Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Will RMBP be enough?? How can I tell??

Sean Dempsey

Sean Dempsey

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 7, 2006
1,622
8
I am thinking of getting a retina MBP. I don't like it when the OS is choppy or lags or freezes, so I am wondering if the retina MBP has enough power to really be snappy.

I mainly use it for:
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Websites
- e-Mail
- Instant Messaging
- Word Processing
- Powerpoints

but I also play music and movies sometimes. If I had ALL the above running, would it be able to handle it all smoothly, or do I need to max out the CPU and RAM? Would it be better to get a regular MBP and get a data doubler and do a RAID0 with 2 SSD's?
 
Sean Dempsey said:
I am thinking of getting a retina MBP. I don't like it when the OS is choppy or lags or freezes, so I am wondering if the retina MBP has enough power to really be snappy.

I mainly use it for:
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Websites
- e-Mail
- Instant Messaging
- Word Processing
- Powerpoints

but I also play music and movies sometimes. If I had ALL the above running, would it be able to handle it all smoothly, or do I need to max out the CPU and RAM?
Click to expand...
Any Mac model, including the mini, can easily handle all the requirements you mentioned. The RMBP is overkill for the needs you described.
 
My cheap $800 MacBook could handle your needs. An RMBP would actually be overkill. Maybe look into the MB Air?
 
The base $2,200 model will not be able to handle handle the complexities of Facebook, twitter and email. Better load up for the maxed out $3,700 version.
 
No one has addressed if it would be better to put 2 SSD's in a regular MBP and stripe them in a RAID0.
 
Hey, guys, while we're at it, I like to go to the grocery store a few times a week, and sometimes on Saturday we take the scenic back roads to go to the Outback over in the next town. Do you think I can get by with a stock model Porsche, or should I be spending the extra money on an upgraded engine?

Which is to say: Nothing you are describing doing is a significant load on a computer.
 
Sean Dempsey said:
No one has addressed if it would be better to put 2 SSD's in a regular MBP and stripe them in a RAID0.
Click to expand...

the amount of hard drive space you have on your computer has virtually no impact on any of the things you listed. Their performance will only ever be impacted if you have the harddrive almost completely full, to the point where saving took a long time because it wasn't finding enough open area to save.

Everything you mentioned will have performance based on processor, ram, graphics hardware, and internet speed. All of those factors are more than powerful enough on the new macbook pro. The only factor that may be lacking is the internet speed, depending on where you are.

So no, striping 2 SSD's in a RAID0 will not make a difference, except for allowing you to save more files
 
therealseebs said:
Hey, guys, while we're at it, I like to go to the grocery store a few times a week, and sometimes on Saturday we take the scenic back roads to go to the Outback over in the next town. Do you think I can get by with a stock model Porsche, or should I be spending the extra money on an upgraded engine?
Click to expand...
That depends on how hungry you are and how far away the grocery store is! :D
 
Sean Dempsey said:
No one has addressed if it would be better to put 2 SSD's in a regular MBP and stripe them in a RAID0.
Click to expand...

You'll not really see the performance gains in stripping SSD drives as you would with hard drives. There is no latency, to deal with so you remove that from the equation.
 
Sean Dempsey said:
No one has addressed if it would be better to put 2 SSD's in a regular MBP and stripe them in a RAID0.
Click to expand...

Technically better? Possibly. Except that then you are risking your data across two potential drive failures (however rare they may be).

Worth it? No, based on your listed usage.
 
At $2,799 I'd say that it's more than enough...Oh, I see. Considering my phone can do all of those pretty much simultaneously, I'm sure the RMBP (is that really what we're calling it?) will be fine.
 
Sean Dempsey said:
No one has addressed if it would be better to put 2 SSD's in a regular MBP and stripe them in a RAID0.
Click to expand...

Since you are not doing any heavy photo or video editing, no point unless you want a saving of 0.25 second start-up time. That or you are a benchmark junky.

You could just buy a baseline 13" air and use the extra money for something else, Facebook shares for example. :D
 
Sean Dempsey said:
No one has addressed if it would be better to put 2 SSD's in a regular MBP and stripe them in a RAID0.
Click to expand...

Well, if you mean SATA 3 SSDs that will only work in the 13" MBP if both SATA ports are reporting 6Gbps link speed. In the 15" and 17" MBPs where both ports report 6Gbps a SATA 3 drive will actually completely fail to work in the optical bay. I have an early 2011 15" that only reports 3Gbps in the optical bay, and striped SATA 3 SSDs work but obviously clock down to 3Gbps and so there is no benefit at all.

Note: Not seen any reports about whether the SATA issue has been fixed in the refreshed 15".
 
I like making phone calls and txting. Sometimes I like to check my email and tweet. No photos.

Will the iPhone 4S work for me?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back