Choosing a Macbook Pro '13 - standard or retina?

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Choosing a Macbook Pro '13 - standard or retina?

Hello,

I'm planning on buying a Macbook Pro '13 soon but I have a few questions I need to ask before I make a decision.

I'm buying a mbp because I really need a new computer and I'm mainly because I'm already thinking I'll probably need one when I start my master's degree which will probably involve editing video/image/sound.

Having that in consideration, I'm not sure which Macbook Pro would be best for me - the standard or the retina version.

On the pro-retina side there's the ssd memory which makes the computer much more fast. But it has a major disadvantage for me: the capacity is very low. Considering that I'll be working with videos and images, even the 256 GB ssd memory may not be enough for me (and I cannot afford the 512GB version).

I had people telling me to buy the standard version because even though it can be slower, it has a 500 GB hdd which is important for the use I'll be giving to the mcp and also, it is much cheaper which is good for me.

But my brother told me that it is better to "sacrifice" the capacity because ssd memories have a lot of advantages. He also said that I can then replace the optical drive with a second internal hard drive which could be the 500GB hhd. Is this true?

I have an external hard drive with plenty of capacity and my brother told me I could still edit my videos having the files there but I'm afraid that won't work very well.

I'm guessing that even if I can replace the optical drive with an hdd, the warranty would become void, right?

He also said that a 4GB RAM is no longer a good choice, so that is one more reason to go for the retina version which has a 8GB RAM.

Can anyone advise me on this? I really don't know what I should go for.

Thank you in advance

Posted on Aug 23, 2014 6:52 AM

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Answer 1

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Dennis Brian

Level 2

206 points

Aug 23, 2014 7:44 AM in response to catarina.scn

The standard Pro has last generation processor and graphics. Comparing it to the has well and iris graphics is really way apart. You will use your mac on intense heavy applications, and if you opt for the standard pro which comes with hard drive, it will be slow. Might as well get the Retina pro, and just shell out some more funds and get a usb 3.0 external hard drive. This way, the 256 gb ssd will be mainly for os and files you use daily and the external will be for your projects, it will be faster to import and export or even do editing this way.

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Answer 2

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Aug 23, 2014 8:00 AM in response to catarina.scn

I would suggest considering a 15" rather than 13" due to dual GPUs (Iris and nVidia). A USB3.0 External drive as suggested to keep your projects is a very good solution as Dennis suggests. You may also want to consider Thunderbolt external storage, which will usually be faster.

To keep the cost reasonable, you may want to look for refurbished MBPs on http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals (Each country has it's local equivalent).

If you are very adventurous, a Fusion drive can be created using the internal 256GB SSD and the external USB/TB drive. This would allow you to edit files without having to worry about moving them back and forth between the two disks, but it has it's own caveats. For example you should not leave a editing session in the middle and unplug the external drive, which would leave partial fragments on both drives and can cause file corruption.

A good backup strategy is also highly recommended.

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Answer 3

catarina.scn Author

Level 1

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Aug 23, 2014 8:49 AM in response to Loner T

Thank you for your advice. Unfortunately, the portuguese apple store doesn't have anything on the refurbished MBP's page 😟

I absolutely cannot afford the 15" because my budget is below 1500€ which is approximately the cost of the MBP Retina 13" (256 GB SSD).

For now, my external hard drive is a Western Digital Ultra 1TB with a USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 interface. Since I would spend all my budget on the MBP, I would have to stick with this hard drive for a while before I can buy a better one.

I don't understand a lot about this type of things to be honest, would you mind to explain shortly what a Fusion drive is? How can you merge an internal drive with an external hard drive?

And what do you mean by a good backup strategy? Backup for the video projects?

Sorry for all these questions but I'm trying to understand everything.

Again, thank you so much for your help.

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Answer 4

catarina.scn Author

Level 1

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Aug 23, 2014 8:50 AM in response to Dennis Brian

Thank you so much for your advice Dennis, it was really helpful 🙂

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Answer 5

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Aug 23, 2014 11:36 AM in response to catarina.scn

catarina.scn wrote:

Thank you for your advice. Unfortunately, the portuguese apple store doesn't have anything on the refurbished MBP's page 😟

I absolutely cannot afford the 15" because my budget is below 1500€ which is approximately the cost of the MBP Retina 13" (256 GB SSD).

You may be allowed to buy from a Spanish or French store, but I suggest you check the rules and policies.

catarina.scn wrote:

For now, my external hard drive is a Western Digital Ultra 1TB with a USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 interface. Since I would spend all my budget on the MBP, I would have to stick with this hard drive for a while before I can buy a better one.

As long you find it adequate for your needs, it is not necessary to upgrade it.

catarina.scn wrote:

would you mind to explain shortly what a Fusion drive is? How can you merge an internal drive with an external hard drive?

You may want to read this link Mac mini (Late 2012), iMac (Late 2012 and later): About Fusion Drive . A Fusion drive is a merged version of two drives, which Apple also calls CoreStorage. Typically, a faster drive (SSD) and a slower drive (HDD) is combined into a single 'logical volume' and the filesystem moves blocks of data between the SSD and HDD parts based on frequency of use and other factors. These two work in tandem to provide better performance. Apple officially does not support using an external drive as part of a Fusion Drive, But you can build one yourself, and newer versions (Mavericks and newer) automatically can detect a SSD/HDD combination and will create a Fusion drive, if both the drives are unused. It is also possible to manually create one between two drives. Please see http://blog.macsales.com/15617-creating-your-own-fusion-drive as an example.

catarina.scn wrote:

And what do you mean by a good backup strategy? Backup for the video projects?

You want to maintain regular backups of your Mac and important files. The easiest method is to use Time Machine and an external drive. In your case, it will be a third drive and you can select what you want to back up from your Projects. Please see Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac

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Answer 6

Aug 24, 2014 1:53 AM in response to catarina.scn

Welcome! 🙂

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Answer 7

Aug 24, 2014 2:15 AM in response to catarina.scn

You could always go for the Retina model and purchase an external, portable fast, relatively inexpensive, self-powered drive, USB 3.0 1 TB drive. Even now, with a 960GB SSD, I use portable disks on my machine (and, some, not so portable!).

That way you could put your OS X and applications on the 256GB flash storage and used your 1 TB portable drive as a working drive.

For more on backup strategies, see -> Most commonly used backup methods.

Just my 2¢...

Clinton

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