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macguy93

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 30, 2012
149
1
Hello Everyone,

I am in the process of buying my first apple laptop. All of my other computers are desktops, including my 2012 mac pro.

I am in the market for a mac book pro for school use, strictly for computer science/app development and some minor video editing. I am currently in the process of deciding witch laptop i should go with..

Option 1.) mac book pro 15 inch retina 2.6ghz i7 (3.6 ghz turbo) 8GB ram nvidia GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory, 512 ssd.

option 2.) mac book pro non-retina display 2.7 i7 (3.7Ghz turbo) 8Gb ram GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory, 1tb HHD 5400 RPM

I am currently leaning with option 1 because i will not have as much of a bottleneck when it comes to my hard drives speeds. But the only limiting factor of the retina model is i can not upgrade ram (if im not mistaking) however, i think i should be fine with 8GB.. Also, is there a huge difference in processor speeds? .1GHz difference should not make much of a night and day difference..

When it comes to projects that require a bit more rendering power, i do own a 12-core mac pro with 40GB of ram, worst comes to worst. So im not looking for a complete powerhouse laptop like my mac pro.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Thanks guys!
 
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I like the confidence in your answer! Can i have some insight on why you chose that route over option 2?

The SSD. A million times over. Light years faster than any HDD.

Oh and how could I forget. The gorgeous retina display. You'll never go back.
 
spend the money to go to 16GB on the rMBP. Worth it in the long run (and even in the short run). My few friends that have only the 8GB are regretting not getting the 16 already and they're not power users.
 
thanks for your replies guys!
Now you have me thinking.. I feel the 8GB of ram should last through the basics, Word, surfing the web, computer coding.. However, i may see a lack in performance if i decide to do some minor video editing on it.. is it really worth the extra cash though??
 
The Cmbp is a big ol clunker with a leap frog computer screen.
I suggest waiting a month to see what changes to the retina line awaits us
 
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For your stated purposes, either will be overkill.
You would even be ok with 2011 Macbook Air... so either way you will be fine with whichever 15" device you decide to get- just get the 1 that makes you happy.


Oh and just out of curiosity, what kind of projects are you engaged in school that requires 12-core 40GB Ram? :eek:
 
I would choose option 1 because of the retina screen, the SSD, and the fact that it is a little over a pound lighter lighter than the cMBP (it makes a noticeable difference when wearing a backpack). Though I would agree with everyone else that if you plan on keeping the machine for a while, opt for the 16gb of RAM. Even if you don't need it right now, you may need it later and you won't have any options to add it then.
 
I say option two, and let me explain why. The cMBP might be a little thicker for some, but its still very thin compared with other laptops of this time. You can probably get a really good deal on a top end 2012 cMBP and then upgrade the memory and SSD. You also have the option of even taking the cd-rom drive out and adding a second hard drive in its place if you'd like. The cMBP has the anti-glare screen (which IMO is very nice).

The rMBP has a beautiful screen and nice form factor. However, they still haven't really optimized the retina screens yet. Many people still pop up on these threads with issues (IR, flickering, ect) that Apple should have addressed by now. I believe I saw a thread on here last week about a guy buying a new rMBP and having a creaking sound somewhere in the unibody design.

If I were you I'd check for a deal on a cMBP, or wait for the haswell rMBPs to come. It's probably going to be the same design with new chips, but you never know.

Good luck!
 
Yes, absolutely, 100% get the Retina. Mine is only the base model but it is FANTASTIC!! Love this thing.

Part of me wishes I could have gotten 16GB and upped it to the 516 storage (or even 768) but this does just fine. Best decision I ever made was getting the 15" Retina.

And yes, the display is reason enough.
 
I got the 15" matte and my brother uses a retina.
You should ask how he feels once we leave the house.
Of course, these days people buy laptops and connect them to a monitor and never leave the house for some reason but if you actually use it as intended that mirror retina will become a nightmare.
 
I got the 15" matte and my brother uses a retina.
You should ask how he feels once we leave the house.
Of course, these days people buy laptops and connect them to a monitor and never leave the house for some reason but if you actually use it as intended that mirror retina will become a nightmare.

The retina barely reflects.
 
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