Which of these 15" Macbook Pros would you choose?

[habubauza]

Here are the caveats:

• Running Final Cut Pro X (editing AVCHD, and rendering effects..)
• Using Adobe Light Room 4 (editing Raw)
• Photoshop CS5.5
• Windows 7 Using Parallels

Here are the choices:

Apple MD104LL/A-1 15.4" MacBook Pro Notebook, Intel Core i7 Quad-Core 2.6GHz with Turbo Boost to 3.6GHz, 8GB RAM, 750GB Serial ATA Drive 7200 RPM, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion (64-Bit), Hi-Res Antiglare Screen
$2249 (RAM and HDD upgradeable)

vs.

Apple MC976LL/A 15.4 " Macbook Pro(Retina)2.6 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 processor
8 GB DDR3 RAM; 512 GB Flash Storage
15.4-inch LED-backlit Retina Display, 2880-by-1800 resolution
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1GB Graphics
Mac OS X v10.7 Lion, 7 Hour Battery Life
$2539 (not upgradeable)

 

[meme1255]

I would choose "normal" MBP - Retina is not upgradeable & unrepairable. You can add SSD into "normal" MBP & instead SuperDrive use secondary HD. (I don't know how much is Apple SSD as optional instead HDD, but 300$ should be enough. [ I'm suggesting this due native SSD TRIM] )


Well, depends on you - resolution vs possibility of upgrades &*more hard drives. 1680 x 1050 on 15" is not bad in my opinion .

 

[wingate.white]

Personally, the retina screen is a fantastic edition and is fully worth it. It is definitely a personal preference choice.

Besides the screen, the only difference I see realistically is the storage. The retina model will recall data much faster and smoother but won't have the same capacity as the non retina model. Again, up to you depending on how much stuff you want to take with you.

 

[meme1255]

"Classic" MBP can have both - SSD for system and HDD for data. Only difference is retina vs High resolution (1680x1050 ) and possibility of repair.

 

[heisenberg123]

id choose the non retina im sure the retina looks fantastic but even the 1440x900 screen on my mbp has never once made me think negative about it, but i would regret finding out 8gb of ram isnt enough and cant upgrade or 256gb is not enough, having upgrade choices is important to me, so you have to ask your self the same

just because the retina is a higher resolution that doesnt mean the high res or even the res i have sucks