Macbook Pro w/ retina display

[nightfly]

SSDs and soldered on RAM are expensive from Apple for sure.

The Retina Mac is definitely a niche machine. You want SSD/thin/light and don't mind the price. It's my 3rd Macbook Pro and for sure the fastest/best. Speed of the SSD is really insane and hopefully won't degrade over time like a hardrive. I think Lion uses TRIM to keep the SSD in good shape. Processor speed seems to have stabilized or maxed out so things like SSD are what makes this feel so fast I think.

 

[sepiareverb]

Played with one in a store, but I so vastly prefer the matte screen of the last version of the MBP. I've worked with matte screens forever, and am able to have wonderful consistency from screen to page, be it my own printer, the ones I send to for larger prints and the press I used on my last book. I run a Late 2011 17" matte screen and use a vintage screen from a Graphite G4 Tower for my palettes, history, character, etc. in PS and InDesign. Now with two adapters in series to go from Mini-Display Port to the Honking Display port of the monitor.

 

[jtm6]

... but I so vastly prefer the matte screen...

Yep. I do too. I remember when companies made separate matte stickers and stick-on matte screens for all the glossy/glass CRT monitors because they were awful. Even today you can pay extra to get the "anti-glare" screen on the regular MBP models. However, from what I can tell on the store it is no longer an option for the MBP with retina display.

 

[sepiareverb]

However, from what I can tell on the store it is no longer an option for the MBP with retina display.

No it doesn't appear to be. 😡 But this machine will be running for a while, so hopefully the matte Optic-Nerve Display will come around in 2015 or 16...

I get a surprising amount of life out of my Apple laptops (knock wood). I've owned five since 1993...

 

[jtm6]

No it doesn't appear to be. 😡 But this machine will be running for a while, so hopefully the matte Optic-Nerve Display will come around in 2015 or 16...

I'll probably pick one up when I get an iPhone 6 and it requires a new version of iTunes/Xcode which requires OS X 10.9 which will require a new computer which will require me to buy new versions of all my other software. (Seriously, this is an accurate scenario.)

I get a surprising amount of life out of my Apple laptops (knock wood). I've owned five since 1993...

I've had this one for five years. Before that I had a Titanium. I'm only going to upgrade this one when the cascading upgrades require it.

By the way, I had a duo 210 also! Loved it.

 

[Trius]

From all the discussion of the glossy screens with no matte option I thought I might dislike if not hate the screen of the MBA. I don't. I have the 2011 model with 4GB RAM. I would love more, but I fully knew what I was buying and my major criteria were lightest weight, durability and portability. I don't waste my time on what Apple (or any other manufacturer) "should" do. I do my homework, make my choice and move forward.

 

[sepiareverb]

I have the 2011 model with 4GB RAM. I would love more, but I fully knew what I was buying and my major criteria were lightest weight, durability and portability..

All the 2011 models can be upgraded for RAM no? I've got 16 GB in this one thru Other World Computing. It's been flawless despite being over what Apple recommends, and Photoshop is remarkably faster.

 

[parasko]

So, just to clarify:

My Nikon scanner has a Firewire 400 (IEEE1394) connection. In order to connect to the new MBP I would have to connect the scanner's Firewire 400 cable to a 400-800 adaptor and then connect this adaptor to an 800-Thunderbolt adaptor which connects to the MBP.

Will this really work?

Apple will sell you a Firewire 800-->Thunderbolt adapter for about $25. I imagine you can get Firewire 400 --> 800 somewhere if you need it.

The way I have mine set up, I have My Epson 4990 which is Firewire 400 daisy chained to my LaCie D2 Hardrive which has both 400 and 800 ports. The Firewire 800goes to the Firewire adpater to my Thunderbold port on the Macbook Pro. The other Thunderbolt Port uses the included adapter (or maybe I bought that too) to go to my 23" Cinema Display. It's not pretty from cable mess perspective.

Wish someone would come out with a dock that uses a single Thunderbolt port to go to video/firewire/audio/usb ports so I could grab my Macbook pro by unplugging a single Thunderbolt cable.

Belkin was threatening to release one in September for the bargain price of $400 (up from their original price of $300) plus $50 for a Thunderbolt cable but the release date slid to who knows when.

Right now your best option is Apple's own 27" display which acts as a hub with just a single Thunderbolt cable from the computer but I rather like my 23" non-glossy Cinema display.

As for memory/ram for me a 500 gig drive is plenty of on-board memory and 8 gigs of RAM lets me run Photoshop and a VM Windows emulator plus whatever other stuff have going without breaking a sweat. I think unless you are doing video, the 500 gig drive/8 gigs of ram with the SSD is as fast as anything I've every used. I have something like 300 gigs free as I store all my photos externally except for working files.

 

[nightfly]

I connect my Epson scanner via Firewire 400 to my Lacie D2 external drive and then the D2 via Firewire 800 to a Firewire to Thunderbolt adapter to my Macbook Retina and that works...

 

[Rogier]

I have bad experiences with adapters.

You can get cables with on one end FW400 and FW800 on the other.....

 

[parasko]

I've just realised that the new MBP has a Firewire 800 port so I would only need a Firewire 400-800 adaptor to connect my scanner to the laptop. I'm assuming this would work? Has anyone tried using these types of adaptors/cables? Any recommendations on which ones work?

I have bad experiences with adapters.

You can get cables with on one end FW400 and FW800 on the other.....

 

[Snowbuzz]

I switched from a MacBook Pro / MacPro to Dell's Precision Mobile Workstation with IPS AdobeRGB display last year. Awesome laptop.

 

[parasko]

What is the the Dell screen like for photo editing? Is it glossy?

 

[Snowbuzz]

I have the glossy version but matte is an option as well. It's supposed to be the best screen available on a laptop (10 bit display) though HP's dreamcolor laptop screen on their workstation line is reputed to be just as good. It took a lot of courage to switch away from Apple, but there's life out there after all!