List Price: $1,699.00
Sale Price: $1,449.00
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I am not an apple junkie. I hate the iPhone and the iPads and find them to be outdated technology. Be assured I'm not an Apple cult follower who will tell you everything Apple has ever made is a piece of gold.
Now, on with my review.
I used to be a PC user. I know Windows 7 inside and out. My old laptop was just getting outdated and weighed no less than 8 lbs and was getting heavy to carry back and forth from school. I intensely dislike the windows 8 interface but I didn't want to be stuck behind on an old OS either. My father turned me on to the Apple Macs and I am glad he did.
The screen is beautiful. As a Windows user that was always something I envied. This retina is supposed to have a 30% less glare than the MacBook pro without Retina display. I can't say I know for sure (because I don't have a previous macbook to compare it too) but I haven't had a problem with glare.
The overall physical quality of the product is outstanding. Nothing feels cheap, no pieces that don't belong. It's a very attractive piece of equipment and it feels like it will last me a few years.
The Solid State Drive (SSD) is no joke. I read some other reviews that say there is lag and I think they are crazy. This computer doesn't hesitate to do anything I ask it to do. 8gb of RAM is more than I have had on any other computer and it easily handles everything. I'm not a gamer or a high tech junkie but I do expect my computer to perform quickly and flawlessly. This beast far surpasses my demands. 256 GB may or may not be enough memory. I have had the computer for about a month and have a little under 200 GB left. The only downfall to this computer is that YOU CANNOT UPGRADE THE RAM. The RAM, mother board, and battery are all soldered to the chassis. That means any modifications will destroy the computer.
Another small issue, but easily fixed, is there is no ethernet connection. I'm well aware that wifi is now keeping up with the wired internet, but I do find the wired connection much more reliable and much quicker when downloading big files. A $30.00 adapater is needed (which I have), but it is still something I would have liked to have been actually on the laptop itself.
The computer weighs less than 4lbs and my back thanks me.
The battery life is astounding, but like I said I'm coming from an outdated laptop in which 3 hours was a generous battery life. 7 hours of HEAVY use is much more than I could ask for.
This computer also comes with some cool features. I really dig the keyboard backlight. I've never had a computer with that before and I do find it really helpful. The facetime camera is also of excellent quality.
If you buy this computer from Apple (I bought mine in July, maybe its running through August 2013) as a student they take $100.00 off at the store and give you a $100.00 itunes gift card. I used this gift card to purchase things like pages, keynote, and numbers. The service I received at the Apple store was phenomenal and I got an excellent deal on this computer.
Overall I love this computer. I went all crazy and cased it up and got ridiculous unnecessary accessories (like a keyboard cover) but it's all because I love my Macbook pro. While the price tag may be eye-popping, you are getting your money's worth out of it.
UPDATE:
I've been using this computer about 2 months now for various activities like school work, video viewing and surfing the internet. This computer leaves me with no wants. The battery life is awesome and I do not worry that I need to bring my charger to school just in case because I know it will make it through the day.
I have also found that while viewing videos for about half an hour or so (like workout videos), it only eats about 5% of the overall battery life with brightness on a good setting.
Now here was something I found interesting. If one were to shop around for a comparable computer, such as an Asus or Samsung, one would end up paying almost as much as you would for this MacBook Pro. All the computers I've looked at all have touch screen (a feature I do not want) 4GB of RAM and about the same SSD storage. I'm sure those are quality computers, but I really dislike the Windows 8 interface.
I still love this computer and expect to keep loving it as I use it more and more.
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I was a PC user for all my life, this was the first time I decided to buy a Mac and I was a little bit scared by the OS but really ... this laptop its simply awesome! Works perfect, fast and smooth! If you are an active pc gammer DO NOT BUY THIS LAPTOP I do play some games and this its the main drowback of this product for me (I knew it before buying it so ... im not going to take off a star for it!)If you are a software developer, designer, musician or anyone who need a really strong fast performance for work buy this!
If you are like a internet browsing person... do not do the investment in this laptop, you can find something cheaper that will do the job.
Best Deals for Apple MacBook Pro ME662LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop with Retina Display
These reviews really helped me when I was figuring out what to buy, so here are my two cents. I couldn't figure out if I wanted the Pro Retina or the Air, and I wasn't sure if I wanted 13 in. or 11 in. Now, I actually own both the Macbook Pro 13" Retina and the new Macbook Air 11 inch, and I understand most people won't want to buy both but these are my thoughts. I first got the 13" Retina, because I loved the screen, esp. the way text looked because I read a lot and it made such a difference. I have the i7 version, plus the 8 GB RAM, and 256 hard drive. I love this thing. It's gorgeous and fast, a pleasure to work on. BUT. The only problem with it for me is the weight. I know it's lighter than it used to be but I'm petite and when I'm traveling and need to give presentations, this thing is in my bag the entire day, and I find it heavy. Many people may well be stronger than I am but I personally find it a pain to drag around when I'm on the road. Also, the battery life is good but not brilliant, so if I use it all morning and a part of the afternoon unplugged, it's dead.So I recently bought the 11 inch Macbook Air as well, the new version, also maxed out, i7, 8 GB, etc. That thing is so light, it's amazing. It is lightning fast and the battery life is incredible. I can use it and use it and the battery won't budge. However. The screen is so much less good than my Retina Pro. I'm not a picky person and before I got used to the Retina screen, I didn't mind but now, it's a huge difference. The text is pixelated and very small, the whole thing looks much less good.
Basically, I think that if you're going to be mainly stationary when using the laptop, I would definitely go for the Retina Pro 13 inch. At home, it's all I use nowadays. It's a joy to use and looks amazing. However, if you travel a lot and will mainly be using it on the go, I think the new Air is fantastic. I hardly notice it in my bag and the screen is fine, just not as beautiful as the Retina, plus the performance and battery life are incredible. If the weight and shorter battery life of the Retina doesn't bother you, that would be the clear choice.
Honest reviews on Apple MacBook Pro ME662LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop with Retina Display
Luckily I was able to get this model on educational discount with tax exempt, but the price tag is still too high for the performance.The MD213LL/A model with a 256GB SSD is selling for $1499 now and that's probably the best value for the 13" retina models. The 3210M and 3230M intel processors differ less than 5% in performance. The only trouble with the older model is the screen burn-in issue that may be present in a large batch. On this current model, the burn-in is not noticeable unless you go all white from a high contrast still image, then there is still some minor burn-in. But other than this minor annoyance, the screen looks amazing in terms of details and color saturation.
Intel HD 4000 on a 3230M is a joke for a 2560x1600 screen. It will play movies and do some light design work, but anything a bit advanced causes problems. Even AutoCAD 2D work and Photoshop CS6 presented display problems in multiple instances for me. This should really be a Macbook Retina, not Pro at all.
A few years back, Intel barred Nvidia from making Northbridge chips for Intel which included an embded NVidia graphics chip, so now Apple has to put 3 large chips in a Macbook Pro for it to have discrete graphics. This is very sad. The Intel HD 4000's performance on a 3230M chip is at best on par with a NVidia 320M. I would have been VERY happy if the 13" model had even a 630M graphics chip, not to mention one of the new mid-range 700M series. It would have made this little laptop almost PERFECT! The price tag then wouldn't be so unjustified neither.
I use many Windows applications, Bootcamp with centralized drivers allowed me to install Win 7 on it hassle free and runs as it should.
It really depends on what you use this laptop for. For everyday internet browsing, documents and typical use, this laptop will run very nice for you. For design work, heavy processor usage or ANY graphics intensive applications, this laptop is a major disaster. For gaming, steer away completely.
UPDATE: The newer batch of the 2103 MacBook Pro 13" Retina does not seem to suffer from image burn-in at all. A burn-in test revealed no ghosting at all (as of April 30th). Apple seems to have silently resolved the issue in production.
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