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rMBP vs MBP

R

Rhinoevans

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 5, 2012
408
63
Las Vegas, NV
2 weeks ago I talked my self out of the r MBP for the upgradeability of the MBP. Then I talked myself into the rMBP because:

When I add SSD and more ram to base MBP almost same price and more Nvidia ram

New form factor, thinner, NO DVD, and HDMI, retina display (which I dont really need)

Was going to the Navy Exchange in Baharain to get last week end, but was unable to get a pass to get our rental out of the country (Saudi).

Replanned trip in two weeks

But after reading all the post here on rMBP issues, I am now inclined to get the MBP or wait on Haswell chip

Not a current MAC user, Sony Viao running WIndows 8 PR, iPhone 4, and New Ipad.

Just wanted to try the MAC.

Mainly MS Office, internet, email, no games. Game with Xbox.

Any suggestions
 
If all you're doing is email, internet and office, I'd get an 11" or 13" Air and not look back. Upgradability doesn't sound like it's going to be a major concern.

Get it with 8GB of RAM in there and you'd be set for years.
 
I honestly cannot see why you want a MacBook Pro, other than it is a darn cool product.. but you don't need it.

i'd say go for a used 2010 / 2011 macbook air, you really need a mac.


Obviously this is 100% your decision, and in the end you should do whatever you want to do, it's your money.

But email and internet doesn't really require anything hardcore.

A lot of 15" pro users use it for 3D, photoshop, video editing. And Air users are mostly slight video editors, web browsing and the fact that it is ultra portable and VERY fast.
 
Rhinoevans said:
But after reading all the post here on rMBP issues, I am now inclined to get the MBP or wait on Haswell chip
Click to expand...

Hi Rhinoevans,

I just wanted to remark that what you see on these forums are posts by those individuals having problems or issues with their new purchases. In other words, you are seeing a highly biased sample that I suspect has little to do with the overall "average" experience by the majority of purchasers. The satisfied customers don't typically gravitate to fora to express their opinions. And these fora primarily serve the purpose of asking for and receiving help with problems, hence the preponderance of the "negativity" regarding the rMBP that you imply in the above quote. In a nutshell, just be cognizant of this sampling bias in these fora.

And, for my two cents worth of advice, and believe me, the quality of the advice is directly proportional to what you pay for it (free advice = zero worth) ... from your stated uses for this machine I have to agree with the previous replies: I think you would find the MacBook Air much more to your liking. That said, the rMBP is a truly awesome machine (fast with an extraordinary display). But because of the SSD in the MBA, for your stated uses you would find the MBA to be just as fast as the rMBP (the perceived speed is limited by your typing speed, your reading speed, and the speed of your wireless network; the perceived speed should not be limited by the speeds of these laptops). And the two displays are not all that much different either in terms of being able to resolve the pixels at typical viewing distances (the 20/20 vision human eye can distinguish objects set about 1 arcminute apart - then, depending upon the viewing distance, this determines the pixels per inch required for "retina" resolution).

Regards,
Switon
 
switon said:
And the two displays are not all that much different either in terms of being able to resolve the pixels at typical viewing distances (the 20/20 vision human eye can distinguish objects set about 1 arcminute apart - then, depending upon the viewing distance, this determines the pixels per inch required for "retina" resolution).
Click to expand...

Well, I don't know if it's just me, but do I feel a huge difference between the two displays. Huge difference indeed. Due to the way Mac OS renders fonts on the screen, I am seriously annoyed by the pixelated text on the screen of a MacBook Air. I think a retina display would be great for Internet browsing and word processing. Of course a MacBook Air would perfectly do it, but it's definitely not the same thing.
 
Rhinoevans said:
Mainly MS Office, internet, email, no games. Game with Xbox.
Click to expand...
Like others said, I'd recommend a 13" Air with 8 GB for your needs.

The main reason to go for Pro is if you need to do CPU/GPU intensive work; otherwise you'd have to be very frivolous with money.
 
RE: ah yes...

Hi skaertus,

I agree, you are right...

Even though the pixels of the MBA are close to "retina" resolution especially when viewing at typical distances, meaning that the human eye cannot resolve them, I have to agree that how fonts, menus, GUI objects, etc. are rendered on the rMBP does make a huge difference in the perceived "readability" of the rMBP display. I'm amazed that the rMBP's screen, which in "retina" mode is effectively only 1440x900, looks so much better for apps that are "retina ready" than they do on a native 1440x900 display. I think Apple has done a marvelous job in their "scaling algorithms" and "retina ready" apps in order to achieve these results.

Switon
 
I have to agree with switon. Sure, you can't help but read the threads here--that's what we all all here for anyway. But when it comes to problems, the forums are here to help so sure there are going to be more posts about problems. As for rMBP vs cMBP--well you need to buy what you think best suites your needs--and wants. I don't need a rMBP and I did have things narrowed down to a MacBook Air or rMBP. But the with the Air I would need to buy from Apple and pay sales tax since I would want 8GB of RAM and the speedier processor--for the 13 inch which is what I would have got. So with sales tax, that is $1800. I have been waiting for Amazon to get the base model rMBP in for several weeks now. Well they got it in Friday and I ordered it and got it yesterday--a beautiful machine--no doubt--and I'm happy with the purchase. $2200 from Amazon with the $8 extra I spent for next day air delivery on Saturday. So for me, I feel like the extra $400 is worth it. I know a lot of members like to get opinions about what is best for them but in reality only you know what is best for you--and you should get what you can afford and what works for you.
 
Go for a cheap normal MacBook Pro.

I've so far returned 6 rMBPs, all for various issues relating to Apple's abysmal quality control. Considering 5 of those returns were screen related, I'd be inclined to say that the normal MBP has a better screen.

It may not be IPS but at least the old ones work. Plus you get the added option of anti glare.

Also, the new screen tech is useless for most people as barely any software supports it. All you are getting is a sharper wallpaper and dock.
 
shurcooL said:
True, but if you're paying an extra $1000 *just* for an additional 2" of screen size (without any need for quad CPU/dedicated GPU)...
Click to expand...

Hmm--I suppose there could be that much of a difference with some configurations but as I said in my earlier post, the difference between the MacBook Air 13 and the rMBP I got yesterday was only about $400.
 
striker33 said:
Also, the new screen tech is useless for most people as barely any software supports it. All you are getting is a sharper wallpaper and dock.
Click to expand...

So I take it you never use the web browser... or type any document... or need 1920 x 1200 desk space in a 15" screen.

...I wonder if some people are just exchanging rMBPs just so they can say "hell, the rMBP is so bad. I'll take the regular MBP please".
 
I always buy used macbook pros (and iphones) 2-3 years after they came out- i did buy a refurbed mac pro from apple - but few factors like 0% promo on the credit card and a mbp straining with apple pro res and motion / after fx led me to buy from apple.

You tend to save a good £1k on what it would of cost new - but you just need to hunt for a deal - and not be in a rush - also, some used mbs on ebay can have their 1 year applecare upgraded to 3 years too...
 
are people seriously buying the RMBP just to web browse and type up office documents? yeesh.
 
awesome replies and this was my first post on this forum. As I mentioned, I am in Saudi working for an American defense company, so money is no object. Just want a good product. 2 weeks to go before we make the trip to Bahrain. I'll let you know what I decide.
 
If you have to ask the question between the 2 and your OK with lack of upgrade and "if you can't open it you don't own it" then get the retina. It is sexier and has a better screen than almost anything on the market. Not sold on the keyboard tactile response compared to cMBP. I didn't have the option as I need the functionality the standard MBP has so I never really asked the question.
 
Re:

For what you are going to use it for the Retina Macbook Pro is overkill. Don't let its slim build and sleek lines fool you. This is a serious machine with plenty of power. I have the rmbp 2.6 with 16 gigs ram and it faster than my Mac Pro Quad core dual Xeon 2008 over clocked. I can run X plane 10 with most settings on high or very high and still get over 30 fps at KSEA. On my Mac Pro with the 4870 Radeon card I'm struggling at around 7-9 fps with the same exact settings. Most of my everyday apps run much quicker as well. Aperture, for one, is much snappier. Filters that use to take 5-10 seconds to complete are done in just a few seconds now. The internal Sd card reader is surprisingly fast and can be used as an extra drive. I'm reading almost 80-90 mb/s off the sd card... half that with an external card reader. Although not unique to the rmbp, my external 3tb thunderbolt drive is running 2x -3x faster than my internal Mac Pro WD Black drives (not to mention the internal drive which is unbelievably fast) and the thunderbolt drive is slim enough to put in a laptop bag! The rmbp is a marvel of engineering considering its not much thicker than an ipad.

Also, I should note that after you use the retina display everything else looks dated. I have a 2011 NEC PA241W (considered to be one of the finest monitors made today) and after using the retina, the NEC looks terrible. It looks blurry and I get more eye strain with it.

The only things I don't like about it are the lack of a superdrive and no ethernet port.
 
bill-p said:
So I take it you never use the web browser... or type any document... or need 1920 x 1200 desk space in a 15" screen.

...I wonder if some people are just exchanging rMBPs just so they can say "hell, the rMBP is so bad. I'll take the regular MBP please".
Click to expand...

I use a sensible screen size for those types of things for any extended periods.

Frankly if you want to use such a small screen constantly every day for the rest of your life then I wish you all the best in regards to the inevitable back pain and eyesight issues.
 
I would get the old style MBP with a high resolution anti glare screen. If you are working in glare, this will be a great improvement over the MBA or other older MBPs without compromising either ports or upgrade options.

HTH
 
striker33 said:
I use a sensible screen size for those types of things for any extended periods.

Frankly if you want to use such a small screen constantly every day for the rest of your life then I wish you all the best in regards to the inevitable back pain and eyesight issues.
Click to expand...

My eyesight is good enough that I don't have to get closer than 20 inches to see every detail in my photos, and I don't wear glasses.
 
Going downtown Riyadh, Saudi Arabia today to actually put my hand on both. Not buying in Saudi because Arabic on the keyboard.

Going to look at thickness difference and scrolling on the rMBP.

Leaning toward the rMBP, but still contemplating the upgrade features of the regular MBP. My last computer (SOny Viao, i7, and Blu-ray), upgraded ram and going to put in a 256G SSD when i go back to the states in Nov.

Talking myself into the rMBP based on 8G and 256 SSD was enough, probably is.

With a 256 SSD on the rMPB, how much is really available after OS install?
 
Rhinoevans said:
Going downtown Riyadh, Saudi Arabia today to actually put my hand on both. Not buying in Saudi because Arabic on the keyboard.

Going to look at thickness difference and scrolling on the rMBP.

Leaning toward the rMBP, but still contemplating the upgrade features of the regular MBP. My last computer (SOny Viao, i7, and Blu-ray), upgraded ram and going to put in a 256G SSD when i go back to the states in Nov.

Talking myself into the rMBP based on 8G and 256 SSD was enough, probably is.

With a 256 SSD on the rMPB, how much is really available after OS install?
Click to expand...

go for the maxed out hdd if you can afford it
 
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