So here is my dilemma....
I am NOT even close to liking Mac as a company, but as a teacher I have to adapt. My entire school is going towards a Mac shift as they opened up the MAC lab and all of the teachers are getting pretty good discounts from Mac on laptops. My principal suggested* (because he can't force us) to buy a Mac laptop to design our lessons and keep them portable as it seems that most likely I will be a traveling teacher (I won't have a classroom and have to go from one class to the other). Currently I am a 7th and 8th grade English teacher, but I teach the photography and the technology program(Which is now going to be apple focused...not going to say anything because I have nothing nice to say about it). I will be assisting with the Mac lessons in the lab as well.
Now that you know my story...
I am considering one of the Mac Retina displays. It will cost me in total around $2,300 with all upgrades on the lower model (Keep in mind I get a $300 discount because I am a teacher, which is the reason that the price is so low with the 16gb of memory configuration). I will receive all of the accessories, VGA adapter, CD drive and ethernet port adapter free as teachers are give the accessories gratis.
I will also be using the laptop for my personal items (photoshop CS6, Ableton Live, Some light gaming of course)
MY BIG concern is the 256gb SSD. That is almost NOTHING for someone like me, but to upgrade to 512GB, is a $500 increase and NOT worth the price premium. Id rather invest in a Seagate 1TB GoFlex Portable for Mac Thunderbolt Hard Drive for $180.
So what do you think? Should I spend the money on the Retina or just get the regular Pro and save the money...
P.S. At home I am much more of a power user. You can check my PC specs to get an idea of what kind of PC user I am.
I am NOT even close to liking Mac as a company, but as a teacher I have to adapt. My entire school is going towards a Mac shift as they opened up the MAC lab and all of the teachers are getting pretty good discounts from Mac on laptops. My principal suggested* (because he can't force us) to buy a Mac laptop to design our lessons and keep them portable as it seems that most likely I will be a traveling teacher (I won't have a classroom and have to go from one class to the other). Currently I am a 7th and 8th grade English teacher, but I teach the photography and the technology program(Which is now going to be apple focused...not going to say anything because I have nothing nice to say about it). I will be assisting with the Mac lessons in the lab as well.
Now that you know my story...
I am considering one of the Mac Retina displays. It will cost me in total around $2,300 with all upgrades on the lower model (Keep in mind I get a $300 discount because I am a teacher, which is the reason that the price is so low with the 16gb of memory configuration). I will receive all of the accessories, VGA adapter, CD drive and ethernet port adapter free as teachers are give the accessories gratis.
I will also be using the laptop for my personal items (photoshop CS6, Ableton Live, Some light gaming of course)
MY BIG concern is the 256gb SSD. That is almost NOTHING for someone like me, but to upgrade to 512GB, is a $500 increase and NOT worth the price premium. Id rather invest in a Seagate 1TB GoFlex Portable for Mac Thunderbolt Hard Drive for $180.
So what do you think? Should I spend the money on the Retina or just get the regular Pro and save the money...
P.S. At home I am much more of a power user. You can check my PC specs to get an idea of what kind of PC user I am.
The Ongoing Project
(15 items) |
HTPC
(10 items) |
| CPU | Motherboard | Graphics | RAM |
|---|---|---|---|
| AMD A6-3500 Llano 2.1GHz | ASRock A75M FM1 AMD A75 | ASUS ENGT430 | G.SKILL 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 160 |
| Hard Drive | Hard Drive | Optical Drive | OS |
| (4) HITACHI Deskstar 0S03230 3TB 5400 RPM | Crucial M4 64GB | SAMSUNG Black Blu-ray Combo SATA Model SH-B123L | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium |
| Power | Case | ||
| OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W | Moneual Black Aluminum MonCaso 320B | ||
| View all | |||
|
The Ongoing Project
(15 items) |
HTPC
(10 items) |
| CPU | Motherboard | Graphics | RAM |
|---|---|---|---|
| AMD A6-3500 Llano 2.1GHz | ASRock A75M FM1 AMD A75 | ASUS ENGT430 | G.SKILL 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 160 |
| Hard Drive | Hard Drive | Optical Drive | OS |
| (4) HITACHI Deskstar 0S03230 3TB 5400 RPM | Crucial M4 64GB | SAMSUNG Black Blu-ray Combo SATA Model SH-B123L | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium |
| Power | Case | ||
| OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W | Moneual Black Aluminum MonCaso 320B | ||
| View all | |||
