Its better to go with this model rather than choosing retinas, if money is ur concern, but for all the others who are easy on your pocket u may proceed with retinas and of course buying additional external accessories from apple.
PROS:
Sturdy and beautiful
Good steady battery life( when I used it came upto more or less 6 hours of continous usage like watching videos and just browsing)
Trackpad is amazing.
Nice screen(though its a non retina model, its good)
Good quality camera. Great for video chats.
Virus free OS( no need to worry about virus threats).
It is upgradable( RAM, Hard disk etc can be upgraded while the retinas are not).
Stereo speakers are good, with a slight amount of bass hanging around songs which cannot be heard from other laptops.
The Headphone port supports earphone with mic.( I tried my sony earphones with mic which to my surprise worked and u can directly speak through the earphone’s mic).
CONS:
Processing speed is average as what you would expect from an i5 with 4 gb RAM.
Graphics are mediocre, only medium resolution games can be played because of the Intel HD 4000 graphics which has only 512 MB memory( seriously not for Gameboys).
The two USB 3.0 ports are placed one close to another, u can’t use two devices at a time unless it is very small without the body.
Little bulky than retina models but less when compared to other brands.
Other than these I have no concern with the MBP and I truly love it.
Finally this one is not for professionals( like video editers etc) who look to extract maximum performance related to their work but a GOOD laptop for medium users and casual users( Students, etc).
BUT it packs lot of features for which I am satisfied.