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Snake Doc

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 14, 2014
11
0
So I'll keep this as short as possible. I have a new 21.5 iMac for home use. Wife took MacBook Air so I am in the market for a laptop. I have found a 2012 15" MBP base 4/500 model. Or for the same amount I found a 2013 rMBP 8/256. Obviously I can upgrade the 15 and would put a SSD in it with more RAM. My uses are college work, photo editing, some light FPS gaming, and very rare amateur video editing. If you had this choice which would you go with? Thanks for the input.
 
So I'll keep this as short as possible. I have a new 21.5 iMac for home use. Wife took MacBook Air so I am in the market for a laptop. I have found a 2012 15" MBP base 4/500 model. Or for the same amount I found a 2013 rMBP 8/256. Obviously I can upgrade the 15 and would put a SSD in it with more RAM. My uses are college work, photo editing, some light FPS gaming, and very rare amateur video editing. If you had this choice which would you go with? Thanks for the input.

Get the Retina model. The better screen and faster SSD is worth it. You do not state if this is an early or late 2013 but the later models include a PCI SSD which greatly exceeds the speeds of the SATA SSDs found on prior models. Couple that with a better display and you have a great machine.
 
Sorry yes this is the late 13 with the PCI. THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT

Definitely go late 2013. You would regret it if you didn't go with the 2013. I am not saying classic MacBook Pros are bad computers (I own one myself) but there is no denying the 2013 is the better value for the money and may even be eligible for AppleCare still.
 
Thank you all for the input. This is what I thought, but didn't know if I was missing something the 15 offered that I didn't know about.
 
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