Which Mac Laptop?

macally

macally

macally

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9 Aug 2011
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137
I am looking for a Macbook for doing light web development work and for taking to clients offices when I go to meetings. I'm also starting to learn iOS development so would be good to do that on it to.

However, I'm really struggling to decide on which Macbook to get. I like the idea of the all day battery on the Macbook Air but the low GHz of the CPU worries me.

So, my choices are pretty much the 13" Macbook Pro or the 15" Macbook Pro. I couldn't really justify the extra expense for the retina screen unless it's going to give me more screen real estate on the 13" retina than the 15" LED?

Any advice would be great
Thanks
 
While not always a great indicator, in Geekbench the new 1.3GHz MBA is a tad faster than my 2.3GHz 2011 i5 MBP. Storage is crazy fast.

Honestly, I'd just go for the MBA. The battery life makes it worth it.
 
Air or Retina are the models to go for, they are the future and the most powerful/portable really.

The haswell chips in the 13" air look outstanding (low ghz wont matter any more really), I'd get that if you want something portable and really useable, the retina 13" and 15" are outstanding screens and are worth it over the standard mbp's but are quite a bit more than the air...
 
Caged said:
MacBook Air is God's Own Laptop. You won't regret it.
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Thirded. I traded my Early 2011 15" MBP in for a 13" MBA a few months ago. Loads lighter, same resolution on a smaller screen, battery life is awesome, plenty fast enough for what I need, which is web design/development and being light enough to carry around without me really noticing.

Do what I did though and get the 8GB ram in there, given that you can't upgrade it later, and you have USB 3 if you want extra storage.
 
How do you find the resolution? Some say its fine, some hate it?

I've only used an 11" (too small for me), and that looked okay, but I also have an iPad mini, and compared with 'retina' displays, I find that fine for what it does.
I also like to remind myself of the longer battery life for the lower resolution :p
 
I really dislike coding on my 13" MBP. Xcode needs a lot of real estate to work properly at the Apple's 13" laptops just don't have it.

However, it's hard to recommend the 15" MBP. It's just not as powerful or modern as the rMBP - and it's unlikely to see an upgrade to Haswell.

In conclusion, I have no idea which one you should go for. :p
 
For what you describe get yourself an Air, its crazy fast. Upgrade to the i7 and 8Gb and your good to go. Dont forget that OSX is very efficient.
 
The i7 Air gets about 8500 in Geekbench and the 2.3Ghz MBP gets 10000. You wouldn't notice the difference.
 
Ryan-3 said:
How do you find the resolution? Some say its fine, some hate it?

I've only used an 11" (too small for me), and that looked okay, but I also have an iPad mini, and compared with 'retina' displays, I find that fine for what it does.
I also like to remind myself of the longer battery life for the lower resolution :p
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I have no problems with it, I went from a 15" @ 1440 x 900 to a 13" at the same res, the image quality "improves" because of it. I've seen the retinas and they are very nice, but I just don't need it. When I code on this at home I hook it up to a 27" display, but regularly work in coffee shops etc.. to get out of the house and it serves me fine when using Sublime Text 2. Granted I have no experience of using app development software on it (yet) but it did take a little getting used to as my home PC has a 27" and 24" display so it's quite a step down.

That said, after having just this screen to work on for the last 2 weeks (working on site in Devon) it's fine in every aspect.

Given that you want portability, an MBA and an additional screen for home use is the way forward. I imagine even if you were to get an MBP you would do that anyway?
 
For me its going to be more of a 'typewriter' which may eventually handle all my computer related needs (since my current computer seems to be on its way out).

It's going to be used for uni, so the portability will be very good. Then there is the speed of the SSD! :)
 
Mine boots in about 12 seconds from the chime so it's definitely nippy! A dream to type on as well. I love the keyboard on my MBA, from the feel to the sound that the keys make. Would defo be a good portable choice for Uni.
 
Might just have to go for the Air rather than the Pro. And I do like chiclet keyboards, almost as much as my mech! :D

Also very impressed by what I read on the Verge, their test made the Air manage 13.5 hours!
 
Ryan-3 said:
Might just have to go for the Air rather than the Pro. And I do like chiclet keyboards, almost as much as my mech! :D

Also very impressed by what I read on the Verge, their test made the Air manage 13.5 hours!
Click to expand...

If you go for the MBA then definitely get the 3year warranty as i use to work for an AASP and the price to repair anything on a MBA is ridiculous, the SDD is apple specific connector and the RAM is soldered onto the MB.
 
Ryan-3 said:
Might just have to go for the Air rather than the Pro. And I do like chiclet keyboards, almost as much as my mech! :D

Also very impressed by what I read on the Verge, their test made the Air manage 13.5 hours!
Click to expand...

Yeah I think engadget got close 14hours I believe. I think its the defacto laptop unless you need the retina display or a quad-core CPU.
 
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