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Why I Ordered the 2.3GHz Retina MBP... With Reservations

M

mobile-caffeine

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
35
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It was a tough choice deciding on which model to get because the Retina Macbook Pro is non-upgradable. The hardest part of my decision was if the 256GB hard drive was enough. I didn't want to pay $600 more for the higher model for more space. I had gone through the paces on deciding if 8GB of RAM is enough for me, and it is. I was at the Apple Store yesterday and I unplugged a 2.3 and a 2.6 to see what the idle battery life is like. Of course the 2.3 had better battery life at 100% charge. But, what I noticed was the big difference in heat between the two while idling. You could feel how warm the palm rests were on the 2.6 while the 2.3 was nearly cool to the touch. I would say the entire top plate on the 2.6 was "warm" to the touch. So when I get my 2.3 I'll throw all my apps on there and create a 60GB Bootcamp Partition and see if the capacity is enough. I realize I could get an external drive but to be honest it's one more device to carry and it'll take up one of the 2 precious USB ports. I'd rather put in the $600 and get the higher model, carry less hardware on the road and still have 2 USB ports for use if this one doesn't suit my needs.

Also, I was quoted July 20-26 for delivery but I heard Apple is generous with their delivery estimates. I live in Toronto and would love to get it sooner. I just can't keep going to the Apple Store everyday to see if they have any in stock. Does anybody know how they're delivery estimates are?
 
mobile-caffeine said:
It was a tough choice deciding on which model to get because the Retina Macbook Pro is non-upgradable. The hardest part of my decision was if the 256GB hard drive was enough. I didn't want to pay $600 more for the higher model for more space. I had gone through the paces on deciding if 8GB of RAM is enough for me, and it is. I was at the Apple Store yesterday and I unplugged a 2.3 and a 2.6 to see what the idle battery life is like. Of course the 2.3 had better battery life at 100% charge. But, what I noticed was the big difference in heat between the two while idling. You could feel how warm the palm rests were on the 2.6 while the 2.3 was nearly cool to the touch. I would say the entire top plate on the 2.6 was "warm" to the touch. So when I get my 2.3 I'll throw all my apps on there and create a 60GB Bootcamp Partition and see if the capacity is enough. I realize I could get an external drive but to be honest it's one more device to carry and it'll take up one of the 2 precious USB ports. I'd rather put in the $600 and get the higher model, carry less hardware on the road and still have 2 USB ports for use if this one doesn't suit my needs.

Also, I was quoted July 20-26 for delivery but I heard Apple is generous with their delivery estimates. I live in Toronto and would love to get it sooner. I just can't keep going to the Apple Store everyday to see if they have any in stock. Does anybody know how they're delivery estimates are?
Click to expand...

I went through the same process, ordered a 2.6,512,8 thinking I could upgrade the memory later. That one is going back and after thinking could I live with the 256 ssd I ended up going for the 2.6,512,16. I plan to dual boot, game and add a few vm's so I think I'll need the 512.

Shame, because I think the 2.3 will be a really nice balance between power, heat and battery life.
:rolleyes:
 
mobile-caffeine said:
It was a tough choice deciding on which model to get because the Retina Macbook Pro is non-upgradable. The hardest part of my decision was if the 256GB hard drive was enough. I didn't want to pay $600 more for the higher model for more space. I had gone through the paces on deciding if 8GB of RAM is enough for me, and it is. I was at the Apple Store yesterday and I unplugged a 2.3 and a 2.6 to see what the idle battery life is like. Of course the 2.3 had better battery life at 100% charge. But, what I noticed was the big difference in heat between the two while idling. You could feel how warm the palm rests were on the 2.6 while the 2.3 was nearly cool to the touch. I would say the entire top plate on the 2.6 was "warm" to the touch. So when I get my 2.3 I'll throw all my apps on there and create a 60GB Bootcamp Partition and see if the capacity is enough. I realize I could get an external drive but to be honest it's one more device to carry and it'll take up one of the 2 precious USB ports. I'd rather put in the $600 and get the higher model, carry less hardware on the road and still have 2 USB ports for use if this one doesn't suit my needs.

Also, I was quoted July 20-26 for delivery but I heard Apple is generous with their delivery estimates. I live in Toronto and would love to get it sooner. I just can't keep going to the Apple Store everyday to see if they have any in stock. Does anybody know how they're delivery estimates are?
Click to expand...

I'm in Toronto too, and my delivery date is July 17-23. I feel your pain concerning the wait. :)

I'll let you know when they ship mine. It will give you a good idea when to expect yours. :)
 
darthmental said:
I'm in Toronto too, and my delivery date is July 17-23. I feel your pain concerning the wait. :)

I'll let you know when they ship mine. It will give you a good idea when to expect yours. :)
Click to expand...

Greets from Bathurst and davenport ... :)

I too ordered a 2.6/16/512 after trying to decide if I needed the 512 or have 600+13%=678 extra cash.

That brought me from 5-7 days to 2-3 weeks. I would have it by now. In the end I think 512 was a bit overboard. I should have bought 2.3 256 and save 678. Maybe buy an external USB 3 for ~150 and be done with it. Wrong choice but if I cancel it's gonna be another month...
 
rMBP

I just ordered the rMBP 2.7GHz/16GB RAM/768GB Flash Storage =$4Gs

Hope it will be worth the $$$$
 
mobile-caffeine said:
Yea. No BTO model. I'll see if the base is good enough. If not I'll exchange it.
Click to expand...

I haven't ever exchanged anything. This might be the first time.

Is that easy to do? Do you have to offer a specific reason? (for example it is malfunctioning)???

Or is it hassle free even if the computer is ok? Do they make it a lot of trouble if you want to return it?
 
All of my laptops have only had 240GB of SSD, and I was always on the edge of being completely full. That being said, I am debating the 2.6ghz / 512GB just for the extra capacity. However +$600 is a little hard to swallow, putting the system close to $3k. This has got me thinking that the +$600 might be better off spent to upgrade this to rev2 of the RMBP next year after selling this one.

I have to imagine the demand and resale value is better on the 2.3ghz/256GB.
 
Greetings from Richmond Hill :)

Got the 2.6 mainly because I wanted a bigger internal drive than the 2.3 gave me. If I had the option I would have ordered the 2.3 and upgraded the SSD and the RAM. Instead I got the 2.6 and went to 16GB of RAM. I know Apple got me :p

I know that I could get good external storage but I figured with boot camp and all the pics I take, plus work files, if I didn't have to carry around an extra drive for awhile, then I wouldn't. :)
 
darthmental said:
I'm in Toronto too, and my delivery date is July 17-23. I feel your pain concerning the wait. :)

I'll let you know when they ship mine. It will give you a good idea when to expect yours. :)
Click to expand...

Mine was ordered as soon as the Canadian store opened on Monday afternoon, arrived the following Monday at 11:15. Was only supposed to ship out in 5-7 business days, which would have meant not shipping out until after I got it.
 
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