Getting new MacBook Pro Retina vs. some other random laptop

So I'm a pretty diehard apple fanboy, ya know, iPhone, MacBook Pro, and stuff. My MacBook Pro is pretty old and I have the funds to get a new MacBook Pro Retina and I'm a bit weary.

I'm fairly versed in computer hardware and programming as well as UNIX. So when I saw a picture of the insides of the new MacBook and I saw that the RAM as well as the SSD was soldered to the motherboard, it upset me a bit. I'm a programmer so I'll constantly be compiling files and deleting files to test my programs and I'm worried that the SSD would fail fairly quickly and when it does my only choice is to buy a whole new MacBook.

So I was thinking about taking the money I was going to use for the new MacBook (> $3,000 + tax) and buying an ASUS laptop or an Alienware, something with really nice internals and a good HDD setup, maybe RAID or something because that would be a lot cheaper and a lot more configurable than the MacBook. I wouldn't run windows on the laptop, most likely Ubuntu. What do you guys think, should I give up configurability and fixability to maintain my Apple fandom, or should I get a most likely better and cheaper laptop and run Ubuntu on it

I know its a pain. For some of us there is a comfort level with knowing that after 3 or 4 years we can upgrade the SSD or the memory. That said, 512GBs of this generation of SSD and 16GBs of this generation of memory ought to last a good while.

I'm not sure that your compiling and creating/writing/deleting files is going to hit the SSD any harder than a professional videographer or photographer. Yes, SSD eventually wears out but I would expect you would get 5 years without issue. Although I don't know what algorithms are used in the SSD used by Apple I can't imagine they haven't over configured the cells to accommodate wear out. And these systems should be spreading the writes evenly across the available cells. So if you don't fill up your drive it will last even longer.

Personally I have gone with the MacBook Air and will switch my 17" MacBook Pro (I replaced the hard drive with SSD from OWC last Fall) when the next generation of the 15" MacBook Pro Retina model comes out. I want to see the supporting processor specs move up a bit given the graphic requirements of the display and my 17" MBP is not all that bad.

I understand your concerns. On the RAM you are correct, it's soldered in, but the SSD is not. It plugs in to a slot and OWC is already working on a drive for the new MBP.

If you really like OSX like I do, going to anything else would be a pain for me. Also like the other poster said, if you get it with 16GB RAM and max SSD it will last quite a while and very soon OWC will have their drives ready, so the drive can be changed.

Are you forgetting about TRIM? That will hold you out for a good while.

MBP 15 Non-retina

DontTurnAround:

Apple will still make you a fully "upgradeable" Macbook Pro 15.

MBP 15: 2.6GHz, 8 GB RAM, 750 GB @ 5400 rpm for $2199.
(upgrades) 2.7 GHz +$250

750 GB HDD @ 7200 rpm +$50
or
256 GB SSD +$400

Hi-res anti-glare +$100

There is your $3000, fully upgradable.

It is just that the retinaMBP is priced at an advantage vs. the upgradeable MBP.

Give it some thought...