• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Picked up a new MacBook Pro

Geekbabe

Geekbabe

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Almost 4 yrs ago I nervously purchased a 2011 MacBook Air, after fumbling around for a couple months I got the hang of OS X and decided it was the lightest, best computer I ever used. I actually wore the ink off my keys!.

Time marches on though, I tired of running out of room with my 128GB ssd and the screen on the Air, well it left plenty to be desired.

Went to MicroCenter yesterday, picked up a 13 inch mid 2014, Mac Pro with retina screen. 2.6GHZ i5, 8GB of ram and a 256GB Flash drive.

This thing is amazing, quiet, fast and oh boy the screen is stunning!
 
Last edited:
Geekbabe said:
Almost 4 yrs ago I nervously purchased a 2011 MacBook Air, after fumbling around for a couple months I got the hang of OS X and decided it was the lightest, best computer I ever used. I actually wore the ink off my keys!.

Time marches on though, I tired of running out of room with my 128GB sad and the screen on the Air, well it left plenty to be desired.

Went to MicroCenter yesterday, picked up a 13 inch mid 2014, Mac Pro with retina screen. 2.6GHZ i5, 8GB of ram and a 256GB Flash drive.

This thing is amazing, quiet, fast and oh boy the screen is stunning!
Click to expand...

Sort of tangential to the subject, but I visited a Microcenter for the first time two weeks ago and it was damned near a religious experience.

Congrats on the new laptop. I bet it is a nice one! I gave my (2011) 13" MBP to my daughter as I simply was never able to fully come to terms with OSX, but it has been a solid computer since I bought it. My wife's 2011 Air has been nothing but trouble but I have a feeling we just got a lemon with that one. I wouldn't mind getting her a new 13" MBP instead. It would be good to hear your thoughts comparing the two at some point.
 
Last edited:
DaveStall said:
Sort of tangential to the subject, but I visited a Microcenter for the first time two weeks ago and it was damned near a religious experience.

Congrats on the new laptop. I bet it is a nice one!
Click to expand...

I enjoy visiting MicroCenter, in Boston it is also near Starbucks and Trader Joe's, places I enjoy so we make a day of it. And yes, the system screams!
 
Geekbabe said:
I enjoy visiting MicroCenter, in Boston it is also near Starbucks and Trader Joe's, places I enjoy so we make a day of it. And yes, the system screams!
Click to expand...

That's funny, we visited the one in Columbus and hit Trader Joe's right after as well.
 
DaveStall said:
Sort of tangential to the subject, but I visited a Microcenter for the first time two weeks ago and it was damned near a religious experience.

Congrats on the new laptop. I bet it is a nice one! I gave my (2011) 13" MBP to my daughter as I simply was never able to fully come to terms with OSX, but it has been a solid computer since I bought it. My wife's 2011 Air has been nothing but trouble but I have a feeling we just got a lemon with that one. I wouldn't mind getting her a new 13" MBP instead. It would be good to hear your thoughts comparing the two at some point.
Click to expand...

Dave, I initially wanted the Air because I travel, after a couple of years I realized I tended to cover most live events with my phone and a tablet, leaving the Air in my hotel room for heavier work later. As light as the Air is, try lugging it around CES all day. Over time I grew to dislike the limitations of the screen, I'm no pro with a camera but wanted crisp, clear vivid images to share. Basically I outgrew the Air, I needed more sad, more memory and the screen had to be better. After working with phones/ tablets with Hi Res screens, my laptop became a bit disappointing.
 
Geekbabe said:
Dave, I initially wanted the Air because I travel, after a couple of years I realized I tended to cover most live events with my phone and a tablet, leaving the Air in my hotel room for heavier work later. As light as the Air is, try lugging it around CES all day. Over time I grew to dislike the limitations of the screen, I'm no pro with a camera but wanted crisp, clear vivid images to share. Basically I outgrew the Air, I needed more sad, more memory and the screen had to be better. After working with phones/ tablets with Hi Res screens, my laptop became a bit disappointing.
Click to expand...

I was really hoping for a Retina screen on the MBA this spring 🙁

Congrats on the MBP, I know you'll love it :thumbsup:
 
13" rMBP is the way to go, looking for one myself. BestBuy has the 13" MBA on sale today for $799, very tempting, but I think I will wait and get a refurb 13" rMBP for under $1K instead. user upgradable memory along is worth the extra.
 
I've got the late 2013 version (see sig) and it's easily the best laptop I've had. The screen is amazing, the SSD is lightning fast, and the build quality amazing. Well worth the money. I'd never go back to some cheap ass plastic laptop again.
 
richardycc said:
13" rMBP is the way to go, looking for one myself. BestBuy has the 13" MBA on sale today for $799, very tempting, but I think I will wait and get a refurb 13" rMBP for under $1K instead. user upgradable memory along is worth the extra.
Click to expand...
No rMBPs have user-upgradeable RAM.

It is possible to upgrade the blade solid-state storage, but it's expensive. I'm not sure if Apple adopted industry-standard M.2 cards in the 2015 models (I sorta recall that they did, which would be very cool).
 
manly said:
No rMBPs have user-upgradeable RAM.

It is possible to upgrade the blade solid-state storage, but it's expensive. I'm not sure if Apple adopted industry-standard M.2 cards in the 2015 models (I sorta recall that they did, which would be very cool).
Click to expand...

really? I guess I was reading about the regular MBP...good to know, so is 8gb good enough for average user, no Photoshop, non-gaming?
 
Geekbabe said:
Almost 4 yrs ago I nervously purchased a 2011 MacBook Air, after fumbling around for a couple months I got the hang of OS X and decided it was the lightest, best computer I ever used. I actually wore the ink off my keys!.

Time marches on though, I tired of running out of room with my 128GB ssd and the screen on the Air, well it left plenty to be desired.

Went to MicroCenter yesterday, picked up a 13 inch mid 2014, Mac Pro with retina screen. 2.6GHZ i5, 8GB of ram and a 256GB Flash drive.

This thing is amazing, quiet, fast and oh boy the screen is stunning!
Click to expand...

Nice 🙂
 
richardycc said:
really? I guess I was reading about the regular MBP...good to know, so is 8gb good enough for average user, no Photoshop, non-gaming?
Click to expand...

8GB is fine for now, but I wouldn't buy a new machine with 8GB soldered on the motherboard. I'm on my 2011 MBP which I upgraded to 16GB pretty soon after I got it. I find that I use the RAM between 8GB and 16GB pretty frequently. Some Photoshop, but mostly multitasking and VM's and several browsers open with several hundred tabs.

Not to mention, OSX is pretty good about RAM caching, so if you close a program and then later open it back up and the RAM hasn't been required in the meantime, it will pull up straight from RAM without touching the disk.
 
richardycc said:
really? I guess I was reading about the regular MBP...good to know, so is 8gb good enough for average user, no Photoshop, non-gaming?
Click to expand...
The "classic" MBP is fat/heavy/older so it's really not an option anymore unless you're budget-constrained and really crave the user-upgradeability.

8 GB is "good enough" for the average user, but it sort of depends on how long you plan on keeping the rMBP. With a little luck, computers last a very long time now. So if you're thinking 6-7 years, I don't think 16 GB of RAM is a bad idea.

If you replace your gear every 3 years, I wouldn't worry about it much.
 
JohnAlmighty said:
How much did you pay? Same situation here.
Click to expand...


With tax and AppleCare my total was $1,554 which was less than I figured I would spend.

I usually keep a good laptop 3 years so this is perfect for my needs and it feels like a substantial upgrade from my 2011 Air. In terms of the memory I find OS X to use resources sparingly, my Air has only 4GB and I was only just being to feel limitations with it.
 
Last edited:
slashbinslashbash said:
8GB is fine for now, but I wouldn't buy a new machine with 8GB soldered on the motherboard. I'm on my 2011 MBP which I upgraded to 16GB pretty soon after I got it. I find that I use the RAM between 8GB and 16GB pretty frequently. Some Photoshop, but mostly multitasking and VM's and several browsers open with several hundred tabs.

Not to mention, OSX is pretty good about RAM caching, so if you close a program and then later open it back up and the RAM hasn't been required in the meantime, it will pull up straight from RAM without touching the disk.
Click to expand...

I seriously considered getting a 15 inch system with 16GB but I don't run VM's and my photo editing is basically light, pics for my blog and such. The 13 inch allows me to have two browsers open easily and photo editing is a pure delight now that I can see my images in hi res. My issue is primarily storage and I will most likely get a second, external drive with SSD to dump images on after I have published them.
 
I must say that I am very pleased with this purchase. So smooth, so quiet, the image quality is stunning! I updated Yosemite but it was nothing like "Windows needs to install 157 updates! A very happy camper here!
 
Geekbabe said:
I must say that I am very pleased with this purchase. So smooth, so quiet, the image quality is stunning! I updated Yosemite but it was nothing like "Windows needs to install 157 updates! A very happy camper here!
Click to expand...

So jealous, I really wanted a MBA with retina, damn you Apple, LOL.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top