I just got an rMBP less than a year ago, so I'll pass the next few years.
If I had to buy one, it would be a MBA... probably 13 inch. It does everything I need it to do and has a great battery life.
The GPU in the rMBP 13' is underpowered considering it the 'pro' line. With the rumors of the 15 inch dropping the dGPU also seems to be a disappointment.
Don't worry. The dGPU in the 15 isn't going anywhere. Not yet. Maybe in a year or two...but for now, it'll stay.
I just bought the razer blade 14", that kick macbook pro assess
Maybe right now...before the MacBooks get the Haswell treatment. But WTF were they thinking with the display? From Anandtech's review:
"The Razer Blade 14-inch may be enjoying a 1600x900 resolution that's perfect for the gaming hardware included within, but the panel itself is atrocious. Razer was able to jack up the brightness to a respectable 453 nits, but it's a linear boost: the black level is a heinous 2.24 nits. There's just no excuse for this; Lenovo was able to get a 14", 1600x900 panel in their X1 Carbon that walks all over the Blade's. And Alienware is offering a 1080p IPS panel on their Alienware 14, a notebook that may be thicker but offers the same GPU, an optical drive, and a faster CPU. I was stunned by the Blade's beautiful design, and I was equally stunned by its dire screen quality, which suffers from the same nasty "no correct viewing angle" problem that cheap TN panels typically do."
Half the battery life and an awful screen (anandtech's review). Tough to spend that kinda cash while Razer continues to offer subpar displays in their products.
Pretty sad...the pricing at $2000 for the 256gb SSD...and now you're bumping into the, albeit heavier....Alienware machines with the same GPU, 750gb HDD and 256gb SSD to boot. If you're going to buy a 'pure' gaming notebook, Apple isn't the place to look...Windows has always been better performing hardware if its FPS that you're after solely. But again....at that price, there are faster machines with much better displays available.
...and when the rMBP is updated to quad core Haswell and the latest GPU, along with the beautiful retina display....unless gaming is all you do, the rMBP will trump the Razer in all other tasks (PCIe SSD, display, heat exchange and thermals....as well as battery life)
Yea but on that resolution i can do ANYTHING SMOOOTH
Still it looks like crap! And when you hook up an external 1080p the computer, the GPU gets brought to its knees. That 128mb pipe shows its bottleneck on the memory controller.
Sounds like I'm 'hating' on the Razer. I'm not. It's a phenomenal package...and a slap to the face of companies like Alienware that the whole package can be a lot more refined. Other than the fingerprint magnet of the Razer finish, it's a beauty....but 90% of what we are doing with our notebooks is looking at the display! By charging what they are....why not another hundred dollar bill for a killer IPS panel @ 1600/900? Doesn't make sense. And DAMN do they heat up under load. Especially the top of the keyboard (we just bought one for our son). They absolutely got a LOT right on the 14". But how that display made it out the door is just a shame
J
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Just want to know what folks here are intending to purchase this autumn & winter.
I'm waiting for rMBP 13" because I think it's in the sweet spot: it has both portability of MBA 13" and raw power of MBP 15". MBA 13" is too weak for my liking: 1440x900 resolution, ULV processor & HD 5000. I think Apple should be pushing it to at least 1080p resolution already (Sony Vaio Pro 13" has it now). On the other hand, rMBP 15 is a tad pricey and a little bigger than its 13" counterpart; I usually carry my laptop around so that might be a huge turn off.
I'll wait for early hands-on reviews of rMBP 13" (in October?). If it does not run laggy like the current version and runs some games like Diablo 3 fine on medium settings, I'll be delighted to give it a go.
The 13" package isn't going to give you the 'raw power of the 15 unfortunately. It's a dual core not a quad. It will rely on the iGPU, which is a big step up if they do the same they did with the MBA. But with the 15's quad core Haswell trimmings and even a bump to the GT750 (while just a performance boosted 650m)...and the HD5000 will be the power you're looking for it sounds like. We often run Diablo 3 on the current rMBP (15") at 'high' settings and its gorgeous. Maybe hold off for the Haswell update and buy this years model at a steep discount from the refurb department?
J
