Non retina and retina 15" speaker qualities? Need Help

[dragonjinse]

I'm coming from the Dell user with Waves Maxxaudio 3 speakers.
It is the best speakers I have used so far.

I brought a refurbished macbook pro retina 15" 6 days ago, but I had to return it yesterday due to some noises inside the laptop.
To be honest, the speaker qualities of macbook pro retina wasn't impressed me much. My Dell speakers are way better.
But I love the retina display! hand down!

So now i'm thinking about buying a Macbook Pro non-retina 15"
But I'm kinda worried about the speaker quality of non-retina.

I went to apple store and listen to both non-retina and retina, but I can't tell the qualities because of the noises around me.

So whoever have used both macbook pro retina and non-retina tell me which one has a better quality, please?

I LOVE watching movies from my laptop. Therefore, I really need a laptop with GREAT (or better) speakers qualities

P.S. on apple website, it states that both macbook pro versions have "Stereo speakers with subwoofer"
I don't care about the screen. If I buy a cmbp, im going to upgrade to hi-res antiglare

 

[nickandre21]

i Just upgraded from my non retina to a retina 15 inch today and i must say the difference in the audio is just too good. The retina give you a better listening experience along with a sense of space. But it does lack bass and its loud. Now i cant compare it with other laptops as i have not used a windows laptop for more den 10 minutes.

 

[fratey]

The classic MBP has worse speakers than the Retina.

 

[Chuck-Norris]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL-79EEASBk

judge for urself

 

[Voodoofreak]

Comparing against Late MBP 2011 and 2013 MBP Retina, retina seems to have better quality.

 

[adjeff8]

The speaker on Mac laptops have ALWAYS sucked. And I've had many. But I was blown away at the Apple store by the loudness of the retina. People actually asked me to turn it down. And that store was loud. Now I've heard about the bass situation, or the lack of. But the store was too loud for me to judge that. Still, for a movie it will be great. If you're listening to music you may miss that bass

 

[dragonjinse]

Thanks everyone!
And I also got a bass-lacking experience. It's kinda annoyed me somehow. It's very expensive laptop! Apple should build a better speaker quality MacBook Pro!

 

[gr8tfly]

Have you tried using the equalizer during playback? QT or playback through iTunes has an EQ control. You might find a better balance that way. I have most of the low end boosted a bit, mid down a tad, and high end back up a tad - except for the highest band. (I could share a screen shot, but not at the Mac at the moment. You'll end up with different settings anyway.).

I came to the rMBP from an Early 2009 17" UB, and I feel the rMBP's speakers are better. Perhaps they have better balance between low and mid end. The rMBP has different acoustics due to how it uses airspace behind the "sub woofer". Take a look at the views of the rMBP with the back removed.

I'm sure I read some reviews comparing the speakers to previous systems (Ars or maybe AnandTech - can't remember).

I wouldn't be surprised if someone did a direct lab measurement on its frequency response, but there are many psychoacoustic factors that wouldn't show up without a more significant analysis. I know, for instance, there's a technique specifically used to make low power bass seem to have more "punch" - just can't remember what it's called. You know the saying: "Memory is the second thing to go."

Edit: it's called "phenomenon of the 'missing fundamental'".

 

[bill-p]

Thanks everyone!
And I also got a bass-lacking experience. It's kinda annoyed me somehow. It's very expensive laptop! Apple should build a better speaker quality MacBook Pro!

If you're using Bootcamp, then the default settings disable the subwoofer. Because under Bootcamp, rMBP exposes 4 speakers instead of just 2.

 

[dragonjinse]

To be honest, I'm kinda fool about electronic things. So I need to learn how Mac works alot more.

I planned to get a bootcamp in the future.

I compared both cmbp and rmbp together. I don't care about retina screen. I don't think I need it. But lots of people here tell me the rmbp has better speaker quality than cmbp.

So I'm kinda lean toward rmbp.

But money is another factor. I have $2100 for purchasing a new Macbook pro.
So which MBP should I get (with a good speakers quality) for $2100?

If I pick cMBP: I'm going to upgrade to Hi-res Antiglare, 8GB ram, and maybe 512GB HDD.

If I pick rmbp: I'm going to get 8GB, and 268GB SSD

P.S. I'm afraid that 268 GB might not be enough for me (bootcamp, Windows 7 or 8)
-I'm going to upgrade anything after the purchase.
-I want a laptop that last longer than 4-5 years!