Odd Predicament, should I return my Retina?

Alright well I'm in/was in a odd predicament this weekend. Basically a friend pawned/sold off his 2010 macbook pro to me in early 2011. And I was a PC guy at the time exclusively, but he needed the money as he was moving to New York and I happily helped out. So moving forward his parents (Father who lives in Dubai and gets paid ALOT of $$) got super pissed off when he came home for Christmas and found out what had happened and that he sold off his graduation gift for 1000 dollars and asked for the laptop back and in return they'd give me 1,300 dollars. Whatever.... I mean I'm not complaining and he's a friend (Added 300 because I invested 300 into it) ,problem is he has to use his parents Credit Card to make the purchase and he's in New York. So I came to New York for one weekend and gave him back his laptop and went to the store to buy myself my own macbook to be mine forever and ever...

This is the problem: His macbook was AntiGlare and they had no AntiGlares in the shop we went to. The only Anti-Glare laptop i could fine was one this was fully loaded one for like 2,800 dollars, Holy Crap, lol So because I felt pressured about the whole thing/rushed I felt like it was the only chance to get my 1,300 dollar in credit form So I just went with a Retina 512gb flash base line model. I have my other laptops too but I just can't help but think I made a mistake getting this laptop, but it only costed me an additional 1,000 dollars after taxes!!! Which I thought was like awesome!!! Open boxed/returned or refurbished for 1999.99

I just don't really know if I prefer the Retina or the Anti Glare, I don't really plan on upgrading either, but I really do like the black border as compared to Silver and I think Bootcamp looks better on the Retina Version, but that's just me.

 

What was the question?

 

Sorry I was just wondering if the Anti-Glare is a whole lot better then the Retina and also if you can put 16gb of ram in the Anti Glare version. Based on the Specs listed off of apple.com they won't allow you to do that, but is it possible to do that manually? It seems to me if I stick with my retina I'm just going to have to use External Drives more frequently which really does not bother me all that much.

 

As someone who currently owns a high-res antiglare MacBook Pro and has extensively played with a Retina, I would take the former every day of the week and twice on Sunday. The Retina display is still highly reflective, despite what Apple or the fanboy mags/websites might say. Yes, it is less glossy than the standard MBP display, but it pales in comparison to the "classic" models' matte option. Apps that are not optimized for the Retina display look grainy and horrible, which is not a problem for the classic. From a personal standpoint, the antiglare's 1680x1050 resolution is ideal for a 15-inch notebook. The stock 1440x900 is too small and the 1920x1080 available on rival systems is too great.

Looking at the internal hardware, the classic MBP supports 16 GB of RAM and has done so since Sandy Bridge models debuted in 2011. I'm running that right now with no issues whatsoever. In addition, you can change the hard drive to whatever you want. You're not limited to Apple or OWC and their extortionist prices for either RAM or SSD upgrades as you would be on the classic. Further, you can remove the optical drive and replace it with even more storage if you so desire.

Despite being a bit larger and heavier, I think the classic MBP is a far better value for the money.

 

I feel like the Retina has more resell value though, although I'm not certain.Because of the redesign* I don't like to admit this but looking at the past 5 years, I have literally bought a new laptop every year whether it be a Apple Machine or a PC Machine. Which is extremely high and overkill... With that being said I feel as if I'd have a better overall time selling a retina in one years time as compared to the model you just listed. Plus as earlier stated my ability to obtain an anti-glare is extremely difficult/hassle because of my unique predicament and the simple fact that stores just don't seem to carry the Anti-Glare for whatever reason.

One more question I have is, that does the Retina Cool better then the Classic? Because of the side vents? When comparing my Retina to my 2010 model I had earlier it's Worlds Apart/different. Truly unbelievable how much cooler my Retina runs in day 2 compared to my 330m 2010 Classic.

 

what I notice about the two is that text on a reg macbook looks like pooh, looks much better on a windows machine, but the retina is just worlds above anything else.

 

I agree with you to a degree, however it doesn't look significantly better then Anti-Glare though. I will say this though, compared to my anti-glare, when watching films,movies,tv shows the Blacks are WOW.... the Anti-Glare pales in comparison to the Retina in Blacks... But I understand that a lot of people don't necessarily watch videos on their macbooks so that may have no difference for them as well.

 

And I'd be exactly opposite... The whole machine is better, and the display is fantastic. Getting a "matte" 1680x1050 display would just be too much of a downgrade for me, let alone the bigger older style machine that doesn't even cool as good.

 

Personally I can't understand the anti-glare preference at all. Maybe it's just that a glossy screen doesn't bother me. If a light shines on the screen I move it. It's a laptop!

 

And that's not always possible if you're working outside or are in a conference room or have limited living space. Should I go on?

 

Retina = The future
Non-Retina = The past
I would keep the Retina! I think the Retina is the perfect balance between glossy and matte and it is the most beautiful display I have ever seen.

 

I'm talking only of my own experiences. I haven't found a condition where I can't use a glossy screen. That may mean moving the screen so that it faces downwards slightly, but for me it's manageable. The definition and more vibrant colours from a glossy screen far outweigh any problems with light, for me. I wouldn't even look at a buying a laptop with a matte screen currently - but that's just me.

 

To me, that's just not acceptable. My laptop works for me, not the other way around. Besides, color vibrancy is little more than a placebo effect. If you're happy with it, so be it, but I've had enough experience with those screens to know that I will never, ever go back.

 

Do you know the true difference between a matte and a glossy screen? A matte screen is the same as a glossy screen, except the add an anti-glare film to it at the factory. You can turn any matte screen glossy by removing this film (in some cases easy, in some cases very difficult), and you can turn any glossy screen matte by adding this film yourself. You could slap on a film haphazardly, or you could really take your time and get professional results, the choice is yours. And when it comes time to sell it, you can remove the film.

 

Ok as the OP I'm going to say this, about Anti-Glare vs Gloss, and I'm pretty sure everyone should agree: Watch a movie with the blacks or long hours of programing or reading a computer screen. Alot of times on a glossy screen while you're watching the movie you'll notice the blacks reflecting another image, but you don't focus your eyes on those images and thus it doesn't bother you and you can continue focusing on your movie or whatever else you are doing. But that in itself can be the problem for some individuals. Focusing on images or various things can affect you eye strain and vision. Some people just simply prefer not to put their eyes through that while others can. Everyone has different eye-balls I means some of us wear nothing, while others where contacts and glasses, etc. etc. etc. The Anti-Glare vs the Gloss should be regarded in the same way (Personal-Preference) and we should all leave it at that.


With all of that being said, the reflection on the Retina is quite minimal and does not bother me a whole lot. Plus when I watch movies I'll more then likely HDMI out to another screen/TV that is Anti-Glare...

 

Anti-glare is a requirement for me. I notice all of the reflections, and it interferes with my ability to do actual work. It doesn't matter that the system is bigger, slower, bulkier. If I can't tolerate the screen, it's useless. If you don't mind the glossy screen, you of course can get the retina model.

 

actually on 90% of the systems I have had the difference is the glossy screen has polarized glass or acrylic sheet over top of the matte or semi matte screen. ( AW M18x, MBP 13", 15" and 17", Dell Precision M6600, MBA 11" and 13" etc. ) putting an anti glare covering on a gloss screen in most cases winds up to be = Backlight diffuser -> standard LCD -> gloss sheet or polarized glass -> anti glare cover to negate effects of the glass.

on some systems you can remove the glass to see and use the matte screen. see MBP 17", 2011 iMacs and many cheap laptops that you can separate the gloss layer with an exacto knife.

 

Only that's precisely not how it is on a Mac and many other machines, as KCETech alluded to.