Should I get the MB Air or MB Pro, looking for some insights?

[iMore Question]

Deciding between a MB Air and MB Pro, looking for some insights

I currently have an early 2008 MacBook Pro (Black) for my travel needs. I love this machine, but it may be time to upgrade. I have been holding off for as long as possible but I always seem to be waiting & waiting. Do I go Air or Pro.

My typical usage is for web browsing, movies and Microsoft Office business tasks. At times I work some with Illustrator, just learning, but mostly that is on my IMac.

I really love a retina display, but don't think I need that. Which direction do you go?

 

[taz323]

Re: Deciding between a MB Air and MB Pro, looking for some insights

I have the MBA and it works great for me. here is a link that might be of some help to you.

MacBook Air vs. MacBook Pro: Which laptop should you get? | iMore

 

[Illustrator Joe]

Re: Deciding between a MB Air and MB Pro, looking for some insights

I currently have an early 2008 MacBook Pro (Black) for my travel needs. I love this machine, but it may be time to upgrade. I have been holding off for as long as possible but I always seem to be waiting & waiting. Do I go Air or Pro.

My typical usage is for web browsing, movies and Microsoft Office business tasks. At times I work some with Illustrator, just learning, but mostly that is on my IMac.

I really love a retina display, but don't think I need that. Which direction do you go?

I was in the same position like a month ago and went with the MBA. Great choice IMO. I opted to get the fully upgraded MBA over the low end Pro. I work in illustrator (I am a pro been doing it full time for some years now) and photoshop. I would suggest if you go with the Air to upgrade the processor to the i7 and max the ram up to 8gb. The screen resolution is a bit lower on the MBA but for illustrator work it is more than enough. Videos still look great. Also with the Air you are getting a few extra hours of battery life and I can attest to that being true. The Apple employee I spoke with when ordering the computer was very helpful. He explained that for my uses (similar to you) the the Pro may be unnecessary power. The Pro technically has more raw processing power even with the i5 in the 13 inch retina. The Air on the other hand if you upgrade to the i7 has some cool new tech. The i7 upgrade has the "turbo boost" up to 3.3 ghz. This new "turbo boost" is very efficient in programs like adobe illustrator and photoshop. The raw processing power of the i5 quad core is better for intensive graphic programs and HD video editing. You are getting a much more efficient computer for you money with the Air and the Pro may be overkill where a lot of the processing power is wasted because you aren't using it. The image is the exact setup I got:

I opted to save some cash and only go with the 128 gb (about exactly 100 gb left after OS) because I use a lot of cloud storage and illustrator files are very small). I also got a superdrive because I still have the disc versions of the Creative Suite. You can get these for about $30 on newegg though, just not the Apple branded ones. No new Apple computers have optical drives.

At the end of the day you can't go wrong with either computer. On one hand you have a lot more processing power and a 'retina screen'. On the other you have a smaller form factor and longer battery life.

PS One other thing to note is that you cannot upgrade the Ram on the MBA later. So if you do it you have to do it when you buy it. The ram is soldered directly to the motherboard. Not sure if this is the case with the Pro's, but I do not think so.

 

[Illustrator Joe]

Re: Deciding between a MB Air and MB Pro, looking for some insights

The RAM in the Pro is also soldered to the motherboard. Only the non-retina Pro has user-serviceable parts.

OK good to know. So make sure if RAM is something you want to do you cannot wait on the MBA or rMBP.