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Quick buying advice about rMBP

C

cujoca

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 24, 2006
205
0
Hey everyone,

Since I trust you all so much with your great Mac knowledge and expertise...I have a simple question for you all.
I'm buying the new 15" rMBP 2.6 GHZ 512 SSD model and because I hear so much about it's lack of user upgradeability...I was just wondering would you shell out the extra $175 and get 16GB of RAM or stick with the 8GB?
I want this computer to last at least 3 years and I feel like I may regret not putting it in now because I wouldn't be able to upgrade the RAM 2 years down the road.

What do you all think?

Thanks in advance :)
 
What are you computational needs? Maybe 8 GB will more than suffice yours, maybe not even 16 GB RAM will do. But since you have to ask, 8 GB will probably more than suffice, maybe even the base model could do, with an upgraded SSD, if you need the storage.
 
Basically here's the situation...
I'm coming off a mid 2009 2.8 ghz 15" MBP and apple has agreed to replace it with a new MBP (lots of problems under apple care).
They have agreed to give me a credit of $1850 (the value of the current base 15") towards a new MBP. I'm really intrigued by the rMBP and i'm into photo editing and light video work, along with the norm (videos. music, email, safari).
I need the 512 GB of space, I cannot due with 256GB and I just feel that I'll be kicking myself in 2 years if notice it struggling and I can't upgrade the RAM.
 
I'd spring for the 16 for a couple reasons. First, if you're like me, it will always bug you that you didn't, given there is no way to upgrade, ever. I initially bought the base model and ended up passing it on to a family member and upgrading and am a lot happier. I had excessive pageouts with the 8 and do similar things to what you do, photo and video editing.

Second, in my opinion the 16 of RAM just goes together with the upgraded hard drive, not for performance reasons, but in a resale situation. If you do decide to sell at some point, your pool of potential buyers will be larger. You won't necessarily recoup your extra investment in the RAM, but it might make it sell faster.

Third, you're getting an $1850 credit (awesome), so that extra $175 on RAM isn't much of an increase in price for you. Just get what you want/can afford. If you already feel like you might be kicking yourself in two years, I think you'll kick yourself much sooner than that, maybe not for performance reasons that soon but just second-guessing your decision. If you can afford to bump it up to 16, just do it.

Have fun with your new rMBP. I love mine!
 
Thanks!
You're exactly like me...although I don't think the 768 GB is needed in my case, but with regards to resale - i think the 16 GB would be much more desirable in say 2-3 years!

Did you spring for Apple Care? (with the expensive components - i'm thinking it's a no brainer!)
 
I am probably going to spring for the 16GB memory but stick with 2.3GHz and 228 SSD. Since you are springing for the faster processor and larger SSD, I would think the money spent for the extra RAM would be money well spent and provide extra piece of mind as well.
 
cujoca said:
Did you spring for Apple Care? (with the expensive components - i'm thinking it's a no brainer!)
Click to expand...

Yes, definitely get the AppleCare on this one. I shudder to think what the out-of-pocket cost would be otherwise if anything goes wrong with this thing. I think it might almost be a need for resale also because I'm thinking the number of people who would want to buy one of these out of warranty would be small.

I'm not sure the 768 was a true need in my case either, but when I had the 256 it was so far under my needs vs. price paid, I lost my head in a moment of MacMall-had-it-in-stock passion and went for the 768 on the second one. I will probably be on here in a year lamenting my sadness that the latest and greatest version has that all standard at 80% of the cost of today's base model, but I'm happy right now. :D

EDIT: BH Photo (bhphoto.com) sells the AppleCare on this one for $244 with no tax, in case you didn't know. That's over $100 less than Apple's price. Don't pay Apple's price for it!
 
Right now it's looking like getting the 16GB of RAM is the best option...
I know you can purchase AppleCare anytime within the first year of purchase, is it that much of a pain though to enroll it? Do you just phone them up and get it paired with your SN#
 
It sounds like you are someone who might end up switching amongst multiple RAM hungry apps, so yeah, definitely go for the 16GB upgrade.

Sounds like you need the larger SSD now anyway, but I'm hoping that the SSDs will be upgradable without paying an outrageous premium in a year or two.
 
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