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2012 MacBook Pro 15-inch
Related: ethernet, hard drive, laptop, MacBook, MacBook Pro, Macs, memory, RAID, Retina display, SSD, Thunderbolt, USB
The June 2012 15" MacBook Pro quad-core Intel Core i7 is an alternative to the MacBook Pro with Retina display, also a 15" model.
Both are the most compelling laptops for photographs and videographers ever produced by Apple. Following on the heels of Apple’s already-excellent quad-core 2011 Macbook Pro, they make further improvement with slightly faster CPUs and the very useful USB3 ports for fast external drives, a key feature for backup and storage expansion.
Price and features
The standard model appears to cost $700 less than the Retina model, but the actual price is more or less the same when configured similarly.
The Retina model offers several key advantages:
- The magnificent Retina display (but watch for burn-in problems, my replacement turned out fine).
- Two Thunderbolt ports (1 in the non-Retina model), but the FW800 and ethernet adapters eat up one or both of these ports unless an external expansion box is used.
- Firewire 800 and ethernet require external adapters via Thunderbolt.
- Two USB3 ports, one on the right hand side.
- 1.1 pounds lower weight.
On the other hand, the conventional 15" non-Retina MacBook Pro offers:
- Choice of hard drive or SSD in a wide variety of capacities, upgradeable with standard 2.5" hard drives or SSDs.
- One or two internal hard drives or SSDs (2nd one requires removal of the optical drive). Thus, RAID-0 striping or RAID-1 mirroring are possible internally, or an internal backup drive, etc.
- Built-in Firewire 800 and gigabit Ethernet.
- Anti-glare screen option.
- Upgradeable memory to 16GB.
The screen on the Retina model is appealing, but the dual-drive capability and built-in FW800 and ethernet are attractive for some field uses. That said, my choice for my own use is definitely the Retina model— I love the screen quality.
MacBook Pro 15" 2.6 GHz | MacBook Pro 15" Retina Display 2.6 GHz | |
---|---|---|
Price | $2199 |
$2999 with Apple 16GB, Apple 500GB SSD |
Optical/DVD drive | built-in | optional external drive for $79 |
Screen | 1440 X 900 glossy screen 1680 X 1050 hi-res anti-glare (or glossy) |
2880 X 1800 Retina display (settable to 1920 or 1680 or 1440 screen for unmodified apps) |
Memory | 8/12/16G, upgradeable at any time | 8GB or 16GB. Non-upgradable. Be sure to order with 16GB. |
Drives | Replaceable with standard SATA 2.5" drive; can use dual internal drives SSD or hard drives |
Single non-standard slot, Apple offers SSD only up to 768GB. |
Thunderbolt ports | 1 | 2 |
HDMI port | NO | YES |
Firewire 800 | YES | NO, but optional adapter promised (Thunderbolt to FW800) |
Ethernet | YES | NO, but fast Thunderbolt to ethernet adapter |
USB3 | 2 USB3 ports, both on left side | 2 USB3 ports, one on each side |
SDXC slot | YES | YES |
Audio | Audio line in + Audio line out | Audio line in + Audio line out Apparently a combo port (tip, ring, ring, sleeve) stereo out + mic |
Kensington keylock slot | YES | NO |
Weight | 5.6 pounds | 4.46 pounds |