Macbook Pro Retina 13" Or Alternative?

[Fouracre44]

Hi guys,

Looking at getting a new machine for home. I don't have any crazy power requirements, I use the computer for backing up my media, music, word processing, emails, browsing & some music production.

At first I was very worried about the macbook pro 13" and didn't know if a dual core laptop would be good, or whether it'd be laggy etc... I was going to spec the laptop out a bit and get the 3.0 ghz dual core.

My sony xperia z is even a quad core smartphone, so It was interesting. I understand not all programs will utilize the cores anyway. But what are my options here? Am I better off going with a quad core alternative? I don't want the 15" retina, I think it's a little wide for what I want and the 13" is the perfect size.

What are other alternatives and would this kind of machine be good for a primary machine ? I don't use my pc for gaming just mainly like what I stated above, plus the biggest thing would be music production and recording ( not professionally, just leisurely, some multi track recording and then watching documentaries and videos and stuff

Thanks guys

 

[Lunfai]

Hi guys,

Looking at getting a new machine for home. I don't have any crazy power requirements, I use the computer for backing up my media, music, word processing, emails, browsing & some music production.

At first I was very worried about the macbook pro 13" and didn't know if a dual core laptop would be good, or whether it'd be laggy etc... I was going to spec the laptop out a bit and get the 3.0 ghz dual core.

My sony xperia z is even a quad core smartphone, so It was interesting. I understand not all programs will utilize the cores anyway. But what are my options here? Am I better off going with a quad core alternative? I don't want the 15" retina, I think it's a little wide for what I want and the 13" is the perfect size.

What are other alternatives and would this kind of machine be good for a primary machine ? I don't use my pc for gaming just mainly like what I stated above, plus the biggest thing would be music production and recording ( not professionally, just leisurely, some multi track recording and then watching documentaries and videos and stuff

Thanks guys

Before I give you a straight forward answer, I'd like to point out that there's no way to compare a mobile 'smartphone' processor to a desktop/laptop 'mobile' processor. All because you see the buzz words 'Dual Core' and 'Quad Core', you can't compare them as they're worlds apart when you compare the utilisation, processing power, architecture etc.

The 13 inch MacBook is fine for your needs, even an 13" Air would work for you. However you need an external monitor.

 

[wmage]

I went from quad-core i7 to dual-core i5, and then again to quad-core i5, and there is absolutely no difference when doing normal work.

What really matters is RAM and SSD. You should go for it.

 

[Fouracre44]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.


Lastly, Should I wait for a Haswell Refresh of the cpu's?

Thanks

 

[dusk007]

If you can I would. The battery life improvements should be quite big which means either a lighter notebook or a much longer battery life. Since Apple with almost certainty won't redesign it will be the latter.

At least wait a few weeks to see what the first reviews have to say about Haswell. NDA should fall beginning of June 2nd or 5th and I suppose there are quite a few review units (of Windows notebooks) already in the hands of trusted press.

For nothing you do a quad core would do you any good but battery life is always nice.

 

[Fouracre44]

Cheers lads.

So I'm going to wait and see when the new haswell cpu's come out, see what Apple introduces. Spec up a 13" and she's a goer.

Cheers guys

 

[majkom]

Well i hope for air redesign, ips display is a must