My Final Decision: 2012 Macbook Pro with Retina Display

Today, I made the terrible decision of which Apple laptop to purchase: The 13" Macbook Air, the 13" Macbook Pro, or the 15" Macbook Pro (Retina Display). I looked into WinOS laptops and none of them stood up to my choice.

Air
Pros: Light, forward thinking, fast-ish, less expensive ($1600), less guilt in 3 years when I want to upgrade.
Cons: No ethernet port, no optical drive, slow for video and heavy graphic design, can't upgrade without voiding warranty.

Pro
Pros: Ethernet and optical drive in addition to legacy ports, slightly more powerful and upgradable than the Air
Cons: Heavy, 2x more expensive (The one I want would be $3K.)

Pro (Retina)
Pros: Sexy beast! Most powerful laptop on the market. Most-stunning visual display.
Cons: RIDICULOUSLY expensive! Specs not necessarily needed right now, but will be normal in 2-3 years. Only for people with money to burn.

Click Image to Enlarge

The Comparison

The Air was cheap. Inexpensive, but weak. Essentially an iPad with a keyboard.
The Macbook Pro was good, but the upgraded one I wanted was just as expensive as the retina.
After much debate, I decided to bite the price-bullet and go for the current-top-of-the-line, but painfully unupgradeable, Macbook Pro with Retina Display.

The Specs

I'll be keeping the basic processor (2.3GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz)
and the basic storage (256GB SSD)
But I'll be upgrading RAM from 8GB to 16GB (16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM)

The Price

15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display — $2179 ($200 off for students)
AppleCare Protection Plan — $239 ($60 off for students)
MagSafe to MagSafe 2 Converter — $9.99
Free Student App Store/iTunes Gift Card — (-$100)
Tax — $159.47
Grand total —$2587.46 (ouch!)

p.s. I own a miraculously long-lasting macbook from 2006. Since then, as I've passed the thousands of hours sitting in front of it, I've thought to myself, "I would have invested any amount of money toupgrade this experience." Now, I'm putting that promise to the test.)

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