Macbook Pro 13 retina robustness

I'm a long time Thinkpad user currently with an X220. Overall I am happy with the laptop - it's fast enough, robust, love the keyboard.

The biggest limitation is the screen resolution - I do a lot of development and work with electronics software and 1366x768 is quite limiting.

The Macbook Pro 13 with retina looks like a good candidate to replace it - small, good keyboard, good battery life. But I am worried about how robust it is.

I carry my X220 in a normal bag day to day and the worst damage are some scuffs on the outside. I notice on the train that Macbook owners seem to use proper laptop cases and sleeves a lot.

Could a Macbook Pro 13 take daily trips like this?

 

A MacBook Pro is definitely not going to be as robust as a ThinkPad. I personally would not toss one in a laptop bag without first covering it with a sleeve. Scratches aren't so much a problem as denting the unibody, which can happen if you're not careful. Neither the standard nor extended AppleCare warranties cover accidental damage either. I would also assume that you're going to be using Windows primarily, and while Macs are capable of doing so, that's (obviously) not what they're designed to do. Proper scaling/HiDPI support is only available in Windows 8.1. Windows 8 and 7 do not look right on the Retina display, even if you mess with the scaling.

Perhaps a better solution would be the Asus Zenbook UX32VD. It still has an IPS display but is full matte/antiglare, has a proper GPU, and is available with many more customization options when ordered from the likes of XoticPC. Plus its standard warranty includes accidental damage protection.

 

Thanks. My concern with going with the Asus laptop is that customer service is supposed to be abysmal. I am kind of used to getting a Lenovo tech at my home or work the next day, it has to be said.

 

I carried my 13" MacBook Air around for a year in my backpack without issues. Granted, it is a backpack that has a soft, faux fur, padded pouch made specifically for carrying around notebooks (up to 15"). I've been carrying my 15" MacBook Pro for a good 4-5 months now and it hasn't been dented or scratched with my backpack. I do agree with saturn in that a padded sleeve is pretty much required for carrying around an aluminum Mac to defend against dents and scratches. The aluminum bodies of Macs do tend to scratch pretty easily. With the right pouch/bag though, you would be able to carry one on a daily basis without issues.

I would stay away from the 13" MBPr for now though. Apple will likely update it tomorrow (or by the end of the year) and the current model isn't up to snuff in terms of power. The CPU is OK but it only packs Intel HD graphics. That is fine, for the most part, except when you are running an app that isn't retina compatible or you are accessing a website that isn't retina compatible. For example, I accessed Facebook through a friend's 13" MBPr a couple of months back. It looked OK (some of the icons were a little pixelated) but scrolling through my news feed caused the system to stutter. The Intel HD graphics couldn't properly scale things up without issues. I then pulled out my 15" MBP (which has both the same Intel HD graphics and a dedicated Nvida GPU), hooked it up to a Dell monitor with the same resolution as the 13" MBPr, and it worked with Facebook just fine. That will change when Apple incorporates Intel Iris graphics with the next wave of MBPr models as that can properly scale content with retina displays without producing the same stuttering found in the 13" MBPr.

 

Well, you're not going to get that with Apple either unless you take it to a retail store or authorized service center yourself.

 

Thanks. So I might not need to go all out and buy a specific bag - a simple neoprene slip sleeve would do the job?

Thanks for the warning on the current model. I was waiting for the update tomorrow but thought I might go for the older model if it reduced in price. High screen resolution is thing I really want, so non-Retina doesn't cut it.

 

I realise that, but being able to take it to one of many stores around me is a lot better than dealing with someone over the phone who won't let me return it by courier.

 

Right, a neoprene sleeve would work fine for everyday protection. Just make sure it has soft cloth on the inside and it is padded. Some cheap neoprene sleeves may contain a more canvas-like cloth on the inside with little to no padding. My main comment was not to push the standard MBP but rather express that the current 13" MBPr does not have powerful enough graphics for what it does. I would have no hesitation buying a 15" MBPr at a reduced price as that uses Intel HD 4000 graphics along with a dedicated Nvidia card that can kick in when the Intel graphics can't cut it (such as when scaling up non-retina websites with smooth results). The next generation of Intel integrated graphics (I think the Iris Pro series) will solve this. Apple offers that option in the iMac and the benchmarks for it have been pretty good so far, better than the HD 4000 IGP and more on par with a lower end dedicated GPU.

 

Thanks. The new Macbook Pro 13 looks like a good contender. Also comes with 16GB of RAM which I didn't think it would do.

 

It does look better, especially when compared to the last model. I'm pretty sure the previous iteration also had the option for 16GB of RAM. At least now you can spend $1500 and get a decent system whereas before, you had to spend $1700 to get a similar configuration (though Intel Iris Pro graphics are a much needed improvement). I think Apple completely messed up the 15" model though. People shouldn't have to spend $2000 just to get a quad-core processor or $2600 to get a dedicated graphics card. But that's a discussion for another set of forums.

 

Apple just released a new mbpr 13 with intel iris and intel haswell, are you telling us to avoid that one and wait for 2014 broadwell models or what?

 

No, I was referring to the early 2013 models. Apparently 10.9 has resolved some of the scrolling issues I talked about but they can still pop up from time to time. Intel Iris graphics were made with higher resolution displays in mind. They can better scale non-retina content to retina quality displays whereas the HD 4000 graphics, featured as the sole graphics option in the pre-Haswell 13" MBPr, struggled to do so and caused the stuttering/tearing I talked about. The inclusion of Iris graphics along with Haswell and a price reduction have actually changed my opinion regarding the 13" MBPr. Before, I could never recommend it to anyone as you had to spend $1800 to get a decent system and it still had some graphical issues. Now those should be taken care of, the new systems are more powerful, they have longer battery life, and you can spend $1500 and get a pretty solid configuration.

 

Yep, the $1,300 model with the 128gb ssd is the sweet spot for it waddya think? I think it is very reasonable at that price and now it comes with better cpu/gpu and longer battery life compared to the mbpr 13 ivy bridge that cost $1,600+ and now with the refresh, you get a much better machine at $200-300 cheaper.

I don't see the point in buying a MacBook air 13 at around $1,100-1,300 now that you can grab the haswell mbpr 13 at $1,300. That xtra $100-200 is worth it from mba13 to new refresh mbpr 13.

 

The 256GB model has my recommendation. 128GB fills up really quickly and the 256GB model comes with a baseline of 8GB of RAM instead of 4GB. The 13" MBA is still a good system though as it is lighter than the MBPr, gets much better battery life (12 hours but many review sites put it at more than that), and its only $1400 to get the 256GB model with 8GB of RAM. That's not a bad price at all for an ultrabook with those specs. You are getting a better display with the MBPr but everyday performance is going to be the same on both units and the MBPr has shorter battery life while being heavier and thicker.

I don't recommend the 128GB configuration of either one though. By the time OS X, iWork '09, iPhoto, Office 2011, AutoCAD 2013, and Parallels with a copy of Windows XP and MATLAB were all installed on my 128GB 13" MBA, I had 20GB of free space left. Granted, AutoCAD is a big program but I didn't have room for all of my photos or much of anything else. That's why I recommend at least 256GB. Apple has priced the MBA and 13" MBPr quite nicely at those capacities, I don't see any reason not to get the upgrade especially since storage space can fill up fast. That and the 13" MBPr with 256GB SSD comes with 8GB of RAM instead of 4GB. Granted, most consumers won't fully use 8GB of RAM but 4GB is right on the cutting edge of being too little.

 

Make sense and you got a point but if people wanted to grab one that is in the range of $1,000-1,300 then the 128gb haswell 13mbpr is very reasonable unless people needed more storage and that 8gb of ram then they can always shell out the extra $200. My point is that in the price range of under $1,500 that is close to 1,000 then the 128gb/4gb ram model is a much better deal imo than spending $1,000-1,300 on an MBA.

 

I do think the 128GB 13" MBPr is a good value, much better than before when that same system started at $1600 and you had to give up $1800 (or maybe more) just to get 8GB of RAM and a 256GB drive. I think the 13" MBPr's starting price makes it much more of a tempting deal whereas there was previously a huge gap between the MBA and MBPr lines. Now $200 will get you a much better screen, that value used to be $500. It makes the 13" MBPr a much better buy than in the past. Apple had to not only refresh the hardware of the 13" MBPr but also decrease its price. I wouldn't recommend it at all before due to the obnoxiously high price and performance but now I would. In fact, in another couple of years, I will likely retire my 15" MBP as a secondary computer and pick up a 13" MBPr. I think the 13" form factor is ideal for portable use and now Intel has delivered a graphics option that can truly drive the display. The original 13" MBPr actually cost more than the unit I purchased and I wasn't going to give up some size and weight just to get subpar performance and a nice display.

I see what you're saying and agree that it is now much easier to spend $1300 on a MBPr than it used to be compared with the MBA. I still think the MBA is a good system and, with its unmatched battery life, makes it a good deal. Very few tablets, let alone notebooks, can actually offer 10+ hours of real world experience without weighing a ton. Apple managed to pull that off in the 13" MBA and I think that still makes it a tempting value. People who travel a lot will lean more towards that as it is still thinner and lighter than the 13" MBPr. The MBPr is definitely starting to blur the line between full notebook performance in an ultrabook form factor but it isn't quite there yet.

 

I guess if someone wants to keep a collection of movies among other things then the 128 GB SSD would be too small.

 

Yes, multimedia files can eat up space very fast (my music alone weigh 100gb, though they are in FLAC). To be honest, storage space tends to fill up quickly under normal use, unless the user is very disciplined, so it is safe to have at least 256GB. Also, SSD wear-leveling require SSDs to have some free space left. In addition, integrated GPU will use part of RAM, so you don't get to use the full 4gb of RAM.

So, I agree with the previous poster; although I think 128gb/4gb 13 rMBP is a good deal (4GB RAM and 128GB SSD cost less than $200, after all), but I much recommend paying $200 more for 256/8 one, especially since Macs are not user-upgrade friendly.

By the way, I do think 13" rMBP are good deals in general considering how their competitors are priced, but I don't think we are discussing that.

 

People tend to store their media files on their computer's primary storage device (i.e. whatever is built-in). That's why I recommend getting the 256GB model. I have been storing my media library on an external hard drive for years. It's up to 1.7TB and I gave up being able to have my iTunes library on my notebook's hard drive back in 2005. Then, my library was up to 60GB and my notebook had an 80GB internal drive. That just wasn't going to happen.

So I'm used to carrying around an external hard drive for access to my iTunes library but many other people aren't. They open up iTunes (or whatever) and start downloading music. Pretty soon they have a 10-20GB library (~3000 songs) that is taking up space on a 128GB SSD (with about 90GB of usable storage). Throw that in with other things and a 128GB SSD drive can fill up pretty quality. Now, a 128GB SSD drive can work if people are willing to be smart about how they manage their storage space but most consumers aren't going to do that. They are simply going to keep filling it up until OS X spits out an error saying it is running out of storage space. I think it's always better to be safe than sorry. An extra $200 will get that insurance of higher capacity storage and more RAM.

I would be recommending the 128GB configuration of the 13" MBPr more if there was a larger gap between it and the 256GB model but $200 isn't much when you're already spending $1300 on a system. Plus that extra $200 may allow for an additional 1-2 years of use before needing an upgrade.

 

Well, I've ordered a rMBP 13 2.6/256/16.

I am typing on a Acer Aspire S7 with 128GB SSD. It's just big enough - I store all of my media on network shares. But it is tight with the software I have on here.

I don't know if I need 16GB, but I have 16GB in my X220 and I do need it on there.

I am keeping the X220 so when I know I am going to not be careful I will use that (i.e. flying). I hope the rMBP 13 works as my daily laptop. We'll see.