The New MacBook Pro: To Retina or Not Retina

Apple announced lots of exciting new updates at WWDC on Monday. But one in particular had us scratching our heads – the new MacBook Pro. While the whole lineup got a speed bump, they killed off the 17″ variety and replaced it with a MacBook Pro 15″ Retina display model. Makes sense at first, until you start to look at the specs. You actually pay MORE for less if you choose the wrong model.

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15-inch: 2.3 GHz – $1,799 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz 4GB 1600MHz memory 500GB 5400-rpm hard drive Intel HD Graphics 4000 NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M w/ 512MB           Built-in battery (7 hours)	15-inch: 2.3 GHz Retina – $2,199 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz 8GB 1600MHz memory 256GB flash storage Intel HD Graphics 4000 NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M w/ 1GB Built-in battery (7 hours)

 

As base configured,  you’ll pay $400 more for the Retina display model, but it comes with 4GB more RAM, twice the video memory and an SSD drive. You also get the new body design, which sheds over 1lb in weight and is 25% thinner. Seems like a good deal, but let’s compare apples to apples.

Configuring the 15″ non-Retina MacBook Pro with a 256GB SSD and 8GB of RAM, the price jumps to $2,399:

 

In the end, you’re getting a thinner, lighter, Retina display equipped MacBook Pro with double the video memory for $200 less. If you’re planning on buying a new MacBook Pro, promise us you’ll get the Retina model ok?