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MacBook Pro: Retina vs Regular

Ultra AleM

Ultra AleM

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 22, 2012
678
69
Italy
Hello guys! I wanted to buy a 15 inch MBP because my MBA's not power enough.

I was confused about these two models.

The Retina has a gorgeous screen with less reflection, SSD and it's lighter and thinner.

The regular has more storage, SuperDrive, it is upgradable (I can save money buying the cheaper one and putting 16GB of RAM and SSD if I want) and it is 400€ less.

What should I buy? Thanks.
 
Ultra AleM said:
Hello guys! I wanted to buy a 15 inch MBP because my MBA's not power enough.

I was confused about these two models.

The Retina has a gorgeous screen with less reflection, SSD and it's lighter and thinner.

The regular has more storage, SuperDrive, it is upgradable (I can save money buying the cheaper one and putting 16GB of RAM and SSD if I want) and it is 400€ less.

What should I buy? Thanks.
Click to expand...
It basically comes down to two major considerations. First, can you comfortably afford a retina MBP with the configuration that you want? Second, how much does the screen and thinner case really matter to you?

My own thought process was to keep away from the rMBP for now. I'm not going to deny that the screen is really nice, and I believe it when rMBP users claim that they can't imagine ever going back to a non-retina screen. The good news is that you and I are still accustomed to non-retina screens, so going with a standard screen isn't a bad thing. I use an external display as a secondary with my MBP and was afraid that it would feel jarring to use both the retina display with a non-retina display at the same time. (I don't know how that concern plays out in reality - I'm sure there's feedback on it.) Lastly, I like the idea of being able to upgrade as prices fall on technology, and the savings between the non-retina and retina MBP were significant to me.

Reason based on your needs and usage.
 
If you play games, then retina ;) The GPU is faster, the cooling is better and the screen is very nice. You can't get the non-retina model in 1920x1200
 
There's already a numerous of threads. Thanks for making a new one.

It's not going to help when you are just saying "it's not powerful enough". It's not powerful enough to do what? To fly? To make coffee?

We can only give you advise when you list out the things you do then it's YOUR decision to buy which ever you want.
 
I was in the same boat but the screen of the retina made my decision easily.
 
I guess you can only answer "which one?" yourself!

For me, It was all about the display! I was also very conscious of buying the latest generation of the MBP series.
 
I was in the same boat. But decided upon purchasing a rMBP mostly because of the gorgeous display but also the weight and built in SSD making performance much better. The only real downside is the upgradability because there basically isn't any besides the SSD so it's more money up front.

But ultimately you have to ask yourself. Is it worth it for me to shell out a few hundred more dollars?
 
Ultra AleM said:
Hello guys! I wanted to buy a 15 inch MBP because my MBA's not power enough.

I was confused about these two models.

The Retina has a gorgeous screen with less reflection, SSD and it's lighter and thinner.

The regular has more storage, SuperDrive, it is upgradable (I can save money buying the cheaper one and putting 16GB of RAM and SSD if I want) and it is 400€ less.

What should I buy? Thanks.
Click to expand...

You must decide between the last of the old technology or if you wait a few months the 2nd of the future technology. Which will have a new processor (Haswell) and likely a bigger SSD than is currently being offered on the base model. Also, the retina has a new speaker design that is 3 times louder than the classic MBP. I'd wait. In fact I am

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dporter15 said:
I was in the same boat. But decided upon purchasing a rMBP mostly because of the gorgeous display but also the weight and built in SSD making performance much better. The only real downside is the upgradability because there basically isn't any besides the SSD so it's more money up front.

But ultimately you have to ask yourself. Is it worth it for me to shell out a few hundred more dollars?
Click to expand...

So what's that leave? The Ram? Just max out the Ram and be done with it[COLOR=
 
After having seen it at the Apple Store, I want a rMBP so bad, but I'd have to sell my left kidney for it.
 
For me, the screen, the additional GPU RAM and the lighter weight made it an easy decision.
 
If you can afford it buy the 15" retina

The Retina is so much more powerful and nicer than the non retina. I bought a fully decked out 15" Retina for $3500. I am really glad I got it, It's amazing.
It took only about 2 minutes to save a 1.5GB file from Final Cut Pro X to my SSD.
So I say, If you can afford it, buy the Retina for sure (15 inch retina, the 13 only has dual core processors, not quad core.)

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srxtr said:
After having seen it at the Apple Store, I want a rMBP so bad, but I'd have to sell my left kidney for it.
Click to expand...

IKR! They are quite expensive, mine cost $3,500! If I were you I would get a job (If your a teen like me) to save up for it. I was able to justify the price because I can make money doing what I love on it; editing in Final Cut Pro X, Aperture, Logic Pro 9, and Motion 5.

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dporter15 said:
I was in the same boat. But decided upon purchasing a rMBP mostly because of the gorgeous display but also the weight and built in SSD making performance much better. The only real downside is the upgradability because there basically isn't any besides the SSD so it's more money up front.

But ultimately you have to ask yourself. Is it worth it for me to shell out a few hundred more dollars?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I just thought, if I want to upgrade I'll have to pay that money eventually so why not do it right away. Besides if I hadn't I wouldn't have got that gorgeous display!
 
I picked up the retina macbook because

1) its lighter and slimmer
2) better screen

easy decision
 
Can you afford the Retina model? If no, then you have your answer. If yes, keep reading.

Do you think the Retina display is worth it? If no, then you have your answer. If yes, then again you have your answer.

Hardware-wise, both Retina and Classic MBPs aren't that different. Except the HDMI port and additional Thunderbolt port on the Retina, you get the same options for CPU, GPU, RAM, SSD/HD, etc. The single significant differentiating factor is the Retina display.
 
ok, this is something I wish I had found before buying mine. Mine is a 2.7 ghz 16gb version, 768gb SSD. I got it for near $3400.00.

I am a software developer, and I have two 1920@1200 Dell monitors attached. The retina screen while nice, plays hell with them. I am constantly squinting at the monitors that looked awesome on my Alienware M17x. The retina setup at times is forcing them into odd resolutions. Parallels has all sorts of troubles, and as I drag apps between them they freak out.

Yes, I should have gotten a 17" MBP and loaded it up myself.
 
I bought, and returned, a 15rmpb.

Why? You couldn't get the crispness of 'retina' with the highest resolution. Seemed dumb. They centered retina around the middle resolution setting.

Plus the 15" turned out to be just too large a footprint.
 
Perhaps you should also consider what you can and cannot hook the computer up to.

The Retina has two Thunderbolt ports and HDMI. You can therefore hook it directly to an HD TV, or you can, via adapters, do more or less whatever you want with the two ports. Two Firewire. Two Ethernet. Etc. It's very flexible, in other words, for moving data in and out.

The standard model provides you with a single Thunderbolt, FireWire, and a standard microphone jack. If you need that microphone jack or you use FireWire all the time, you might want to think about that.

Both have twin USB 3 ports and standard sound output jack for earphones, as well as SDXC.
 
dma550 said:
ok, this is something I wish I had found before buying mine. Mine is a 2.7 ghz 16gb version, 768gb SSD. I got it for near $3400.00.

I am a software developer, and I have two 1920@1200 Dell monitors attached. The retina screen while nice, plays hell with them. I am constantly squinting at the monitors that looked awesome on my Alienware M17x. The retina setup at times is forcing them into odd resolutions. Parallels has all sorts of troubles, and as I drag apps between them they freak out.

Yes, I should have gotten a 17" MBP and loaded it up myself.
Click to expand...

Retina has nothing to do with your external monitors.
 
Between the 2 the standard MBP is going to be the biggest culture shock weight and thickness wise. The rMBP is so much thinner and my girlfriend's 13" MBP seems really chunky in comparison, so coming from an Air this would be something to consider. Also do you travel with your Air?
 
dma550 said:
I am a software developer, and I have two 1920@1200 Dell monitors attached. The retina screen while nice, plays hell with them. I am constantly squinting at the monitors that looked awesome on my Alienware M17x. The retina setup at times is forcing them into odd resolutions. Parallels has all sorts of troubles, and as I drag apps between them they freak out.
Click to expand...

The issue there is Windows and Parallels, not the Retina Display. Windows 7 doesn't scale particularly well. Parallels does its best using the scaling tools within Windows (it re-scales graphics to 199%), but that doesn't always work with menu elements, title bars, etc, which simply see a 2880x1800 screen and size them accordingly.

When you switch from your internal display to the external display, essentially you are going from a Retina (200% scale) to a "regular" (100% scale) display. Perhaps Parallels isn't picking up on that, so it is taking your scaled application from your internal display and "blowing it up" to 200% when you move it to your external display.
 
Retina is highDPI, and moving windows around different monitors of varying DPI gets you the mess I see. If all screens were the same DPI, 1920*1200 this wouldn't happen.

Then, I go into coherence mode and everything is rendered at the retina res, except the graphic resources. So, it looks like giant icons, etc.

If I run my parallels VM's on the externals all is ok, so thats how I am doing it now.
 
I'm also trying to decide between the two..

But if I was to buy the new is city game this march.. How do I install it through a rMBP without a CDROM drive?
 
jaxxx said:
I'm also trying to decide between the two..

But if I was to buy the new is city game this march.. How do I install it through a rMBP without a CDROM drive?
Click to expand...

Digital Download or use an external [ USB ] CD-ROM.

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AppleDeviceUser said:
The Retina is so much more powerful and nicer than the non retina. .....
Click to expand...

How so ? They both use the exact same processor, GPU [ ok slightly better in the rMBP because of the OC but a trivial difference in daily use ], and RAM.

In terms of power, they're both equal.

The screen, available HDMI port, thermal, weight, speakers, and keyboard make the rMBP my choice over the classic design.

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Ultra AleM said:
Hello guys! I wanted to buy a 15 inch MBP because my MBA's not power enough.

I was confused about these two models.

The Retina has a gorgeous screen with less reflection, SSD and it's lighter and thinner.

The regular has more storage, SuperDrive, it is upgradable (I can save money buying the cheaper one and putting 16GB of RAM and SSD if I want) and it is 400€ less.

What should I buy? Thanks.
Click to expand...

I believe you already answered your query.... :)

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dma550 said:
....

If I run my parallels VM's on the externals all is ok, so thats how I am doing it now.
Click to expand...


That's how I do it... Windows 7 and Linux to ext. monitors running via Parallels in a VM environment.
 
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