MacBook Pro vs. MacBook Pro Retina?

I'd recommend the non-Retina MacBook Pro. I own the 13" model, and it is an exceptional machine. If you compare it to the Retina model, it has more ports (including Ethernet and a CD drive) and a far larger storage drive. The Retina MacBook Pro costs a lot more than a high-resolution screen justifies, and has gotten excessive hype from everyone recently. Go with the MacBook Pro (I'd recommend the high-end 13" model - it's got 8 GB of RAM, double the norm', the world's fastest dual-core laptop processor, a 750 GB hard drive, compared to the 128 GB SSD on the Retina model, and a slim design, though not as thin as the Retina). Save $600-$1000 and get some cool cases and accessories for your new computer.

They both are great laptops. I recently bought the Macbook Pro. The reason I chose this instead of the Retina is because the Retina still has many bugs. I would wait to get the Retina for a year or so until all of the problems are solved (look up "ghosting retina"). The Macbook Pro has been around for years, so it's perfected and is better than ever. Other than that, the main differences include price and resolution. The Macbook Pro is a lower price but the Retina has better resolution.

Macbook Pro:

- Lower cost

- Been around for years to be perfected

- Thicker

- Includes disk drive

- Includes Ethernet port

Macbook Pro Retina:

- Higher cost

- Better resolution

- Thinner

- Many problems

- No disk drive

- No Ethernet port

I have the second one and it is really nice but I don't know if it's "necessary". You could probably get away with having the first one and be equally as satisfied.

They both do the same thing... the pro retina just has a higher resolution screen so things look more "vivid" and "intense". Like if you're looking at pictures or watching a movie it looks really awesome. But they both do all the same things and the first one is cheaper, so it'd be more economic to just buy the first one if you're simply using it for basic things like what you described.

macbook pro without retina display

non-retina because retina has problems thats what i heard. either the fans on a lot or its slowing down. can you even tell the difference a lot of people can't. the non retina still has the disk drive i think, while the retina discontinued the disk drive.

seeing that you wont be using photoshop or other software which enhances the vision, i would recommend the normal pro cause its cheaper and the best value i think is the i7 2.9GHz as the cheaper one has a slower i5 processor.