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Should I return my MacBook Pro w/ retina?

C

Constancex

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 5, 2013
23
0
I just bought one today and I really like it because of the thinness, but the price makes me want to return it. I bought it for $1700 with apple care and education pricing.

Should I just return it and get the MacBook Pro w/o retina? I need it for college to write paper and web surfing etc
 
Constancex said:
Also, I'm scared ill run out of memory on the retina, I got the 128gb
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$1700 for the 13in is too much, is that pre or post tax. What are the full specs? I'd advise returning it. You can get a much better deal. Base 15" rMBP is going for $1,599 on the Apple refurb store.
 
tgi said:
$1700 for the 13in is too much, is that pre or post tax. What are the full specs? I'd advise returning it. You can get a much better deal. Base 15" rMBP is going for $1,599 on the Apple refurb store.
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$1700 with tax. Without tax it was $1399 something. I got $100 off of it for education pricing. Also I bought the apple care plan for $195 I believe
 
Constancex said:
$1700 with tax. Without tax it was $1399 something. I got $100 off of it for education pricing. Also I bought the apple care plan for $195 I believe
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Do you like the Retina display? Do you want the 13in form factor? Is the 15" rMBP refurb for $1,599 out of the question?
 
tgi said:
Do you like the Retina display? Do you want the 13in form factor? Is the 15" rMBP refurb for $1,599 out of the question?
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I like the retina display cause its thinner and easier to carry around while the 15inch is too big
 
You should strongly consider the MacBook Air 13in. $1,234.99 at Best Buy. It will come with 256gb storage,a better graphics chip, and better battery life.

Also you can sign up for student coupons using an edu email address. You will be able to save an additional $100, so $1,134.99 total.

You don't have to buy Apple Care right away. You have the whole first year to decide. Before your one year manufacturer warranty expires, you will have the option to purchase 2 years of Apple Care.

http://m.bestbuy.com/m/e/product/detail.jsp?skuId=6238463&pid=1218721377178&pcatId=abcat0502000
 
tgi said:
You should strongly consider the MacBook Air 13in. $1,234.99 at Best Buy. It will come with 256gb storage,a better graphics chip, and better battery life.

Also you can sign up for student coupons using an edu email address. You will be able to save an additional $100, so $1,134.99 total.

You don't have to buy Apple Care right away. You have the whole first year to decide. Before your one year manufacturer warranty expires, you will have the option to purchase 2 years of Apple Care.

http://m.bestbuy.com/m/e/product/detail.jsp?skuId=6238463&pid=1218721377178&pcatId=abcat0502000
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I'm thinking about the MacBook Air but I was wondering should I upgrade the ram or the processor?? Also, I'm between the classic MacBook Pro or the MacBook Air, which one do you think would be better
 
The only person that can answer this questions is you. It all comes down to your intentions for the machine.

What're you going to be using it for? A web browser and email? The odd word document? Heavy audio, video or image editing/processing?

I noticed you mentioned you got the education discount, so you're obviously going to school. What're you taking? What's more important to you? Horsepower or portability?
 
Constancex said:
$1700 with tax. Without tax it was $1399 something. I got $100 off of it for education pricing. Also I bought the apple care plan for $195 I believe
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I can understand buyer's remorse there. It's a lot of money.

Constancex said:
I'm thinking about the MacBook Air but I was wondering should I upgrade the ram or the processor?? Also, I'm between the classic MacBook Pro or the MacBook Air, which one do you think would be better
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I like the cMBP. The resolution is only a few pixels difference between the two. Overall the MBP has a better display, even if it's not as nice as the rMBP. The MBP can be upgraded on ram after market, where it would be cheap. Ideally if you want the MBP, wait for the new ones. They may see some battery life improvements. Most of the time cpu upgrades aren't that great of a choice. If you're truly cpu bound, the 15" models are a better buy. If you're in the US, a refurbished 2012 15" with a 256GB ssd is around what you paid for that 13" rMBP. Parts are from the exact same generation, but because of the very slight early 2013 modification, prices went down somewhat on the 15" rMBPs labeled 2012.
 
SideStepSociety said:
The only person that can answer this questions is you. It all comes down to your intentions for the machine.

What're you going to be using it for? A web browser and email? The odd word document? Heavy audio, video or image editing/processing?

I noticed you mentioned you got the education discount, so you're obviously going to school. What're you taking? What's more important to you? Horsepower or portability?
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I would like portability and speed. I'll be using it for homework, web surfing, watching YouTube videos, using Microsoft words
 
If you want "speed", a MacBook Air will do you fine, for the tasks you've listed. However, the Retina will do those things as well.

I think you'll appreciate the retina display when you're stuck reading or writing things hours on end. My advice is to stick with your gut.
 
Constancex said:
I would like portability and speed. I'll be using it for homework, web surfing, watching YouTube videos, using Microsoft words
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If that's more or less what you need, return your machine and get the new Haswell Macbook Air.

I'm guessing you'll get it for about $1350 total - i5/8/256 with student discount.

Latest cpu, insane battery life, better integrated graphics. Give it a thought.
 
AXs said:
If that's more or less what you need, return your machine and get the new Haswell Macbook Air.

I'm guessing you'll get it for about $1350 total - i5/8/256 with student discount.

Latest cpu, insane battery life, better integrated graphics. Give it a thought.
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Thanks! I'll get the MacBook Air, I really like the thinness, I was wondering does higher GHz makes the laptop run faster? I looked into the classic mbp and it has 2.5 Ghz while the MBA has 1.3 ghz
 
Constancex said:
Thanks! I'll get the MacBook Air, I really like the thinness, I was wondering does higher GHz makes the laptop run faster? I looked into the classic mbp and it has 2.5 Ghz while the MBA has 1.3 ghz
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Not every task is cpu bound. The ghz number by itself doesn't mean much in terms of performance. If you were comparing two processors from the same sub-group and one was 2.5 with the other being 1.3, that would make a difference in benchmarks. Whether you would notice it in actual use might be a different matter. It's also important to note that these aren't static ranges. They don't maintain full turbo boost 100% of the time, but just going by the listed clock frequencies isn't a good way to determine performance, especially as it's not always cpu bound.
 
thekev said:
Not every task is cpu bound. The ghz number by itself doesn't mean much in terms of performance. If you were comparing two processors from the same sub-group and one was 2.5 with the other being 1.3, that would make a difference in benchmarks. Whether you would notice it in actual use might be a different matter. It's also important to note that these aren't static ranges. They don't maintain full turbo boost 100% of the time, but just going by the listed clock frequencies isn't a good way to determine performance, especially as it's not always cpu bound.
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Can the MBA handle multiple tasks at once? I'm scared it may freeze, is the new MBA faster than the classic mbp
 
Constancex said:
Can the MBA handle multiple tasks at once? I'm scared it may freeze, is the new MBA faster than the classic mbp
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They should be reasonably close. By freeze I assume you mean the pinwheel graphic. I haven't experienced a complete system freeze outside of hardware problems in years on either Windows or OSX. It's always a very specific issue. Anyway ram typically makes a greater difference there, but you won't see the pinwheel as much on anything with an ssd. That is because it most commonly appeared when waiting on the hard drive.
 
thekev said:
They should be reasonably close. By freeze I assume you mean the pinwheel graphic. I haven't experienced a complete system freeze outside of hardware problems in years on either Windows or OSX. It's always a very specific issue. Anyway ram typically makes a greater difference there, but you won't see the pinwheel as much on anything with an ssd. That is because it most commonly appeared when waiting on the hard drive.
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I was wondering, is the classic MacBook Pro as fast as the new MBA? Or is the new MBA faster? Also I read that the MBA been having black out on the screens
 
Constancex said:
I was wondering, is the classic MacBook Pro as fast as the new MBA? Or is the new MBA faster? Also I read that the MBA been having black out on the screens
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The 2012 cMBP's CPU performs better than the 2013's MBA's CPU. According to PassMark (CPUbenchmark.net), the cMBP's CPU scores at 3813/300 (score/rank) and the MBA's CPU scores at 3584/340.

Now, will you realistically notice the 6% difference? No, not in the slightest (especially in the context of your intended uses).

However! The MBA's GPU is much better than the cMBP's GPU (HD5000 vs HD4000).

Additionally, if you don't upgrade the cMBP to an SSD, it will suck compared to the MBA. But even if you do, a SATA III SSD will still get outperformed by the MBA's PCIe SSD (perhaps just slightly, but nevertheless).

Also, the resolution on the MBA is higher than the cMBP's. This is important for college because you'll be better off with having windows side-by-side (browser and Word whilst writing a paper, for example).

Lastly, the new MBA has twice the battery life as the cMBP!

So in conclusion, you'd be silly to go for a cMBP over an MBA.
 
KylePowers said:
The 2012 cMBP's CPU performs better than the 2013's MBA's CPU. According to PassMark (CPUbenchmark.net), the cMBP's CPU scores at 3813/300 (score/rank) and the MBA's CPU scores at 3584/340.

Now, will you realistically notice the 6% difference? No, not in the slightest (especially in the context of your intended uses).

However! The MBA's GPU is much better than the cMBP's GPU (HD5000 vs HD4000).

Additionally, if you don't upgrade the cMBP to an SSD, it will suck compared to the MBA. But even if you do, a SATA III SSD will still get outperformed by the MBA's PCIe SSD (perhaps just slightly, but nevertheless).

Also, the resolution on the MBA is higher than the cMBP's. This is important for college because you'll be better off with having windows side-by-side (browser and Word whilst writing a paper, for example).

Lastly, the new MBA has twice the battery life as the cMBP!

So in conclusion, you'd be silly to go for a cMBP over an MBA.
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Ah thank you so much!
 
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