MacBook Pro Retina For University

[woolyjumper]

So I'm in the market for a new laptop as my 2010 MB has gone bonkers. I'm at university and will be using it for Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, AutoCad, iMovie and general use.

Would a 13 rMBP suffice or would a 15 be better? Also how much memory/ram would I need for everything to run smoothly and quickly with e.g. Illustrator and AutoCad running at once? Does the i7 make much difference over the i5. Should I buy a 13 inch and upgrade the processor? Or do I wait until the new Haswell is out and get that on a 13 inch?

My only issue is that the 15inch is a bit pricey starting at $2400! So a 13inch at this point is more affordable, as much as I would love the bigger screen...

 

[thekev]

With the 15" I think the 2012 refurbished units are a good deal. You can deal with 8GB. You will see gains with diminishing returns up as far as 32GB depending on how you use those applications. Really though 16GB + ssd can be quite comfortable. 8 is also fine for most people. If you're doing something like graphic design and making large composite files, 16 would be better, especially if you like to use a lot of history states. There isn't enough difference between 13" processors to make a big difference between one and another. The gain with the 15" is that you move to quad core. I don't think a haswell 13" rmbp would be a bad buy. Graphics get full opencl support. Battery life may improve, as intel has tweaked the hell out of power management.

 

[LoMonkey]

So I'm in the market for a new laptop as my 2010 MB has gone bonkers. I'm at university and will be using it for Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, AutoCad, iMovie and general use.

Would a 13 rMBP suffice or would a 15 be better? Also how much memory/ram would I need for everything to run smoothly and quickly with e.g. Illustrator and AutoCad running at once? Does the i7 make much difference over the i5. Should I buy a 13 inch and upgrade the processor? Or do I wait until the new Haswell is out and get that on a 13 inch?

My only issue is that the 15inch is a bit pricey starting at $2400! So a 13inch at this point is more affordable, as much as I would love the bigger screen...

Either one should really be fine. It all depends on your budget. I wouldn't upgrade the processor past the starting for each model. The gains are marginal.

However, the RAM is the big boy. I would say max it out because you can't change it later.

SSD shouldn't be a big deal as there are cheap external hard drives now a days.

Keep in mind, you get a student discount, putting the 15 inch starting $200 less at $1999 plus tax

 

[maflynn]

I'm at university and will be using it for Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, AutoCad, iMovie and general use.

Would a 13 rMBP suffice or would a 15 be better?

I'd say for the apps you are using, the 15" display is a better option, I found that the 13" MBP is just too small for PS. Can it run it, of course but the lack of screen real estate was a royal pain.