Why I bought NonRetina 13" MBP at Best Buy for teenagers

[gooser]

my two cents. if you want a built in optical drive then the non retina is the only game in town. if that's not important then i suggest a retina.

 

[grizfan]

future proof? that's so last year...

For many (most?) users, the whole concept of future proof is a bit dated. For anyone who has used computers for more than 10 years, we've been trained to expect the next office suite/graphics suite/OS upgrade to have much higher hardware requirements. But look at the past few cycles for OSX. Has that really been the case?
Look at how a typical teen will use a computer:

• web surfing
• social media
• research
• home work
• watching videos
• playing games

Apart from the last, where's the need for the upgrades? My oldest is now a sophomore in college. Before her senior year in high school, I bought her a 13" MBA 4GB/128GB. Its the perfect student computer. huge battery life, i5 with an SSD is plenty fast for her needs. Storage may be an issue down the road, but that computer will easily see her through to graduation, without any need to upgrade.
Now, if that teen decides to be a CS major, or engineering major, that changes things. Then you'll want to invest in more storage and more memory. Otherwise, you're wasting your time and money. OSX with 4GB of memory and an SSD will last years for a typical student's needs. And, anything that is likely to drive an upgrade will most likely be CPU/GPU bound, and that older MBP will need replacing first.
The important thing is to get an SSD. No other upgrade will make as big a difference. And if you buy your computer 'pre-upgraded', all the better.