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Purchased cMBP... conflicted. rMBP owners please chime in.

J

JoJo Zzang

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 14, 2011
65
0
I sold my old 15" MBP . I do marketing work. Work with RAW images and primarily use Lightroom, Photoshop, Illustrator and inDesign. I went with the cMBP body because it felt more comfortable with the concept of being able to upgrade when needed.

HOWEVER.

I keep feeling inclined towards trading it back to Best Buy during my 30 day return policy and getting the rMBP. The ONLY thing that is killing me are these issues:

* rMBP issues with WIFI
* rMBP issues with UI latency
* rMBP issues with screen retention
* rMBP issue with non-upgradability... I would like my MBP to last at LEAST 2-3 years.
 
JoJo Zzang said:
I sold my old 15" MBP . I do marketing work. Work with RAW images and primarily use Lightroom, Photoshop, Illustrator and inDesign. I went with the cMBP body because it felt more comfortable with the concept of being able to upgrade when needed.

HOWEVER.

I keep feeling inclined towards trading it back to Best Buy during my 30 day return policy and getting the rMBP. The ONLY thing that is killing me are these issues:

* rMBP issues with WIFI
* rMBP issues with UI latency
* rMBP issues with screen retention
* rMBP issue with non-upgradability... I would like my MBP to last at LEAST 2-3 years.
Click to expand...


From the issues that you wrote, I have only one of them that is a bit of UI lag, but I hope that Apple fixes it with new drivers and so on..
Besides this 'issue' this computer is amazing. Belive me! :D
 
I have none of those issues and I love my rmbp. I initially had issues with upgradeability then decided since I could get 16gb ram in the rmbp that it was no longer an issue.

Rmbp screen is amazing.
 
The SSD is actually upgradeable. It's not cost-effective at this time to do so, but hopefully in the future, the prices will drop and it won't be cost prohibitive to drop a 512gb/768gb SSD in there. RAM, you are definitely stuck with the size you purchase at.

I do not have WiFi, nor screen retention problems with my rMBP (LG screen). Yes, I sometimes do get very minor UI lag, but coming from a 2010 cMBP, this doesn't bother me in the slightest considering how much faster the overall experience is as well as the beautiful display. However, only you can judge whether this is a non-starter for you. I do use LR and PS extensively for RAW images and I will tell you that though the Adobe Suite is not upgraded to Retina yet, it is still quite usable for my usage scenario. It's only a matter of time until Adobe does upgrade their suite, though how quickly that will be, only Adobe knows.

I'd advise you to spend some quality time with it either at an Apple Store or Best Buy to make your own informed decision. This is what I did after reading the litany of complaints in this forum. Thankfully, my experience with my own rMBP has been exponentially better than those portrayed in the forums. I love my rMBP and I would never go back to a cMBP.
 
Orlandoech.com said:
I have none of those issues and I love my rmbp. I initially had issues with upgradeability then decided since I could get 16gb ram in the rmbp that it was no longer an issue.

Rmbp screen is amazing.
Click to expand...

I also haven't had many problems with it.
I think the only problem I have is with Safari.. sometimes the UI becomes screwed up and I have to quit and open it again.

Other than that, I'm glad I have it!.. especially since it's possible to upgrade the SSD.
 
i never had any issues with my rMBP

everyone i know has a perfect one

dont let this forum scare u
 
I don't have issues.

Well I guess I have the non-upgradeability issue, but then again we have to make some sacrifices for portability.

As for RAM usage, I would get as much as you can afford. There has many times where 16GB isn't enough.
 
alphaod said:
I don't have issues.

Well I guess I have the non-upgradeability issue, but then again we have to make some sacrifices for portability.

As for RAM usage, I would get as much as you can afford. There has many times where 16GB isn't enough.
Click to expand...

How much do you have and what do you do? Only reason I don't have the option is that I purchased from Best Buy.
 
JoJo Zzang said:
I sold my old 15" MBP . I do marketing work. Work with RAW images and primarily use Lightroom, Photoshop, Illustrator and inDesign. I went with the cMBP body because it felt more comfortable with the concept of being able to upgrade when needed.

HOWEVER.

I keep feeling inclined towards trading it back to Best Buy during my 30 day return policy and getting the rMBP. The ONLY thing that is killing me are these issues:

* rMBP issues with WIFI
* rMBP issues with UI latency
* rMBP issues with screen retention
* rMBP issue with non-upgradability... I would like my MBP to last at LEAST 2-3 years.
Click to expand...

I don't own an rMBP, but keep in mind that the extent of upgradability in the classic is pretty much just the RAM and hard drive...So weigh it out if it's worth it, I guess.
 
12dylan34 said:
I don't own an rMBP, but keep in mind that the extent of upgradability in the classic is pretty much just the RAM and hard drive...So weigh it out if it's worth it, I guess.
Click to expand...

The RAM is what I'm most concerned about... if 8GB will be sufficient for the next 2-3 years for what I do. I don't have the option to upgrade to 16GB because I purchased from Best Buy
 
Has anyone seen any benchmarks based on using a SSD for Virtual RAM? I mean RAM and a SATA 3 SSD should at least be in the same order of magnitude, so if your computer runs out of RAM the effects shouldn't be nearly as catastrophic as with a normal HDD.
 
JoJo Zzang said:
The RAM is what I'm most concerned about... if 8GB will be sufficient for the next 2-3 years for what I do. I don't have the option to upgrade to 16GB because I purchased from Best Buy
Click to expand...

I don't understand your dilema. Take it back and reorder from somebody else. Same price as Apple. No sales tax

Bebel said:
The SSD is actually upgradeable.
Click to expand...
Not without risking your warranty it isn't. Why do you guys keep falling back on this fallacy? The rMBP is not user-serviceable.
 
JoJo Zzang said:
* rMBP issues with WIFI
Click to expand...

This is the first time i've heard about this... I'm not experiencing this at all.

JoJo Zzang said:
* rMBP issues with UI latency
Click to expand...

All good on my end.

JoJo Zzang said:
* rMBP issues with screen retention
Click to expand...

Got a samsung screen with no dead/stuck pixels, minimal backlight bleed, and appears to have great color and uniformity.

JoJo Zzang said:
* rMBP issue with non-upgradability... I would like my MBP to last at LEAST 2-3 years.
Click to expand...

I knew this going in so I went with 2.6ghz CPU, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD and I expect that to easily last me at least 3 years.

The cMBP is a great machine, but in the end the choice is yours. Just don't fear all the negativity of the rMBP you hear here because it only makes up a VERY SMALL percentage of machines/users.
 
jedolley said:
This is the first time i've heard about this... I'm not experiencing this at all.



All good on my end.



Got a samsung screen with no dead/stuck pixels, minimal backlight bleed, and appears to have great color and uniformity.



I knew this going in so I went with 2.6ghz CPU, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD and I expect that to easily last me at least 3 years.

The cMBP is a great machine, but in the end the choice is yours. Just don't fear all the negativity of the rMBP you hear here because it only makes up a VERY SMALL percentage of machines/users.
Click to expand...

I suppose I should hold onto the extra 600 dollars difference and just sell my cMBP next year when Haswell chipset is out and perhaps price difference.
 
Do you use the ports and optical drive? If not, I would heavily consider the retina.

I assume if you purchased from Best Buy you did not get the high resolution 15"? I think that would be a better choice no matter if you stay with the standard or not.
 
You really, really need to weigh out your needs and consider how the resources that the programs you need to use consume. I EASILY get over 8 running Illustrator, Lightroom and a few other programs simultaneously but I rarely breech 10. If for whatever reason you ABSOLUTELY cannot upgrade to 16 immediately - I would be pretty weary of the machine if you regularly use these programs. Yes, I was able to (fairly reasonably) run everything simultaneously on 8 gb of RAM - but my computer was not the most pleased with the situation - nothing is more frustrating than lag when you're in working mode.

Keep in mind that if you are using anything other than the most recent Adobe programs - they are not optimized for the retina display and do not look incredible at the native resolution - but I've come to rather like working with these programs under the "more space" setting.

I have a LG screen - I've had my computer for a while too - and the display is absolutely beautiful. No dead pixels, no image retention under normal working conditions (which includes having static windows on a dark background for prolonged periods of time occasionally). Just remember - you will hear people on the internet with complaints louder than those that are pleased!

Safari is a bit weird at times... but it's hardly unusable, I assume (maybe foolishly) that it will be fixed in the not too distant future - and the machine is otherwise flawless.
 
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