List Price: $1,699.00
Sale Price: $1,619.00
Today's Bonus: 5% Off
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 I hate the iPhone and the iPads and find them to be outdated technology.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 My old laptop was just getting outdated and weighed no less than 8 lbs and was getting heavy to carry back and forth from school.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The battery life is astounding, but like I said I'm coming from an outdated laptop in which 3 hours was a generous battery life. 7 hours of HEAVY use is much more than I could ask for.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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