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Retina Display MacBook Pro Q&A
Update Published March 18, 2013
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How much faster is the 13-Inch Retina Display "Late 2012" MacBook Pro custom configured with a faster processor than the stock model? Is the extra performance worth the extra cost?
Please note that all notebooks mentioned in this Q&A have been discontinued. However, this Q&A is up-to-date and can be quite useful for anyone buying or selling one of these models on the used market.
The standard 13-Inch "Late 2012" Retina Display MacBook Pro -- the MacBook Pro "Core i5" 2.5 13" (Retina) -- could be custom configured with a faster 2.9 GHz Core i7 (I7-3520M) processor. In addition to the faster clockspeed, this custom processor has 4 MB of shared level 3 cache rather than 3 MB of level 3 cache like the standard configuration. Both processors have dual cores. Unfortunately, the processor cannot be upgraded later.
EveryMac.com also documents this custom configuration as the MacBook Pro "Core i7" 2.9 13" (Retina).
Performance Overview
For a solid general overview of the performance differences between the standard 13-Inch "Late 2012" Retina Display MacBook Pro and its custom configured brethren, EveryMac.com's own Ultimate Mac Comparison makes it quick to compare side-by-side 32-bit-and 64-bit Geekbench benchmark averages of both with each other and all other G3 and later Macs for thousands of possible performance comparisons.
The Geekbench benchmark shows that when custom configured with the 2.9 GHz Core i7 (I7-3520M), the standard 13-Inch "Late 2012" Retina Display MacBook Pro is roughly 16% faster than the stock model.
Price Overview
The stock model originally cost US$1899 or US$2199, depending on whether it is configured with a 128 GB or 256 GB SSD, respectively, and the processor upgrade cost US$200. On February 13, 2013, Apple lowered the price of the 128 GB SSD configuration to US$1499 and discontinued the 256 GB SSD option as a standard configuration. However, the processor upgrade still cost US$200.
Consequently, the custom configured model with the processor upgrade originally cost between 10%-12% more than the stock model. Starting February 13, 2013, the custom processor upgrade cost 13% or so more.
Performance & Value Summary
There always is some percentage of users who need maximum performance, and these "power users" probably aren't even concerned about the price-to-performance ratio as they want to wring out as much power as possible regardless of price.
However, even for those simply interested in maximizing value, the custom processor option provides roughly 16% more performance but only costs 10%-13% more, so it represents a solid purchase should the 13-Inch "Late 2012" Retina Display MacBook Pro otherwise meet your needs. However, it is worth noting that originally when configured with this upgraded processor and the same 256 GB of flash storage as the entry-level 15-Inch model, the 13-Inch and 15-Inch Retina Display models were the same price, and the 15-Inch model provides a massive 63% more performance.
After February 13, 2013, the lower priced 13-Inch Retina Display MacBook Pro became a slightly better value than it was as originally introduced, but the 15-Inch Retina Display MacBook Pro line still crushes it in terms of performance.
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