Suggestions : to buy or not to buy ?

[stephen85]

Hi,

I would like some friendly advice as to what i should do regarding buying a macbook pro.

I'm currently a musician,producer and dj and use a core 2 duo machine as my daily driver which is far from ideal. I've hit a brick wall in terms of upgrading RAM and hard drive so now the achilles heel of the machine is the processor which in a laptop is untouchable/ non upgradable.

I have the intention of upgrading the macbook pro with a better hard drive (momentus xt 750gb) and more RAM (16gb) over the stock configuration but i understand only the non retina's are upgradable.

So my question to the forum would be:

Should i buy the current macbook pro and upgrade as intended or wait for new hardware (rumored June) and risk apple changing the macbook pro lineup like the current retina's (non upragdable) ?

Thanks for reading.

 

[F1 Fan]

The retina machines can't take a hard drive. You can replace the SSD but shouldn't unless you know what you're doing. You can order a larger SSD at the time of purchase but know that this will be very expensive. There is always the option of an external HDD if you want more capacity.

The RAM cannot be upgraded later but can be spec'd up at the time of purchase as far as 16GB.

If the whole MBP line is upgraded in June (purely speculation. Personally, I suspect it'll be later than that but this too is purely speculation.) and the option you want dissappears then move quickly and you'll still be able to buy it. If you miss it, keep checking the refurbished section of the online store and see if it pops up there.

As for "should I wait?", only you know how your current machine is coping with your needs and how much you need / want a new one. If you can wait then do because making your tech last longer before replacing it will save you money. If you need / want it now then buy it now - it'll be exactly the same awesome machine after the new ones come out

 

[yusukeaoki]

I actually think Apple is going to kill the upgradable MBPs or cMBPs.
They possibly will turn out similar to retina models where no parts are upgradable whatsoever.

The SSD on rMBP is upgradable by using OWCs parts, but its pretty expensive.
I would go with the 13in. Not sure how much power DJs need but dual core i5/i7 should be enough if C2D still works for you.

 

[stephen85]

The retina machines can't take a hard drive. You can replace the SSD but shouldn't unless you know what you're doing. You can order a larger SSD at the time of purchase but know that this will be very expensive. There is always the option of an external HDD if you want more capacity.

The RAM cannot be upgraded later but can be spec'd up at the time of purchase as far as 16GB.

If the whole MBP line is upgraded in June (purely speculation. Personally, I suspect it'll be later than that but this too is purely speculation.) and the option you want dissappears then move quickly and you'll still be able to buy it. If you miss it, keep checking the refurbished section of the online store and see if it pops up there.

As for "should I wait?", only you know how your current machine is coping with your needs and how much you need / want a new one. If you can wait then do because making your tech last longer before replacing it will save you money. If you need / want it now then buy it now - it'll be exactly the same awesome machine after the new ones come out

That's one thing about apple announcements there's usually a week time frame to grab the older version before release .

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I actually think Apple is going to kill the upgradable MBPs or cMBPs.
They possibly will turn out similar to retina models where no parts are upgradable whatsoever.

The SSD on rMBP is upgradable by using OWCs parts, but its pretty expensive.
I would go with the 13in. Not sure how much power DJs need but dual core i5/i7 should be enough if C2D still works for you.

Like you i think killing the ability to upgrade yourself will be a massive blow for the consumer.

The machine will be mainly used for audio production so that's where the speed increase will be appreciated most.