Upgrade Suggestions For Retina MacBook Pro / Later Refresh?

[Cergman]

According to apples website, they slightly bumped the specs on the Retina MacBook Pro. I was getting ready to take the plunge, and I had 2 questions that I wanted to ask others to see what they would do.

1. This computer is primarily going to be used for video editing, and possibly some games here and there. Which of these upgrades would you purchase for your computer?
2.4 GHz quad core i7 to a 2.7 GHz processor for $100.
8GB of ram to 16GB of ram for $200
256Gb SSD to 512GB SSD for $300

2. Do you think apple will change the specs of this computer again, or is this all that we are going to get this year?

I appreciate any advice that you guys would be willing to offer. Thanks!!

 

[simsaladimbamba]

1. RAM
You should always use an external HDD (USB 3.0 should suffice) to store your video footage you want to edit.
Depending on the level you want to edit in, this might be good knowledge:
Video Compression
Why It Matters & How To Make The Most Of It

which includes the following sections:

• GOPs, Macroblocks & Wavelets
• Acquisition Formats
• Editing & Post Formats
• Final Cut Pro
• Avid Media Composer
• Adobe Premiere Pro
• Which Codec Should I Edit With?
• Conclusion
• Camera Codec Summary
• Apple ProRes Variations
• Avid DNxHD Codecs

2. We do not know, but one could think, that when the next refresh/upgrade arrives in Summer 2013, we could see another price drop. Or maybe not.

 

[theuserjohnny]

RAM should be the primary upgrade from there it can be a toss up between space and the bump in speed but considering that you can buy external drives I would personally go with the speed upgrade but considering how the jump of speed isn't even that big I would just not spend the money on either. But if you had to it would be RAM, speed, harddrive space.

Just expect a change in processors once haswell comes out but even then it won't be that big of a difference from what is out now in terms of CPU power but in terms of integrated we should expect a jump but that won't matter considering that the 15rMBP has a GPU which is more important for video editing than integrated graphics.

 

[swerve147]

According to apples website, they slightly bumped the specs on the Retina MacBook Pro. I was getting ready to take the plunge, and I had 2 questions that I wanted to ask others to see what they would do.

1. This computer is primarily going to be used for video editing, and possibly some games here and there. Which of these upgrades would you purchase for your computer?
2.4 GHz quad core i7 to a 2.7 GHz processor for $100.
8GB of ram to 16GB of ram for $200
256Gb SSD to 512GB SSD for $300

2. Do you think apple will change the specs of this computer again, or is this all that we are going to get this year?

I appreciate any advice that you guys would be willing to offer. Thanks!!

1. The most significant upgrade is probably 16GB of RAM, especially for pro video and photography work. 2.4 to 2.7 GHz probably won't give you much bang for the buck. Now 2.4 to 2.8 (6MB to 8MB cache + processor speed) might make more of a difference. As for storage, you have a couple of Thunderbolt ports with incredible throughput. If you really wanted to expand your storage you can do it with an external drive without a performance hit (Thunderbolt + SSD at least).

2. It's all speculation at this point, but likely we will be getting more this year in the form of Haswell upgrades anywhere between June and 4th quarter of this year. Won't get into it here, but there are a number of Haswell threads to look at on these forums.

 

[Cergman]

From what you guys said, I think the best move would be to wait until the new processor comes out, and stick with upgrading the ram. Also, just out of curiosity, how long do you guys usually keep Apple computers for? I am using my 13 inch MacBook Pro from Mid 2009 on a daily basis, and am looking forward to getting a larger screen and a Retina display.

 

[KPOM]

From what you guys said, I think the best move would be to wait until the new processor comes out, and stick with upgrading the ram. Also, just out of curiosity, how long do you guys usually keep Apple computers for? I am using my 13 inch MacBook Pro from Mid 2009 on a daily basis, and am looking forward to getting a larger screen and a Retina display.

The Haswell update is likely around July. The main focuses are battery life (which should be dramatically improved) and the performance of the integrated graphics (which should be about 50% faster than the Ivy Bridge integrated graphics).

If you are reasonably happy with the mid-2009, I think you'll be OK until mid-2017 with the Haswell version. At the current rate, that will be about the time that Apple releases an OS that drops some machines that are current right now. For comparison, Lion in 2011 dropped support for some Macs as late as early 2007, and Mountain Lion in 2012 did the same for some Macs as late as early 2008.

I'm a serial upgrader, but my mother is still using a mid-2009 15" MBP (which I upgraded with an SSD last year). For what I use it for, the October 2010 MacBook Air I bought more than 2 years ago would probably be OK, but I have a 2012 rMBP now (partially by accident - I was happily using an 11.6" MBA until December when I lost it traveling. I used my insurance proceeds to get a 13" rMBP and love it).

 

[Cergman]

The Haswell update is likely around July. The main focuses are battery life (which should be dramatically improved) and the performance of the integrated graphics (which should be about 50% faster than the Ivy Bridge integrated graphics).

If you are reasonably happy with the mid-2009, I think you'll be OK until mid-2017 with the Haswell version. At the current rate, that will be about the time that Apple releases an OS that drops some machines that are current right now. For comparison, Lion in 2011 dropped support for some Macs as late as early 2007, and Mountain Lion in 2012 did the same for some Macs as late as early 2008.

I'm a serial upgrader, but my mother is still using a mid-2009 15" MBP (which I upgraded with an SSD last year). For what I use it for, the October 2010 MacBook Air I bought more than 2 years ago would probably be OK, but I have a 2012 rMBP now (partially by accident - I was happily using an 11.6" MBA until December when I lost it traveling. I used my insurance proceeds to get a 13" rMBP and love it).

The battery life and the improved graphics sound like a stellar upgrade. Hopefully Apple includes a 512GB SSD in the Haswell version. I will wait until then, mostly because battery life is a big deal to me, and my current computer is having no issues (besides being slow). Thanks for your help!