rMBP more cost-efficient than MBP

[NickPhamUK]

For $2200, you get 8GB of RAM, 1GB on GT 650M, a little more powerful processor and 256GB of SSD. On top of that, a much better resolution.

For $1800, you only get 4GB of RAM and 512MB on GPU. Upgrading to 8GB of RAM is a no-brainer, so you're gonna spend $100. Upgrading the GPU to 1GB (imo 512MB is insufficient) costs another $200. Which still leaves you with a crappy 5400 rpm HDD and a much worse resolution.

For normal users I think MBP 13" or MBA 13" is a much better option, and for power users rMBP is much more cost-efficient, at least until Haswell Pros are released. Am I right?

 

[Freyqq]

However, if you upgrade the 8gb yourself (~$50) and buy a third party SSD (~$170), you come out a little ahead. Then, you can stick the hard drive it comes with in an enclosure (~$20), and you have an external hard drive too. You also are getting an ethernet port ($30 for the rmbp) and a dvd drive ($79 from apple, ~$30 from anywhere else).

Buying from apple, though, it's going to cost a lot more. I'd still go for the rmbp though just because of that great screen, ability to plug in 3 more monitors instead of just one (for all practical purposes), and less weight.

 

[falconeight]

For $2200, you get 8GB of RAM, 1GB on GT 650M, a little more powerful processor and 256GB of SSD. On top of that, a much better resolution.

For $1800, you only get 4GB of RAM and 512MB on GPU. Upgrading to 8GB of RAM is a no-brainer, so you're gonna spend $100. Upgrading the GPU to 1GB (imo 512MB is insufficient) costs another $200. Which still leaves you with a crappy 5400 rpm HDD and a much worse resolution.

For normal users I think MBP 13" or MBA 13" is a much better option, and for power users rMBP is much more cost-efficient, at least until Haswell Pros are released. Am I right?

Great thinking! Here is what I see: Stock cMBP is $1200. Give it 8gb of ram and a 128gb ssd and its cost is $1499. That is the same amount as the base 13 rMBP that has the exact same CPU, same ram, and same ssd. But the kicker is that you get a really terrible screen. You do get a disc drive but who really uses them. Sure you can upgrade it for a little less but your still stuck with the crappy screen and you can get a refurbished rMBP for $1249. To me the only cMBP that makes sense is the base refurbished that will leave you money to upgrade but even then the screen is to important to me to spend hundreds upgrading to still be looking at that screen. External disc drives also only go for about $20.

 

[jfriedman8]

I would agree with you here. Especially for the refurb's rMBP 15" price at $1699 (or was it $1599?) you end up paying a pretty hefty premium for added thickness, DVD drive, and a slow HDD vs SSD. Still great machines, but after having used an SSD now, there's really no going back.