Which MBP? 15" Non-retina 2.6, or 15" retina 2.3?

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lopoetve

Extremely [H]
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So I'm at the 3.5 year mark on my 13" MBP, and while its been great, it's also time to replace it.

When I bought it, I wasn't traveling much for work, and just needed something for a personal PC that would play games once-an-eon, and was small, light and had long battery life and a DVD drive for when I traveled personally.

Since then, things have changed - I now travel very regularly for work, and rather than carry my work laptop AND my personal one, I'd rather just carry one. But, I need more power (the old Core2 isn't cutting it anymore), a bigger screen (the 13" one is just getting a bit cramped, including res wise), and a better graphics card so I can at least play SOME games when I'm on the road (the 9400 isn't cutting it either).

So, I've already decided to get a 15", as it's the right balance between power/portability, but I can't decide WHICH to get. I'm looking at either the refurb 15" non-retina (June 2012), or the refurb 15" retina.

My concerns:
Is the 1440x900 res really going to be enough on the 15" to make the additional screen space noticeable? I'd rather get the 1680x1050 one, but those almost never pop up in the refurb world, so I'm stuck between the two. Obviously the retina has the res.

Space. 256G only on the retina? Really? Seriously? I'm burning close to 300G as it is on my 13", and it grows often. External is just a pain in the ass, especially when I want to have bootcamp windows on here for those random times I need it. The 750G on the non-retina is awesome for this. Bigger retina models never pop up on refurb, so I'm stuck with stock.

Screen quality - I've seen many many good retina screens, and a few non-good ones... I've heard quite a few complaints about them too - how are they really, long term, and how many people are actually having problems with them?

RAM - can one upgrade the RAM on the retina? I want to say no, but I can't say for certain at the moment (and the internet connection here sucks so much that searching is being a pain). If not, I need the 16G, and that goes back to the old-style again.
edit: NM, google finally loaded - no ram upgrades... bah :(

The two are identical in price, so I'm pretty stuck on which to go after.

Thoughts?
 
Lots of questions.

Okay, so for all intents and purposes, the Retina does not have any user upgradeable parts. This includes the Ram which is soldered in, and the HD which is not a standard 2.5" hdd. Technically there are companies that do sell upgrades for the hdd like OWC, but they are very pricey.

Next, hdd size. Yes the retina's drive is smaller, but it's an SSD... it is therefore much more expensive but also significantly faster than a standard rotational hardrive as is found in a regular macbook. Speed vs size of course is up to you. Personally, I'd go for speed, but to each their own.

Overall package. The Retina makes the most amount of sense to me as a package. But that's because I would actually use the pixels found in a higher resolution display, because I want the speed of an SSD (standard, of course you can put one in the other MBP), and it's advantageous to me to have smaller size and weight.

The standard MBP's advantages are mainly in user serviceable parts and for a larger HDD size.
 
I think my main concerns (now that I have it all down) are the RAM and the space - I ~might~ be able to live without the space, but I definitely need 16G of ram, and that tends to eliminate the retina model as I can't afford the retail version, and the refurbs are all 8G.
 
Found a retina refurb with 16GB ram and 512GB HD.... they also have that crazy 768GB HD as well.

Hoping you see this in time. Good luck! :)

Edit: Damn that was fast. Checked the link and it was gone :( Sorry bud.

Edit 2: Just checked the larger HD model and it is still available as of this typing, but wow it is expensive.
 
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Deinos said:
Found a retina refurb with 16GB ram and 512GB HD.... they also have that crazy 768GB HD as well.

Hoping you see this in time. Good luck! :)

Edit: Damn that was fast. Checked the link and it was gone :( Sorry bud.

Edit 2: Just checked the larger HD model and it is still available as of this typing, but wow it is expensive.
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Yeah, they pop up for ~2 seconds every once in a while. Never managed to snag one :p
 
Nice, congrats on the new purchase! Let us know the condition when you receive it. I've considered purchasing refurb, but was wondering if there was any minor cosmetic damage with the aluminum shell (scratching, etc.). I know that it would be in pristine working order, but that aluminum is fragile.
 
Deinos said:
Nice, congrats on the new purchase! Let us know the condition when you receive it. I've considered purchasing refurb, but was wondering if there was any minor cosmetic damage with the aluminum shell (scratching, etc.). I know that it would be in pristine working order, but that aluminum is fragile.
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Haven't bought one yet, but I can answer to that -
I got my 13" refurb- It came in a brown box, with everything required, packed carefully and appropriately, and had one little smudge on the bottom of the case. One smudge.

Wiped it off with a micro-fibre cloth and some rubbing alcohol, and it was perfect - pristine as could be. That's why I'm going refurb again - I've suggested it to several other people, and they've all arrived in perfect condition.
 
I've used both the retina 15" and standard 15" MBPs. There really isn't an appreciable difference between the two in terms of size/weight. Neither model is ideal for frequent travel, IMO.

How soon do you need to make a purchase decision? It might be worth a wait to see what the MBP refresh has to offer. I'm waiting for the Harwell CPU refresh in a few months. Harwell + 13" MBP retina = superbly equipped laptop for the road warrior.

EDIT: I also can vouch for Apple refurbs. I've bought a couple and they're almost indistinguishable from new. They also have the same warranty coverage as new MBPs.
 
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lopoetve said:
Haven't bought one yet, but I can answer to that -
I got my 13" refurb- It came in a brown box, with everything required, packed carefully and appropriately, and had one little smudge on the bottom of the case. One smudge.

Wiped it off with a micro-fibre cloth and some rubbing alcohol, and it was perfect - pristine as could be. That's why I'm going refurb again - I've suggested it to several other people, and they've all arrived in perfect condition.
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Whoops, read that first response as "managed to snag one" missing the never, lol. :D
 
I've ordered several things off the refurb store, including my current 13" MBP, they always arrive flawless, just like new, minus the cool boxes Apple gives you.
 
Tyler-Durden said:
I've used both the retina 15" and standard 15" MBPs. There really isn't an appreciable difference between the two in terms of size/weight. Neither model is ideal for frequent travel, IMO.

How soon do you need to make a purchase decision? It might be worth a wait to see what the MBP refresh has to offer. I'm waiting for the Harwell CPU refresh in a few months. Harwell + 13" MBP retina = superbly equipped laptop for the road warrior.

EDIT: I also can vouch for Apple refurbs. I've bought a couple and they're almost indistinguishable from new. They also have the same warranty coverage as new MBPs.
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Unless they're putting a dedicated GPU in the 13" for gaming, or somehow adding a 15" screen to the 13" package, I won't go with a 13" again. It's a spectacular laptop, but for the applications and stuff I need to run, I simply need more screen room - it's too cramped trying to work on this, and several of the servers I'm managing require higher res for the admin screens to work well on the screen. Just is what it is :) I know the 15" is a bit more of a burden for travel, but I'm willing to accept that to make my overall life FAR more pleasant.
 
lopoetve said:
Unless they're putting a dedicated GPU in the 13" for gaming, or somehow adding a 15" screen to the 13" package, I won't go with a 13" again. It's a spectacular laptop, but for the applications and stuff I need to run, I simply need more screen room - it's too cramped trying to work on this, and several of the servers I'm managing require higher res for the admin screens to work well on the screen. Just is what it is :) I know the 15" is a bit more of a burden for travel, but I'm willing to accept that to make my overall life FAR more pleasant.
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I'm not sure about a dedicated GPU on the 13" retina refresh. Kinda doubt it, though Harwell is supposed to be a big step up in GPU power. The main reason I'm so psyched about the 13" retina, and why I suggested it, is its yummy 2560x1600 retina screen. That kind of resolution packed in a 3.5lb. 13" laptop is gonna be tasty sweet. :)
 
Tyler-Durden said:
I'm not sure about a dedicated GPU on the 13" retina refresh. Kinda doubt it, though Harwell is supposed to be a big step up in GPU power. The main reason I'm so psyched about the 13" retina, and why I suggested it, is its yummy 2560x1600 retina screen. That kind of resolution packed in a 3.5lb. 13" laptop is gonna be tasty sweet. :)
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It's awesome, but I'd have to scale things to make them readable, and it still doesn't improve the actual "space" on the screen. :) I want higher res than the ol' 1280x800, but also bigger for more stuff on there. as it is now, I'm firing off expose' every 10 seconds to find another app.
 
lopoetve said:
It's awesome, but I'd have to scale things to make them readable, and it still doesn't improve the actual "space" on the screen. :) I want higher res than the ol' 1280x800, but also bigger for more stuff on there. as it is now, I'm firing off expose' every 10 seconds to find another app.
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It doesn't work like that, it works like the iPad where it keeps text and graphics the same size but it quadruples the number of pixels used. Proportionally everything is the same as the lower res version.
 
Serpico said:
It doesn't work like that, it works like the iPad where it keeps text and graphics the same size but it quadruples the number of pixels used. Proportionally everything is the same as the lower res version.
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exactly my point - that's why I need the bigger screen. It's not like everything shrinks.
 
I have both a mbp and a rmbp. I would choose the rmbp hands down any day. Don't compare a HD model to a ssd. A ssd is probably one of the most important things for performance nowadays. I wouldn't consider a laptop w/o one. Not to mention how easy it is to toast a hd in a laptop with a minor drop.

I guess I'm the opposite of the previous poster I think the retina is significantly thinner and lighter than my regular mbp. I just wish the rmbp was mine and not my wife's.. Oh well I have to suffer with still an awesome laptop in the mbp, but I did upgrade it with 2 ssds. I pulled out the dvdburner and put one in the bay and it originally came with the 256gb one as the main drive.

They have near flush mount usb sticks nowadays, grab one of those or one of the tiny usb microsd card readers that almost fits entirely into the usb port. Move all your non speed critical data to that if you can't swing the money for the 512gb.
 
I have 16 gb retina 2.6 and 256gb ssd.... this thing is awesome. Best laptop i've ever had.
 
From time to time I'm required to travel a lot for my job. I currently have a Lenovo W530 with a nice(good contrast ratio, viewing angles, and colors) 1080P screen, 16GB of RAM (for VMs), and a 256GB SSD (also great for VMs).

Like you, I'm inclined to carry only one device. This means that all my work, reading, fooling around, etc are done on the laptop. The 1080P screen is fantastic. For work, this means I can develop for most any target resolution, I can have two windows side by side, and that I don't have to squint if I increase font size (which makes a big difference on days I stare at the screen for 12 hours).

I'd be very inclined to get the rMBP because of the 1200P screen res option when you scale it. There are times when I think Apple is just being cheap, and their 1050P screen for $100 is one of those. IMO the 1050P should have been standard with a 1200P as optional. I think they were overly focused on the average user with the 900P screen because it looks good for people who only do basic reading/writing on their laptops.

The SSD is also great. Trust me, when you travel a lot having a speedy and snappy computer working is a great way to keep your sanity. Some days I'm really tired (imagine being stuck with a bunch of major PITA clients after traveling for 8 hours), and not having to deal with computer sluggishness due to running a VM (and repeatedly explaining to the client the sluggishness is not going to happen on their server) really helps.

To sum up, I'd gladly tolerate an external HD (or even a flash drive) for a 1080/1200P screen and an SSD. 8 gigs of RAM is probably enough if you run OS + 1 VM unless you are are running a big software stack.
 
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If you do go with the rmbp then I'd say settle for nothing less than 16gbs of ram. See it as an investment as you cannot upgrade the memory.

Anyway my vote is with rmbp
 
I just bought a rMBP this week, and I have to say it's AMAZING. I had a 13" 2011 MBP before this, and the leap is pretty substantial. I can't explain how nice it is to be browsing the net and just have insanely clear and fluid text and sites. I'm sure you've messed around with the retina iPad, it's very similar but trippy at 15". Couple that with the fact that this form factor is really slim and the heat management means that it rarely ever raises temp at all, it's a pretty amazing machine. I got the baseline model and the performance is plenty hearty.
 
I've been in the computer business since 1993 and I can honestly say that the rMBP is quite literally the best laptop computer out right now.
 
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