Macbook Pro Purchasing Advice

OREGATO

Hi guys,

Looking for a bit of assistance.

I am looking to upgrade to a MBP with Retina Display, the one that has caught my eye is the 13' new model that is 2.6 GHZ, 8MB Ram and 256 SSD for €1,749.

With the refresh of all these models, could someone point out to me if this is the best bang for buck? The main usage for it would be for Photoshop, web browsing, work emails and possibly storing a limited amount of music, videos and photos when travelling.

I'd like a quick enough machine for running PS but with all the different models with and without Retina display I'm not sure what to go for.

I'm upgrading from a MBA 2011 11' model. I find the screen is just a tad on the smaller side, so 13' would be sufficient (weight/portability Vs. size wise) but the hard drive is too small (64GB)

It's also developed an issue with the track pad where it can get erratic, so I have to use a wireless mouse with it. Anyone know how much this MBA would be worth now if I was to sell it, I want to sell it but not sure of what I should be asking? 2GB Ram, 64GB SSD.

Any help/advice would be great.

Thanks for reading

nialler

Oregato

RAM is your best friend and it's cheap, unfortunately with that model it's soldered to the board so you can't but a RAM upgrade from crucial and Apple's RAM prices are horrendous. 16gb Min I'd suggest. Beautiful piece of kit though.

OREGATO

nialler wrote: »

Oregato

RAM is your best friend and it's cheap, unfortunately with that model it's soldered to the board so you can't but a RAM upgrade from crucial and Apple's RAM prices are horrendous. 16gb Min I'd suggest. Beautiful piece of kit though.

Thanks Nialler,

I was thinking that 8GB would be plenty for what I want to use it for. Plus, I'd rather purchase the latest model than to go for something that is at the end of line (I know this sounds a bit fanboi like but the analogy would be that if I was buying a new car at the start of the year, I'd rather a 131D plate than a 12D - unless the price was stupidly cheaper) for the sake of €100(?) is it worth it to go for an older model? Or, is it a case that there is a different latest model which I should be looking at that has up-gradable RAM at around the same price bracket?

nialler

You will not get a 13" retina in the older model, processors are not much different, but SSD and lots of RAM make a huge difference also be warned SSDs do fail, I had one fail after 3 months in the most recent iteration of the macbook air.

Personally I bought my daughter a 13" macbook pro with traditional HD, upped it to 16gb RAM for €48, runs PShop and VMware Fusion with win8 without a hitch. Retina is nice, very nice, but nice if you're a photographer/videographer.

As an IT guy and a 21year veteran Finished Artworker in the design industry I still couldn't justify a mac with a retina screen for what I'd gain.

Niall

miralize

The one problem with the 13" retina model is that there is no dedicated GPU, reports are around that the integrated one can barely power all those pixels

OREGATO

Hi guys,

finally getting a chance to update. Thanks for all the advice, I went for the new model retina 13' in the end with the upgraded memory.

It's a fantastic machine and I think it should do me for what I need.

Thanks again for the advice!