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Which Ultimate Macbook Pro to Order

T

teqnic2009

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 14, 2012
16
0
I am currently using a late 2011 MBPro 17 2.5 maxed out with 16 gigs of ram. I'm going to order a second MBPro for video editing. I will either order a retina maxed out or a 15" maxed out with the antiglare screen. Which would overall be a better buy? I know a regular 15" will save money. My only concern on the retina is all of the issues everyone is having.

Thanks for any helpful input.
 
Re:

It will be used by someone I work with just for video editing. I plan to keep using my 17" personally.
 
get a base 15" quad-core and easily upgrade with your own SSD & RAM for a fraction of what Apple would charge. Use the money that you saved for a beautiful 27" Apple refurb monitor!
 
Re

Would a base 15" be better than a base retina with the 16 gigs of ram? I would put 16 gigs in either way.
 
Portability go for the Retina with 2.7 CPU, looking to save some 2.7 standard MBP, upgrade the RAM and HDD/SSD (or combo of both) yourself. For serious video work the 2.7 will be a benefit, specifically if your software can take advantage of the additional L3 cache.

FWIW i have a Late 2011 15" 2.4 i7 and Base Retina, neither have been any issue. The only concern is if the software you plan to use is updated for Retina, either ways i would expect that you are already using external displays.

If you search you will find a few poles and albeit a small segment of the population the vast majority of Retina owners are satisfied, as ever those with issue and "Haters" will always make the most noise, as has been stated by AnandTech the Retina is the best computer Apple have ever produced, it may not be perfect, then what is :p

In your shoes i would go for 2.7, 16, 512/768

As the individual you must filter the content of the internet very carefully, everyone is a "Pro", everyone the "expert", for the most part they are not, some are well informed, most far from it . If you need help to make a significant purchase, or qualification on hardware, wait for a recognised source, not the kid with 10 minutes hands on in Best Buy ;)

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teqnic2009 said:
Would a base 15" be better than a base retina with the 16 gigs of ram? I would put 16 gigs in either way.
Click to expand...

Be mindful the GPU on the base 2.3 Unibody only has 512Gb of RAM, the higher tier 2.6 has 1GB, all Retina`s have 1GB. This may or may not have significant impact on your usage, for video editing you are going to want as much RAM as possible both system and GPU.
 
Last edited:
Re

Thanks for reminding me about that about the base 15". I've even thought about ordering a 2.3 retina with 16gb of ram, and then later ordering the OWC ssd upgrade for it, either the 480 or maybe later when they come out with a bigger drive. I do all of my work on external Firewire/Thunderbolt drives anyway.
 
262Runnr said:
get a base 15" quad-core and easily upgrade with your own SSD & RAM for a fraction of what Apple would charge. Use the money that you saved for a beautiful 27" Apple refurb monitor!
Click to expand...

EXCELLENT suggestion. I have the I-7 2.6Ghz (the 2.7 wasn't worth the difference) and love it- and I did upgrade the RAM and bought an SSD.

Mine has the enhanced glare shiny screen (15" version) and the higher resolution version. Very, very pleased with it.

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teqnic2009 said:
Would a base 15" be better than a base retina with the 16 gigs of ram? I would put 16 gigs in either way.
Click to expand...

You have to buy it with 16GB. You cannot modify it on your own. Make sure you are aware of the compromises the retina version has. It has many nice things, but a few "gotcha" issues, too.
 
Beachguy said:
EXCELLENT suggestion. I have the I-7 2.6Ghz (the 2.7 wasn't worth the difference) and love it- and I did upgrade the RAM and bought an SSD.

Mine has the enhanced glare shiny screen (15" version) and the higher resolution version. Very, very pleased with it.

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You have to buy it with 16GB. You cannot modify it on your own. Make sure you are aware of the compromises the retina version has. It has many nice things, but a few "gotcha" issues, too.
Click to expand...

Poor advice, for any video work you will want to maximise RAM, both system and GPU, and the 2.7 CPU will be of advantage to those that specifically want to work with video, the additional L3 cache being the bulk of the cost.

Personally i have a 2.3 as my own needs do not demand the faster CPU`s, if i could monitorize the difference the 2.7 would be the obvious choice.
 
Re

How does the performance of the 2.7 on the regular Macbook compare to the Retina?
 
Queen6 said:
Poor advice, for any video work you will want to maximise RAM, both system and GPU, and the 2.7 CPU will be of advantage to those that specifically want to work with video, the additional L3 cache being the bulk of the cost.

Personally i have a 2.3 as my own needs do not demand the faster CPU`s, if i could monitorize the difference the 2.7 would be the obvious choice.
Click to expand...

I don't see a noticeable difference between my 2.6 and the 2.7 which was 250 more when I bought mind (not sure what it is today.)
 
Re

From reading online, it seems like the majority of the Adobe apps are still not Retina optimized, even though we use those most of the time (Premiere, of course, is optimized now so that would benefit us. We also use Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and InDesign).

So here's what I'm thinking of ordering: 15", 2.7, 8 gigs of ram (will upgrade to 16), 750 gb 7200 rpm, and high-res anti-glare screen.

My thinking is the ram could eventually be bumped to 32gb theoretically (once someone comes out with 16 gb modules), and we could eventually bump the speed by ordering 6G SSD drives from OWC.

Austin
 
Beachguy said:
I don't see a noticeable difference between my 2.6 and the 2.7 which was 250 more when I bought mind (not sure what it is today.)
Click to expand...

6Mb versus 8Mb L3 cache thats where the $$$ goes, and for some time is money, so even a small increase in performance is worth it as the extra spend will be recovered quickly. Working with video is one of the most tasking things you can do with a computer.

For the average user there is little benefit as they are unlikely to be pushing their systems as hard, nor the time save of any noticeable value, my own workflow doesn't require, hence i have a 2.3
 
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