Questions relating to MacBook Pro 15.4" 2014?

Hello, I have recently decided to increase my budget to get a top all round laptop and narrowed it down to dell dos 15 and the MacBook Pro 15 with the latter being the main one at the moment. I have a few questions which I would be very grateful that the knowledgeable members of this particular forum could help me with. Thanks.

1, I have been looking at different prices online for the latest MacBook Pro 15 which came out this year and I have come across various models which are: MGXC2X/A, MGXC2B/A and MGXC2LL/A. I'm confused about what these are. All I know is these models were released this year. Could anyone explain what the difference is between these models are and if there are other models which I don't know about?
2, In terms of the 1 year warranty is that registered automatically or would you need to register it yourself?
3. Is there any place online or shop on the highstreet where I could get this laptop for a cheap price and would it be worth getting this laptop from the states as I have been told it is cheaper there?

I hope someone in this area can help me as I am completely oblivious to Macs and the Mac OS. Thank you.

 

1: 2x-a is the base with no dedicated graphics, the rest have the 750m but different storage and CPU

2: you register with Apple

3: Apple outlet on their site, and Microcenter at times

 

I have seen some sites advertising the 2X/A with the 750m, do you think that is a fake?
Also if you don't mind me asking how good is the wireless on this laptop considering there is no Ethernet port?
Lastly what are the biggest negatives of this laptop that I should be aware of?

Look forward to any replies. Thank you.

 

It comes with OS X.

I mean I really like OS X and personally prefer it to Windows, but going in blind might not be the best approach. OS X has a lot of similarities to Windows, but the operating system and the ecosystem built around it is still different enough that I'd recommend you test it (thoroughly if possible) before you buy it.

 

Very true, a few people I know have said seeing how expensive it is I need to test it out to see if I would like it. The only problem is I dont have any friends who have Macs and the Apple store is quite far from where I am so I am in a problem right there.
I have used iOS thoroughly is it similar or different to that?

 

wifi is average to mediocre compared to many other consumer units, and poor compared to business and industrial units.

biggest negatives depend on what you are used to & or need.
in my opinion negatives include, heating and throttling in windows especially, little to no upgradability, average screen gamut, no options for pro GPU's, thunderbolt is still flakey many times even with Apples own devices and adaptors, OSX is now more unstable than a fresh clean copy of windows 7 or 8.1. no options for more than 16GB RAM, they scratch and dent easily compared to a similarly priced unit, they are as far as consumer laptops go .... average to lower for durability. compared to similar priced business units they are extremely fragile. ... I could keep on going but will stop there, as you are new keep in mind I spent 3 decades on Macs and used to be a huge fangirl. ( I need mine for video editing and 3D animation and work primarily as well as durable and super reliable)

some of the icons look the same but no, it is an entirely separate beast.

 

I thought due to the latest Macbooks having the newest wifi technology in them there would be faster on wifi, so I am surprised.
Wow! that is alot of negatives you have stated, you know more about Macs than me so I will take what you said into consideration. I am really shocked with all those issues you have stated and in a way its kind of put me off the Macbook completely.

 

Keep in mind, KCE is a design/multimedia professional whose usage pattern is pretty far outside the vast majority of owners. Macs are no longer the design powerhouses they once were. They should be more thought of as high-end consumer electronics that you use to edit home movies of your kids rather than creating the next Toy Story.

What are your intended uses for the machine?

 

I would use it for word processing, spreadsheets, watch movies, bit of Photoshop , surfing the web and playing games here and there but also taking it with me.

 

correct and I had just cooked off one more motherboard in an rMBP yesterday. for the basics you listed any laptop will do you, as for gaming if you are looking to do much you would be better off with something with better cooling and GPU + windows in my opinion.

 

What games would you play? If they don't have OS X ports, then you'd need to spend additional money on a Windows license. Running Windows on a Mac has a whole other set of concerns that I can detail if asked. The bottom line is that you shouldn't consider purchasing a Mac unless you intend to spend at least 80% of your operating time in OS X.

 

If you dont mind would be able to tell me the major issues of windows on the Mac? one of the previous posters did post something about heating and throttling in windows.
Games would be like Crysis, Fifa, GTA V etc.

 

ok so intensive games.

you are looking at having no graphics switching so very reduced battery life, sub par touchpad, APM, wifi / BT and video drivers. ( some can be rectified by manufacturer drivers some not ). heating and throttling ( issue with many thin and lights especially single fan or low noise models ). now out of date and slower gpu ( 750m kepler only ), and once again back to it not as durable.

for AAA title windows games I would look at the ASUS, Gigabyte ( Aorus ) and MSI gaming units where they are not much larger but have as good of screens ( ok lower resolution in many cases but as good of gamut and accuracy if not better ), and twice or more the gaming performance. even much better performance in Adobe CS/CC as a bonus. if you don't mind making a thread over in WNSIB and possibly post a link in here all of us may be able to help you better.

very good point to all potential buyers.

 

Heat and throttling are a concern. Some models suffer from it, others do not. It's a crap shoot. Disabling turbo boost on the CPU using Windows power plan management helps and doesn't significantly impact game performance. Another aspect related to heat generation is graphic switching not being supported in Windows on Macs with a discreet GPU (the GeForce 750M on current models). With the dGPU active at all times, battery life is significantly reduced, at least 50% in most cases. Trackpad performance is very poor in Windows. Display scaling is not 100% accurate on the rMBP, even with Windows 8.1. The built-in keyboard is not optimal because the command key becomes the Windows key, meaning that you're left with one control key.

For the types of games you want to play, you really should consider a Windows-based system. The Razer Blade or Blade Pro has much more powerful hardware, yet is about as thin and light as a rMBP.

 

Sorry for sounding a bit daft but what is WNSIB?
If I haven't said this already, I am thankful for the support you have given me and others on this thread as its been made clear who MBP are really for and it does not seem like I fit in that category.

 

WNSIB is the acronym for the What Notebook Should I Buy section of the forum. Forum lingo is kinda like gaming lingo, you get used to it after a while, don't worry about it, it's a perfectly normal inquiry to have.

 

as Tijo said the what should I buy section. and we are all here to help if we can, good luck in your search and I hope to see you around the forums.

 

Thank you for the explanation.
As I have a thread on that particular section would I need to create a new one or just carry on with my existing thread as I have had excellent support there.

 

just carry on there, I will look it up and come join the fun later today to see if I can assist more in that thread.

 

For the most part the differences are going to be the CPUs and the gpu. The graphics option you have is either the iris pro or iris pro + gt 750m. If you're not doing any intense video related things (photoshop, indesign, flash, gaming) the 750 will not be of much use. The other difference is the CPUs. Either 2.5ghz, etc I don't remember of the top of my head what the speed on the lower end model is. You could always buy in the states or via eBay. I do a lot of buying and selling on eBay with computers and many people that buy them are from overseas. Much cheaper in us than wherever else.