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Non Retina Vs Retina

Worth it?

  • Yes

    Votes: 10 23.3%

  • No

    Votes: 33 76.7%
  • Total voters
    43
kevinmichael062

kevinmichael062

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 14, 2017
7
0
Quick Question:
I Have a 2013 Macbook Pro Retina 13inch
i5 128gb SSD 2.4GHZ 4GB ram and i love it

My friend has a 2011 Macbook Pro 13 Inch
500GB SSD 8GB Ram i5 2.3
Perfect condition

He wants to trade me because he likes the new smaller design

Honestly is it worth it for me?
 
Last edited:
Absolutely no way.

Yours has USB 3, is thinner, lighter, has a better screen, better CPU, better GPU, better battery life, faster Flash, better resale value, and isn't soon to be deemed vintage.

Shame on your friend for trying to rip you off.
 
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Retina doesn't matter, but as the previous poster said, you are losing in lots of other ways..

as far as retina goes, I can see little difference in my 2017 macbook pro and my 2010 Macbook pro..
 
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Aside from the amount of RAM, your MBP is the superior machine in pretty much every respect. Not a good sign that your "friend" is trying to rope you into a deal where you have nothing to gain, I'm afraid.
 
That would be a crazy trade! You would be downgrading your machine in almost every way. (Aside from RAM, but macOS is very good at memory management)
 
aevan said:
Retina is the most important reason to upgrade from non-retina models.
Click to expand...

Possibly if your work involved imaging, video, photoshop, etc.. but outside of that niche it's really not a big deal.. I think users who started with computers in the 1990s and later make a bigger deal of it... Going from 8 gigs to 16 gigs of ram and from hdd to ssd are much more important upgrades.. If I could have saved $500 to get a non-retina with the same specs, I would have done it.
 
dudeslife said:
Possibly if your work involved imaging, video, photoshop, etc.. but outside of that niche it's really not a big deal.. I think users who started with computers in the 1990s and later make a bigger deal of it... Going from 8 gigs to 16 gigs of ram and from hdd to ssd are much more important upgrades.. If I could have saved $500 to get a non-retina with the same specs, I would have done it.
Click to expand...

I'd say if your work involves looking at the screen in any form really. It's very important for CAD, Media, Web Design, it's very useful for Coding, Writing, Reading, and it's super nice for Viewing too. Why on earth would anyone not want a better screen? If you're blind I can totally see why saving a few quid on a display would be a bonus, otherwise is a very difficult argument to suggest that a lower resolution screen is in any way superior to a higher resolution one. With the current exception being battery life of 4K's vs. balance of Retina displays.

There is absolutely no way I would want to go back in time to using a display that has less pixels than my microwave.
 
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New_Mac_Smell said:
I'd say if your work involves looking at the screen in any form really. It's very important for CAD, Media, Web Design, it's very useful for Coding, Writing, Reading, and it's super nice for Viewing too. Why on earth would anyone not want a better screen? If you're blind I can totally see why saving a few quid on a display would be a bonus, otherwise is a very difficult argument to suggest that a lower resolution screen is in any way superior to a higher resolution one. With the current exception being battery life of 4K's vs. balance of Retina displays.

There is absolutely no way I would want to go back in time to using a display that has less pixels than my microwave.
Click to expand...

The point I am making = If given the choice of Power or Pretty, I would choose Power.
 
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Honestly my main usage would be occasional download of my DSLR and some music mostly internet surfing.

NIKON D5200 RAW Photos
 
Upgrade your memory. It should be possible given your current system. Do not trade for what is clearly a lesser machine.
 
i would not trade, however, your MBP is very limited with 128SSD and 4G Ram. If it was a slightly newer 2012 non retina with user upgradability for SSD and Ram I would do it. How many Battery cycles will kind of tell how much it has been used and a more accurate value compared to yours. BTW Retina highly over rated
 
Rhinoevans said:
i would not trade, however, your MBP is very limited with 128SSD and 4G Ram. If it was a slightly newer 2012 non retina with user upgradability for SSD and Ram I would do it. How many Battery cycles will kind of tell how much it has been used and a more accurate value compared to yours. BTW Retina highly over rated
Click to expand...
mine has 80 cycle count
 
Not worth it. Your SSD may be lower capacity, but it is faster, and you can upgrade the capacity if you want. The *ONLY* way the other one is better is in RAM. That's not worth it unless you happen to do lots of RAM-intensive things. If you did, you'd already know though.

For photo editing, the Retina display is *FAR* superior, even if your eyes aren't the greatest. It is just a higher-quality display in general, on top of being double resolution.
 
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