Retina Macbook Pro Early 2013 vs Late 2013? Need help deciding.

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Level 2

190 points

Retina Macbook Pro Early 2013 vs Late 2013? Need help deciding.

Alright,

This will be my first Macbook I will be buying. I chose macbook, because it will be a lot usefull for school and later on in the future. I'm expecting to last this laptop for a very long time. I was going to buy the Late 2013 Retina 13 INCH macbook pro Iris graphics, because it was the newset model with the latest graphic card.

After a lot of reading online, and on the apple discussion place, I've seen a lot of people with faults with their MacBook pro Iris. Apple just released an update to fix it but yet some users are having problems and the issue still shows up on the console. I know the newer(late 2013) macbook pro is obviously better than the old one, but I don't want to regret my decision in the future. I want the laptop to last me quite a good few years. The older one doesn't seem to have much problems, but it just has older graphics which. As far as I know Intel Iris is WAY better than the HD 4000. The price difference from where I'm going to be buying the macbook is less than 10$. The Late and Early 2013 Both cost the same here. I just need some opinions on which one i should get. I'm thinking on playing it safe and getting the older one with HD 4000, but the Iris one is still there for the same price pretty much, but I don't want a faulty unit, that won't last me long and won't work good despite havign better specifications.

I hope I can get some good feedback on this helping me decide which one to buy.

(Things to note: Where I live there is no apple store, just an apple authorised retailer)

Thanks,

Jai

MacBook Pro with Retina display

Posted on Nov 18, 2013 2:05 PM

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Answer 1

JaiJethani Author

Level 2

190 points

Nov 18, 2013 2:50 PM in response to JaiJethani

I would really, really appreciate any sort of opinion here! Thanks!

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Answer 2

JaiJethani Author

Level 2

190 points

Nov 18, 2013 3:12 PM in response to JaiJethani

:/

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Answer 3

Nov 18, 2013 4:23 PM in response to JaiJethani

Go for the latest one with Haswell and Iris. Dont forget to get Applecare for your MacBook and issues with the MacBook will be covered for three years.

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Answer 4

Nov 18, 2013 5:03 PM in response to JaiJethani

since you gonna keep it for couple years, so you need to go with the late 2013 retina then and AppleCare its the must.

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Answer 5

JaiJethani Author

Level 2

190 points

Nov 18, 2013 6:07 PM in response to KaKuReNbO

Apple care here costs 500$ not sure if that's also how it works in the US. It's beyond over my budget adding apple care worth 500$. Also even if I do get apple care, I don't want to be going in and out to he store just to keep fixing the issues te laptop will have. Since I am a student all the files on the laptop will be super important to me so I can't afford losing them. Should I still go with the iris ?

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Answer 6

Nov 18, 2013 7:23 PM in response to JaiJethani

JaiJethani

Since I am a student all the files on the laptop will be super important to me so I can't afford losing them.

Thats a very bad premise to work from, never ever consider your computer a data storage device.

always have at LEAST 2 copies of vital data you "dont dare lose" on external HD or online storage.

Any data you "cant afford to lose" is NEVER safe on any computer, .....all who have thought it is eventually learn to regret that premise.

external HD are cheap as dirt, buy a couple for $70 each. 😊

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Answer 7

JaiJethani Author

Level 2

190 points

Nov 19, 2013 3:26 AM in response to PlotinusVeritas

I was anyways going to buy an external hard drive soon enough. My final question would be is it worth getting the new late 2013 over the early 2013 is the difference that huge ? Because otherwise i would rather buy the older one since is confirms to work correctly with no issues.

Thanks so much for replying.

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Answer 8

BanditoB

Level 1

82 points

Nov 19, 2013 2:07 PM in response to JaiJethani

If I were you, with the price difference being so small, I would definitely get the newer MacBook Pro. If the price difference was more than $200 or so, it would be a more difficult decision for me, but at $10, it's easy.

The new Haswell chip runs much cooler and much longer on a battery charge, so you'll get a lot more use out of the laptop without having to search for a power outlet.

I wouldn't be too concerned with the issues that some people are seeing because these are support forums, so only those experiencing problems come here looking for help and answers. For every user with a problem there are many more out there that are having no issues at all. If you do happen to run into problems, you will have a minimum of a one-year warranty to protect yourself.

I'm not sure which country you're in, but many have warranty laws that last for longer than one year. For example, the European Union requires all computers to be warranted for two years. In this case, AppleCare only provides one additional year of warranty, but would give you full phone support for that time period. Probably not worth the money.

Good luck with your decision, whichever way you choose to go, but as you're planning to keep the MacBook for a long time, I think you'd be better off with the very latest hardware to start with.

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Answer 9

JaiJethani Author

Level 2

190 points

Nov 19, 2013 5:51 PM in response to BanditoB

First of all I'd like to start off with thanking you for writing such an amazing response. Your reply made me re think my decision. I was all set with going with the older model since I didn't want to go into all the hassle of replacing my unit if it ended up having issues. I didn't trust the new has well one because suppose the issues get fixed now but then the hardware ends up failing in the future since it's already showing issues since launch. I'm still quite confused which one to purchase.

I do know that the has well model is better then the older one. But is the difference that major that I should reconsider buying has well over the older despite has well having problems ?

I would love I hear back from you.

Thanks a lot,

Jai

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Answer 10

Nov 19, 2013 7:19 PM in response to JaiJethani

There is NO question on getting the newest macbook Pro ,....period.

faster wifi 802ac (much faster with 802ac base station such as A.E.).

cooler running Haswell, longer battery life,

new pro is MUCH more compact, PCIe SSD

Theres no comparing the two, get the new Pro.

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Answer 11

BanditoB

Level 1

82 points

Nov 20, 2013 6:22 AM in response to JaiJethani

I have to agree, wholeheartedly, with PlotinusVeritas.

While the technology is much newer and there are a few issues with it, I haven't read of any serious problems that don't seem fixable. It is just a matter of time to allow Apple to determine the root cause, develop a solution, test and verify it, and then release a fix. This has happened with all of the newly released products due to their complexity. Until you release them into the wild, there is simply no way to comprehensively test every possible usage scenario.

I'm sure that you will be happy with the latest MacBook Pro and, just to confirm, it does have a lot of upgrades over the previous model that truly enhance its performance significantly.

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