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Should I buy the Retina MBP?

X

xdxdaustin

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 28, 2010
191
41
Connecticut, United States
As of right now I am croaking along with an early 2008 white MacBook.
Its specs are 2.4ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 3 gigs of ram, and a 250gb HDD (I call it my little Dinosaur :D). I originally received this as a birthday present just before I discovered the tech world so I wasn't really doing any heavy lifting. As time went on, especially within the past year, I have really been getting into using Photoshop daily and using Dreamweaver on a weekly basis (and more often than not, having to run the two at the same time, plus a multitude of other apps). This is besides the fact that animations and transitions are slow, my Mac is chipping appart, and my charger is broken (with the battery soon to go as well). Long story short, its just not quite cutting the mustard. So I've started pinching my pennies and working (I'm just shy of 15 so I don't have a "regular" income) and have had my sights set on the 2.6ghz Retina MPB with 16gb of ram and a 512 SSD. But I started wondering, if I was going overkill. Now I do intend for this laptop to last me sometime, hopefully 4 years (or more) so I do not want to skimp, but I do usually start doing more advanced things every year (e.g. I've gone from facebook+reading blogs and forums, to everything from that to Photoshop and Dreamweaver). One final thing: I will also be bringing a collage family friend along with me for the purchase so that I can get myself a discount.

So my question is, now knowing my situation, should I keep going for the Retina MPB? Or is there something else I should go for at a lower price point (ex a MacBook Air or a Classic Macbook Pro).

Thank you so much in advance!

P.S. I did look at the MacRumors "Which Mac should I buy" but I was still stumped.
 
Last edited:
I am absolutely loving the quality of the rMPB. If you are looking to save some money consider buying the base model rMPB with 16 GB of Ram and throwing your excess work on an external hard drive. That way you can save $400 :)
 
Vyruss said:
I am absolutely loving the quality of the rMPB. If you are looking to save some money consider buying the base model rMPB with 16 GB of Ram and throwing your excess work on an external hard drive. That way you can save $400 :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for your input! Really great idea you have there too...definiatly keeping it in mind. I also probably should mention in the OP that I have a friend in collage so she was going to come with me so I can get a nice little discount :D. To me its almost as if its a cost doesn't matter situation, as long as I am buying what is appropriate for my needs
 
if you can afford a rMBP and dont mind being stuck with what you buy, and having no internal optical drive, then get the retinia. It will be much faster than what you have. Core i7's are far and above better than the C2D
 
I have really been happy with my retina MacBook Pro. The screen is just absolutely amazing. You really need to see it in person to truly appreciate how beautiful the screen looks. I bought the entry level retina & just plan on buying an external drive for future storage it it's needed.
 
xdxdaustin said:
As of right now I am croaking along with an early 2008 white MacBook.
Its specs are 2.4ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 3 gigs of ram, and a 250gb HDD (I call it my little Dinosaur :D). I originally received this as a birthday present just before I discovered the tech world so I wasn't really doing any heavy lifting. As time went on, especially within the past year, I have really been getting into using Photoshop daily and using Dreamweaver on a weekly basis (and more often than not, having to run the two at the same time, plus a multitude of other apps). This is besides the fact that animations and transitions are slow, my Mac is chipping appart, and my charger is broken (with the battery soon to go as well). Long story short, its just not quite cutting the mustard. So I've started pinching my pennies and working (I'm just shy of 15 so I don't have a "regular" income) and have had my sights set on the 2.6ghz Retina MPB with 16gb of ram and a 512 SSD. But I started wondering, if I was going overkill. Now I do intend for this laptop to last me sometime, hopefully 4 years (or more) so I do not want to skimp, but I do usually start doing more advanced things every year (e.g. I've gone from facebook+reading blogs and forums, to everything from that to Photoshop and Dreamweaver). One final thing: I will also be bringing a collage family friend along with me for the purchase so that I can get myself a discount.

So my question is, now knowing my situation, should I keep going for the Retina MPB? Or is there something else I should go for at a lower price point (ex a MacBook Air or a Classic Macbook Pro).

Thank you so much in advance!

P.S. I did look at the MacRumors "Which Mac should I buy" but I was still stumped.
Click to expand...

I personally feel the rMBP is the best laptop I've ever owned. It is a powerhouse and the screen is second to none. If you can afford it, I would say, don't hesitate!
 
xdxdaustin said:
As of right now I am croaking along with an early 2008 white MacBook.
Its specs are 2.4ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 3 gigs of ram, and a 250gb HDD (I call it my little Dinosaur :D). I originally received this as a birthday present just before I discovered the tech world so I wasn't really doing any heavy lifting. As time went on, especially within the past year, I have really been getting into using Photoshop daily and using Dreamweaver on a weekly basis (and more often than not, having to run the two at the same time, plus a multitude of other apps). This is besides the fact that animations and transitions are slow, my Mac is chipping appart, and my charger is broken (with the battery soon to go as well). Long story short, its just not quite cutting the mustard. So I've started pinching my pennies and working (I'm just shy of 15 so I don't have a "regular" income) and have had my sights set on the 2.6ghz Retina MPB with 16gb of ram and a 512 SSD. But I started wondering, if I was going overkill. Now I do intend for this laptop to last me sometime, hopefully 4 years (or more) so I do not want to skimp, but I do usually start doing more advanced things every year (e.g. I've gone from facebook+reading blogs and forums, to everything from that to Photoshop and Dreamweaver). One final thing: I will also be bringing a collage family friend along with me for the purchase so that I can get myself a discount.

So my question is, now knowing my situation, should I keep going for the Retina MPB? Or is there something else I should go for at a lower price point (ex a MacBook Air or a Classic Macbook Pro).

Thank you so much in advance!

P.S. I did look at the MacRumors "Which Mac should I buy" but I was still stumped.
Click to expand...

You do realize that neither photoshop or dreamweaver have been optimized for retina right? And probably won't be for a long time. None of the people replying to this thread are even remotely helping you in anyway except regurgitating the same useless rhetoric over and over without any regard to your actual usage.
 
xdxdaustin said:
As of right now I am croaking along with an early 2008 white MacBook.
Its specs are 2.4ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 3 gigs of ram, and a 250gb HDD (I call it my little Dinosaur :D). I originally received this as a birthday present just before I discovered the tech world so I wasn't really doing any heavy lifting. As time went on, especially within the past year, I have really been getting into using Photoshop daily and using Dreamweaver on a weekly basis (and more often than not, having to run the two at the same time, plus a multitude of other apps). This is besides the fact that animations and transitions are slow, my Mac is chipping appart, and my charger is broken (with the battery soon to go as well). Long story short, its just not quite cutting the mustard. So I've started pinching my pennies and working (I'm just shy of 15 so I don't have a "regular" income) and have had my sights set on the 2.6ghz Retina MPB with 16gb of ram and a 512 SSD. But I started wondering, if I was going overkill. Now I do intend for this laptop to last me sometime, hopefully 4 years (or more) so I do not want to skimp, but I do usually start doing more advanced things every year (e.g. I've gone from facebook+reading blogs and forums, to everything from that to Photoshop and Dreamweaver). One final thing: I will also be bringing a collage family friend along with me for the purchase so that I can get myself a discount.

So my question is, now knowing my situation, should I keep going for the Retina MPB? Or is there something else I should go for at a lower price point (ex a MacBook Air or a Classic Macbook Pro).

Thank you so much in advance!

P.S. I did look at the MacRumors "Which Mac should I buy" but I was still stumped.
Click to expand...

Go base+16. Then get a good micro SD card and one of these to store all your stuff that doesnt need high speed. Like iTunes.
 
stevelam said:
You do realize that neither photoshop or dreamweaver have been optimized for retina right? And probably won't be for a long time. None of the people replying to this thread are even remotely helping you in anyway except regurgitating the same useless rhetoric over and over without any regard to your actual usage.
Click to expand...

You're right. However, it's really not that bad. People blow it way out of proportion. I find changing the resolution, up a notch, makes the experience better.

OP, for your reference, here's what CS6 apps look like (sorry, no DW):

After Effects: http://puu.sh/Mco7
Audition: http://puu.sh/Mced
Encore: http://puu.sh/MccI
Flash Professional: http://puu.sh/McjO
Illustrator: http://puu.sh/MciC
Photoshop Extended: http://puu.sh/Mcs3 (by "other apps" I was referring to ones such as AE, which had some clear text despite not being optimized)
Premiere Pro: http://puu.sh/MaIu

Hopefully that's enough for you to get a sense of what it looks like - this is on the "best for retina" resolution [1440x900].

--------------------------------------------------

In conclusion, the Retina MBP was my best purchase in a long time. It's pricy, but hell is it ever worth it. You'll love it! So responsive, and the screen is great. I say 2.3 with 16 GB if you're worried about the cost. I have the 2.6, and I love it (see signature). Good luck!
 
stevelam said:
You do realize that neither photoshop or dreamweaver have been optimized for retina right? And probably won't be for a long time. None of the people replying to this thread are even remotely helping you in anyway except regurgitating the same useless rhetoric over and over without any regard to your actual usage.
Click to expand...

It’s highly unlikely that it’ll be “a long time” compared to the 4 years that the OP wants to keep the machine. Getting a RMBP now is best, because Adobe will soon update their apps to be Retina-aware (starting with Photoshop, already in beta), and then you’ll have the best display possible for the rest of the life of the machine.
 
killmoms said:
It’s highly unlikely that it’ll be “a long time” compared to the 4 years that the OP wants to keep the machine. Getting a RMBP now is best, because Adobe will soon update their apps to be Retina-aware (starting with Photoshop, already in beta), and then you’ll have the best display possible for the rest of the life of the machine.
Click to expand...


Adobe and "soon" do not belong in the same sentence.

Do you have any idea how long a lot of their betas have remained in beta for? Edge is still in beta for a year now with still no official release announced. Remember when audition was in beta for 2-3 years?

Adobe hasn't even announced any commitment to updating anything but photoshop for retina. At best they said possibly by the end of the year just for photoshop.

Even now when you open a fairly large but typical psd for design (try the iPad retina template from T&L) in photoshop on the RMBP, panning it causes stuttering and lag. It already stutters doing basic general UI tasks. I can't imagine how much more slow it would be if it actually had to render full retina assets in photoshop.

So far the RMBP is only usable if paired with an external monitor for design.
 
stevelam said:
You do realize that neither photoshop or dreamweaver have been optimized for retina right? And probably won't be for a long time. None of the people replying to this thread are even remotely helping you in anyway except regurgitating the same useless rhetoric over and over without any regard to your actual usage.
Click to expand...

Eventhough the menu bars will look a little fuzzy, the work inside will still be "retina'd" so...
 
wiznet said:
You're right. However, it's really not that bad. People blow it way out of proportion. I find changing the resolution, up a notch, makes the experience better.

OP, for your reference, here's what CS6 apps look like (sorry, no DW):

After Effects: http://puu.sh/Mco7
Audition: http://puu.sh/Mced
Encore: http://puu.sh/MccI
Flash Professional: http://puu.sh/McjO
Illustrator: http://puu.sh/MciC
Photoshop Extended: http://puu.sh/Mcs3 (by "other apps" I was referring to ones such as AE, which had some clear text despite not being optimized)
Premiere Pro: http://puu.sh/MaIu
--------------------------------------------------
Hopefully that's enough for you to get a sense of what it looks like - this is on the "best for retina" resolution [1440x900].
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for taking time to post those pictures! I opened them in fullscreen in preview so I could really see what everyone was talking about, and I must say, it really doesn't look horrible (I was scared we were going to have an iPhone to iPad scaling issue on our hands). To me, the worst offender is definitely photoshop, but if we already know an update is in the works for retina support, I'm not worried.

miralize said:
Coda 2 is much better anyway
Click to expand...

I took a look at this as well, and if Dreamweaver starts bugging due to the lack of retina support, I know where I'll be going! Thanks!
 
xdxdaustin said:
As of right now I am croaking along with an early 2008 white MacBook.
Its specs are 2.4ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 3 gigs of ram, and a 250gb HDD (I call it my little Dinosaur :D). I originally received this as a birthday present just before I discovered the tech world so I wasn't really doing any heavy lifting. As time went on, especially within the past year, I have really been getting into using Photoshop daily and using Dreamweaver on a weekly basis (and more often than not, having to run the two at the same time, plus a multitude of other apps). This is besides the fact that animations and transitions are slow, my Mac is chipping appart, and my charger is broken (with the battery soon to go as well). Long story short, its just not quite cutting the mustard. So I've started pinching my pennies and working (I'm just shy of 15 so I don't have a "regular" income) and have had my sights set on the 2.6ghz Retina MPB with 16gb of ram and a 512 SSD. But I started wondering, if I was going overkill. Now I do intend for this laptop to last me sometime, hopefully 4 years (or more) so I do not want to skimp, but I do usually start doing more advanced things every year (e.g. I've gone from facebook+reading blogs and forums, to everything from that to Photoshop and Dreamweaver). One final thing: I will also be bringing a collage family friend along with me for the purchase so that I can get myself a discount.

So my question is, now knowing my situation, should I keep going for the Retina MPB? Or is there something else I should go for at a lower price point (ex a MacBook Air or a Classic Macbook Pro).

Thank you so much in advance!

P.S. I did look at the MacRumors "Which Mac should I buy" but I was still stumped.
Click to expand...

Perhaps you may want to wait a little bit more. The 15" retina MacBook Pro is just the first of the bunch. Apple will soon update all its Mac line to have a retina display. We don not yet know how the line will be after all the Macs are updated, and we can only try to guess. But all of them (or nearly all of them, at least) will.

The 15" rMBP will probably have a lower price point in the future and it will ultimately replace the cMBP.

In addition, not all applicatons are ready for retina.
 
stevelam said:
You do realize that neither photoshop or dreamweaver have been optimized for retina right? And probably won't be for a long time. None of the people replying to this thread are even remotely helping you in anyway except regurgitating the same useless rhetoric over and over without any regard to your actual usage.
Click to expand...

You do realize that those apps still work right...sure the UI isn't as sharp..but its no worse than the old low res screens...you just notice it because it is butted up against perfectly clear UI.

ALSO, the more people that buy a retina the more 3rd party developers will consider updated their applications. People stuck in the past, like you, will ensure this doesn't happen...thanks. Also, keep in mind, the rMBP is not just a high res screen, it is also a VERY fast, light, and extremely quiet MBP! People that keep fighting the good fight that the screen ruined their life fail to realize that this is still an amazing machine!!
 
gentlefury said:
You do realize that those apps still work right...sure the UI isn't as sharp..but its no worse than the old low res screens...you just notice it because it is butted up against perfectly clear UI.

ALSO, the more people that buy a retina the more 3rd party developers will consider updated their applications. People stuck in the past, like you, will ensure this doesn't happen...thanks. Also, keep in mind, the rMBP is not just a high res screen, it is also a VERY fast, light, and extremely quiet MBP! People that keep fighting the good fight that the screen ruined their life fail to realize that this is still an amazing machine!!
Click to expand...

Man you need to get out more :p
 
gentlefury said:
You do realize that those apps still work right...sure the UI isn't as sharp..but its no worse than the old low res screens...you just notice it because it is butted up against perfectly clear UI.

ALSO, the more people that buy a retina the more 3rd party developers will consider updated their applications. People stuck in the past, like you, will ensure this doesn't happen...thanks. Also, keep in mind, the rMBP is not just a high res screen, it is also a VERY fast, light, and extremely quiet MBP! People that keep fighting the good fight that the screen ruined their life fail to realize that this is still an amazing machine!!
Click to expand...

It's quite obvious you don't use any of the apps I mentioned. Why bother commenting? Do you use photoshop for work? Or just another RMBP owner that wants to play games all day?
 
stevelam said:
It's quite obvious you don't use any of the apps I mentioned. Why bother commenting? Do you use photoshop for work? Or just another RMBP owner that wants to play games all day?
Click to expand...

Your right I don't use Photoshop for work. I use Nuke. A much more resource intense application! You have no idea about what I do.

I would like to play games all day. But I am busy working on movies, television shows and commercials. ;)
 
Also remember that you can always run these applications in 2880x1800 and they'll be perfect, and high-res.
 
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