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carson1912

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 13, 2012
9
0
Glasgow, Scotland
Hello all. I have just joined and this is my 1st post so go easy one me :)

I am thinking of purchasing my 1st MBP and have a question. I not too bothered about the new Retina but was looking at buying a standard 15" model.

I'm going to be using it for general web browsing, managing my music for my iPod on iTunes & some movie watching etc through the likes of Netflix.

I am planning of keeping this MBP for a few years. I was looking at the base model 2.3GHz i7. Now my query is as follows - will the 4GB memory be enough for me or should I look it future proof myself a bit more by upgrading to 8Gb?

Thanks
 
Based on what you're planning to do 4GB will be fine, and you can always upgrade it in the future for considerably cheaper than you can get 8GB of ram through apple for.
 
Yeah should be fine at 4GB for basic stuff. Apple won't tell you this, but the MBP is actually upgradable to 16GB so you should be fine down the road if you're up to a little tinkering or having a friend do it—it can be done for cheap. The disk drive on that machine is also easy to upgrade. An SSD can really put life back into a machine—they're crazy fast.

If I were you and only doing basic tasks I'd love to get my hands on an Air. You should consider it unless you don't want an 11 or 13 inch screen. Personally I'd get an 11" Air and a decent monitor for when I need more desktop space.
 
The non-Retina MBP is a snap to upgrade yourself. Get the base. If the time comes when you need to upgrade RAM, or even put in an SSD it's a DIY job and you'll save a ton of $ over what Apple charges. (Plus its kinda fun in a geeky way).
 
Thanks for the replies guys, think I'll just go with the base 15" MBP then.

Is it worthwhile paying the extra for an upgraded display, whether it be the Hi-Res glossy or the high-res anti-glare? I'm not bothered about the anti-glare part as I don't think I will require that, but is it worth the £80 upgrade for high-res or would I not really notice based on what I am planning on using it for?

Thanks again.
 
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