MacBook with retina display worth it?

Get a regular MBP

reidster94 wrote:

1) Is the higher price ($2800) MacBook with Retina display worth it?

Not in my opinion.

2) Would I be able to upgrade anything (Hard Drive Size, RAM, battery life, etc.) after I purchase the MacBook by sending it to apple or some other retailer?

Hard drive and ram, not battery life and you can do it yourself, it is very easy.

3) Is it inconvenient to not have an optical drive?

Not really, I have a MBP with one and over the past year have used in less then a handfull of times.

4) How is the battery life?

It depends on how you use it. Watching movies you would get much less battery life then if you were just surfing the web.

5) Is it possible to have a retina display installed on a MacBook pro that does not originally have one?

No.

6) How easy is it to switch from a PC to a Mac?

Super easy. I made the jump last year and it took a few weeks, but Apple provides many resources to help you. http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/

1) Is the higher price ($2800) MacBook with Retina display worth it?

2) Would I be able to upgrade anything (Hard Drive Size, RAM, battery life, etc.) after I purchase the MacBook by sending it to apple or some other retailer?

3) Is it inconvenient to not have an optical drive?

4) How is the battery life?

5) Is it possible to have a retina display installed on a MacBook pro that does not originally have one?

6) How easy is it to switch from a PC to a Mac?

1) the price is only 2100 if you dont upgrade it (the upgrade is not needed)

2)yes you can do upgrades on all the listen items and more

3)no you have the option for optical drive sharing from other computers and you can download almost anything you need offline without disc's anyways

4)battery life is 7 hours of web use 30 days of standby

5) no it will not support it

6)pc to mac you can do a migration assistant and move all your stuff over over your wifi network or through a ethernet cord

hope this helps

Read below:

reidster94 wrote:

I'll be a college student next year and am ecstatic that I am required to have a MacBook pro. My intended major of industrial design recommends that I have at least 500GB of storage and FireWire capability.

Buy one of the other MacBook Pros.

I really like the new MacBook with retina display because the screen displays text, photos, videos, etc. with an extremely noticeable (at least to me) definition, which I feel is perfect for art and design. I also like how it is thinner and a tiny bit lighter than the Non-retina MacBook pro, making it easier to to carry around Syracuse's large campus. My only concern is that if I go with The standard model of the Retina display, I'll be paying quite a hefty sum, and still won't have the hard drive size I need. I have no problem paying more to get what I need, but my urgent questions are as follows:

If you are worrying about cost: you cannot afford it. This so called Pro MacBook has only 1GB of VRAM when even an ugly DELL has 2GB using the same GPU. For some reason, proably due to heat it had to be downgraded to 1GB of VRAM which in the Mobile Workstation world is considered rock bottom and means you will be buying a GPU that is already date and underpowered.

1) Is the higher price ($2800) MacBook with Retina display worth it?

It's really only useful if you have clients who are impressed you can afford it. Plasma Blue Ray is set at 1920X1080 and until HD is 4K no one will see what you see.

2) Would I be able to upgrade anything (Hard Drive Size, RAM, battery life, etc.) after I purchase the MacBook by sending it to apple or some other retailer?

NO, maybe sometime in the future a thrid party will construct an SSD that is compatible but it will be very, very expensive.

3) Is it inconvenient to not have an optical drive?

YES, you do not really need it these days and can easily use the external DVD drive.

4) How is the battery life?

Considering it's ok but not as good as the other MBP.

5) Is it possible to have a retina display installed on a MacBook pro that does not originally have one?

NO

6) How easy is it to switch from a PC to a Mac?

EASY.

If any or all (1, 2, and 3 most importantly) of these questions could be answered I would really appreciate it, I would also love to have any other advice on this topic.

Thank You!

I am a teacher and last week bought the retina middle model. When I went to the Apple Store, they showed me the three model choices. I decided on the middle, becuase the top would cost almost $4,000 even with the education discount. It has over 500 G storage. They will give you and education discount if you ask and you get a $100 app store card. People have said I made a dumb purchase, but you have to decide for yourself. Good luck in your decision.

exactly! No one here can determine which macbook pro you should by. If possible, go check them out for yourself. I personally, bought the middle retina model.

Although others above said the RAM is upgradeable for the MBPr, I do not believe it is upgradeable by the user after it's been finally configured, i.e., I believe that whatever RAM choice you make you are stuck with it for the life of your MBPr.

I agree about the ram. Best to max it out when you purchase it, cause you won't be able to later..

Don't listen to people. I think you made a very good purchase.

As a teacher you might never need the retina display but if that's what you wanted, then you'll love it.

Enjoy it for many years!

DC

the OP asked:

2) Would I be able to upgrade anything (Hard Drive Size, RAM, battery life, etc.) after I purchase the MacBook by sending it to apple or some other retailer?

and

Jay.L replied:

2)yes you can do upgrades on all the listen items and more

That's not true at the present time - Apple is not offering 'after purchase' upgrades to flash drive or RAM. If the OP wants to order a Retina dispay MBP, he/she should purchase all the flash storage and RAM that can be affored as it is not upgradeable at this time.

Clinton

RMSko wrote:

Although others above said the RAM is upgradeable for the MBPr, I do not believe it is upgradeable by the user after it's been finally configured, i.e., I believe that whatever RAM choice you make you are stuck with it for the life of your MBPr.

This is correct. You cannot upgrade the RAM on the retina models, because the RAM is soldered to the logic board, unlike on the "normal" MBP models where you can just exchange the RAM modules.

And while you can remove the SSD, it is not a standard SSD but a type specific to the retina MBP, so you cannot just order a SSD from some online shop to replace it, you would have to buy one from Apple and they do not offer any so far.

Short anwser is NO.

will apple even address any of these concerns?

Personally, the screen to me is irrelivant. I can still see it pretty well. I bought a MBP without retina. I am currently very happy with my purchase. Aside from being cheaper, I don't need retina display in University, I need any screen I can see. I also would hate lugging around an external SuperDrive to a MBPr that probably should've had one built in.

In the end it is the users descision. If you can live without the CD drive or some ports or work with graphical design or something similar then go with the MBPr. If it's just simply a nice looking cosmetic feel, personally better off without it unless you have enough to spend and still don't care about ports.