New Macbook cMBP with SSD and 16GB vs rMBP

[pricej636]

You are going to want the quad core. And the cMBP 15" is plenty portable, I did it for years.

 

[keithhubner]

Thanks everyone for their comments and thoughts. It's an interesting one. I am thinking rMBP is not worth the price. I can buy a cMBP and upgrade it myself a lot cheaper.

So maybe I need to work out if the 15 is portable enough!

Whatever I do ssd is a definite!

Keith

 

[Ploki]

Thanks everyone for their comments and thoughts. It's an interesting one. I am thinking rMBP is not worth the price. I can buy a cMBP and upgrade it myself a lot cheaper.

So maybe I need to work out if the 15 is portable enough!

Whatever I do ssd is a definite!

Keith

I hate repeating myself, but anyway.


Base Price:
cMBP 2.7/4GB/HDD: 2.249$ + 110$ RAM 16GB + 249$ for 256GB Samsung 840pro (comparable performance)
== 2609$
(NewEgg prices)

No HiRes display. 2709$ for HiRes display.

rMBP 2.8/16/256GB SSD: 2.749$
(note: rMBP has actually higher clocked CPU and GPU.)
difference 40$
--------

What I'm saying is that it's not a lot cheaper.
And if you go down cMBP line do get the HiRes screen, it's great!

edit:
for 512GB ssd:

rMBP 2.8/16/512GB 3.049$

cMBP: 2.7/4GB/hdd 2.249$ + 110$ RAM + 549$ Samsung 840 Pro = 2898$

151$ difference,

51$ difference if you get HiRes display.
--------

 

[keithhubner]

Yes apologies for making you repeat yourself.

I am going to do a spreadsheet with UK pricing based on what you said.

Hopefully that will help.

I get the feeling ill end up going for the retina!

K

 

[Ploki]

Yes apologies for making you repeat yourself.

I am going to do a spreadsheet with UK pricing based on what you said.

Hopefully that will help.

I get the feeling ill end up going for the retina!

K

I'm from europe and did the same for european prices when I was buying and was in the same boat, more or less same story as the math I did here.

The feel of retina 15" really is more like 13" cMBP, and it's so damn silent. The residual noise from my studio monitors is louder than the retina on most session.

It all boils down to how much you care about FW800/Ethernet and Optical(2nd drive bay).
I use RME FF400 with TB>FW adapter.

 

[keithhubner]

I'm from europe and did the same for european prices when I was buying and was in the same boat, more or less same story as the math I did here.

The feel of retina 15" really is more like 13" cMBP, and it's so damn silent. The residual noise from my studio monitors is louder than the retina on most session.

It all boils down to how much you care about FW800/Ethernet and Optical(2nd drive bay).
I use RME FF400 with TB>FW adapter.

I don't need an optical drive, I can get a convertor to FW800. 2nd drive bay is tempting but with the price of external HDD/USB extra storage is cheap these days.

I've just done the maths and amazingly the cMBP has come out slightly more expensive when spec'd with the high res screen and better CPU. The difference in price with the entry level one is £150.

So in summary I may as well get the retina, if I go 15 inch!

If I go with the 13 inch (yes not the same spec) I save about £600.

So at least I have ruled the cMBP out as for £150 for the latest machine it makes sense. It's just whether I should spend that £600!! haha

Thanks again for your insight and advice!

 

[David58117]

I don't need an optical drive, I can get a convertor to FW800. 2nd drive bay is tempting but with the price of external HDD/USB extra storage is cheap these days.

I've just done the maths and amazingly the cMBP has come out slightly more expensive when spec'd with the high res screen and better CPU. The difference in price with the entry level one is £150.

So in summary I may as well get the retina, if I go 15 inch!

If I go with the 13 inch (yes not the same spec) I save about £600.

So at least I have ruled the cMBP out as for £150 for the latest machine it makes sense. It's just whether I should spend that £600!! haha

Thanks again for your insight and advice!

The thing is you don't need the upgraded cpu..

The base quad model would be fine, and you can upgrade it yourself.

I found mine open box for 1488usd, and bought 16 gigs of ram for around 100usd. You could probably find an ssd on sale online somewhere, but I've been more than happy with 16gigs and 500GB hard drive.

So I'm about 1600usd in so far, not the other price..

 

[keithhubner]

Sounds like there is a refresh on the cards in the next month or two, might be worth waiting to see what turns up out of that?

At the moment I can't justify the extra on the retina so I'm keen to see if the price comes down at all.

Keith

 

[abc123]

I think it will be a bit longer than one or two months, given there was just a minor refresh.

I have an '07 15" MBP atm and dislike the portability of it. Prior to that I had a 13" powerbook which was amazingly portable for its time, if they'd made 13" models at the time I'd have bought one despite the performance hit. Playing around in the store I was really impressed with how the 15" retina compares to my older 15" model in size and weight and since I'm no longer a student I don't need to lug it around to classes anymore.

Have you looked at refurbs too? They are as good as new and even though they are the previous model, the last speed bump was so minor there is very little difference.