Which MacBook Pro faster ? (13" Retina 2.5GHz or 13" LED 2.9GHz )

Hi every body

I have decided buy MacBook Pro

I will use MacBook for browse in Internet and sometime Photoshop

Which MacBook is faster when open 10 tab with safari and play music and edit document by office at the same time ?

MD102 or MD212 ?


MacBook Pro : MD102LL
13-inch
2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i7
Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
8GB 1600MHz memory
750GB 5400-rpm hard drive

OR

MacBook Pro : MD212LL
13-inch with Retina display
2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
8GB 1600MHz memory
128GB flash storage


MacBook speed with 2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor but hard drive is better or 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 with flash storage ?

 

All replies deleted. Let's start again without the arguing. The OP states:

 

Thank you ALLurGroceries! That was my whole point.

@OP if you do come back around I do suggest that you go for the Core i5 Macbook Pro with the Flash Storage for the needs you stated. You'll get a very fast experience. The i7 even with the slower 750GB hard drive would best suit someone doing heavy number crunching such as encoding. You'll be perfectly fine with the i5 configuration. Just add more ram to accommodate a lot of open tabs in Safari.

 

Now, the key element in deciding which lappy to take is obviously Photoshop performance.
Processor and RAM, those are important things for PS. SSD will give you a start up boost, but then it will be loaded into RAM, it won't be that useful.
Better resolution is handy when it comes to graphical editing, but slower processor and what I seem to understand an integrated card, is a bit wary in this situation. Plus it's a 13" screen. My sister has a 13" MBP with 1280*720 and it looks good. I've seen those Retina models in shops and personally I haven't noticed anything outstanding. Could be a lack of time and my bad eyesight to blame.

All other tasks will pretty much be similar in terms of performance. That bothers me is the "sometimes Photoshop" phrase.
If it's an "open Photoshop, fool around and close it" then it doesn't matter, get whatever lappy you want. If on the other hand it's a true pro thing I would get a i7 one. SSD you can add with time and for better resolution there's always an external monitor if you are planning on serious PS use.

 

Do note that is easy to install an SSD ( Flash storage ) to the MD102LL model as well. a lot of it depends on your other needs and storage requirements. To me 128GB of storage is insufficient unless you like packing an external hard drive. I would go with a 16GB/256 Retina model if you do much Photoshop or get the classic and upgrade your RAM and Drives on your own.

 

Thanks a lot

I have 3TB External HDD so 50GB SDD internal storage is enough for me even. May upgrade the 13" MBP (MD102) hdd to a SSD myself ?

I had read a review that 13" rMBP took longer to display when several tab and app opened together because with no dedicated GPU and high resolution, processor must push it

It's true?

 

Yes, you should be able to do it.