Comment Re:$7142.85 (Score 1) 419
I'm with you as one who actually uses a mac as intended. Pretty much any time I'm in front of it, at least 12GB of the 16GB of RAM in the machine is in use, and at least 2 of the 8 logical CPU cores are pegged, if not more; on not-rare occasions, I see 8 pegged cores and a ton of swapping as 16GB isn't really enough (though it's the max for this machine) for some of what I'm doing, which, of course, leads to a very non-responsive system. Budget woes and the unavailability if better-spec'd portables dictate that I have to make do, however. I could get a new rMBP with a marginally faster CPU and marginally slower SSD, which would actually make the situation worse as I can't get one with more than 16GB of RAM and, thus, would still swap... to a slower disk. Oh, and I don't have $3200 to drop on, essentially, a downgrade; and yes, to maintain the same amount of storage as my current MBP, I would have to upgrade the SSD size (the upside being that *all* of that 1TB would be SSD, but I really wouldn't see any benefit from moving bulk media storage off of a spinning disk).
Sadly, my current MBP is the last portable Apple made that I find interesting. If I could get an rMBP with 32 or 64GB of RAM, that might change. A Mac Pro would be nice, but falls outside of my budget and would be much less useful when traveling, as my internet connection (and, indeed, the best I can get where I live) doesn't have decent enough upstream to allow me to interact effectively with the applications I would use it for, when remote.
The 17" models were a niche when Apple stopped selling them, yes; however, so was every other model they sold at the time. Now that Apple has clout with an demographic that's a bit more savvy than broke college kids who want to look cool, they could sell a 17" model to a much wider audience. Part of the allure to the larger models is the ability to cool a faster CPU more effectively and allow for more hardware configuration options; it's not all about screen size. There is a reason the 13" model comes standard with half as much RAM and you can't order it with the same speed CPU you can put in a 15"; and a 17" would allow for a yet faster CPU, possibly a second drive bay (alternately filling that area with more battery), and maybe a couple RAM slots to augment the on-board 16GB.
As someone who uses their machine to its potential, I'm certain you understand this, so this post is more directed at others who may read it than it is at you.
Sadly, my current MBP is the last portable Apple made that I find interesting. If I could get an rMBP with 32 or 64GB of RAM, that might change. A Mac Pro would be nice, but falls outside of my budget and would be much less useful when traveling, as my internet connection (and, indeed, the best I can get where I live) doesn't have decent enough upstream to allow me to interact effectively with the applications I would use it for, when remote.
The 17" models were a niche when Apple stopped selling them, yes; however, so was every other model they sold at the time. Now that Apple has clout with an demographic that's a bit more savvy than broke college kids who want to look cool, they could sell a 17" model to a much wider audience. Part of the allure to the larger models is the ability to cool a faster CPU more effectively and allow for more hardware configuration options; it's not all about screen size. There is a reason the 13" model comes standard with half as much RAM and you can't order it with the same speed CPU you can put in a 15"; and a 17" would allow for a yet faster CPU, possibly a second drive bay (alternately filling that area with more battery), and maybe a couple RAM slots to augment the on-board 16GB.
As someone who uses their machine to its potential, I'm certain you understand this, so this post is more directed at others who may read it than it is at you.