Macbook Air or Pro Retina...

Soldato
Joined
29 May 2005
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West London
I need a laptop for general use, doubt I will go crazy with editing and what not. I used to have a 2012 Macbook air, but when I chucked my ex out she took it with her. Loved it as it was portable and quick to use.

I was thinking of the 13" Air (2013), or the 13" Retina. The Air is obviously perfect for my use case, but the retina has a mighty fine screen on it. Retina is obviously a lot more.

is there anything I should be aware of as to why I should pick one over the other?
 
New air has the new ssd in it making it even faster as well as the haswell refresh (don't think the pro has had that just yet) making it a better immediate buy.
 
Little reason to go with the rMBP unless you for whatever reason need the better display (eg. because of its colour reproduction and better viewing angles) or extra TB port (do they share bandwidth? I don't remember...).

The bigger issue I have with the rMBP is that at non-native resolutions (1440x900 and 1680x1050) is that text simply looks blurry, to the point where I'd actually rather have the MBA.

All in all, go MBA with 8GB RAM at the very least.
 
I went for the 128gb / i7 / 8gb for 988 on HE through a friend. I don't think I will need all that space, I get by with a 128gb SSD on my main machine fine.
 
I loved my old one (2012 model, 13") before it was taken! Can't wait :)

Do you really get 12 hours out of it?

I am actually a PC man, but I absolutely love the MBAs.
 
Same boat. Waiting on the rMBP update. Had 2011 Air but that got robbed. With HE discount there isn't a lot between them in prices for what I had spec'd out.
 
At first I was aiming at the rMBP. But, as I'm a "student" and will need to carry it about, as well as work on it and use it for general 'stuff', I ended up going for the Air. In it's i7/8GB/256GB form, it is a very capable machine.

*will be posting about it around here when it arrives ;)
 
There is very little that an Air can't handle that wouldn't be best served with a desktop machine anyway. The Retina Pros are fantastic machines but the occasions where they are the best tool for the job are slim.
 
There is very little that an Air can't handle that wouldn't be best served with a desktop machine anyway. The Retina Pros are fantastic machines but the occasions where they are the best tool for the job are slim.

But the rMBP is pretty much the same setup (8GB RAM, same chip once updated & SDD) but with an improved screen so baring size they the rMBP is surely the better choice funds allowing?

Just looking for feedback rather than disputing you
 
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