Macbook Pro with Retina Display??!

[ali akbar]

Dear all,

I am going to buy a laptop for my daily works (structural engineering) including design with CSI and Bentley Softwares, modelling and detailing mostly with Tekla Structures, Revit structure, and AutoCAD structural detailing.

My focus is on Macbook Pro with retina display:

Intel Core i7 2.50GHz up to 3.70 GHz and 6Mb cashe
16 GB of DDR3 RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2GB DDR5 Graphic
2880x1800 resolusion

My main concern is that I hear some people say that when you use boot camp to install windows on Macbook pro, the overall performance including battery comes down. Moreover, it becomes very hot under heavy load.

Kindly, if you have used this laptop, please share your experience using this laptop and help me in my selection.

Regards,

[avscorreia]

Why a Mac?
I've been using a DELL Precision M90 for more than 8 years and it still outperforms most of the current standard use laptops. Go for computing power instead of status factor :)

[Saze808]

i have been using asus and MSI laptops for number of years. good performance, satisfactory and elegance. all specifications fits MAC (even better via lower prices) except retina screen.
some examples:
MSI GT70 0NC Ci7 16G 750Gb

Processor CPU Manufacture Intel
CPU Model Intel Core i7
CPU Core Name 3610QM
CPU Frequency - Ghz 2.3
CPU L2 Cache - Mb
Chipset Chip. Manufacture Intel
Chip. Model HM77
Memory Memory Capacity - Gb 16
Memory Technology DDR3
Max. Memory Support 32
Memory FSB - Mhz 1600
Storage System H.D.D Capacity - Gb 750
H.D.D - RPM 7200
SSD Storage - Gb N/A
Graphic VGA Manufacture nVIDIA
VGA Model Name GTX670M
VGA Dedic. Memory - Mb
VGA Memory Technology DDR5
Display Screen Size - Inch 17 <
Screen Resolution - DPI 1920 * 1080
Screen Technology LED
Optical Drive O.D.D System Blu-Ray
Battery Battery Cells 9
Operating System Win 7
Communication Wireless Lan Yes
Bluetooth Yes
LAN 10/100/1000
Expand Slot
Audio Speakers Yes
Other Specs
Webcam Webcam Resolution - Mp HD
Weight - kg 3.9
Dimention - mm 428 * 288 * 55
Other Specs USB 3.0 Yes
Finger Print No
TV Outpot HDMI
Simcard Slot No
Other
-------
MSI GT70 20D i7 32G 1Tb-3Gb

Processor CPU Manufacture Intel
CPU Model Intel Core i7
CPU Core Name
CPU Frequency - Ghz 2.4
CPU L2 Cache - Mb 3.4
Chipset Chip. Manufacture
Chip. Model
Memory Memory Capacity - Gb 32
Memory Technology DDR3
Max. Memory Support
Memory FSB - Mhz
Storage System H.D.D Capacity - Gb 1024
H.D.D - RPM 7200
SSD Storage - Gb SSD < 120 Gb
Graphic VGA Manufacture nVIDIA
VGA Model Name GTX770
VGA Dedic. Memory - Mb 358
VGA Memory Technology
Display Screen Size - Inch 17 <
Screen Resolution - DPI 1080 * 1920
Screen Technology
Optical Drive O.D.D System
Battery Battery Cells 9
Operating System Win 8
Communication Wireless Lan
Bluetooth Yes
LAN Yes
Expand Slot
Audio Speakers Yes
Other Specs
Webcam Webcam Resolution - Mp HD
Weight - kg 3.9
Dimention - mm
Other Specs USB 3.0 Yes
Finger Print No
TV Outpot No
Simcard Slot No
Other
---------
Asus G75VW Ci7 12G 1Tb

Processor CPU Manufacture Intel
CPU Model Intel Core i7
CPU Core Name 3610QM / 3720QM
CPU Frequency - Ghz 2.6
CPU L2 Cache - Mb
Chipset Chip. Manufacture Intel
Chip. Model HM77
Memory Memory Capacity - Gb 12
Memory Technology DDR3
Max. Memory Support 16
Memory FSB - Mhz 1600
Storage System H.D.D Capacity - Gb 1024
H.D.D - RPM 5400
SSD Storage - Gb
Graphic VGA Manufacture nVIDIA
VGA Model Name GTX 660M
VGA Dedic. Memory - Mb 2048
VGA Memory Technology DDR5
Display Screen Size - Inch 17 <
Screen Resolution - DPI 1920 * 1080
Screen Technology LED
Optical Drive O.D.D System Blu-ray writer DVD+/-RW
Battery Battery Cells 8
Operating System Win 7
Communication Wireless Lan Yes
Bluetooth Yes
LAN 10/100/1000
Expand Slot
Audio Speakers Yes
Other Specs
Webcam Webcam Resolution - Mp HD
Weight - kg 4.5
Dimention - mm 415 * 320 * 17
Other Specs USB 3.0 Yes
Finger Print No
TV Outpot HDMI
Simcard Slot No
Other

[ali akbar]

Thanks for your quick replies.

You know that one of the important factors of choosing a laptop for most people is its weight. The laptops you have introduced are very heavy (MSI is two times heavier than Macbook pro).
I want to know the performance of Macbook pro under windows and for the daily works I mentioned in the first post. Please share experience.

Thanks

[Saze808]

CPU and GPU (VGA card) and Ram is the same for both mac and other brands like MSI and ASUS laptops (nVidia,intel,etc). the performance will be the same.
2 notes:
some of my friends has faced problem with installing and configuring Windows on Mac laptops.
2- Macintosh operating systems uses resources (CPU and VGA) better for graphical softwares like Photoshop, corel draw and autodesk. because of better coding and programming. it is not related to hardware specifications.Linux treats the same.(even lower power use rates!)

[versiondemo]

I've doubts about the refrigeration capabilities of the MacBook Pro when you are using very CPU or GPU demanding software. In addition you have no posibilities of expand it, change the batery or the HD.

I have been working with a Dell Precision M4300 for about 6 years and now I've a Precision M4700, with i7 3840 QM, 256 Gb main SSD, 750 Gb secondary HDD and a third HD in the slot of the optical unit (yes, three HD's in a 15,6" laptop), 16 Gb RAM and FirePro M4000 GPU. It's a beast and the refrigeration works very well (indepent fan for the CPU and the GPU, and very easy to unmount and clean).

The main disadvantage is the weight ... but if you need light machine maybe you could take a look to the Surface 3 ...