Just came in here to share my experience.
Back in 08 bought the unibody macbook pro the day it came out. I was in love with the thing. Sleek, made of high quality materials, looked sharp, and at the time performed really well for what it was.
I sold it a while later and tried to go iPad only as my uses dwindled. iPad alone didn't really cut it, but I'll admit that I was able to do most of what I needed to do include create a resume, watch netflix, all that.
Then I started studying graphic design. Needed a computer so picked up a 10 white unibody macbook for $400 back in 2011. It was great for a while. I did some upgrades like 8 gb ram and 750gb HDD to keep up.
Been working with design and now studying computer programming, need more processing power and got kinda tired of having an external monitor. So got a used 27 imac about 3 months ago for a great price. It was great for what it was, but I missed portability, but still needed power.
I thought I would wait until WWDC (or whenever) for new macbook pros and then I would just buy a 15 pro refurb from Apple at a good discount. However, I found a almost completely new 15 2.5ghz/512gb/16gb/750m for $1700 that was flawless, less than 30 cycles, and has 9 months applecare, so I bit the bullet.
Man, I cannot even lie, this is an impressive machine all around. It has incredible power and for what it is, I think it is pretty lightweight. The design is very sleek and a massive improvement over any of the macbooks I have had previously. The retina display alone is very much worth upgrading for. The 750m packs a reasonable enough punch for my usage so far. Luckily don't game to intensely for now.
Now I am sort of on the path of completing the portable desktop rig. Waiting for a good deal on a dell p2715q, gonna find a thunderbolt dock I like for convenience), and settle down for a while.
This thing feels like a machine that will last me about 5 years of usage. I will probably upgrade before then, but it seems like these computers are ones that won't become outdated as quickly as the earlier macbook pro models have, and even then they were still great machines for many years.
In any event, that's my macbook experience and upgrade path. I can honestly say I am so fully satisfied that I am not tempted in the slightest by a potential refresh in the coming future. (I may reconsider for a Space Gray version.....)
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Recently went to the US and bought a 2015 13" rMBP, 8gb RAM, 256Gb SSD to replace my 2013 11" MBA. Bought it mainly for the screen as I was getting a little sick of the MBA display and smaller screen real-estate.
Yeah I agree with you on that one. While I loved the portability of the air and the form factor, especially when it was released, the display quality quickly became not so great at all once the retina macbooks it the scene particularly with the intro of the 13 inch version.
I suppose that's what the new RMB is all about right now. Think we can kiss the macbook air goodbye from apples lineup.
