What MacBook must I buy? Please help

Based on your post I'm assuming you're a junior in highschool not college? If I were you I would get the maxed out 15" Retina Macbook Pro with 512GB SSD and the 16GB of RAM. Should last you quite a while and you'll want a decent amount of storage for getting into photography. The display will also compliment that very nicely. The new processor is supposedly coming out with the 2013 model so it might be worth waiting a little bit to get that one.

 

A junior mint?

 

One thing I don't understand here is, money is no issue-I have to use it for 5-6 years.
If money is no issue then why not get a 13" rMBP first and sell it in 1-2 years and then upgrade, Macs keep their resale value reasonably well so you don't have to add a lot 1-2 years ahead.

 

No computer are future proof. People are still using PC that's 5-6 years ago but it doesn't handle 'modern' softwares too well. They can still use it for things like MS Office or web surfing.

For all the things you listed, you are fine with any MBP. I use Adobe PS on my early 2011 MBP. I would go for MBP 13'' or 15'' but if you insist then max out the RAM of rMBP cause it's not changeable.

 

For your listed uses, I would say so. As for the weight, depends on how you want to carry it. If you will be a carrying it around in a backpack (which I'm assuming since you're a student) you should have no problem.

 

You'll be able to use any of those purchases for 5 years if you take good care of them. How they will cope with your demands 5 years down the line? That depends on what new technologies become mainstream in that time and what path you follow. If your hope is that this computer will serve you through high school and college, you will almost certainly be pushing up against its limited by the end of college, especially if you go down a photography/video/etc path.

If money is no issue and you are set on trying to keeping it for those 5-6 years then you should wait for haswell, get the 15" model and upgrade to 16GB of RAM. On the other hand as a junior in high school 16GB of RAM is probably overkill and if you want portability, the 15" is rather large.

Personally if money was no object and I was still in highschool, I'd probably get the 13" with the view to replace it in 2-3 years time. At which point it should still have a reasonable resale value and if money really is no issue, you could always donate it to a disadvantaged younger student from your high school and they'd be able to get a few years out of it too

 

Dude if money is no issue go for the Air for 2 years then upgrade to a new computer when you need it. Your uses require no power.

 

Only Apple knows, but I think the MBP's won't be released for another few months.
August or later is my guess.

 

A 15" with 16GB RAM and whatever storage you deem necessary for FUTURE need will more than suffice for 5-6 years. That quad core will be a strong processor for years, but like all things it will fall behind in terms of technology as time goes by. It's natural but you stand a much better chance of it staying future proof, as much as that is possible with a laptop, with the 15" pro than you do with an Air with dual core CPU and no dedicated GPU.

Since you are unsure of your future video/photo needs, the retina may serve better for longer and you may find you need the additional horsepower if your requirements evolve into power user range. And it doesn't sound like your parents want to buy another in a couple years so you need to do it right the first time.

If they/you can wait until the new upcoming release, at least you'll be one generation newer in terms of hardware AND you will be buying a second generation retina Macbook pro. First generations typically have bugs that have to be worked through and by second generation a great deal has been learned to make it more solid at release, or so has been my experience.

Good luck and congratulations!

 

I'd recommend this too.

I'd also say if you don't need it asap wait a month or so to see if they release updated macs.

 

When I tested the 15'' rMBP, it was very light, so I would assume it would be fine on your lap. But not for long term use. [I find the rMBP's MUCH lighter than any other PC Laptop I have in my household, if that helps you any.]

And if you shall be playing RAM intense games on your rMBP, then you should use Bootcamp. But if it's a simple indie game then Parallels shall be fine. c:

Congrats on getting a Macbook! I shall be getting my first this summer as well.

 

Despite the name. "Laptops" are never comfortable to use on your lap for more than a few minutes. The 15" Mac Book Pro's are about as light as it gets if you want that size of screen.

If portability is really important, you might want to look at the 13" Retina MacBook Pro. It isn't quite as powerful - but it should still more than meet your needs.

However - the big Apple developer conference is 10-14 June, and while nobody knows for sure, its quite possible that they'll announce new products and updates then. If you can bear to wait a few weeks, I would.

For what you are talking about - Parallels.

Boot Camp lets Windows use the full power of the computer, but it means that you have to split your hard disc into two parts (one for Mac OS, one for Windows) which usually wastes a lot of space. Then, every time you want to switch between Mac OS and Windows you have to re-start the computer.

Parallels lets you run Windows and Mac OS at the same time, share the same files, copy-and-paste between Mac and Windows Applications etc. and the 'windows disc' is just a file on your Mac hard drive, that grows as you add stuff to Windows. Its not as fast as Boot Camp but since you're not playing the latest games or running professional graphics software costing $$$$ that shouldn't matter. Also, its easy to experiment with other operating systems, like Linux, with Parallels.

 

Not sure what educational level has to do with it. The retina machines run the exact same apps. And since you're in high school and presumably young... your eyesight is more suited to the retina display than that of some old decrepit "professional".

One is bigger than the other. I forget which.

 

Not sure where you heard that but, since you have one more year of High school to go, it shall be a very good laptop for college! Not sure what Major you shall go in to, but try to think about that before purchasing your rMBP.

I'm more than sure there is a difference, I know that the 15'' has better performance under the hood than the 13''. The naive display on the 15'' is a 2880 x 1800 while the 13'' is only 2560 x 1600. I personally do not see that much of a difference, all depends if you like a bigger screen/screen real-estate. ^ ^

 

13 inches retina MBP is good for you for your needs. I hope it lasts many years to come but be sure to max out memory and flash storage.

 

I think having one device is much better, as all your files will be on one device.. Personally I don't like to having my files on 2 notebooks...

From the specs of the new rMBP, it's weight and thicks is a bit like MB Air... So my advice is to have one rMBP 13" with high specs like i7, 512SSD, 8gb ram ..

And if I need somethhing for mobile, will go with the 128GB of iPad

That's what I will do if I were you ..

All the best