Frankly, given some of the issues that have been brought up with the Retina-display on a traditional laptop (along with all the 3rd party software that may or may not get updated), I think a non-Retina Mac is the best bet for workflows.
And there’s no shame in saving a few bucks going with referb Macs either. You’re not strictly limited to the brand new items that are purchasable at the moment from Apple’s website.