Hi Pete

No worries on that.
You can get Thunderbolt to Ethernet and Thunderbolt to Firewire adapters (which 
aren't overly expensive),…but yes, best to look at all the options and weigh up 
which features you want and which suits. ;o)

Hope it all helps.

Kind regards
Daniel
---
Daniel Kerr
MacWizardry

Phone: 0414 795 960
Email: <daniel AT macwizardry.com.au>
Web:   <http://www.macwizardry.com.au>


**For everything Apple**

NOTE: Any information provided in this email may be my personal opinion and as 
such should be taken accordingly, and may not be the views of MacWizardry. Any 
information provided does not offer or warrant any form of warranty or accept 
liability. It would be appreciated that if any information in this email is to 
be disseminated, distributed or copied, that permission by the author be 
requested. 

On 16/08/2013, at 9:39 PM, Peter Crisp <[email protected]> wrote:

> Ok Daniel, thanks for that lengthy email there. I was not aware till then 
> that the MBP retina didn't have ethernet. That's odd but I suppose it's 
> because of customer feedback. 
> 
> When I think about it my wife's 2013 MBP 13" non retina which has ethernet, 
> the ethernet port never actually gets used, so there's really no difference. 
> It takes a bit of getting used to the idea.
> 
> I will have to go and have a look at a retina I think to see if getting 
> retina [for me] is worth the extra $$ PLUS discarding the superdrive and 
> ethernet as well.
> 
> Regards
> 
> 
> Pete
> 
> On 16/08/2013, at 8:25 PM, Daniel Kerr <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
>> Hi Pete
>> 
>> I'm still not sold on the Retina machines just yet. I'm waiting for the new 
>> versions and more things to be developed to take full advantage of it all. 
>> (And the "true" Retina resolution does run slightly lower then the normal 
>> resolution, though it can go "higher").
>> The Retina machines don't have SuperDrives, or Firewire, or Ethernet. These 
>> are all "add on's" if you want those features. These were generally removed 
>> for a) space and b) some people don't use them or need them.
>> Wether it's worth it or a not,…comes down to each person.
>> 
>> With my clients it depends on their usage as to what suits. But for most of 
>> the people I source them for, they generally go for the normal MacBook Pro's 
>> and then spec them up with SSD drives and more RAM (16GB), as quite a lot of 
>> clients I know still want or use the SuperDrive and don't want to be 
>> carrying it around with them. So for them, having it built in is worth the 
>> little bit extra weight. (as well as having the Firewire and Ethernet built 
>> in, instead of as adapters). But again, each person has different usages or 
>> want they want.
>> For me personally, I still find I need to have everything in the machine, so 
>> I have a normal MacBookPro specced up with 16GB RAM and an SSD drive. (and 
>> the 15" Hi Res Antiglare screen). But at home I use the 27" LED screen as 
>> well. I find when out on jobs sometimes i need to use Firewire for things, 
>> Ethernet for networks and burn or read things from CD/DVD. So for me, that 
>> was the "better option" to get it all built in. Yes, I could carry around 
>> adapters and drives etc,…but I already carry 10 million things, without 
>> adding to it. (Even though I do have to carry all those adapters for client 
>> machines just in case).
>> I personally also like the idea of being able to upgrade items on the 
>> machine if I want to as well, i.e. if an SSD comes out super cheap then I 
>> can put in a larger one. With the Retina Display ones you have to do it all 
>> at the time of purchase as you can't change anything later on.
>> But again, it's all done to personal choice. Though I think the way they're 
>> going, the "normal" MacBook Pro will get phased out and the only choice will 
>> be the Retina Display…………...
>> 
>> And yes, external drives are pretty cheap. The Apple one (USB2 SuperDrive is 
>> $89) and I've been selling a Samsung one (USB3) which is a bit faster and 
>> just as good for $69 (RRP $89), so I've found them to be quite popular with 
>> the iMac's and laptops with no burner. Otherwise if you have a DVD on 
>> another machine you can always do Remote Disc sharing.
>> 
>> Hope that helps.
>> 
>> Kind regards
>> Daniel
>> ---
>> Daniel Kerr
>> MacWizardry
>> 
>> Phone: 0414 795 960
>> Email: <daniel AT macwizardry.com.au>
>> Web:   <http://www.macwizardry.com.au>
>> 
>> 
>> **For everything Apple**
>> 
>> NOTE: Any information provided in this email may be my personal opinion and 
>> as such should be taken accordingly, and may not be the views of 
>> MacWizardry. Any information provided does not offer or warrant any form of 
>> warranty or accept liability. It would be appreciated that if any 
>> information in this email is to be disseminated, distributed or copied, that 
>> permission by the author be requested. 
>> 
>> On 16/08/2013, at 11:44 AM, Peter Crisp <[email protected]> wrote:
>> 
>>> Thanks Daniel, yes i like the 27" Thunderbolt displays. i have an iTunes 
>>> library around 220GB and photos >50GB, so 256GB no good for me and no doubt 
>>> they will get bigger not smaller.
>>> 
>>> Do you feel that the extra cost of the retina is worth it over the 
>>> non-retina MBP in 13". I always wondered why the retina machine doesn't 
>>> have the Superdrive built in. Any reason? I suppose out of habit I will 
>>> find it hard to go without a Superdrive but lots of other machines in the 
>>> house if I need to burn something - or just buy an external USB Superdrive.
>>> 
>>> Regards
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Pete
>>> 
>>> On 15/08/2013, at 9:57 PM, Daniel Kerr <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Hi Pete
>>>> 
>>>> The 27" LED screens are great, well worth it. I use one with my laptop 
>>>> when at home and recommend them. And when you compare the price (For what 
>>>> you get) to comparable other non-Apple models they aren't actually "that" 
>>>> expensive.
>>>> 
>>>> If you store a lot of stuff then yes, the 512GB Flash Drive is worth it , 
>>>> and they've come down quite a bit. Just depends how much you store 
>>>> actually on the machine versus carry a USB drive around with you.
>>>> (I was going to suggest the 16GB RAM as well, but then remembered you 
>>>> can't go that high on the 13" model, it's only on the 15" model you 
>>>> can,…so I changed that,…hehe).
>>>> And unfortunately with the Retina Display laptops (like the Air's as 
>>>> well), you can't really add things later on.  What you buy upfront are the 
>>>> specs you'll have for the life of the laptop. 
>>>> 
>>>> Hope that helps.
>>>> 
>>>> Kind regards
>>>> Daniel
>>>> ---
>>>> Daniel Kerr
>>>> MacWizardry
>>>> 
>>>> Phone: 0414 795 960
>>>> Email: <daniel AT macwizardry.com.au>
>>>> Web:   <http://www.macwizardry.com.au>
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> **For everything Apple**
>>>> 
>>>> NOTE: Any information provided in this email may be my personal opinion 
>>>> and as such should be taken accordingly, and may not be the views of 
>>>> MacWizardry. Any information provided does not offer or warrant any form 
>>>> of warranty or accept liability. It would be appreciated that if any 
>>>> information in this email is to be disseminated, distributed or copied, 
>>>> that permission by the author be requested.
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