MacBook Pro Retina

I'm with DCG on this one.

As soon as the Air comes out with a retina screen, i'm on it.

With that being said, does anyone think that will be any time soon?

Same. Interested to see how they manage to retain the same form factor with a good enough GPU to handle the screen ALL THE WHILE MAINTAINING DECENT BATTERY LIFE.

We will see it in three years.

if I'm honest, my MBP Retina is FAR thinner and lighter than the Macbook I bought in 2009. Yes, the Air is thinner and lighter than the MBP Retina, but the difference between a MBP Retina and a laptop that needs to be replaced still favors the MBP Retina.

I have the late 2010 MBA and while it has served me very, very well for the past two years, it's starting to noticeably slow down, especially after upgrading to 'insert latest version of OSX.'

Safari lags when I quit. GIFs take forever to load. Apps crashing left and right. Random reboots. ****** battery life.

Nothing too dramatic to the point of my having to buy a replacement, but it's starting to show its age.

When I checked out the 13" rMBP, it was very very nice. Felt good in my hands. Biggest drawback, though, was the weight.. Everything just feels so much heavier after my MBA and since I do all of my computing/browsing in bed, it's more apparent, unfortunately.

I could potentiallllly see myself getting a 13" rMBP, but only for the fact that it has pretty good battery life.

That being said, I do believe that the rMBA will be a wild hit as long as it's not prohibitively expensive and the battery life is decent. Too bad none of those will be true with the first gen.

I'll probably stick with my current MBA for another year or so.

Edit: Also, I wish they'd update the design of the Macbooks. Starting to look stale now. I had the older MBP back in college and I actually prefer the tactile feedback of the old version's keyboard to the current style's. Also looks 10X better, IMO. Never was a huge fan of the black keyboard.

Ended up returning my refurb rMBP - discovered that my T61 can actually take up to 8GB of ram (Lenovo specified 4GB max). Grabbed a 4GB stick of ram for $78* to get me to 6GB total, and a SSD for $90. Installed a modified BIOS that allows SATA II (stock was SATA only). Feels like a new machine. The rMBP was awesome, though - great screen, and awesome form factor.

*DDR2 prices suck

Actually considering a 27" iMac - would have definitely jumped on one of the old models from Fry's for $1k if I could have found one.

God damn it! Now that I'm trying to buy one of those refurbs the ******* store is completely out of stock. Just my luck.

Not a retina question, I have a 13" MBP ( mid 2012 ) with nice specs. I7, 8 GIGs Ram, 750G HD, so I would like to get 2-3 years out of it.

Her's my question. I am not a heavy user, but I like speedy laptops. OS10 Lion and Off11 will do for my software needs.

My friend's kid works in an authorized Apple repair store.

He said that he could put a 128SSD in the primary HD slot and move the original 750G HD to the optical bay slot. Or alternatively, I could just remove the 750G HD, leave the optical drive and buy an external HD(leaving me with an integral optical drive ). Cost would be about $250.

I don't store much data on my laptop. Does switching to the SSD make sense ( for speed?, for stabilty and durability )? Should I move the 750G HD to the optical bay? Has anyone done anything like this?

He said that for my needs, a 128SSD would be fine. But I looked online and SSD prices are coming down all the time.If I leave the optical drive, maybe I should get a 256 or 512 SSD as my primary and only HD.

Thoughts! Has anyone done this procedure? Who would leave the optical drive and who would put the original Apple 750G HD in the optical slot?

Thanks

SSDs are pretty much the best thing that's ever happened to laptops. $250 sounds a bit steep given that the drive itself will probably run ~$100, but I don't know the ins and outs of how difficult this is on a macbook.

With regard to moving the 750 GB drive to the optical bay - I've thought about doing that on my thinkpad, but haven't gotten around to it. That said, it'd be really easy for me to swap it back in, and I have a docking station I could use it with, also. If you ever use the optical drive, I'd just throw the 750 GB drive in an external enclosure - you'll still be able to use it, and that'll be cheaper than buying a whole new external drive.



rnoldh said:

Not a retina question, I have a 13" MBP ( mid 2012 ) with nice specs. I7, 8 GIGs Ram, 750G HD, so I would like to get 2-3 years out of it.

Her's my question. I am not a heavy user, but I like speedy laptops. OS10 Lion and Off11 will do for my software needs.

My friend's kid works in an authorized Apple repair store.

He said that he could put a 128SSD in the primary HD slot and move the original 750G HD to the optical bay slot. Or alternatively, I could just remove the 750G HD, leave the optical drive and buy an external HD(leaving me with an integral optical drive ). Cost would be about $250.

I don't store much data on my laptop. Does switching to the SSD make sense ( for speed?, for stabilty and durability )? Should I move the 750G HD to the optical bay? Has anyone done anything like this?

He said that for my needs, a 128SSD would be fine. But I looked online and SSD prices are coming down all the time.If I leave the optical drive, maybe I should get a 256 or 512 SSD as my primary and only HD.

Thoughts! Has anyone done this procedure? Who would leave the optical drive and who would put the original Apple 750G HD in the optical slot?

Thanks

Click to expand...

]

well, first off, that's a ****** price for that package. you should be able to find a tech to do it for cheaper. Or you can do it yourself. Its pretty damn easy. Secondly, you can get a 256gb ssd for less than $180 now. Even cheaper if you get one on sale. Why not just upgrade to a larger ssd and get an external case for the 750? just for backup storage. Plus, the 2 hd's are going to draw even more power. Don't forget that on a laptop.

The Crucial M4 256gb, which seems to be the preferred brand/model of choice on the Mac forums, was $180 last week at Newegg. Currently $210. They've actually spiked in price the last month as they were going for around $160 in Feb. B&H has it for $190 if you're in a hurry now:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/768803-REG/Crucial_CT256M4SSD2_256GB_m4_SSD_2_5_.html/

An external case would run you $30 tops for a 2.5" hd. I just bought this one myself for a project:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005B5G4S6/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And here's a guide/video on how to do it:

http://www.macinstruct.com/node/407?ModPagespeed=noscript



http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Install...ibody+Late+2011+Hard+Drive+Replacement/7513/1

Let me know if you need any help

Thanks, that helps.

$250 was just a ballpark price. And I should have mentioned he also will install an authorized student Mac Off on the machine ( he is a student ). I probably will go with a bigger than 128SSD and will read some of the forums.

Building an external case for the original 750HD and leaving the optical drive sounds good.

i'm still using my rMBP and I still love it.

My brother showed me how to tweak around with the resolution a little bit to get the most out of everything.


also, first world problems here - now I have to rent the more expensive HD options from iTunes. Before SD was more than suitable.



rnoldh said:

Thanks, that helps.

$250 was just a ballpark price. And I should have mentioned he also will install an authorized student Mac Off on the machine ( he is a student ). I probably will go with a bigger than 128SSD and will read some of the forums.

Building an external case for the original 750HD and leaving the optical drive sounds good.

Click to expand...

If you need that software, or just about any other, let me know. I can access it for you as well. iWork as well.

If you don't store much on your laptop, pick up the biggest ssd you can find, buy a nas (2 terrabytes are under $200) and plug that into your router