ohsnaphappy Offline Upload & Sell: On
|
jbregar wrote:
The 15" Retina MacBook Pro upper-model has come with 16GB of RAM for two revisions now. They're not rare at all and if there is an "Apple Tax" on the memory, it's built into the price of the machine. The upcharge for the higher-spec model is $500... which buys you discrete graphics (which is also not "hard to find"), a small bump in processor speed, twice the RAM and twice the SSD space. That's not a terrible deal for those upgrades.
As for the cost to upgrade to 16GB and the "Apple Tax" the 16GB upgrade on the 13" Retina is $200. OWC charges $172 for a 16GB upgrade for the 2012 non-Retina MBPs. So, the "Apple Tax" is $28. Not exactly highway robbery there.
I'm also not sure why people feel the older machines' socketed RAM is such a big benefit... all of these machines max out at 16GB... not like you're going to go higher on the socketed models as they don't support more.
I do agree that if your budget is around $1000, an older MBP might be a better deal than something new(er), but there are more benefits to the newer MBP than just the retina screen and USB3... much faster processors, much faster SSDs (my rMBP's PCIe SSD hits very close to 1GB/s transfer), much better/faster discrete and integrated graphics, ability to drive 4K screens, ability to drive multiple externals (3+internal on the 15"),Thunderbolt 2, much longer battery life (especially vs. an older used machine), thinner and lighter, HDMI.
The retina MacBook Pros are also IPS displays... while the previous machines were the top-end for TN panels, they were still TN panels....Show more →
You hit the nail on the head when you said the word budget. I got a lot of computer for less than $1000! The point really is, if you want a decent quad core MBP you don't need to save and save. You can jump in now and buy a used one and have a very capable machine for very little money.
Regarding the memory, if you shop for a used rMBP you'll rarely find one with 16gb. And you can't upgrade the memory since it's soldered in. The older models can be upgraded to 16 regardless of what they have inside. That's a real advantage. When shopping for a used MBP I'd give up a retina for more ram. But that's just me.
Regarding the discrete GPU, my only point was, if you buy a new MBP there's literally only one model with a dedicated graphics card. I think it starts at $2500 or $2700. Not very pro IMO. Maybe those Intel GPU's are better than I realize.
And sure the retina screen is a million times better. But the older screen helped create plenty of award winning photos in 2011 So it's not the best, but it's adequate. It will definitely get the job done.
|