Take a deal on a 2012 or stay the course?

In about 10 days time I will have the opportunity to purchase one of two 2012 non-Retina MacBook Pros at a discounted price. Both are 15s. One is the base model (512 MB GPU) but has the matte screen (1680x1050) upgrade. The other is a stock high-end version, so 1440x900 glossy but 1 GB GPU.

I don't play games like I used to, just some Diablo 3 with my friends and Portal 2 on the Mac side. I might fire up Crysis 2 which I bought on the cheap via an Amazon sale.

I figure I can still get good coin for my present early 2011 machine but I'm also thinking of just keeping it. It has the stock glossy screen as well. I've used the matte screen before and really liked it, probably better than the Retina display.

Would you take either 2012 machine? If so, which one? Or should I simply stick with what I have? I really like the machine I have now but it's tough to resist moving up especially if paying a fair bit less than retail.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

and how much less? how much are you going to be able to sell your machine?

if the cost is less or reasonably close, do it.

 

The non Retina 2012 Pros are overpriced. Unless you are getting a HUGE discount I would keep what you have.

 

Honestly I have yet to see a big performance difference because of the 512MB Vram in laptop GPU's. I don't know about the 650m, but most mobile GPU's barely have high enough performance/bandwith to fully use 512MB of Vram, let alone 1GB (anyone, correct me if I'm wrong). I also play Diablo 3, Portal 2 and Starcraft 2 on my 2008 uMBP and run everything on native resolution and mid/high settings. I can imagine your 2011 MBP is already doing a great job on those games.
So the only reason I can see to upgrade would be more screen estate with the 1680*1050 version. Otherwise I would just leave the situation as is.

On a personal note, if I were to upgrade my MBP there would be no doubt: I'd buy the Retina version. Already I've read some things about people running it on a day-to-day basis on 1680*1050 (or maybe even 1900*1200) for the bigger screen estate, and still have a great display.

And don't forget how incredibly sexy it is

 

Yeah, given what you have, I would wait a year and buy a Haswell MBPR. There just isn't going to be that big a performance boost going from the 2011 to 2012.

 

Either get a retina now, or next year, depending on your budget. Your current machine should still have good resale value.

 

The discount would have to be pretty epic for me to even consider an upgrade, and then only for the model with the screen upgrade.

 

Haswell just doesn't excite me very much. It will be great for the airs, but other than that...

Its graphics will be than this dedicated, and a bit extra battery life when my machine is not being taxed is just meh to me.