Standard MBP or rMBP??

As to speakers, the best I've ever owned were the Bose Companion III - (now up to the 5 series). They're expensive, but they produce the sweetest sound - and I loved the control 'puck'... these days I have a Denon receiver that has AirPlay so I just pump my sound through it...

I think you know my opinion on the rMBP - I wouldn't buy one just now. I have a late 2011 15" MBP that is very similar to the newer 2012 standard MBP and I love it. I've upgraded my RAM to 16GB, upgraded my hard drive to a 512GB SSD, and it's one fast machine. My buying advice would be to go for the 'standard' MBP with the fastest processor and GPU that you can afford and maybe wait a couple of years on the Retina display models - just too many problems with them now.

Just my 2¢...

Clinton

I've been using the rmbp for over 2 months and I wouldn't want to go back to the regular screen. Have a portable superdrive it works fine. Clinton I believe is talking about the screen issues many on this forum have complained about. Namely image retention or "ghosting" or image persistance as it is called. It seems to happen on the monitors made by LG the main screen manufactor. Samsung also makes panels as well and theirs don't seem to have the IR problem, though several have complained of other problems. The IR has been very bothersome to many to the point that they didn't want to use them, other people have had less severe problems with it and most owners either don't have the problem, don't see it as a problem or have a minimum problem. I noticed minor IR on my computer after about two weeks. It hasn't gotten worse and isn't bothersome at all. I wouldn't want to go back to the regular screens as I'm really enjoying mine. The performance is amazing and I also really like the smaller footprint. USB 3 is really nice and thunderbolt ports are good. I haven't bought any T-bolt drives because of price but I have an adopter so I can plug in my FW 800 drives and I bought a nice USB 3.0 that is very fast and works great. I also use it with an ethernet adaptor and also have a T-bolt to mini-dvi cable that lets the laptop drive my 27" iMac screen, it all works great. In fairness you should take a look, assuming you haven't, at the "MBP Retina burn in" thread here on this forum. You see the problems that are being discussed re the screen. For me, I would give an enthusiastic thumbs up for the rMBP.

Also concur with Clintonfrombirmingham regarding the Bose speakers. They're very nice though I don't have the woofer and am using just the Companions. Other people have their favorites and I think if you do a search on these forums you will see lots of opinions about speakers.

NObodE wrote:

Actually I just recently learned that the rMBP does not come with the SuperDrive installed. the other options are to get an external drive and some people told me to use duct-tape to attach the drive to the rMBP. Not sure why duct-tape but a USB cable should be fine.

The "duct tape" thing is either a joke or a kludge. Either way, it's just a way to keep the drive from moving away from the computer. You still have to use the USB cable for the data connection. (The cable comes with the drive; permanently wired to the drive, in fact.)

For whatever it's worth, I am among the happy users of the 15" MBP with Retina display. I popped for the maxed-out version (2.7GHz, 16GB, 768GB) because the MBP-R isn't designed to take upgrades later. The only thing I might do differently now is settle for 2.6GHz. I bought the external optical drive (but do not use duct tape) and Thunderbolt adapters to FireWire800 and Gigabit Ethernet; I use them all from time to time, but I am glad I don't have to tote them when I don't need them. I also have a Thunderbolt-attached drive partitioned between Time Machine and bulk storage I don't need when I travel.

I was unaware that anybody made Thunderbolt-attached speakers (except the speakers that are part of Apple's Thunderbolt Display).

I was unaware that anybody made Thunderbolt-attached speakers (except the speakers that are part of Apple's Thunderbolt Display).

I don't know of any - the Bose that I mentioned in another discussion (? - I'm getting confused by these multiple threads!) aren't TB. I wouldn't see the need for TB speakers, anyway - likely why no one makes them!

Glad to see some 'happy' rMBP'ers stepping in here - I know that my distaste comes from so many complaints about the displays.

Clinton

clinton,

I should have given more context for my comment about TB speakers. I was referring to NObodE's post of Nov 22, 2012 11:51 PM above: "anybody know if the rMBP can use the thunderbolt port speakers? what can the thunderbolt port be used for, especially since they have 2 USB 3.0 ports?"

You should know as well as any of us the nature of forums: Most people come here because they have a problem, some of us come here just to discuss things, almost nobody comes here to say they are happy, and most users never come here at all. We are a self-selected, biased sample of the population (meaning "biased" in a statistical sense).

Extremely biased, I would say! I know that I tend to like what I have if it's working for me - and that I can 'fix' any problems that do arise.

The Apple user's manuals used to point towards these support forums - now that Apple has done away with user's manuals (at least for the MBPs - not sure about other units) in favor of a 'quick start' manual, I don't know that we ever get a mention any longer.

And, really, these support forums are for problems - there are those occasional threads of "I'm happy..." but not too many.

Happy Black Friday...

Clinton

Test your screen by visiting this web app http://test-retina.appspot.com

Please make sure you have turned off screen saver or any evergy saving settings, and do not stare at screen when the test is running. I'm open to feedbacks.