Here's my dilemma: The rMBP is exactly what I need for photography, as it allows you to quickly determine if an image is sharp or not without having to zoom in (and wait for the full resolution image to load) and then zoom back out again. Selecting 200 images down to 20 would be many times faster thanks to this. And the SSD would speed up things like accessing many large RAW files, too.
But 8GB of RAM on the base model, and even on the high end model?? WTF? I mean okay, sure, it will be fine for another year or two. But you can't upgrade. So take a super expensive machine, and make it even more expensive just to future proof it (buying extra RAM in 2 years would cost nothing). Photoshop ALONE will eat up 8 GB or RAM without any problems within minutes. Sure, swapping is faster due to the SSD, but still slower than more RAM.
Oh and wait, the screen may be super high res, but it has a significant chance to have image retention. If you're a retoucher, that's absolutely unacceptable. Imagine working on an image for 20 mins, and then switch to another image only to find faint lines from the previous one superimposed. It would drive me nuts. Well okay, I mean it's not like they market the machine as having the best screen in the world and being aimed at professionals. Oh wait.
I'd rather it be as thick as the current MBP, with upgradeable RAM, HDD, and battery. It could be the same machine, same specs, just thicker. It would make it a lot cheaper, too, and add value by making it upgradeable. Honestly, my machine just sits on the table 99% of the time, but for the 1% when it doesn't, I need a laptop, not an iMac.
So who is this machine really for? Rich consumers who don't need RAM, and expandable HDD space? Pros would always take a more upgradeable machine over a slightly thinner one (if you want thin, get the Air!).