"RAM is soldered onto the logic board and cannot be upgraded, and that the proprietary solid-state drive memory was supplied by Samsung."
RAM = memory
drive = storage

Glad I went for the 16Gb option. Debated 8Gb until I saw the (comparitively to previous costs) cheaper upgrade option and went for it without knowing it was soldered on. Had I ordered the 8Gb and then found about the soldering I'd definitely have cancelled & reordered 16.
I chose not to bother with SSD premium as I'd rather spend the £400 difference on Thunderbolt options (the seagate adapter rocks!) When it boils down to it, the difference between 512Gb & 768Gb is a couple of decent CF memory cards capacity only so I simply won't be storing huge amounts of data locally, only a "working set".
Actually, Apple has lowered the RAM upgrade prices on the old-style 13 and 15 MBPs as well. Upgrade to 8GB from 4GB is now $100. It used to be $200. The old-style MBP's can be upgraded to 16GB if you want, although Apple does not say that 16GB is supported and it is not a BTO option.
really? who was that. I think it was a vast minority that thought they could make a macbook Air thin style Pro without having soldered in parts... you may think no one believed you, but you were in the majority.
really, and your laptop is what... 4 or 5 times bigger than this thing?
You must not own any Macs... or most other brands of computers? Samsung parts are in almost everything.
its always 2 years added to the original 1 year. The savings comes from the fact you keep the money in the bank and get some interest on it? or just you get to keep the money in pocket for an extra year. You do lose the 1 year of extra phone support you get when purchasing it within the first 90 days.
The view of the insides Apple put on their site and into their video is much more beautiful without all those labels an stuff.
The SSD looks different in iFixits machine, maybe because of the 512 GB.
See for comparison (mouse over): http://thtouch.leberwurstsaft.de/mbp/

Cost : Why would it be lower ? Support/replacement is more expensive
Reliability : Maybe, because you won't have badly seated ram, but wat happens when at QC you find a bad memory chip....
Performance : No difference between soldered/non-soldered
Compact design : The only plausible reasong in my opinion.
Cost: will be lower because there are fewer parts and fewer assembly steps.
Reliability: One QCs memory chips before soldering them to the motherboard.
Performance: Future JEDEC specs will support higher bandwidth and lower latency ONLY for directly soldered RAM.
Compact design: At least one out of four benefits was obvious.

While I'd love to have one for the cool factor, I am having trouble understanding the practicality of retina display on a notebook. Right now i'm sitting about 32" from a 17" 1920x1080 display and there's no way to see individual pixels. It makes a little more sense for a phone or a tablet (since you hold those much closer to your eyes), not so much otherwise.
you normally sit much closer than that to a notebook, otherwise you can't type on it. People used to say the same thing about the 'new' iPhone 4 when it was announced, thought the 3GS screen was good enough.
Aside from the pixel density, the biggest improvement is the screen is IPS so won't have the contrast/colour shift issues of the existing MBP screens.
Apple now has the power to go proprietary, and consumers will back them all the way.
That used to be the case with the iPhone and iPad. How long until Apple requires the purchase of AppleCare for their computers within the first 30 days of purchase? I give it a year.
I'm sticking with my 2011 MacBook Pro for right now for several reasons:
1 - Lack of app support for the Retina Display - This will obviously increase over time, but there's no point in rushing out to buy the latest and the greatest if there's little support (unless you're a media professional using Aperture or Final Cut).
2 - Retina will be included with more models in future updates - I'd like to have the choice to get a 13" Retina Display model, or an Air with a Retina Display.
3 - Spensive - Hopefully the 13" models mentioned previously will lead to lower prices.
4 - Current "legacy" MBP models still have the same form factor, so I don't feel like I'm behind the times too much.
:)
Love,
Tom
Eh. No thanks. I'll go ahead with one of the new 15" models with the anti-glare display. I like my 2011 model, but the 2012 with the better GPU / USB 3 is worth it. Gaining retina display isn't really worth the loss of being able to upgrade my laptop as I see fit.
15" MB Pro Early 2011 (2.0 i7 8GB RAM 240 SSD); ATV 3; iPad 3 (32GB, VZW Black); iPhone 4S (16GB AT&T Black); Airport Extreme (2011)
15" MB Pro Early 2011 (2.0 i7 8GB RAM 240 SSD); ATV 3; iPad 3 (32GB, VZW Black); iPhone 4S (16GB AT&T Black); Airport Extreme (2011)

I have a 2009 MacBook Pro and even though the RAM is easily upgradeable, I'm still using just 2GB after all these years. I don't find it a problem at all running Snow Leopard and the applications I use. I believe that in order for Apple to make this new MacBook Pro as thin as it is, there is going to be a tradeoff of component accessability and as long as I know it beforehand, I'll buy a model with more RAM and hope I can get four years comfortable use out of it. I'm not mourning the loss of upgradeable RAM at all but then again I'm not a power user. I don't know if I'm the typical user or not but I don't think most consumers will bother to upgrade RAM at all. I make sure I always get AppleCare so I'm also not concerned about user-friendly replacement parts. Soldered RAM will not stop me from buying an Apple MacBook Pro.
Are you running 64 bit kernel? On my macs 64 bit kernel is using anywhere from 450 to 1.5 GB. On 17'' MBP it's 450 MB on iMac 762 MB and on Mac Pro 1.5 GB right after boot.
Mac Pro, 8 Core, 32 GB RAM, nVidia GTX 285 1 GB, 2 TB storage, 240 GB OWC Mercury Extreme SSD, 30'' Cinema Display, 27'' iMac, 24'' iMac, 17'' MBP, 13'' MBP, 32 GB iPhone 4, 64 GB iPad 3
Mac Pro, 8 Core, 32 GB RAM, nVidia GTX 285 1 GB, 2 TB storage, 240 GB OWC Mercury Extreme SSD, 30'' Cinema Display, 27'' iMac, 24'' iMac, 17'' MBP, 13'' MBP, 32 GB iPhone 4, 64 GB iPad 3

3 GB RAM isn't nearly enough for serious work. On a Mini with 3 GB RAM I can't even use Safari and Lightroom at the same time.
8GB standard RAM isn't bad for the $2200 MacBook, but it's pathetic on the $2800 model given that it cannot be upgraded. Apple's pulling a fast one on consumers here, building in obsolescence far beyond what most computer makers do. It's disgusting.
I'll take more HD bays and RAM slots over thinness, but if a person want's portability they will prefer the reverse. Apple is stupid to convert their whole laptop line to MacBook Air designs, which is what it looks like they're about to do. It's like they don't want professionals using their gear anymore.

Cost : Why would it be lower ? Support/replacement is more expensive
Reliability : Maybe, because you won't have badly seated ram, but wat happens when at QC you find a bad memory chip....
Performance : No difference between soldered/non-soldered
Compact design : The only plausible reasong in my opinion.
Cost: fewer components (with associated failure modes/rates).
Reliability: Cut out socket-related failure modes (admittedly small factor, but...) You test memory before assembly, don't you?
Performance: See above; speed not sole performance criterion.
Compact design: Exactly; packaging is as much art as science.
Cons: You give up easy upgrade and trade off repairability, which is partly offset by increased reliability.
It's a juggling game, always has been.

Try running Mail, Safari, Lightroom, and Photoshop on 2 GB RAM and you'll change your tune.

1: Completely different operating constraints between the two machines.
2: You need to think about things like packaging constraints (the whole physical package), EMI, thermal management, ...
Pros don't want to be mucking about inside their tools, they just want to get work done. They're not generally hobbyists.

Maybe one (or two) of these? http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10549
Yoo hoo, context warning: "They've" refers to iFixit, not Apple. Why in the world would iFixit be demanding that Apple fix problems caused by ham-handed hobbyists?
I don't mind that 256GB is the only option on the base model.
Of all things, why is the SSD socketed? It doesn't work this way in 2012, with thin, light and portable.