Apple MacBook Pro ME664LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop with Retina Display (NEWEST VERSION)

 Brand Apple | Model: ME664LL/A

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Apple MacBook Pro ME664LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop with Retina Display (NEWEST VERSION)

Feature

• 2.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 Processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz
• 8 GB 1600MHz DDR3L Memory
• 256 GB Flash Storage
• 15.4-inch Retina Display; 2880x1800 Resolution; NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M Graphics
• Mac OS X Mountain Lion, 7 Hour Battery Life

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2 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning innovation, April 26, 2013

By 

samxf42 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apple MacBook Pro ME664LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop with Retina Display (NEWEST VERSION) (Personal Computers)

I am a life-long Windows user, so this was my first time purchasing a Mac. Like many other Windows users, I became discouraged with the release of Windows 8. It seems like Microsoft is almost incapable of improvement. I decided to give the Macbook Pro with Retina Display a try and instead of writing a lengthy review I'll just say this: I don't anticipate using Windows again any time soon. Period.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Overall great laptop, but Apple is starting to skimp a bit, April 22, 2013

By 

Jonathan Birge (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Apple MacBook Pro ME664LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop with Retina Display (NEWEST VERSION) (Personal Computers)

SUMMARY: This is a solid computer with a gorgeous display. The integrated solid state memory is incredibly fast, and so far I haven't had a single crash or hang after about a month of usage. If you know you want a Mac laptop, this is the one to get, I think. It's a nice balance of size and power and utility. Consider it a solid desktop replacement with four cores and enough screen real estate (especially in scaled mode) to really get work done. On the other hand, it's not a behemoth like the 17 inch MacBook that, and is very easy to carry.

WHAT'S GREAT (and a few tips):

* High resolution screen. In normal mode, you get crisp letters and pictures, and adequate screen real estate for most tasks. When in scaled mode, you get the equivalent of a 1900x1200 display, great for doing certain tasks like programming or using applications not yet written for the retina display.

* Solid state drive. The integrated solid state drive is amazingly fast, and uses a 6 GB/s SATA connection right on the motherboard. It also allows for the incredibly thin form factor. I'm not sure, but it seems faster than normal solid state drives. The lack of a cabled connection shouldn't matter noticeably, so maybe it's just my imagination. Either way, it's really nice to not have a spinning drive, and liberating to use a laptop without having to constantly worry about how much you're moving the computer and wondering if you're going to damage the drive.

By the way HERE IS HOW TO PICK OUT THE RIGHT SIZE DRIVE: Spend a lot of time figuring out what kinds of things you're going to do, and how much disk space your media will take up, and how those needs are going to grow in the three to four years you own the computer. And then just order the largest drive available. Trust me, you'll thank me later. The integrated solid state drives on these Retina MacBooks can NOT be upgraded later, so it's better to have too much and not need it then have too little and regret it. Even if you never come all that close to filling it, you'll have a faster computer than can do a better job keeping the drive defragmented and you won't ever have to worry about wearing out the solid state drive (they have only so many erase cycles they can handle and this gets exacerbated if you keep the drive close to full and things fragment).

* The OS. This isn't going to matter if you're already a Mac user, but OS X is really starting to hit its stride. I'll be the first to say it was not a great OS for a long time, and was slower and less reliable than Windows. However, it's really come into its own with 10.7 and 10.8. The full screen mode is a great way to reduce screen clutter and the tyranny of resizing and arranging windows, and yet is evolutionary and fits in with existing applications well, unlike the revolutionary and ill-fitting "start screen" of Windows 8. As much as I like what they are trying to do with Windows 8, right now it's a very messy OS that feels like two operating systems competing with each other. The Mac just seems more elegant and well-designed, Windows 8 feels like the middle of an awkward transition.

* It's light. Ridiculously light. If it were any lighter, it would start to feel "cheap".

WHAT'S BAD (and a few rants):

* No power or battery indicators! What the heck is Apple thinking? This is supposed to be a "professional" level computer and they screw us out of a battery or power indicator! These used to be on all MacBook Pros. Is there a level above Pro I don't know about? Sometimes it's nice to know if your computer is off or just asleep, and it's ALWAYS nice to be able to see how much charge the computer has without having to turn it on or wake it up.

* The screen isn't terribly bright. It's generally not a problem, but in a room with bright sunlight, the screen can be hard to see. Evidently the retina MacBooks suffer from the same problem the retina iPads initially did, which was that the pixel density resulted in a screen that transmits much less of the backlight than a standard resolution screen.

* The iSight camera is terrible. They call it upgraded, but I'm not sure what camera is worse than this. It's noisy, has terrible low-light performance, and if it's HD, I'm not sure where they are getting the pixels from. The driver also isn't smart enough to figure out how to expose for a central subject, so if you try to do a video chat near a window, the person on the other end will get a great picture of what's outside of your window, with your pitch black silhouette just there to just add drama, I suppose. Again, what is wrong with Apple that my iPhone has a better camera than my $3000 computer?

All in all, though, I'm very happy with the machine and very glad I purchased it. If they didn't cheese off on some of the components above, it would be an easy five stars.

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended, April 17, 2013

By 

Brian J Williams - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apple MacBook Pro ME664LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop with Retina Display (NEWEST VERSION) (Personal Computers)

Worked perfectly straight out of the box, my first Apple computer took a bit of getting used to after using pc's with windows but liked so much i have now also bought a macbook air.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars MacBook Pro the best of the best, April 15, 2013

By 

tomd - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apple MacBook Pro ME664LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop with Retina Display (NEWEST VERSION) (Personal Computers)

My Macbook pro arrived as scheduled; it was well packaged and no damage was found when the boxes were opened. The unit performed flawlessly right out of the box. Apple sent a MacBook Pro orientation video via the internet which was very useful in introducing me to the new machine. I own several Apple products, including 2 iMacs, and I found the MacBook Pro to be faster and to have a higher screen resolution, which makes using the machine and viewing its content a pleasure. Apple's world class technical support is another reason to buy this unit. I'm using my MacBook Pro to control a very complex and robust amateur radio (Ham) station, complete with rig control, logging, spotting, call sign lookup, etc., and the Pro performs all functions without even breathing hard, so to speak. I strongly recommend this unit, without qualification.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Amazing in every aspect except for battery life and annoying charger, April 13, 2013

By 

CRich - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apple MacBook Pro ME664LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop with Retina Display (NEWEST VERSION) (Personal Computers)

This laptop is every bit a MacBook. It's smooth, fast, and easy to use. The Retina display is BEAUTIFUL.

The one serious weakness is the battery life. I get 5-6 hours on average, which is pitiful considering the cost of this computer. And if I start watching a video - forget it - I lose 1% every 2-3 mins. Compounding this issue is the bulky, heavy charger, which is inconvenient to travel with and awkward to keep in a laptop bag. Fix your power problems, Apple!

5.0 out of 5 stars Mercedes!, April 10, 2013

By 

unitedguy01 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apple MacBook Pro ME664LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop with Retina Display (NEWEST VERSION) (Personal Computers)

Absolutely love this machine. After some research about this due to the 8gb RAM and Quad core processor.... yes QUAD core... aka dual dual core! Truly the FERRARI of Laptops

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic machine, April 6, 2013

By 

harryone - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apple MacBook Pro ME664LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop with Retina Display (NEWEST VERSION) (Personal Computers)

I am a first time Mac user and I must say this machine kicks ass. I mean literally this Mac just leaves even the most flashy ultra books far far behind in the rear view. I have always had a love hate relationship with Apple products. Something like an Average looking guy would feel towards a handsome hunk in school, just wondering how and why females drool over him, what does he have other than a face like a Greek god and hair like strands of gold. But the biggest irony follows when you find out that the hunk is a really nice, fun guy to be with and u become best friends the first time you get to know each other. That is exactly what happened within the first 10 mins after I put this machine on. This mac is my new best friend. And also this is a gift from my wife so this makes it even more special. To the ones who are still trying to make a decision between This model and the one with a 5400 rpm hard drive, I would recommend just spend an extra $300 and get this one with an SSD. This one is an entirely different animal. The transfer speeds are phenomenal and multitasking is just a breeze.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply... a powerhouse!, March 31, 2013

By 

Choubachy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apple MacBook Pro ME664LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop with Retina Display (NEWEST VERSION) (Personal Computers)

There isn't much really that you wouldn't love about this machine. This is my first owned Mac device, though it's not my first Mac experience. I've been working with Macs at work for quite a while. I've been owning PCs and laptops that run on Windows for quite over a decade. Out of experience, it's safe for me to say that switching to a Mac is a night and day experience. This MBP is super fast, very well built, pretty, super quite, and projects outstanding images on this gorgeous retina display. I might sound enthralled by how superior my new MBP is to my previously owned PCs/laptops, but I'm not swept off my feet, so to speak. After all, you get what you pay for. You'd expect a superior performance out of something that is multiple times the price of the rest of its kin out in the market.

A word of advice though. This model which I'm reviewing has an 8GB RAM on it. If you're thinking about purchasing a MBP and you know that you're going to use it for heavy graphics/photo editing/video editing use, get the one with the 16 gigs of ram! Visually intensive as it is, Mac OSx hogs its share of RAM and processing power. Expect Final Cut Pro or the Adobe Suite to be no different.

Over all, I'm quite happy with my purchase. And, as always, Amazon made sure my precious delivery reached intact and in crisp condition.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Just the display itself is worth most of the money you pay!, March 27, 2013

By 

D. Janapa "Djei" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Apple MacBook Pro ME664LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop with Retina Display (NEWEST VERSION) (Personal Computers)

I was thinking abt getting this amazing macbook since the time the previous version was announced at WWDC last year.

I was apprehensive of spending $2,200+tax = $2,400 now that Californians also have to pay taxes for purchasing from amazon.
Also I have been a PC guy since the time I have known about computers, so a big switch.

I couldn't wait longer and finally got the newer one couple of weeks and with some help from friends I got it for $1,869 no tax ! It finally arrived yesterday!

First impression. My rankings for the features of this product go in the order

Amazing/mind blowing display.
One cannot take eyes of it (dint face any issue as one of the reviewers had mentioned about the strain). Watching Hulu or iTunes trailers / your own pictures or videos is so sharp and clear. After getting used to this you wudnt want to go to any laptop. This is something that happened to me after getting the iPad with retina display as well :)

The sleek/slim n sexy design (everyone knows how sleek MacBooks are..so nothing new)

Super fast booting.
I am amazed with the way it boots up and also the instant wake up from sleep.
I hear almost all the pcs or ultrabooks do the same now a days. But well this is the first experience for me as such.

Really fast response browsing through or multi tasking.

Camera for FaceTime video or taking pictures.
This is one aspect I am little disappointed.
I don't find the camera that good. When checked at the apple store the picture from the MacBook's camera seemed really good, but here It's slightly blurry and unclear.
I was hoping to do FaceTime from my MacBook Pro as well. I guess I will just have to take pics or FaceTime from iPad or iPhone.

The Battery
Little disappointed with this as well. I did not see the expected 7 hrs battery life.
So far I may have got only 3-4 hrs battery life If I am not wrong. May be as I use it longer the battery life would improve.

And the fact that now all your apple devices stay synced is one of the important points or factors one may want to get a MacBook. (Not necessarily this expensive MacBook)

So far I have not faced any other issues what someone had quoted.

I will update my review in next few days after I work on it for a week more.

I have taken out one star ..for the disappointing camera and battery life.

7 of 19 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Comp If You Already Wear Glasses, March 26, 2013

By 

N.Boyd "nnb" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apple MacBook Pro ME664LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop with Retina Display (NEWEST VERSION) (Personal Computers)

I really wanted to love this machine. Its form factor is perfect, battery life long, and screen big enough for full-time use. However, I returned it after a week and a half because my eyestrain from this machine was absolutely unbearable. It was like someone drilled through my eyes and I could feel the pain even in the morning, waking up after a good night's sleep.

I checked the Apple forums, and sure enough, I'm far from the only person to have this issue. In an office environment, such as at an Apple store, the screen is fine and doesn't appear to be much of a problem (although I didn't test it like this for long). But in natural light or at home I found this comp unusable for my eyes. Especially for doing word processing / text editing, working with black text on white background. For over a week, I tried all combinations of brightness and color, but the strain continued. Interestingly, I had the same problem a couple of years ago on the then-new Samsung Series 9, and the panel on this Apple is made by Samsung. Something to think about.

I have a couple of friends who have this rMBP machine and I talked to them about the eyestrain issue, but they don't usually work with docs and they both wear really strong glasses, so they don't care. Most people don't stop to ask anymore why they've come to need glasses in the first place. Lastly, many images on this screen look blurry. Not pixelated, but blurry. There is an explanation for it related to the screen's abnormally high resolution, but who cares about the reason? The images are blurry, period, and I did not sign up for that. Back to the store it went.