DROOLING

NEW 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display

I wish I had one to review. I don't, but I have spent the day figuring out what it would cost to get one adequate for my creative work. This post is just about the 15 inch because I would not consider anything smaller. 

Ok. For all you Video and Photography Creatives out there, this is the skinny on what you need with the new 15" MacBook Pro Retina Display to actually do professional work. (Retina Display means 2880 x 1800 pixels) 

BASICS

Intel HD Graphics 4000 NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory.

It comes with 2.6GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz or you can upgrade to 2.7GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz for $250.00.

It comes with 8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM or you can upgrade to 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM for $200.00.

ETHERNET ADAPTER

There is not an ethernet port. If you plan on uploading anything you need an Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter. $29.00. Available on the Apple Website Store.

"The Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter lets you easily connect to a high-performance Gigabit Ethernet network. Small and compact, it connects to the Thunderbolt port on your Mac computer and provides an RJ-45 port that supports 10/100/1000BASE-T networks." http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD463ZM/A

INTERNAL DRIVE

The internal drive comes standard with flash storage. Flash storage has no moving parts and provides faster responsiveness and enhanced durability. It comes with 768GB Flash Storage, if you opt for the 512GB Flash Storage you can subtract $500.00.

READING EXISTING EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES

There is not a firewire nor an esata port on the new macbook pro.
LaCie eSATA Hub Thunderbolt Series  provides a way to connect your esata drives via Thunderbolt. $199.00. I am sure there will be many new external hard drive solutions coming out this year for Thunderbolt.  Available on the Apple Website Store.

"The eSATA Hub Thunderbolt Series lets you connect eSATA drives to a Thunderbolt-compatible Mac. Connect up to two drives to the Hub, which connects to the Thunderbolt port on your new Mac. It's the perfect solution when you're using eSATA drives, but have upgraded to a Mac without ExpressCard/34 slots.

• Connect eSATA drives to your new Mac

• Get full speeds from eSATA drives

• Daisy chain Thunderbolt devices

• Revitalize your investment"

http://store.apple.com/us/product/H8875ZM/A/lacie-esata-hub-thunderbolt-series

DVD DRIVE

There is not an internal DVD/CD drive so you would need an Apple USB SuperDrive  - $79.00 - it is very sleek, slim and cool. Available on the Apple Website Store.

CARD READERS
Currently there does not seem to be a good solution for a CF cardreader via Thunderbolt.
However if you use a Canon you can pull your video/images with the HDMI port. You will need an HDMI mini to HDMI standard high-speed cable.  These are easily available by many brands. Since Thunderbolt specifications were only recently released, there will probably be many new Thunderbolt card reader solutions forthcoming.

EXTERNAL DISPLAY OR MONITOR

If you monitor had HDMI it looks like that is covered. There is also a Mini DisplayPort adapter for DVI for $29.00.

Of course you then add the one year AppleCare Protection for $349.00.

So if you add all the options in red above you are looking at $4156.00 without tax, without a mouse or other accessories. 

That is a hefty chunk of change and you have yet the new software.

If you tone it down to just the 2.6GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.6GH, 

8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM, 3 Year AppleCare and no accessories you can get in at $3148.00 before tax. 

At the end of the day this is really expensive. It frustrates me that you have to get new accessories for everything. It seems silly to me to have an ultra thin computer at the expense of ports and a DVD drive. Without ports this involves a lot of extras and work-a-rounds. In theory, if you are all about the cloud then you don't need DVD's to load your software. You download. In that case you need a good connection. No ethernet port. A computer with no ethernet port. Now that is thinking different.