Macbook Pro or Macbook Air?

thestylegal

Hi Guys,

I'm a student going into a journalism course and I need a laptop for college. I was thinking of getting a Macbook as I've always wanted one. From my research the Macbook Pro is said to be better than the Macbook Air. The Air is lighter and more compact, and easier to manage though the Pro is said to be a better machine. There is a significant price difference between the two, with the Pro being the more expensive. While this isn't a major problem, is there a significant difference between the quality of the two? and is it enough to justify the higher price tag?

Also, I've heard that the keyboard on the Macbook Air is uncomfortable for typing on a lot. From anyone's experiences with the Air is this the case? My studies will probably require a lot of typing, so this is a concern for me.

Thanks

yoyo

Moved from Comp & Tech

steokeogh

Look at the new "MacBook" if money isn't an object that is one I would go for.

MillField

It depends whether you will be doing anything resource heavy like editing video/audio regularly. If so I would try get a Pro if I were you. Either should be fine though.

Graham

If you're working on your machine a lot, you'll probably appreciate the larger screen/keyboard of the 13" models so I'll limit my comments to:

The 13" MacBook Pro €1399 8GB/128GB (from Argos)
The 13" MacBook Air is €1179 4GB/128GB

If you value portability, the MacBook air is the obvious choice but I'd stop and think how important saving an extra half kg, 1.08kg/1.58kg. For the extra €220 you get an additional 4GB of RAM, a retina display a faster processor and an extra hour of battery use (10hrs).

The Air is a stunning machine so light and thin BUT that comes at a price. You sacrifice on speed (1.6GHz/2.7GHz) screen (1366 x 767 / 2560 x 1600) and RAM (4GB/8GB).

I've had both, two MacBook Airs and my current machine is a MacBook Pro. The MacBook was ideal when I was moving from site to site several times a day on foot but for me now, I'd rather carry the additional half kg.

The keyboards on both are broadly similar so I can't imagine a situation where one would be much benefit over the other. Build quality, they're neck and neck.

If you're on a budget, get a refurb model from Apple directly. You'll save up-to 20% on the list price but you'll still get a machine with the same warranty that looks/feels brand new. If you're buying new you might save a couple of quid by shopping around but keep in mind Apple are running a back to school promo at the moment, you get a set of Beats Solo2 Headphones and a few quid off list price for the Mac http://www.apple.com/ie-edu/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro

Xpro

Very important decision to make when buying mac computers:

Nowadays MacBooks are non upgradable, so you need to choose what you want to do with it before you buy, as later on if you decide you want more space,more ram, not easy doable.

For general use, browsing, emails, Word, Excel, reading, Facebook, photos, etc Macbook air is a perfect device and much cheaper then a pro version.

If you want a medium video or photo editor , start with an entry level Macbook pro 13

If you'r going to focus mainly on heavy video edition, photo procession, heavy multitasking, you will need a top Macbook pro 15" i7, 16gb, Nvidia, and this is not a cheap machine.

Hope that makes sense.

Fir3Fly1995

I would always advise 13" MBP as these have the optical drive which can be replaced with an SSD for storing the OS and apps that require a high speed I/O. You can manually upgrade the RAM and HDD just make sure you backed everything up with time machine so you can restore everything to the new HDD/SSD. finally I will go by what was said above for heavy applications. Nothing can beat the Mac Pro. However to help cool your mac, go to eBay and get yourself a rear cover, drill holes in it over the fan. If a problem arises just swap the covers before bringing it into Apple for a repair or replacement.

Avoid an iMac if your doing heavy stuff as they are no good for that due to persistent cooling problems. MBA is dreadful due to the undersized fan and underpowered hardware. MBP W/ retina display is probably best for editing on the go. Just invest in a large SSD if at all possible. Avoid the retina mac if you think you'll need to upgrade the ram as it's soldered to the machine.

I wish apple would set the CPU and GPU in a socket so that you can future proof your mac.

Hope I helped. Sorry if I didn't.

shanec1928

Fir3Fly1995 wrote: »

I would always advise 13" MBP as these have the optical drive which can be replaced with an SSD for storing the OS and apps that require a high speed I/O. You can manually upgrade the RAM and HDD just make sure you backed everything up with time machine so you can restore everything to the new HDD/SSD. finally I will go by what was said above for heavy applications. Nothing can beat the Mac Pro. However to help cool your mac, go to eBay and get yourself a rear cover, drill holes in it over the fan. If a problem arises just swap the covers before bringing it into Apple for a repair or replacement.

Avoid an iMac if your doing heavy stuff as they are no good for that due to persistent cooling problems. MBA is dreadful due to the undersized fan and underpowered hardware. MBP W/ retina display is probably best for editing on the go. Just invest in a large SSD if at all possible. Avoid the retina mac if you think you'll need to upgrade the ram as it's soldered to the machine.

I wish apple would set the CPU and GPU in a socket so that you can future proof your mac.

Hope I helped. Sorry if I didn't.

optical drive was ditched when they switched to retina was it not..

Graham

shanec1928 wrote: »

optical drive was ditched when they switched to retina was it not..

If I remember correctly it's still available in the non-retina version. No idea why most people would want it though.

Fir3Fly1995

shanec1928 wrote:

optical drive was ditched when they switched to retina was it not..

Nope. Not on the €1,249 model. The MBP 13" model without the retina display has the drive.

Sad Professor

The 13-inch with optical drive hasn't been updated in over 3 years. It's a joke that Apple are still selling it. You'd have to be mad to buy it.

ShaunC

I'm new to Mac and was planning on getting the 13in Air, 4gig ram, 128gig flash drive.
I was thinking of upgrading the 4gig to 8gig ram (€113 extra), would the extra ram be worth the investment?
Thanks.

MillField

ShaunC wrote: »

I'm new to Mac and was planning on getting the 13in Air, 4gig ram, 128gig flash drive.
I was thinking of upgrading the 4gig to 8gig ram (€113 extra), would the extra ram be worth the investment?
Thanks.

Yes definitely. If you're planning on any sort of heavy use then 4GB RAM won't be enough.

sozbox

Graham wrote: »

If you're working on your machine a lot, you'll probably appreciate the larger screen/keyboard of the 13" models so I'll limit my comments to:

The 13" MacBook Pro €1399 8GB/128GB (from Argos)
The 13" MacBook Air is €1179 4GB/128GB

If you value portability, the MacBook air is the obvious choice but I'd stop and think how important saving an extra half kg, 1.08kg/1.58kg. For the extra €220 you get an additional 4GB of RAM, a retina display a faster processor and an extra hour of battery use (10hrs).

The Air is a stunning machine so light and thin BUT that comes at a price. You sacrifice on speed (1.6GHz/2.7GHz) screen (1366 x 767 / 2560 x 1600) and RAM (4GB/8GB).

I've had both, two MacBook Airs and my current machine is a MacBook Pro. The MacBook was ideal when I was moving from site to site several times a day on foot but for me now, I'd rather carry the additional half kg.

The keyboards on both are broadly similar so I can't imagine a situation where one would be much benefit over the other. Build quality, they're neck and neck.

If you're on a budget, get a refurb model from Apple directly. You'll save up-to 20% on the list price but you'll still get a machine with the same warranty that looks/feels brand new. If you're buying new you might save a couple of quid by shopping around but keep in mind Apple are running a back to school promo at the moment, you get a set of Beats Solo2 Headphones and a few quid off list price for the Mac http://www.apple.com/ie-edu/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro

The battery life of the 13" Air is 12 hours so you're getting more battery with the Air.

I had the same choice recently it comes
down to what you need most. Portability and battery life then get the Air, power and retina then get the Pro.

I went with the Air, amazing machine

Sheeps

The mbp 15" is a a savage beast and I love mine. The 13" mbp is a great machine too, a great portable work horse. They all have very high resolution, so while a bigger screen is nice, you'll have as much screen real estate as you need even with a 13".

osnola ibax

Sad Professor wrote: »

The 13-inch with optical drive hasn't been updated in over 3 years. It's a joke that Apple are still selling it. You'd have to be mad to buy it.

I don't think that you would be crazy to buy it. Its still a beautiful machine and has some features that were later ditched i.e. infra red receiver, battery indicator lights, sleep indicator light, optical drive, ethernet port, firewire etc. The cpu is 3rd gen ivy bridge but by 2012, cpu's had reached a really good level where the os used between 1 - 5% in idle mode and was available for work, its still a very capable cpu and not actually that far behind Broadwells at the moment, and far better than anything in an Air.

To purchase a new rMBP with 16gb RAM and a 512gb ssd will cost you €2,289. To buy a 2012 MBP and upgrade to 16gb RAM and a 512gb ssd (at a cost of as little as €280 now - Crucial Website) will cost you €1,529 a whole €769 less. And you could put another HDD in the Optical bay.

Ok, so you won't have the retina screen but you have a seriously capable machine. Use €400 to buy a qhd 27 inch screen and you will have an awesome display and still have saved approx €400 squids.

Yes, the retina has PCI-e storage that is amazingly fast, better integrated graphics but the difference will not be noticeable for most users who are not gaming and doing massive video processing.

I have a 2012 mbp and a 2015 rmbp. I use the older one just as much as the newer one and if I didn't have it, I think I would be getting one quickly before they are taken off the market altogether. A truly awesome machine that was at its peak in 2012 and still a massive seller for Apple.

Dades

Have been watching this thread with interest...

Have pretty much decided on a 13" MBP to use for web development. Nothing too heavy, dreamweaver, Photoshop etc., as well as the usual office type usage.

My question is whether the basic 8GB RAM is enough? An upgrade to 16GB is €240 plus a 3 week wait I could do without. At the same time if 8GB will start to effect performance after a year or two I will pay the extra to futureproof.

Thoughts welcome!

Sad Professor

After a year or two, no, it's probably enough. But if you are still using the machine 4 years from now, you might regret it.

Dades

Thanks. Looks like the wait time is only 10 days or so. I think I'd regret not upgrading just out of impatience.

shanec1928

Dades wrote: »

Thanks. Looks like the wait time is only 10 days or so. I think I'd regret not upgrading just out of impatience.

It's usually quicker than the time quoted.

Pacifico

Worth waiting for the new Intel processors in the MBPs?

Dades

Pacifico wrote: »

Worth waiting for the new Intel processors in the MBPs?

Won't that be next year?

At any rate, I just pulled the trigger on the Apple Refurb store. Saw one with a bigger processor and a 512 SSD for a great price... couldn't resist!

Graham_B18C

Dades wrote: »

Won't that be next year?

At any rate, I just pulled the trigger on the Apple Refurb store. Saw one with a bigger processor and a 512 SSD for a great price... couldn't resist!

i7, 512GB, 16GB RAM retina pro?

Exact model my girlfriend has. It's a serious machine!