Who else is disappointed with the Retina MBP?

[Prodo123]

Extremely disappointed.

Like I predicted, they have the CPU and GPU in the center of the chassis for maximum thermal efficiency. They had to add vents on the side to put a GPU in such a thin body, though. Expect this thing to hit 100+°C.

Non-upgradeable SSD due to its proprietary nature and soldered RAM will be the bane of this product. It completely detracts from the "Pro" label.

Apple most probably sacrificed gamut for resolution with the display, which is very disappointing.
The power button replaces the eject button, which should cause pains for anyone who's used to the ODD-equipped MBP.

Also, the omission of an ODD is a great disappointment for me. I personally use it everyday for hi-fi audio.

No FW800 and Ethernet? Now that's just outrageous. Any networking personnel will know that many offices are wired with Ethernet and depend on it for networking needs. More sophisticated networks do offer WLAN-LAN coupling but that's another matter. What I'm really upset about is the FW800 port. Come on! I use a 3TB FW800 drive as a scratch disk for Photoshop. What the hell am i supposed to do with that? Buy a plastic dinky little dongle that breaks in less than a month? Big, big mistake on Apple's part.

I really like how the audio in and out are separated on the MBP, and it was one of the reasons that shied me away from the 13" MBP. Now it's unified. Very bad.

And by the looks of it, there's no battery indicator. Could be an inconvenience.

So Apple sacrificed all these things to make a MacBook Pro thinner.
Personally, I think it's not worth the sacrifice. It's just a direct response to the Razer Blade. Nothing more.

(the only upside to the RMBP is the USB port on the right side of the laptop)

 

[css136]

LOL Prodo... Nobody could possibly care about all of those things. You must be really funny in real life

I agree with a few things, but come on... It's not the end of the world. They updated their laptop and sacrificed (admittedly lots of) things for: form factor, retina, and SSD

I am not too happy about some of these changes (like the ethernet port) but I'll survive

 

[Prodo123]

LOL Prodo... Nobody could possibly care about all of those things. You must be really funny in real life

I agree with a few things, but come on... It's not the end of the world. They updated their laptop and sacrificed (admittedly lots of) things for: form factor, retina, and SSD

I am not too happy about some of these changes (like the ethernet port) but I'll survive

You must be stupid, because you just met someone who cares about all these things.

 

[Jaro65]

I'll be getting the fat MacBook Pro 15 and max the CPU.

Funny, I don't think anyone would use that term prior to today.

 

[Trishul]

To me as a video guy this is the perfect laptop.. Sure I wish I could upgrade the ram and ssd at some point, but quite frankly I'd pay the premium to just upgrade the whole machine when the time comes if it means having a product that works so well.

I'm not an engineer or someone that can even claim to know the real inner workings.. But it does annoy me when someone complains about a product like this, knowing full well what Apple is about. They aren't about making every single person happy or stuffing every single feature in, they're about making the best possible product, and yes there is price premium.. One that I have vehemently supported to anyone that uses a computer for more than 1-2 hours a day.

You want upgradable parts, get an original MacBook pro.. If you want to sample the future, be an early adopter and get the new one.

Apple have left me underwhelmed with their product releases in the last 2-3 years.. I am one of those disappointed Mac Pro users.. But I really cannot complain about the new RMBP.. For me a retina display was enough, add to that, HDMI, USB 3, 2x ThunderBolt and a thin light body with 7hours battery, quad core and a 512GB SSD for just under $3k.. That's gold for me.. Plus you get fw800 and Ethernet thanks to the extra TB port.. And who knows what other ancillary benefits we may get due to the design.

There are plenty of other laptops out there with crazy customizable options.. But I doubt any of them will function as well as this.. And for me, someone who I think the laptop is ideally aimed at, it's amazing, no stone left unturned IMO.. Genuinely can't think of a way to improve it.

This is going to be the dream laptop for a lot of people for the next 12 months.

 

[awesomator]

Now, axu539, I asked you to put down the Kool-aid before you respond...

Let me respond to each of you reasons:



First, I should ask you about your empirical evidence to support your claims? As a CS Professor, I work with empirical data but since you have none, I will offer some for you:

Memory:

Have you actually seen an SO-DIMM? Well, if you haven't here are the dimensions:

SO-DIMM measure at 6.76 cm in length and a width of 3.175 cm with a maximum total depth of 0.38 cm. (Citation: Google)

You are telling me that I Apple could not fit two if these inside the RMBP as it is today? Really?? Even if you account for the simple connector, I'm a certain I could put two of these inside the machine.

SSD:

Using Newegg's page on the Samsung 830 512GB drive we have the dimensions here:

Width
2.75"
Depth
3.94"
Height
0.28"
Weight
0.14 lbs.

Again, given Apple's dimensions, this drive should fit.


You see? You argument doesn't hold.

Let's see what else you wrote:




Are you new to Apple? I'm not sure Apple passes any 'cost savings' on to us. However, this statement plays well with your next one.



I accept your challenge!

I went to Apple's site and if you add a 512GB SSD drive to the top of the line MBP you get this price:

512GB Solid State Drive [Add $900.00]


Uh oh, it appears Apple is more expensive here.

Why the Samsung 830 512 GB SSD is $699.99. You can see it here.

Now, it is also currently on sale for $560.00.

(This code will get you 20% off Samsung SSDs @ NewEgg: BTENDJJ22)


I could have gone with a cheaper SSD but the Samsung 830 is a pretty high end drive and it was STILL cheaper than Apple.

Perhaps, you will be correct if I look at memory:

Opps, that doesn't appear to be the case either:

Apple wants $200.00 to go to 16 GB of memory.

Newegg here has 16 GB of memory for roughly $127.00 if you average all of them together.


Wow, I guess I won the challenge. That Kool-aid will get you every time...

Perhaps you will see why I am unhappy with Apple moving to properity hardware.

Finally, the above facts don't show that the sad and memory will continue to fall in price. Apple -in the past- has not been eager to reduce the cost of their memory and drives.


-P

1. Apple overcharges. This is not new and they are not even over charging too much in this situation.
2. Buying parts individually will nearly always be much cheaper than buying a computer with the parts.