MBP Purchase Limbo

[domino]

I'm in a place where I need a MacBook Pro i7. I looked at the MBP Retina and I found that even with 500Gb SSD, it's not enough for my need to transcode music and edit raw movies. I think it's impractical to buy extra things and an external drive.

 

I think the older, thicker brother is a better fit because I can convert the optical bay to fit a 2Tb drive and upgrade the system drive to an SSD. The only drawback is that it isn't a retina display.

 

My Question is, is there any hope that Apple will release the thicker, older MBP with Retina display? Or will I be forced to go the Hackintosh route?

[3.14r2]

My Question is, is there any hope that Apple will release the thicker, older MBP with Retina display?

IMO quite unlikely. Apple is not the company that would take step back.

Or will I be forced to go the Hackintosh route?

Not that you are forced... AFAIK there is no Retina display equipped notebook other then Apple ATM. But there are certain notebooks that have two (2) HDD bays plus an optical drive. Some Dell models for instance:

XPS 17 (L702X)

Precision M4700

 

Other manufacturers (HP, IBM/Lenovo) may have same option to offer as well.

[domino]

Yea, I didn't think they'd step back. The MBP retina clearly isn't for me as they did away with the LAN and forcing to buying an adaptor isn't going to work. Oh well. I just saved money. I guess the older brother will do.

 

I plan on taking the optical drive on that and swapping it with an optibay. I used the DVD once in like 3yrs. Nothing a cheap external DVD rom can't handle.