Macbook Pro With Retina Display: What Else Can You Buy For that Price?

When it comes to their hardware, Apple spares no expense and expects exactly the same from its consumer base. Case in point: the Macbook Pro with Retina display. Apple's latest addition to their line of laptops may be pretty, but it'll also cost you a pretty penny -- many, many pretty pennies at that.

The baseline model starts at $2,229.00 and that's just the entry-level version. There's also a higher-end version of the Retina-display model priced at $2,829.00, featuring more storage space and a faster processor (think of it as the equivalent of an engine in a car). Not good enough? Well, shoppers still have plenty of options if purchasing online from the Apple store but should expect to pay upwards of four grand for a fully decked-out laptop.

Regardless of which model shoppers choose, they'll be getting eight gigabytes of RAM (which determines how many programs and applications you can run at the same time) as well as an integrated graphics and discrete graphics card, all inside the company's iconic unibody aluminum frame. And that's just all the basic stuff.

The laptop's most distinguishing feature is the Retina display. First introduced on the iPhone 4 and later implemented to the new iPad, the technology allows for roughly five million pixels, three million more pixels than a high definition television, to show up on the screen.

Needless to say, consumers willing to pay for a premium product will get a premium product. While critics are singing praises for the laptop, they're also quick to point out that this is one of the most expensive laptops in a 15.4 inch-screen category, setting you back a total of $2,598.57 (2299.00 + applicable taxes and a 0.70 recycling fee) if purchased online in Ontario.

Depending on whom you ask, $2,598.57 can be a lot of cash to drop on a single purchase, so Walletpop decided to see what else you could get for the same amount of money. Hold onto your savings account folks, the results may just shock you.