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rMBP vs MBP, only screen and optical drive diff?

C

CultHero

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 20, 2007
281
1
I am in the hunt for a new mac (to replace 2006 iMac) and have been waiting to see the new iMac and now feel confident that a MBP with a thunderbolt display can give me the best of both worlds.

I have been leaning towards the optical drive swapout (to a larger storage drive) and thought I could do that with the rMBP but it seems that is not the case.

From what I have read there are starting to be some SSD upgrades for the rMBP but in running both SSD and reg HD I am out of luck.

I currently have a 2.0 Drobo that I have used with my iMac so the solution moving forward would be either a thunderbolt Drobo or Pegasus and screw the extra storage in the rMBP?

Basically, I can't get the flexibility of the MBP if I go with the rMBP? Correct? Also the rMBP 13 inch doesn't come with the discrete graphics card, any other differences?

Sorry if this is a question that has been done to death...
 
Well, the rMBP has the better screen, a factory-overclocked GPU and is lighter. Plus, it has one more Thunderbolt port and a HDMI output. In return, you lose any upgradeability whatsoever.
 
CultHero said:
From what I have read there are starting to be some SSD upgrades for the rMBP but in running both SSD and reg HD I am out of luck.
Click to expand...

This is correct.

Basically, I can't get the flexibility of the MBP if I go with the rMBP? Correct? Also the rMBP 13 inch doesn't come with the discrete graphics card, any other differences?
Click to expand...

For internal storage on either 13" or 15" rMBP, you're limited to the included( or upgraded) SSD. There is no optical drive, so there is no space for a second HDD in the optical drive bay.

As for the 13" rMBP and discrete graphics, the 13" models have always had some form of integrated graphics. Some versions were better than others, but they weren't nearly as capable as the discrete options available in the 15" and 17" models.
 
retina also has much better cooling (leading to less thermal throttling) and clearly better speakers. Lots of storage requiring external drives is the major downside.
 
nontroppo said:
retina also has much better cooling (leading to less thermal throttling) and clearly better speakers. Lots of storage requiring external drives is the major downside.
Click to expand...

I've read the opposite in regard to thermal throttling, some folks are saying that their rMBP is constantly slowing down under load due to the heat. I can't back this up with experience though, since I'm still running a mid 2009 13" model. :eek:
 
leman said:
Well, the rMBP has the better screen, a factory-overclocked GPU and is lighter. Plus, it has one more Thunderbolt port and a HDMI output. In return, you lose any upgradeability whatsoever.
Click to expand...

I can't upgrade my SSD to a higher capacity one later?
 
Do not underestimate the value of having an SSD. Almost every performance issue that will occur on a day to day basis is related to the hard drive. Here are just a few tasks where the a fast SSD on an average CPU will beat a fast CPU and HDD every time :

Boot / shutdown
Launching/ closing applications
Multitasking (ie having a lot of apps or webpages open)
Loading photos from digital camera
loading or saving any kind of file


Basically if you put an SSD in a 2 year old Macbook Pro for most desktop tasks it will feel faster than the current top spec Macbook Pro with an HD.
 
leman said:
Well, the rMBP has the better screen, a factory-overclocked GPU and is lighter. Plus, it has one more Thunderbolt port and a HDMI output. In return, you lose any upgradeability whatsoever.
Click to expand...

You can upgrade the SSD, just not the RAM. Order it with 16GB and you shouldn't have to worry about RAM again though.
 
Saladinos said:
You can upgrade the SSD, just not the RAM. Order it with 16GB and you shouldn't have to worry about RAM again though.
Click to expand...

Please kindly point me to a store where I can purchase an affordable SSD upgrade for the retina MBP which won't void my warranty.
 
leman said:
Please kindly point me to a store where I can purchase an affordable SSD upgrade for the retina MBP which won't void my warranty.
Click to expand...

OWC do a 480GB stick that's supposedly faster than the stock SSD but is more expensive.

Prices will likely come down as we see more laptops in Apple's line use the same connector. It takes these guys a little while to develop the parts.

It likely will void your warranty (I don't know for sure though). Just switch it back if you need to take it in.

The point is: it's doable. It isn't all soldered in to place.
 
leman said:
Please kindly point me to a store where I can purchase an affordable SSD upgrade for the retina MBP which won't void my warranty.
Click to expand...

Its not really worth it to buy an external upgrade at the moment. OWC are the company you are looking for and a 480GB drive is $579 and the upgrade to 512GB on the apple site is $500. It will only be worth trading the peace of mind of being able to slap it down at the apple store and say fix it, if the price or capacity of other manufacturers SSDs is a lot lot more tempting. There is no reason to change for speed. Apple has at last put in a very very fast drive.
 
Saladinos said:
OWC do a 480GB stick that's supposedly faster than the stock SSD but is more expensive.

Prices will likely come down as we see more laptops in Apple's line use the same connector. It takes these guys a little while to develop the parts.

It likely will void your warranty (I don't know for sure though). Just switch it back if you need to take it in.

The point is: it's doable. It isn't all soldered in to place.
Click to expand...

I never doubted that its doable. Its also possible to solder more RAM onto it (some people have actually done it). We are not talking about what is doable (many things are) - we are talking about what is viable. The point is - just because a single company can do it for an absurd amount of money - does not mean that the SSD is upgradeable as it is not using industry-standard parts.
 
Saladinos said:
OWC do a 480GB stick that's supposedly faster than the stock SSD but is more expensive.

Prices will likely come down as we see more laptops in Apple's line use the same connector. It takes these guys a little while to develop the parts.

It likely will void your warranty (I don't know for sure though). Just switch it back if you need to take it in.

The point is: it's doable. It isn't all soldered in to place.
Click to expand...

that sandforce aint faster than the regular drive for several reasons, and adds another can of worms its sandforce. Currently if you go for 256gb its basically samsung 830
 
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