Novice looking for advice

[Azurelight]

Dear forum

I have recently been convinced to replace my old laptop with a macbook pro of some sort.

My need will be all around layman needs (No andvaced artistery or such), some movie-watching, plus some basic gaming when I don't have my gaming rig availible. (Mostly blizzard games such as Diablo 3 and starcraft 2). I was thinking of buying one of the folowing:

15-inch: 2.3 GHz Retina display

2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
8GB 1600MHz memory
256GB flash storage1
Intel HD Graphics 4000
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory
Built-in battery (7 hours)2

or
15-inch: 2.6 GHz Retina display

2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
8GB 1600MHz memory
512GB flash storage1
Intel HD Graphics 4000
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory

Would the former be able to run the games on decent settings?
Would I Be better of buying an non-Retina MBP?

Is the more highend one worth the extra cash?

As you can see, I am stranger in Macland, and I would deeply appriciante any advice. A bit pressed for time though, so the faster reply the better.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Sambo110]

The more expensive one gets you a better CPU which would have a negligible impact, and a bigger HDD. It's up to you whether or not that's worth it.

A normal MBP would be fine. You would gain a disk drive and ethernet port, but it would be bigger and heavier, supposedly more fan noise, and a little worse graphics performance. Not to mention the loss of the SSD and Retina display.

 

[spblat]

I would solidly recommend the Air if you weren't a gamer. Since you have a gaming desktop, perhaps the Air is the right move. But the generalized advise to laptops probably applies:

Spend as much as you can afford to.

If you can afford a cool US$3000, the 2.6 model with 512 GB and 16 GB seems like the sweet spot. Expect some weirdness related to the retina display for awhile. I am taking the plunge, mine is on order. But if you want to avoid retina drama and don't feel the need to be on the bleeding edge, consider a tricked out 13" or the earlier 15" model.

 

[leenak]

Honestly, either would be fine, the bigger deciding point would be how much disk space do you want. 256? 512?

 

[AppleDApp]

forget retina. Get a similarly specced 15"macbook pro.

 

[InlawBiker]

For basic tasks I wouldn't buy either one unless you have money coming out your ears. The basic 13" Pro will play Diablo III pretty well. Check YouTube there are a bunch of videos of this. You have to turn down some settings but it plays fine.

My reasoning is, to gain the dedicated video card on the 15" models you're spending an extra $800 - $1000. For your stated goals the only benefit to you would be that Diablo 3 plays better.

Again if you really just want the 15" and can afford it, I would get the Retina model. I don't really get paying that much for the classic MBP when the Retina doesn't cost much more.