I've been using a mid-2009 13" MacBook Pro (MacBookPro5,5) since they shipped in June, 2009. While I love almost everything about it, it is getting a bit long in the tooth. Oh, sure, I've maxed it out with 8 GB of RAM and a 240 GB SSD, but even with all that it still is a bit, well, pokey because I'm running both Windows 7 and Mac OS X on it at the same time, all the time. If I had more RAM I'd even run a Linux VM (or two) with the software I support for work. The RAM and SSD aren't the bottlenecks, though—it's the 2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo CPU that just can't keep up all the time.
So I'd been eagerly waiting for last week's WWDC, where Apple was widely expected to release new versions of the MacBook Pros. And, sure enough, the did tweak the MacBook Pro line with the latest processors and Ivy Bridge motherboards from Intel, but they also released an entirely new 15" MacBook Pro with a "retina," or high pixel density, display. This Retina MacBook Pro is closer to the MacBook Airs in that it lacks a DVD drive, and it also comes only with SSDs. Macworld has done a great detailed review of the Retina MacBook Pro.
And thus a conundrum.
I like the 13" form-factor of my current MacBook, although I wish it were actually closer to the 12" aluminum PowerBook I used to have since Apple's idea of a 13" laptop is a 13" screen with enough bezel around it to make it a 15" diagonal size. I don't really want to step up to a 15" form factor which is another inch deep and 1.5" wider—it's already hard enough to use the 13" MBP in a coach airline seat. Another strike against the Retina MBP is that it isn't upgradeable, with the possible exception of the SSD. The RAM is soldered to the motherboard, so what you buy on day one is what you're stuck with. The SSD uses a new, proprietary connector; the folks at MacSales/Other World Computing managed to reverse-engineer the proprietary connector Apple uses for the SSD in its MacBook Air lineup, though, so I figure they'll be able to do the same with this new connector eventually.
But the new 13" MBPs only use the dual-core CPUs, while the 15" uses the quad-core CPUs, and my main bottleneck is CPU at the moment, so I don't want to stick with the dual-core CPUs if I don't have to. For comparison, Geekbench indicates my current P8700 CPU turns in a score of about 3,500; the best CPU in the new 13" MBP (i7-3520M) turns in about 7,900, while the best CPU in the Retina MBP (i7-3720QM) achieves about 12,000. So, do I want just double my current CPU performance, or do I want nearly quadruple? (Duh!) And, while RAM isn't a huge factor currently, I could definitely already take advantage of 16GB, so I don't want to get a laptop that can't take at least that much RAM.
So, sorry MacBook Air—you aren't big enough to ride this ride. I'd rather use my iPad when I need to be ultra-portable, thanks.
Plus, the new Retina display is supposed to be amazing. Now, I take that with a grain of salt since the Retina display on the iPad 3, while nice, is really a pretty subtle improvement in my opinion. I'm not a "pixel peeper" (graphic artist, typography snob, or serious photographer) any longer, so I have to admit I think the iPad 3's display is a bit over-hyped. Yes, I admit it. Go ahead and pull my hipster card.
Of course, right after the 15" Retina MBP launched there were rumors of the 13" Retina MacBook Pro. But, assuming that it will share the same design characteristics as its bigger brother (all solid state and substantially non-upgradeable), and the same dual-core restrictions because of its smaller form factor, then it doesn't really seem like an attractive option, either. I guess I'm at a time in my career where I really need more horsepower and a larger laptop to get things done.
Hello, 15" Retina MacBook Pro!
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