Thank you so much for writing this. I've been on the fence (fences?) deciding on the right model for a laptop upgrade. The portability of the Air? Features of the "basic" 13" Pro? The screen of the 13" Retina? The much better performance of the 15" Retina? This is the first review I've read that adequately addresses the real-world performance issues of the newest member of the lineup.
I find the pricing of the current Mac laptop lineup to be out of whack with the feature steps between each level, which makes picking the best performance and value difficult.
If you code and/or game I'd recommend the 15" retina, it is the best computer I've ever owned and worth every penny. The screen size is useful for putting terminals next to your code editor, etc. And for gaming I was recently playing Natural Selection 2 (through boot camp) and I found I was loading new maps MUCH faster then other people. We are talking 5-30 seconds faster and in several hours of play not a single person loaded the game faster. Pretty amazing.
Lastly if you do go the Apple route get max RAM as these newest computers aren't upgradable. Good luck!
Thanks for the info. I code and also use the machine for laying out documents, web browser, and lightweight design, etc. Mostly coding. I'm normally desk-bound, however, and am weighing the value of the Retina screen if I'm going to spend most of my time looking at an external monitor. I have, however, not heard a bad review of the 15"r.
I'm surprised to learn the machines are not RAM upgradeable. That's a major negative.
> I'm surprised to learn the machines are not RAM upgradeable. That's a major negative.
Between that, the glued-in batteries, the on-board storage, and the lack of an optical drive (i.e. a slot for a second hard drive), I'm really put off the new retina MacBooks.
I find the pricing of the current Mac laptop lineup to be out of whack with the feature steps between each level, which makes picking the best performance and value difficult.