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Who is the baseline MBP without retina for?

karilynn

karilynn

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 30, 2011
126
1
Saint Paul, MN
Hi all. I have a few questions...

I am looking to get a laptop, not interested in spending over $1300. I am not a big fan of the design of the macbook airs, so I'd like to go with a macbook pro. That being said, I'm torn between the baseline MBP without retina, and the baseline 13" retina MBP. I know one has a disk drive, the other does not. One has a SSD, the other does not. But who is the baseline MBP without retina really for? I'm not looking to do anything fancy, some writing, some music, some chatting, some web browsing. That's it. I just don't really see the appeal for the cheaper macbook pro. The technology is a little outdated, it doesn't have the retina display. Who is buying this machine? I can't help but feel like it wouldn't be good enough, but to be honest, it probably would be. And it would save me a few hundred bucks. And I'm not real concerned with the retina display factor.

So what's a gal to do? And what is the future for the baseline MBP (without retina) Does Apple plan on retiring it? Upgrading it? It has a few things that seem to be disappearing in the tech world: the old hard drive and the disk drive. If I went out an Apple store today and bought one, am I wasting money? Should I wait for a new roll out and does anybody know what is to come and when?

thanks! and sorry if this has been asked.
 
The non retina MBP is for those who still want a large hard drive, disk drive, and replaceable/upgradeable parts (nothing except for the SSDs in the retina models are changeable after you buy it). That being said, the Retina 13" is much faster and a lot lighter than the classic one. The non retina MBP hasn't been upgraded by Apple in years and probably won't be. I really suggest you get the Retina, maybe refurbished if price is a concern.
 
the retina mac book pro is only 1300 and probably saying you can get a better price by using an education discount or going on macmall.
 
Most likely it'll disappear altogether. I'd expect this to happen next time Apple does a refresh of their MBP's. Spinning HD's are being replaced with SSD's, which are becoming more reliable. CD's and DVD's (especially software on a CD/DVD) is quickly disappearing in favor of download and streaming.

Decide first what screen size you need. Don't base it on your budget - base it on what's easiest on your eyes. The main downside of the baseline 13" rMBP is the size of the SSD. 128gb is a bit small.
 
nirvanemesis said:
The non retina MBP is for those who still want a large hard drive, disk drive, and replaceable/upgradeable parts (nothing except for the SSDs in the retina models are changeable after you buy it). That being said, the Retina 13" is much faster and a lot lighter than the classic one. The non retina MBP hasn't been upgraded by Apple in years and probably won't be. I really suggest you get the Retina, maybe refurbished if price is a concern.
Click to expand...

Even RAM is non-upgradeable?
 
nirvanemesis said:
Nope, it's soldered on when you order it. Only way to upgrade is to buy a new one.
Click to expand...

Is that the case for in store purchases or just custom orders.

I ask because I just purchased one and I'm a Mechanical Engineering major. I will be running multiple engineering programs at once and curious if I need to return this and order one with 16GB.

Any engineers in here ever have an issue with 8GB RAM?

I really don't want to return it and have to wait for one to be shipped.
 
Last edited:
close2reality said:
Is that the case for in store purchases or just custom orders.

I ask because I just purchased one and I'm a Mechanical Engineering major. I will be running multiple engineering programs at once and curious if I need to return this and order one with 16GB.

Any engineers in here ever have an issue with 8GB RAM?

I really don't want to return it and have to wait for one to be shipped.
Click to expand...

Apple solders on the RAM for every Retina model to make them slimmer, so none of them are changeable. I had the same problem yesterday deciding between RAM but I decided to go for 16 GB because I couldn't change my mind later and 8 GB is currently accepted to be the minimum for good performance, so having more is always helpful in the future.

I'm pretty sure 8 GB will be fine for school engineering projects though but I'm not in that major so I can't be sure. Just know you can't add more later.
 
Cheaper with Retina display

£1,099 without Retina display:

2.5GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM — 2x4GB
128GB Solid State Drive
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Backlit Keyboard (British) & User's Guide (English)​

£999 with Retina display:

2.6GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
128GB PCIe-based Flash Storage
Intel Iris Graphics
Backlit Keyboard (British) & User's Guide (English)​

Should we assume that the Retina model is cheaper because the PCIe-based Flash Storage offers inferior performance? And/or that an integral optical drive is strangely costly?

(Am I missing something?)
 
The non-retina is for people who need the ports, superdrive and hdd.
It's a very capable machine and that's why it's still sold.

For your usage any macbook is a bad choice. An iPad is a way better solution!

----------
grahamperrin said:
£1,099 without Retina display:

2.5GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM — 2x4GB
128GB Solid State Drive
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Backlit Keyboard (British) & User's Guide (English)​

£999 with Retina display:

2.6GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
128GB PCIe-based Flash Storage
Intel Iris Graphics
Backlit Keyboard (British) & User's Guide (English)​

Should we assume that the Retina model is cheaper because the PCIe-based Flash Storage offers inferior performance? And/or that an integral optical drive is strangely costly?

(Am I missing something?)
Click to expand...
The configurations you are looking at include optional upgrades directly from :apple:

Buy third party RAM and ssd, as well as the cmbp feom a retailer and you will end up with a much different price.
 
Probably just for businesses that need a Kensington lock slot and/or a dvd drive. It uses out of date parts, so I wouldn't recommend it.
 
Meister said:
The non-retina is for people who need the ports, superdrive and hdd.
It's a very capable machine and that's why it's still sold.

For your usage any macbook is a bad choice. An iPad is a way better solution!

----------
Click to expand...

Haha! I have an iPad. I just recently bought an iPad Air 2 - 64 gb. LOVE it to pieces and I anticipated it replacing my need for a laptop, but gosh sometimes I just really miss opening up a laptop and typing on those keys.

Thanks everybody for your input. I'll head the direction of the retina MBP and maybe I'll wait a bit and see what comes out and save a bit to get the bigger SSD.

----------
koyoot said:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/F...-26ghz-dual-core-intel-i5-with-retina-display
http://store.apple.com/us/product/F...nch-macbook-pro-24ghz-dual-core-intel-core-i5
And two with little over-budget:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/F...-20ghz-quad-core-intel-i7-with-retina-display
http://store.apple.com/us/product/F...nch-macbook-pro-26ghz-dual-core-intel-core-i5
Click to expand...

BRILLIANT! I totally forgot about Apple refurbs. What a great idea. thank you!
 
karilynn said:
Haha! I have an iPad. I just recently bought an iPad Air 2 - 64 gb. LOVE it to pieces and I anticipated it replacing my need for a laptop, but gosh sometimes I just really miss opening up a laptop and typing on those keys.
Click to expand...
You sure are willing to pay quite a lot for that laptop experience ;)
Enjoy :)
 
A nonsensical price comparison...

grahamperrin said:
£1,099 without Retina display:

2.5GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM — 2x4GB
128GB Solid State Drive
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Backlit Keyboard (British) & User's Guide (English)​

£999 with Retina display:

2.6GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
128GB PCIe-based Flash Storage
Intel Iris Graphics
Backlit Keyboard (British) & User's Guide (English)​

Should we assume that the Retina model is cheaper because the PCIe-based Flash Storage offers inferior performance? And/or that an integral optical drive is strangely costly?

(Am I missing something?)
Click to expand...

The reason a person would buy the non-Retina Macbook Pro is because they have higher than base level needs for storage and/or DRAM. For about $200, you can easily upgrade the non retina Macbook Pro to a 1 to 2 Terabyte internal hard drive and 16GB RAM, and you still have an optical bay that you could expand later to a BluRay player or a second 1 to 2 terabyte hard drive.

The retina models can't be upgraded, and just going to 1 TB costs an extra $500, vs $100 for the non retina model.

To echo the other post, if all you need is 128GB, then sure - a Retina Macbook Pro makes a lot of sense for you. If you are a power user, the retina Macbook Pro is 3x the price.

As one example, I cannot even install the core programs I need to use on a daily basis on 128GB, and I've needed more than 1TB for awhile now. (I'm currently using a 1.5 TB hard drive.) So I have not yet "upgraded" to a retina MBP.
 
Very simple, some people just like the MB pro instead of a retina. My wife is one of these folks. She really likes having an optical drive built in to her machine, and loves the fact that it is a rock solid, stable platform. She has had hers for nearly 5 years. All I have done for her is put in an SSD and 8 gigs of memory. She will drive it till it dies, and yes, it's rocking a Core 2 Duo. :D
 
jdiamond said:
A nonsensical price comparison …
Click to expand...

… with somewhat nonsensical prices, when I look at the two models alone.

I guess I could view the extra cost as … a premium for upgradeable internal storage, without actually having that upgrade, with an inferior display.

My ideal would be a 15" glossy non-Retina display (I'm accustomed to 17") and a large hard disk drive, which I'd complement with a faster cache device, maybe an SDXC card. Wishful thinking.
 
karilynn said:
Hi all. I have a few questions...

I am looking to get a laptop, not interested in spending over $1300. I am not a big fan of the design of the macbook airs, so I'd like to go with a macbook pro. That being said, I'm torn between the baseline MBP without retina, and the baseline 13" retina MBP. I know one has a disk drive, the other does not. One has a SSD, the other does not. But who is the baseline MBP without retina really for? I'm not looking to do anything fancy, some writing, some music, some chatting, some web browsing. That's it. I just don't really see the appeal for the cheaper macbook pro. The technology is a little outdated, it doesn't have the retina display. Who is buying this machine? I can't help but feel like it wouldn't be good enough, but to be honest, it probably would be. And it would save me a few hundred bucks. And I'm not real concerned with the retina display factor.

So what's a gal to do? And what is the future for the baseline MBP (without retina) Does Apple plan on retiring it? Upgrading it? It has a few things that seem to be disappearing in the tech world: the old hard drive and the disk drive. If I went out an Apple store today and bought one, am I wasting money? Should I wait for a new roll out and does anybody know what is to come and when?

thanks! and sorry if this has been asked.
Click to expand...

The non-retina MBP is basically for people who:

1. Want upgradeability and don't mind the lousy display, lack of PCIe SSD, slow iGPU and outdated Ivy Bridge
2. Can't afford the retina models (which is pretty prevalent)
 
Here is my very opinionated answer to this question. The baseline MBP is for:

1. People who are rich enough to overpay for an obsolete computer
2. People who are more conserved about mostly irrelevant upgradeability than about common sense
3. A very small group of people who have legitimate use for a slow but large-capacity magnetic storage
 
After reading yesterday that even the RAM is soldered in, I returned my 13" rMBP for a 15" baseline.

Did not want to return and wait for a shipment so I used that as an excuse to grab the 15". That and I will appreciate the real estate being in a Mechanical Engineering major.

One thing though, all this talk about these new chips debuting soon makes me nervous, would be real ****** to have them come out in just a few months!

Seems like their going to be leaps and bounds ahead of the current 15" i7?
 
close2reality said:
After reading yesterday that even the RAM is soldered in, I returned my 13" rMBP for a 15" baseline.

Did not want to return and wait for a shipment so I used that as an excuse to grab the 15". That and I will appreciate the real estate being in a Mechanical Engineering major.

One thing though, all this talk about these new chips debuting soon makes me nervous, would be real ****** to have them come out in just a few months!

Seems like their going to be leaps and bounds ahead of the current 15" i7?
Click to expand...

You're good for at least until August if not longer. Depending on how soon Intel releases Skylake appropriate chips, the new model will either run Broadwell or Skylake. It'll definitely have longer battery life, a thinner body, and better integrated GPU performance, but whether it has Skylake or not will determine if it gets new features such as DRR4 RAM or wireless charging, etc. Personally I think it'll come with Broadwell this year and they'll save Skylake for the next to prevent a lack of changes in 2016 like they did in 2014.
 
leman said:
Here is my very opinionated answer to this question. The baseline MBP is for:

1. People who are rich enough to overpay for an obsolete computer
2. People who are more conserved about mostly irrelevant upgradeability than about common sense
3. A very small group of people who have legitimate use for a slow but large-capacity magnetic storage
Click to expand...

LOL! This made me laugh. It definitely is obsolete. There is something about it though, I don't know, it's more substantial? than the retina MBP. It has that solid feel that I love. It reminds me of my first ever Apple laptop - my PowerBook. I'd still have that thing, too, if it still worked. There was something really comforting about it. But doesn't really make sense to throw out a grand on comfort and nostalgia. Because, you know, I'm not rich. :)
 
karilynn said:
There is something about it though, I don't know, it's more substantial? than the retina MBP. It has that solid feel that I love.
Click to expand...

I agree with you. If I'd had to pick one of the two as a weapon for a fight, I'd probably go with the non-retina model as well. Its heavier ;)
 
nirvanemesis said:
You're good for at least until August if not longer. Depending on how soon Intel releases Skylake appropriate chips, the new model will either run Broadwell or Skylake. It'll definitely have longer battery life, a thinner body, and better integrated GPU performance, but whether it has Skylake or not will determine if it gets new features such as DRR4 RAM or wireless charging, etc. Personally I think it'll come with Broadwell this year and they'll save Skylake for the next to prevent a lack of changes in 2016 like they did in 2014.
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the feedback, makes me feel a little better about the purchase.
 
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