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Reasons not to buy a rMBP?

urkel said:
3) Gimmick - Im going to offend people by saying this but I do photo work on this and while I absolutely love the screen, Retina is a gimmick that not everyone needs.
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I do photo work as well and learned a long time ago that color correction/profiling isn't all it's cracked up to be. Especially when very few pics are printed these days or are viewed on dozens of different media screens - none of which are calibrated correctly anyway.

Bottom line, images that have been fine-tuned on a retina display look good to you but may look much different to others once that image leaves your realm.
 
Krazy Bill said:
I do photo work as well and learned a long time ago that color correction/profiling isn't all it's cracked up to be. Especially when very few pics are printed these days or are viewed on dozens of different media screens - none of which are calibrated correctly anyway.

Bottom line, images that have been fine-tuned on a retina display look good to you but may look much different to others once that image leaves your realm.
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Exactly. Thats why for those who do semi/pro photo work then finding a good printing service is far more important than having pitch perfect color correction. As much as I love Retina, a better choice wouldve been a Cinema display and a very capable 13" MBP dual SSD+HDD setup. (But the fact that I went with an rMBP and am complaining about the space constraints reinsforces my whole "gimmick" point. Im a sucker for a pretty face.) :D
 
urkel said:
Exactly. Thats why for those who do semi/pro photo work then finding a good printing service is far more important than having pitch perfect color correction. As much as I love Retina, I'd rather get a better monitor and cMBP. (But the fact that I went with an rMBP and am complaining about the space constraints proves my whole "gimmick" point. Im a sucker for a pretty face.) :D
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And oh boy is it a pretty face...lol
 
Brightness

Being an old guy, and currently having a 2011 17 inch, the slightly dimmer screen has been the biggest obstacle to my purchasing one. I am not so concerned at the memory limitation, as 16gig is likely adequate for a couple of years, and with SSD drive prices falling an external Thunderbolt drive is a very good replacement for my second internal drive.

So my two primary issues are the size of the screen (hate to give up the screen real estate) and the slightly dimmer display.
 
There are so many downsides to the retina in my opinion, that the only upside (the screen) doesn't make it worth it.

Needing to rely on Apple to do all work on it besides change the SSD which will be extremely expensive for the right one?

Naw.

My dream is the Retina MBP being like the insides of the cMBP. But this obviously will probably never happen. Apple has started this trend of making it un-upgradable and I'm sure they're loving the massively inflated upgrade costs so why change.
 
urkel said:
1) Too many compromises - As beautiful and capable as the rMBP is, this is probably the least versatile 15" MBP Apple has made due to the lack of storage/memory options. (Mine works amazing for my photo work, but I cant make it also a gaming/entertainment machine or load it with videos due to lack of internal space)

2) Port Options - 2TB, 1HDMI, 2USB but no FW or Ethernet. The reason Im critical of the port choices is because TB hasnt seemed to become anywhere near standard due to lack of available hardware and ridiculous pricing. I wouldnt mind making this also a game machine but with only 2 USB ports then its tough because Headphone/Control Pad/Ext USB Drive = 3USB.

3) Gimmick - Im going to offend people by saying this but I do photo work on this and while I absolutely love the screen, Retina is a gimmick that not everyone needs. IF Retina was standard then thats amazing, but Retina comes at a cost since the cMBP that can do everything the rMBP can do but is cheaper and upgradability makes it a better in the longrun.

4) Resale - Ive been looking at Retinas used market for a while and in its short existence then the resale value seems to have a much higher dropoff than other MacBooks. So it would seem that in 2 or 3 years when Gen 3 MBPs are standard with 16GB/1TBSSD, the value of a 8GB/256GB machine will be pretty low.



Im not shooting down the rMBP. Its a good machine but IMO its not the flagship that it could've been and thats a shame.
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1) 768gb is the biggest SSD you can get.. Ever. MBP was never made for dual drive setup. dual drive in the old chassis makes up for so much wasted space in there...

2) Really? I love port choices. You can have ethernet and FW if you need it. FW is such a hit'n'miss, almost nobody still uses it. Whats wrong with HUBS? It's not like headphones take up 5gbit bandwidth.

3) Well to be honest... Somebody needs to be first before it becomes standard. Apple was often first. iPhone 4 was the first HiRes phone. Now everybody does it.

4) Resale is **** because they're expensive, an people who stretch that far for a laptop will stretch another few 100 for a new one.

Classic is dead and overpriced. And if you want to load it up with as much SSD space (512GB: 300$ on the retina, 400$ any aftermarket drive at this point) and as much RAM you get somewhere there with pricing, unfortunately..


johnnnw said:
There are so many downsides to the retina in my opinion, that the only upside (the screen) doesn't make it worth it.

Needing to rely on Apple to do all work on it besides change the SSD which will be extremely expensive for the right one?

Naw.

My dream is the Retina MBP being like the insides of the cMBP. But this obviously will probably never happen. Apple has started this trend of making it un-upgradable and I'm sure they're loving the massively inflated upgrade costs so why change.
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Insides of cMBP sucks. optical drive taking up so much ****ing space is ridiculous. If they made a cMBP without optical drive with triple drive setup in the same space that would seriously kick ass.
 
Ploki said:
Insides of cMBP sucks. optical drive taking up so much ****ing space is ridiculous. If they made a cMBP without optical drive with triple drive setup in the same space that would seriously kick ass.
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Yeah, my bad. Without the optical drive. I'm taking mine out to do a RAID 0 with another 840 Pro so I didn't even consider that. Never used it never will.

Besides the optical drive there's no differences, I wouldn't say it sucks. The only difference is the cMBP isn't soldered, which is obviously a good thing.
 
johnnnw said:
Yeah, my bad. Without the optical drive. I'm taking mine out to do a RAID 0 with another 840 Pro so I didn't even consider that. Never used it never will.

Besides the optical drive there's no differences, I wouldn't say it sucks. The only difference is the cMBP isn't soldered, which is obviously a good thing.
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Yea but Apple is going this way, meaning they are going to probably start soldering all they're machines. Same trend happened when the iPhone came out and people complained about the battery being sealed and the lack of an SD card slot. Now just about every phone manufacturer seals the battery in and doesn't include an SD card slot on board...What you get is what you get! This trend will most likely be a mainstream thing in Apples machines moving forward.
 
Sean76 said:
I can't believe the amount of threads about why to, or why not to buy a rMBP!

...Yea Yea we all know its an expensive machine..But all of Apples stuff is expensive. If its a money thing, your knocking on the wrong door, anything Apple will cost a high premium...That's just the way it is. Get what you like and call it a day!
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It's because for tech whores like us who know our stuff, a rMBP is a $1000 price bump for a glamor upgrade.
 
Sean76 said:
Yea but Apple is going this way, meaning they are going to probably start soldering all they're machines. Same trend happened when the iPhone came out and people complained about the battery being sealed and the lack of an SD card slot. Now just about every phone manufacturer seals the battery in and doesn't include an SD card slot on board...What you get is what you get! This trend will most likely be a mainstream thing in Apples machines moving forward.
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It is also much easier for repairs! Apple no longer has to figure out what component went tits up, as the machine is the component, which is economically dead after Apple Care expires...
 
I agree with most comments. In the end it's up to you.

One of the things I'm not sure people talk about a lot is the weight difference. It may not seem like a lot, but it really does feel much lighter than a cMBP to me.

I have no problems with glare and the missing ethernet port doesn't really bother me except in rare cases where I'm traveling and a client won't give me access to their wireless network. That hasn't happened since I got the rMBP so far and even if, I can get the TB to Ethernet adaptor. I just wish the accessories like that weren't 30 bucks!
 
johnnnw said:
Yeah, my bad. Without the optical drive. I'm taking mine out to do a RAID 0 with another 840 Pro so I didn't even consider that. Never used it never will.

Besides the optical drive there's no differences, I wouldn't say it sucks. The only difference is the cMBP isn't soldered, which is obviously a good thing.
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If they made the cMBP chassis without the optical drive it would leave space for 680MX and dual mSATA drives. That would rock so much. I'd buy it instead of retina any day.
 
Asuriyan said:
Where do you get $1000? The price difference between a rMBP and a cMBP with BYO SSD and RAM upgrade was around $200 for me.
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$1899 for a cMBP + Anti-glare screen.
$400 512gb SSD
$94 16gb RAM
total => $2393

rMBP => $2800

That's $400, assuming you don't include the SSD and 16gb of RAM I have sitting around. $900 if you do. A year from now, that SSD will be 1/2 the cost, but I won't be able to upgrade the rMBP at all. :(
 
I found a good reason to buy one, got a brand new unopened 15" Retina 8GB 256GB for $925 below Apple retail price. Its a 2.3 not a 2.4 though.
 
skier777 said:
Dont expect it to last beyond the applecare warrantee.
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Hopefully, then Apple might rethink their strategy.;) , the way it is now is not smart IMO, if anything is wrong it costs an arm and a leg, RAM problem new Logic board, battery problem new top case.
At least the SSD is not soldered on, wouldn't surprise me if they solder that one too in the future.
 
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