBPs. Just let them have your old MB, ours each have their own iBooks (total loss potential = $75 when they take them apart).

rMBP screen is awfully nice, but giving up the upgradeability into massive storage space for low $$ wasn't worth it to me this time around, maybe in a year or two when decent SSD space from Apple is cheaper and they've worked out the teething issues (IR on the screens etc).

Hybrid, Fusion, or SSD is the only way to go these days. You can only do hybrid and/or Fusion on a cMBP (aftermarket), which means that you can only have decent speed and decent space at reasonable prices on a cMBP.

This is how you do Fusion on a cMBP: http://tomasz.korwel.net/2012/11/04/apple-fusion-drive-on-late-2010-macbook-pro/

The cheaper (and less effective but still plenty preferable to an HDD) method is Seagate Momentus XT. I put one in our 2011 cMBP-13, it does 12-15 second boots and stuff you use often loads instantly.