Which 2015 rMBP should I get?

[richardycc]

Macs are so tough to buy due to non-upgradability or close to impossible to upgrade later, so one has to pick all the hardware upfront.

I was originally just going to get the cheapest one, 2.7GHz, 8GB ram, 128GB SDD HD, but after looking at some reviews, it looks like there are some performance gain with bigger HD, so I might get the one with the 256GB HD. But for $200 or so more, I can get one of these in the following configurations too:

13" 2.7GHz/16GB/256GB
13" 2.9GHz/8GB/512GB

I really want a desktop, but Apple doesn't make a 22"-24" imac with retina display yet, the 5K is too big and expensive. so I will most likely get a 24"UHD monitor to use with this rMBP. So which one should I get?

 

[RampantAndroid]

Get 16GB (my old rMBP was 8GB, such a bad choice) and 256GB SSD.

 

[JAG87]

Personally, I'd go with the faster cpu and 512GB. But that's just me, depends what you use it for.

 

[tsupersonic]

If you plan on keeping this laptop for 4+ years, I'd invest in the higher spec model. It's also not upgradable, like you mentioned...

 

[JTunn]

I'm still on a 13" MBP with 4GB/320GB and I gotta say Yosemite is quite slow, so I'd definitely go for the 16GB in order to make sure it's somewhat futureproof.

 

[TheStu]

I'm still on a 13" MBP with 4GB/320GB and I gotta say Yosemite is quite slow, so I'd definitely go for the 16GB in order to make sure it's somewhat futureproof.

Are you able to upgrade the RAM in that? The slowness may be an aspect of the platter drive.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Personally, I'd go with the faster cpu and 512GB. But that's just me, depends what you use it for.

My view has been that I won't be CPU limited for a while. I compile stuff at work that takes a while (and is IO bound, really), but that isn't what I do on my macbook. On my rMPB with the default CPU in the 2012 model I was never CPU bound. I WAS RAM bound often.

 

[ggadrian]

0.2GHz isn't that much of a difference, but I wouldn't buy a non upgradeable 8GB machine in 2015, for me the 16GB version is the only option.

256GB might be enough or might be too little depending on you usage.

 

[RampantAndroid]

0.2GHz isn't that much of a difference, but I wouldn't buy a non upgradeable 8GB machine in 2015, for me the 16GB version is the only option.

256GB might be enough or might be too little depending on you usage.

Totally agreed.

For the SSD, I found 256 just fine, until I was trying to use bootcamp for Windows...but that didn't last long. It was easier to just remote in to my windows machines than it was to run windows on my macbook (since the MBP only exposes one GPU to Windows, and if you have two, it exposes the more powerful GPU which kills the battery life.) Without Windows going, I had plenty of space.

 

[renatoaraujoc]

0.2GHz isn't that much of a difference, but I wouldn't buy a non upgradeable 8GB machine in 2015, for me the 16GB version is the only option.

256GB might be enough or might be too little depending on you usage.

If I'm not wrong, it's not only about 0.2GHz faster, its an upgrade from i5 to i7 which means more L1-3 Cache.

 

[ggadrian]

If I'm not wrong, it's not only about 0.2GHz faster, its an upgrade from i5 to i7 which means more L1-3 Cache.

The i7 is the 3.0GHz one, the 2.9GHz model is an i5.

 

[StinkyPinky]

I'm still on a 13" MBP with 4GB/320GB and I gotta say Yosemite is quite slow, so I'd definitely go for the 16GB in order to make sure it's somewhat futureproof.

The slowness will be your HDD not the ram. I cannot use computers with HDD's anymore, they just feel sluggish no matter what horsepower you have.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Are the new retinas completely unupgradable? The 2011 MBPs we had we could open up and change ram/hdd.

 

[TheStu]

Are the new retinas completely unupgradable? The 2011 MBPs we had we could open up and change ram/hdd.

The blade SSDs used in the rMBP and MBA are replaceable, but the RAM is soldered in both. In the new rMB, both are soldered I believe.

 

[smackababy]

The blade SSDs used in the rMBP and MBA are replaceable, but the RAM is soldered in both. In the new rMB, both are soldered I believe.

Couldn't you unsolder and resolder new RAM, if you were so inclined?


Oh, and OP, get the RAM. You won't miss the speed and storage is cheap. You can easily offload stuff into an external or a server somewhere.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Couldn't you unsolder and resolder new RAM, if you were so inclined?


Oh, and OP, get the RAM. You won't miss the speed and storage is cheap. You can easily offload stuff into an external or a server somewhere.

Good luck with that. You need an oven to reflow the solder.

See the orange:
https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/Ik5Fl6oZmmIw1Brg.huge