Why does the non-rMBP cost more than the rMBP?

[Abazigal]

My comparison was between the MBP with 8G RAM and the Retina MBP with 8G. The only difference should be the SSD being an add-on and the Retina display itself, as far as I know.

My point is that Apple likely doesn't calculate it that way.

When putting together the MBP and calculating the price, Apple wouldn't think "Oh, the Ram costs $100 as per upgrade rates, the SSD costs $500 etc). They will think "The ram cost me $10 to buy, the SSD cost me $100 ... this nets me a final price of $1500, let's tack a $500 profit on top of all this for a final price of $2000).

So there won't be any correlation between the price of a 15" MBP + upgrades and a Rmbp, because I believe their pricing would have been determined independently. Of course, there is also the theory that Apple may be voluntarily accepting a lower profit to improve demand for their retina MBP.

Note that I am pulling this numbers out of thin air, but you get my drift.

 

[Prodo123]

Check Anandtech's review... and other source I forgot where found in macrumors....
rMBP's graphics is actually better than uMBP due to being overclocked.

Edit, here https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1393606/

These are AnandTech's own results for the GPU only; the CPU was shown to be neck-and-neck with differences within 1-3 points which is dismissible as a measurement discrepancy, and any other performance difference was the SSD advantage which the rMBP held over the uMBP and can be overcome by installing an aftermarket SSD.

Point still stands, uMBP has a better graphics performance than the rMBP due to its sheer performance. The GPU overclocking is to support its massive resolution, and the detrimental effects of such a display is still visible even with the massive overclocking to 900Mhz+.

I'm sorry, but that is so wrong. The rMBP has a much better display

rMBP is a IPS vs. cMBP is a TN
- Black is almost AMOLED like, it blends in with the border of the display.
- Viewing angle is 178 degrees. I can read e-mails from the side of the display.

2880x1800 vs 1400x900/1680x1050. Need I say more?

rMBP can show 99% sRGB. Yes the cMBP can display more in terms of AdobeRGB but it's useless because it's skewed off the sRGB charts.

I don't know about you but over half brightness, my eyes get blinded by the brightness of the LED backlight. How bright do you need your display to be? I find the darkest setting too bright in certain situations and wish it could go darker.

Like I said, debatable topic where personal opinions are the main arguments. I keep my displays 1-3 clicks below max brightness (mostly hangs around 2-3) so I would guesstimate that the brightness hangs around 280-320 nits, both on my ATD and my MBP. The environment that I work in is usually a bit darker than I would like so this brightness is just right for me; I found it's just as suitable for color-critical work as 200 nits. Brightness uniformity across multiple monitors is also important to me and it helps a lot with eyestrain. It never goes below half, though. When compared against the rMBP, which has a maximum 339 nits, it feels too dark even at its maximum brightness.

I should propose to Anand a new display brightness measurement, the gray point measurement, where a screen of (128, 128, 128) is to measure brightness. This would measure if the color luminance decreases linearly at the same brightness level, as I suspect that the white on the rMBP display is a lot brighter than colors and is causing the higher-than-perceived brightness level of its display.

As for the gamut differences, I can notice the subtle ~10% difference in color gamut between the ATD and the uMBP. The uMBP appears a lot cooler and emphasizes the blues while the ATD is more even in its color representation. With the rMBP, the difference would be more pronounced and would be very annoying indeed. I guess in the end my argument here stems from the issue of display uniformity across the Mac lineup. But again, I am only voicing my personal opinions on this topic. I could string on more arguments but as for now I'll stop