Retina or Non retina MBP

Jim Stynes

I want the Retina display so much but they dont have dvd drive anymore, the 13" hasnt been released yet and it's bloody expensive.

My own laptop is 4 year old so I am looking to upgrade. I need a laptop for general use (Internet, downloading, watching DVDs) a little bit of CAD and my teaching resources/plans etc. So would I be safer with the 2012 Non retina display MBP or should I hold out for the 13" Retina Display whenever it comes out? I hear you can buy the standard i7 laptop and then upgrade to 8GB and then change the hard drive to SSD. I would rather have the SSD version rather than the normal hard drive but I dont think I would know how to upgrade it myself but dont want to pay the ridiculous price that apple are charging.

Also I dont know what thunderbolt is and what it does. Could someone explain it to me in non-computer geek language.

If I was to buy the retina display can I buy a external dvd drive that I can plug into the computer?

Im sure I will have more questions. Cheers lads.

PCPhoto

At this point in time - given the information you gave - I would say you are better off without retina display (for the money I cant see you benefitting from it)

I have used it side-by-side with the latest other macbook and I noticed slight differences in the colours, I work as a photographer and even slight differences are sometimes worth paying the extra, however, on this occasion I argued with myself ..... what benefit would it be to me ?

for me ...if I purchased a retina display machine I would see the images I'm working on in deeper reds and see slightly more contrast etc etc - but once I send the images to the newspapers ....they wont have retina display so....image as I see it is only good to me, the papers receive the image and send it onto the printers who (probably) dont have retina display ....and so ..the only person who enjoys the retina display is me and for me, its not worth the extra €1000ish.

if you use it for dvd's you might enjoy/appreciate the display better - I watch movies in the cinema or on the TV at home, if I was going to watch a movie on the laptop 15" isn't really enough in my opinion.

thunderbolt by the way is basically a connectivitity thing - it allows for faster transfer of data so its a newer version of USB.

Yes, you can get an external DVD player to attach to the macbook by USB - but would mean that every time you are watching a movie/dvd you would need both laptop and DVD player makes the transporting of the whole thing bulkier - most people download onto little fob's or dongles and keep a number of movies on those and simply plug and play.

if you really want the SSD you have to pay the money to apple - the current batch of HDD macbooks are sturdy machines (I have not used a laptop with SSD on a longterm basis so didn't notice any difference when testing the retina macbook) .... do you need to pay the extra for it ? Personally I think you can spend your money wiser !!

at the end of this ...VERY...very long post.... it comes down to if you have the money to spend and if you consider the laptop worth the investment - you could build a similar spec machine without retina display or SSD for a fraction of the price - are these two items necessary ? are they worth paying the extra money ? ...thats your call !! (but pop into a shop and test the new retina display before you spend your money)

Jim Stynes

PCPhoto wrote: »

At this point in time - given the information you gave - I would say you are better off without retina display (for the money I cant see you benefitting from it)

I have used it side-by-side with the latest other macbook and I noticed slight differences in the colours, I work as a photographer and even slight differences are sometimes worth paying the extra, however, on this occasion I argued with myself ..... what benefit would it be to me ?

for me ...if I purchased a retina display machine I would see the images I'm working on in deeper reds and see slightly more contrast etc etc - but once I send the images to the newspapers ....they wont have retina display so....image as I see it is only good to me, the papers receive the image and send it onto the printers who (probably) dont have retina display ....and so ..the only person who enjoys the retina display is me and for me, its not worth the extra €1000ish.

if you use it for dvd's you might enjoy/appreciate the display better - I watch movies in the cinema or on the TV at home, if I was going to watch a movie on the laptop 15" isn't really enough in my opinion.

thunderbolt by the way is basically a connectivitity thing - it allows for faster transfer of data so its a newer version of USB.

Yes, you can get an external DVD player to attach to the macbook by USB - but would mean that every time you are watching a movie/dvd you would need both laptop and DVD player makes the transporting of the whole thing bulkier - most people download onto little fob's or dongles and keep a number of movies on those and simply plug and play.

if you really want the SSD you have to pay the money to apple - the current batch of HDD macbooks are sturdy machines (I have not used a laptop with SSD on a longterm basis so didn't notice any difference when testing the retina macbook) .... do you need to pay the extra for it ? Personally I think you can spend your money wiser !!

at the end of this ...VERY...very long post.... it comes down to if you have the money to spend and if you consider the laptop worth the investment - you could build a similar spec machine without retina display or SSD for a fraction of the price - are these two items necessary ? are they worth paying the extra money ? ...thats your call !! (but pop into a shop and test the new retina display before you spend your money)

Great reply. I think I will pop into the shop and try it out. I think I agree with you that I don't really need a retina display one. My main fear is probably that I am going to buy a non retina display and apple will release the 13 retina display and retina display will be standard this time next year. The whole external disc drive also seems like a pain in the ass. I have an external hard drive that I have to carry around with me a lot for school and it is even a bit of a pain. I would pay £1300 mark (I'm based in the north) for a computer and with my friends student number I can get 15% discount. I want one badly but don't think I really need one.

EoghanConway

Depends on how much you use the DVD drive. An external drive like this one for £22 is better value than an internal drive, especially if you don't watch many DVD's when you're out and about. Comparable internal drive would cost at least 3x price and add to weight

Sad Professor

Jim Stynes wrote: »

My main fear is probably that I am going to buy a non retina display and apple will release the 13 retina display and retina display will be standard this time next year.

Well, that's a strong possibility and the worst thing about buying a MBP right now. The Retina Pro is definitely the future of the MBP line. Personally I think now is a bad time to buying a MBP. You are either paying a premium for a first-gen Retina Pro or you are paying for an standard MBP that's going to look very outdated in 2 years time. However, from the sounds of it you really only need a 13-inch. You still use the optical drive a lot and the slimmer design of the Retina doesn't seem be a factor, so the standard MBP is probably the way to go.

Hobbes

PCPhoto wrote: »

At this point in time - given the information you gave - I would say you are better off without retina display (for the money I cant see you benefitting from it)

It is like SSD. Until you use it you don't realize you are never going back to what existed before.

Sierra Oscar

I am sort of in the same boat myself, looking to upgrade to a MBP from a dated laptop which is a few years old.

I am looking at either buying the high end 15 inch non retina or the lower end 15 inch retina display model. They both market at €2,349 so the pricing is not entirely an issue. I really just need to weigh up whether it is wiser to go with the non retina model with the more powerful processor, or whether that is something that I can sacrifice for going down the retina route. I also very much like SSD's, and I am not sure if I could go back to the conventional HD with the non-retina laptop. I am sure I would get over it if needed be though!

If I did go with the non-retina model I would likely pay the extra €100 for the more high res screen, so I would have the situation where the high end non-retina laptop would be more expensive than the lower end retina display model.

Realistically I would be using the laptop for general work (not video/photo editing or the likes!), watching movies and some gaming. Opinions?

miralize

Have a look on Youtube for some gaming performance. From what I can tell (havent got my machine yet), the rMBP screams.

Regarding whether you should get the c(lassic)MBP or rMBP, I'd go with retina, purely because its new technology. You're guaranteeing OS updates support from Apple for at least 3-4 years (dont hold me to that, but they've been pretty consistent), you're going to get more if you were to sell it on as opposed to trying to flog off a cMBP in a few years.

And as you said, the SSD is really nice to have, as is the Retina display obviously. Whatever you buy will be an investment, you might as well make the most of what you pay for it.

Sierra Oscar

Thanks for the reply miralize! Yeah the more I think about it the more I edge towards the retina display. I would not be doing a huge amount of gaming on it (I have a high end system at home for gaming on so I don't want to get too fussy) and by the looks of it the base model can handle games at the 1680 X 1050 or even 1920 X 1080 resolution quite comfortably. I think I could sacrifice the 2.6 Ghz CPU for the retina and SSD.

One question though, I know that the retina models do not have great upgrade potential. The RAM cannot be changed I know, but can the SSD drive be changed? Also, are the standard MacBook's now also as upgrade unfriendly?

Sad Professor

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

One question though, I know that the retina models do not have great upgrade potential. The RAM cannot be changed I know, but can the SSD drive be changed?

It's possible, yes, but not using standard parts. You'd need a custom upgrade kit from somewhere like OWC and installing it would void the warranty. Apple or an AASP would be able to replace it in the case of a failure though.

Also, are the standard MacBook's now also as upgrade unfriendly?

No, they are the same as the old models.

Hobbes

Retina display is like SSD. Once you use it, you can't go back to older machines.

Sierra Oscar

I think I will go for the retina - will the MBP's come installed with Mountain Lion immediately after it is released? I will probably just hold off an extra week or so if that is the case. If not it is no big deal doing the upgrade in anycase.

Zapp Brannigan

It takes a while until they ship with Mountain Lion if it's anything like last year with Lion. The up to date programme is easy to do though.

I'm currently saving for one of these right now. I want it so bad!

Paddy@CIRL

Ordered a RMBP with 16GB of RAM in Harvey Norman last week. The wait is unbearable!

MiniNukinfuts

Paddy@CIRL wrote: »

Ordered a RMBP with 16GB of RAM in Harvey Norman last week. The wait is unbearable!

Ha, I hope you're looking forward to waiting. I ordered the same spec as that from compuB on the 16th June. Over a month later and still no sign of it. It has been "preparing for shipment" for a week and a half now.

Paddy@CIRL

MiniNukinfuts wrote: »

Ha, I hope you're looking forward to waiting. I ordered the same spec as that from compuB on the 16th June. Over a month later and still no sign of it. It has been "preparing for shipment" for a week and a half now.

Yeah, I'm expecting a six to eight week wait to be honest. Thankfully, I'm not in urgent need of it so can afford to wait, it's just that I don't want to wait!

MiniNukinfuts

Paddy@CIRL wrote: »

Yeah, I'm expecting a six to eight week wait to be honest. Thankfully, I'm not in urgent need of it so can afford to wait, it's just that I don't want to wait!

You'll be grand for about 2 weeks, I was. But I became incredibly impatient as soon as people started to receive the standard models in the shop. CompuB must seriously hate me with all the "any update?" emails :P

Paddy@CIRL

MiniNukinfuts wrote: »

You'll be grand for about 2 weeks, I was. But I became incredibly impatient as soon as people started to receive the standard models in the shop. CompuB must seriously hate me with all the "any update?" emails :P

Just checked in with Harvey, should be three to five weeks before it arrives with them which isn't too bad. Although getting to play with one whilst waiting in-store does nothing for my patience. I think I've read every review and watched every unboxing on YouTube at this stage!

MiniNukinfuts

Paddy@CIRL wrote: »

Just checked in with Harvey, should be three to five weeks before it arrives with them which isn't too bad. Although getting to play with one whilst waiting in-store does nothing for my patience. I think I've read every review and watched every unboxing on YouTube at this stage!

I haven't even seen them in person, I've stayed away from them on purpose, i don't want to get even more impatient.