Non-Retina Macbook Pro Question

[Chromatinfish]

I'm new to this forum. I just want to ask about buying a Non-Retina Macbook Pro (cMBP). My budget is $1399, so I could:
1. Buy Macbook Air with i7 CPU and 8GB RAM, and some money left over
2. Buy Macbook Pro with i7 CPU, 8GB RAM and 1 TB Hard Drive or i7 CPU and 1 TB Fusion Drive
3. Buy Macbook Pro Retina with 8GB RAM

I don't do gaming, just a lot of movie making & editing, browsing the web, tons of word processing, and trying out new stuff like learning the OS (I'm just on the edge of the diving board of going into Mac). I probably will find a use of Pages and Numbers. I think the 1 TB Fusion Drive for regular Macbook Pro w/o Retina appeals to me, but RAM is important to me too.

 

[Altemose]

I'm new to this forum. I just want to ask about buying a Non-Retina Macbook Pro (cMBP). My budget is $1399, so I could:
1. Buy Macbook Air with i7 CPU and 8GB RAM, and some money left over
2. Buy Macbook Pro with i7 CPU, 8GB RAM and 1 TB Hard Drive or i7 CPU and 1 TB Fusion Drive
3. Buy Macbook Pro Retina with 8GB RAM

I don't do gaming, just a lot of movie making & editing, browsing the web, tons of word processing, and trying out new stuff like learning the OS (I'm just on the edge of the diving board of going into Mac). I probably will find a use of Pages and Numbers. I think the 1 TB Fusion Drive for regular Macbook Pro w/o Retina appeals to me, but RAM is important to me too.

Retina...

 

[TechZeke]

Air if you really want to save money, otherwise go retina.

 

[capathy21]

I'm new to this forum. I just want to ask about buying a Non-Retina Macbook Pro (cMBP). My budget is $1399, so I could:
1. Buy Macbook Air with i7 CPU and 8GB RAM, and some money left over
2. Buy Macbook Pro with i7 CPU, 8GB RAM and 1 TB Hard Drive or i7 CPU and 1 TB Fusion Drive
3. Buy Macbook Pro Retina with 8GB RAM

I don't do gaming, just a lot of movie making & editing, browsing the web, tons of word processing, and trying out new stuff like learning the OS (I'm just on the edge of the diving board of going into Mac). I probably will find a use of Pages and Numbers. I think the 1 TB Fusion Drive for regular Macbook Pro w/o Retina appeals to me, but RAM is important to me too.

Retina model for sure. spending 1400, you want to get the newest machine possible which rules out the cMBP (older processor, low res display, heavy, less battery life). Although the Air would do you well, to me 1400 is too much to spend on an Air. Go with the rMBP. The display is amazing and it's still very portable.

 

[Chromatinfish]

I have a little question, the Air's turbo boost is much higher, but it has a lower clock speed! Why does the air have 2x+ the speed when using turbo boost while the rMBP only has around 1.2x the speed?

 

[yjchua95]

I have a little question, the Air's turbo boost is much higher, but it has a lower clock speed! Why does the air have 2x+ the speed when using turbo boost while the rMBP only has around 1.2x the speed?

Because the rMBP's base frequency is much higher than the Air's base frequency.

 

[Freyqq]

I have a little question, the Air's turbo boost is much higher, but it has a lower clock speed! Why does the air have 2x+ the speed when using turbo boost while the rMBP only has around 1.2x the speed?

GHZ mean very little these days unless you are comparing two processors with exactly the same architecture. An air's processor is 15 watts and a pro's processor is 28 watts. It's basically consuming 2x the power, and all that power is going towards a faster GPU and CPU.

 

[maflynn]

I'd go with the rMBP, the screen itself is worth the money.

 

[happyfrappy]

If you're aiming at long term usage rMBP is the best way to go, besides retina screen, a non-ULV processor can sustain normal/turbo speeds due to thermal design. While the MacBook Air ULV processor can go faster, it'll throttle much faster to stay cool/within Intel's operating temps--raw speed wise it'll mop the 2012 13" cMBP but if you do intense processing tasks(batch resize/converting) the cMBP Ivy Bridge i5 retains a slight edge.

Also depending upon where you live/travel, if your summer temps are fairly high(85-100 F) with humidity above 50% ULV processors(i3/i5) in my experience rarely "Turbo" and may throttle into Core 2 Duo territory instead

...not sure why everybody is obsessed with the weight reduction, my old 2010 13" MBP is 4.5 lb which is still lighter than most similar sized 13/14" PCs and rMBPs are ~1.1 lb reduction yet you'll need adapters for certain tasks(ex: FW800 adapter for certain camcorders/audio interfaces/older WD/Seagate Mac specific HDDs & ethernet if you troubleshoot with your ISP--Verizon/Comcast support won't help/send a tech out unless you plug directly to your modem).

 

[jg321]

I'd go with the rMBP, the screen itself is worth the money.

This. Beautiful laptop. I'm on my work cMBP 13" right now, and wish I'd have brought my personal rMBP with me.

Screen/SSD make the world of difference.