[Classique]

I've been pricing out laptops and I was thinking of getting either with the 128gb SSD and Core i5. I'll mainly be doing web surfing, reading documents, writing papers, music recording and some not very intensive games (TF2. CS:GO). The Macbook Pro would end up being $150 more and I just need to know if it is worth it for my needs. I do have a budget and both fall within my budget but saving $150 would be nice because i plan on getting an External hard drive with both so I could put the $150 towards that.

 

[Scooby Boostin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Classique

I've been pricing out laptops and I was thinking of getting either with the 128gb SSD and Core i5. I'll mainly be doing web surfing, reading documents, writing papers, music recording and some not very intensive games (TF2. CS:GO). The Macbook Pro would end up being $150 more and I just need to know if it is worth it for my needs. I do have a budget and both fall within my budget but saving $150 would be nice because i plan on getting an External hard drive with both so I could put the $150 towards that.

Neither are worth a dime!

haha no j/k. For what you said you will be doing prob not but who knows. The retina pro has a VERY impressive screen for a laptop but is under powered at its base configuration. I like the macbook air's. In fact I have a 11'' macbook air CTO version that I use for work when I am out of the office. It's a little beast and I have no issues with the way the screen is. In fact when I get home I just connect it right to my 1440p monitor and it looks fantastic. For work only though. No gaming on it so I can't speak for that.

So for the money for the macbook pro you can get a faster macbook air with a standard screen and more performance. If you get the macbook pro you will have less performance but a better looking screen to look at. It's all what's important to you at the end of the day. Like in my case I needed something very fast but easy to carry with me no matter where I go.

 

[hammong]

You get a lot more than a better display .... Here's a comparison chart of differences for the top end models. Your $150 extra for the MacBook Pro buys 35% faster CPU, double the RAM, and double the SSD (which can't easily be upgraded, it's proprietary size)

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/11/how-to-choose-13-inch-macbook-air-vs-13-inch-retina-macbook-pro/

No brainer, spend the extra $100-$150 and get the more capable machine.

Greg

 

[Classique]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scooby Boostin

Neither are worth a dime!

haha no j/k. For what you said you will be doing prob not but who knows. The retina pro has a VERY impressive screen for a laptop but is under powered at its base configuration. I like the macbook air's. In fact I have a 11'' macbook air CTO version that I use for work when I am out of the office. It's a little beast and I have no issues with the way the screen is. In fact when I get home I just connext it right to my 1440p monitor and it looks fantastic. For work only though. No gaming on it so I can't speak for that.

Screen really isn't a priority for me but the Retina display does look gorgeous is that and and better graphics worth $150 in your opinion for a student?

 

[Scooby Boostin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hammong

You get a lot more than a better display .... Here's a comparison chart of differences for the top end models. Your $150 extra for the MacBook Pro buys 35% faster CPU, double the RAM, and double the SSD (which can't easily be upgraded, it's proprietary size)

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/11/how-to-choose-13-inch-macbook-air-vs-13-inch-retina-macbook-pro/

No brainer, spend the extra $100-$150 and get the more capable machine.

Greg

haha the i7 version is CONSIDERABLY faster than the i5 that they put in the macbook pro retina. Not really a "no brainer". Especially when you are forking out $1200 bucks on a laptop. You really do have to use your brain.

http://www.macworld.com/article/2043546/lab-tested-cto-11-inch-macbook-air-an-impressive-performer.html

some nice comparison charts to BACK up my statements.

 

[Scooby Boostin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Classique

Screen really isn't a priority for me but the Retina display does look gorgeous is that and and better graphics worth $150 in your opinion for a student?

Only if you are working with graphics applications at school then yes. If not no. Mac's are all pretty good with video editing and photo editing. The pro's are a bit stronger in that field than the air's but for what you will be doing the i5/i7 air would be plenty fast and cheaper even than the macbook pro.

Also if battery life is important to you. You'll love the MBA. Can get easy 10 hours out of my CTO 11'' macbook air. The pro's are rated at 10 I believe but will only run about 6-7 hours. Due to screen resolution and a slightly more power hungry processor.

 

[hammong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scooby Boostin

haha the i7 version is CONSIDERABLY faster than the i5 that they put in the macbook pro retina. Not really a "no brainer". Especially when you are forking out $1200 bucks on a laptop. You really do have to use your brain.

http://www.macworld.com/article/2043546/lab-tested-cto-11-inch-macbook-air-an-impressive-performer.html

some nice comparison charts to BACK up my statements.

"The CTO 11-inch MacBook Air was also 8 percent faster overall than the 2013 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, again due to the MacBook Air's faster graphics and flash storage. The Retina MacBook Pro was faster in a number of tests, including Handbrake, Cinebench CPU, iMovie import and iMovie export tests."

Wow. 8%. You call that "considerably faster"? I was looking at MBA from early 2013 vs. the newest release, so my 35% faster quote is wrong. My apologies, but I still don't think the NEWEST MBA spanks the newest MBP. Apples to Apple so to speak.

Greg

 

[Scooby Boostin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hammong

"The CTO 11-inch MacBook Air was also 8 percent faster overall than the 2013 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, again due to the MacBook Air's faster graphics and flash storage. The Retina MacBook Pro was faster in a number of tests, including Handbrake, Cinebench CPU, iMovie import and iMovie export tests."

Wow. 8%. You call that "considerably faster"?

Greg

While being cheaper and easier to carry around yes. Not to mention the better battery life. There's lots of things to weigh out then just saying its a "no brainer" . It all depends on what you will be using it for and if the screen is important or not. 8% is STILL faster. Like I have said in prev comments the macbook pro is more geared towards someone in the professional field of video and photo editing. So it is a bit stronger than the air in those aspects. For what he said he will be using it for there's no reason to get the macbook pro retina. Save the money and get the same performance if the screen is not important to you,
I hate the way that mac's have those laptops locked up but it does help with the speed. You have to set the ram up FROM APPLE when you order it. The user cannot change the ram. So if you buy the 4gb version it will always be the 4gb version. Which is another reason to get the air over the macbook pro retina. You will want the 8gb of ram. The SSD can always be changed later. They're just very expensive right now. So if you're going to use a external this shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Classique]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scooby Boostin

Only if you are working with graphics applications at school then yes. If not no. Mac's are all pretty good with video editing and photo editing. The pro's are a bit stronger in that field than the air's but for what you will be doing the i5/i7 air would be plenty fast and cheaper even than the macbook pro.

Also if battery life is important to you. You'll love the MBA. Can get easy 10 hours out of my CTO 11'' macbook air. The pro's are rated at 10 I believe but will only run about 6-7 hours. Due to screen resolution and a slightly more power hungry processor.

Which year is your air? My brother has the late 2013 one and claims he can get 12 hours from a full charge with looking at documents, web surfing, watching HD video, and looking at PDF's from normal screen brightness. If the MBP got 7+ out of normal use that would be serviceable

 

[Scooby Boostin]

I have the mid 2013 MBA 11" and it gets 8-10 hours of normal use for work. All I know is that it is off the charger for most of the time I use it. Which is great for me. Yeah I believe the pro will get 6-7 hours with the recent refresh that they did. Normal use outside of editing and stuff like that.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

[Lord Xeb]

MBP Retina hands down. Though if you want battery life, MBA. Either way, both machines are very capable.

 

[Scooby Boostin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Xeb

MBP Retina hands down. Though if you want battery life, MBA. Either way, both machines are very capable.

I was just saying that the 13'' macbook pro base configuration is not heaps and bounds faster than the MBA. If you're gonna step it up on the configuration of the MBPr obviously it will destroy the MBA. Both are very nice and capable. I just think the biggest difference from the MBA to the MBPr when base configuration is the resolution and the battery length time. It's all about what you need and want in the laptop. Either way all I know is you really have to think about it when forking over 1250-1500 on a laptop.

 

[Lord Xeb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scooby Boostin

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Xeb

MBP Retina hands down. Though if you want battery life, MBA. Either way, both machines are very capable.

I was just saying that the 13'' macbook pro base configuration is not heaps and bounds faster than the MBA. If you're gonna step it up on the configuration of the MBPr obviously it will destroy the MBA. Both are very nice and capable. I just think the biggest difference from the MBA to the MBPr when base configuration is the resolution and the battery length time. It's all about what you need and want in the laptop. Either way all I know is you really have to th
Ohink about it when forking over 1250-1500 on a laptop.

Oh sorry, it was late at night XD

Personally, if you are stuck between entry level machines, i would go with MBA without a second thought. Just make sure you get more RAM that you think you need as you cannot upgrade them later.

 

[Elyminator]

i would also point out that the new pro's are incredibly thin and light compared to previous models and so the whole air vs heavy hitter is a little more scewed... i would also say that the retina display is totally worth it.. not that i need that resolution but if the air even came with a 1920x1080 i would like it a hell of a lot more.

 

[GermanyChris]

MBA because of the battery life

Sent from my HTC One mini using Tapatalk

 

[The Hundred Gunner]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Classique

Screen really isn't a priority for me but the Retina display does look gorgeous is that and and better graphics worth $150 in your opinion for a student?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elyminator

i would also point out that the new pro's are incredibly thin and light compared to previous models and so the whole air vs heavy hitter is a little more scewed... i would also say that the retina display is totally worth it.. not that i need that resolution but if the air even came with a 1920x1080 i would like it a hell of a lot more.

I don't like the retina just because it "looks" better; I like it because it gives you more working space. After getting a 1080p monitor, working on lower resolution displays becomes hard to do.

 

[KyleMart06]

You have a point there Gunner...

 

[Lord Xeb]

That he does

 

[The Hundred Gunner]

I'm still too cheap to buy a retina lol... That, and you can't do RAID with them (and for some reason, I can't do RAID on standard MBP - but that's another story.)

For those of us that are too cheap and can handle some blur (aliasing?), there's a program called RDM that will allow you to use unsupported resolutions up to 3840x2160. I occasionally do 1680x1050 on my standard MBP when I'm programming and 1280x800 isn't cutting it.