What should we get?

[cornettbr]

I'm trying to convince my wife that we both need new laptops. My one year old HP laptop is acting all funny (lines on the display, dropping wifi connection constantly, slow as heck start up, when typing the cursor jumps back halfway through the sentence and im typing in the wrong spot), and hers is about 3-4 years old and also runs slower than molasses in the snow. I was considering just buying two macbooks. She wants to be able to burn cd's for her dance team and play the sims 3 and I just want a portable laptop thats going to last longer than a year or two and has good battery life and integrates better with my iphone. I'm personally leaning towards an Air but the low end macbook pros are around the same price and do have an optical drive just in case i need one. I'm not opposed to buying an external drive though if needed. I find i hardly have ever used the ones on my computer now. Granted the specs on the macbook pro are better even the lower end one, is it really that big of a difference with the new hardware in the Air? I'm on the fence on what I should do.

 

[Just_Me_D]

If you have the time, I recommend that you read the excellent guide to buying a MacBook computer. You can read the guide via the link below:

http://forums.imore.com/guides-how-tos/257919-guide-buying-macbook.html

Also, in regard to your 1 year old PC, you might want to wipe the hard drive completely and then reinstall the OS, especially if you have the CD or DVDs that came with the computer. A fresh start can solve a lot of the problems you're experiencing. Whatever you decide to do, I wish you the best for you and your wife. Have a great weekend.

 

[cornettbr]

Windows computers do not come with CDs any more I wiped it and I'm still having some of the same problems. I'm taking it to the geek squad tomorrow.

 

[anon(4698833)]

Either of them would work equally as well for what you are asking of them...you'd just have to buy an external optical drive for the Air or Retina Pro models to burn anything.

 

[bamf-hacker]

I vote MBP for both of you. I have a first run MBA and while it is light and small, my current MBP is my daily driver.

 

[Fausty82]

I'm trying to convince my wife that we both need new laptops. My one year old HP laptop is acting all funny (lines on the display, dropping wifi connection constantly, slow as heck start up, when typing the cursor jumps back halfway through the sentence and im typing in the wrong spot), and hers is about 3-4 years old and also runs slower than molasses in the snow. I was considering just buying two macbooks. She wants to be able to burn cd's for her dance team and play the sims 3 and I just want a portable laptop thats going to last longer than a year or two and has good battery life and integrates better with my iphone. I'm personally leaning towards an Air but the low end macbook pros are around the same price and do have an optical drive just in case i need one. I'm not opposed to buying an external drive though if needed. I find i hardly have ever used the ones on my computer now. Granted the specs on the macbook pro are better even the lower end one, is it really that big of a difference with the new hardware in the Air? I'm on the fence on what I should do.

Maybe this will help....

http://forums.imore.com/macbook-pro/258091-macbook-comparison-chart.html

 

[cornettbr]

Bought a Mbp the cheapest one going to buy a ssd and upgrade ram myself

 

[anon(4698833)]

Bought a Mbp the cheapest one going to buy a ssd and upgrade ram myself

How'd you come to this decision?

 

[cornettbr]

A lot of it had to do with the link you posted. And I figured I'd get a little more bang for my buck with the lower end MacBook Pro 13" and just upgrading the other stuff myself. So thank you very much for the info it was very useful and so far I'm very happy I didn't get the air. Although it is a good device I am planning on upgrading my system when it's convenient.

 

[anon(4698833)]

Gotcha...it's always interesting to read the logic behind people's choices on these things, it lends itself to future advice to other people as every person has a slightly different approach. Enjoy your new system!

 

[scorpiodsu]

Windows computers do not come with CDs any more I wiped it and I'm still having some of the same problems. I'm taking it to the geek squad tomorrow.

Yeah that's because there a recovery partition of the drive that you can reinstall the OS from. Users can also make their own recovery DVDs for future use. If you wanted back to factory, you need to boot into the BIOS and recover from there. Just an FYI so you can put it back to when it was new for reselling purposes.

 

[scorpiodsu]

Bought a Mbp the cheapest one going to buy a ssd and upgrade ram myself

Congrats. Did you buy brand new from Apple? I never buy brand new because Apple also sells refurbs for great prices that comes under the same warranty and it's basically new. I was just wondering.

 

[vdroide]

Why the old Pro? I recommend the new Airs with the awesome battery life, they are great computers (I have a 2012 model) very portable, powerful enough for normal use. If you are a power users and need more horsepower (from what you said, it doesn?t seem to be the case), but your HP works well enough, I would recommend you to wait until fall when the Pro line would most likely be updated. I have a feeling Apple would go only Retina for the Pro line from now on. I would not recommend the old Gen Pro.

OOps, didn?t realize he already made the decision.

 

[anon(4698833)]

Why the old Pro? I recommend the new Airs with the awesome battery life, they are great computers (I have a 2012 model) very portable, powerful enough for normal use. If you are a power users and need more horsepower (from what you said, it doesn?t seem to be the case), but your HP works well enough, I would recommend you to wait until fall when the Pro line would most likely be updated. I have a feeling Apple would go only Retina for the Pro line from now on. I would not recommend the old Gen Pro.

OOps, didn?t realize he already made the decision.

There are many selling points on the non-retina MBP...including internals that can still be upgraded by the user, the ability to run two storage drives (both SSD and HDD), RAM is maxed out at 16GB on both the 13" and 15" (where as the 13" retina MBP and Air are capped at 8GB and not user swappable if you go with the 4GB model), you have the option of the internal super drive (if you need one)...the i7 processor on the non-retina MBP also offers better performance than even the new haswell i5's on the Air.

Bottom line, the non-retina MBP still holds its own just fine in the line up, and depending on what features are important to you, it may still be the best Macbook available in Apple's lineup. The Macbook Air certainly has a very attractive battery life, but it's not on the level of the Macbook Pro's in MANY other ways, especially for power users who may do graphic intensive jobs or who would use software that would push the i5 past it's usefulness.

 

[cornettbr]

I agree, while I didn't go with the i7 processor, I didn't feel that the current i5 would be so bad that it wouldn't have the longevity in the device I was looking for. I am planning on doing internal upgrades which will boost the speed and the life of the machine I purchased. So far I'm loving it and cannot believe how long it took me to bite the bullet and actually buy a mac, its night and day from windows imo. I did buy it brand new, I'm a little iffy about refurbished and also needed a computer the day my old lap top took the final plunge into inop hardware land. I will be using the 8gb of ram from it to give my wifes laptop a boost.

 

[anon(4698833)]

You made a good choice man...while the newer haswell processors are great, and provide some pretty impressive battery life improvements, the processors themselves are only about 10% more efficient in other areas over the Ivy Bridge i5 processors, which is a very negligible number. Whenever the next MBP line up is released with the new processor, I doubt you'll have the option of a non-retina display model, so essentially, this 2012 model you just picked up might be the last of the user upgradable Macbook Pro's, which will definitely make it retain some value down the road.

 

[vdroide]

There are many selling points on the non-retina MBP...including internals that can still be upgraded by the user, the ability to run two storage drives (both SSD and HDD), RAM is maxed out at 16GB on both the 13" and 15" (where as the 13" retina MBP and Air are capped at 8GB and not user swappable if you go with the 4GB model), you have the option of the internal super drive (if you need one)...the i7 processor on the non-retina MBP also offers better performance than even the new haswell i5's on the Air.

Bottom line, the non-retina MBP still holds its own just fine in the line up, and depending on what features are important to you, it may still be the best Macbook available in Apple's lineup. The Macbook Air certainly has a very attractive battery life, but it's not on the level of the Macbook Pro's in MANY other ways, especially for power users who may do graphic intensive jobs or who would use software that would push the i5 past it's usefulness.

Good points. I see why now..


Live Long and Prosper using Tapatalk II

 

[jnew619]

To me the mbp is better need advice?

I was wondering even though the MBA has been updated is it really better then the mbp? I was looking At the specs and to me the mbp seems to be way more superb especially if someone is thinking of gaming or burning CDs and DVD what do you guys think? Leaving on deployment soon so can't exactly wait for a new mbp to get updated

 

[Just_Me_D]

Re: To me the mbp is better need advice?

I was wondering even though the MBA has been updated is it really better then the mbp? I was looking At the specs and to me the mbp seems to be way more superb especially if someone is thinking of gaming or burning CDs and DVD what do you guys think? Leaving on deployment soon so can't exactly wait for a new mbp to get updated

​I've merged your post with a thread that should clearly answer your question. Take care.

 

[cardfan]

Re: To me the mbp is better need advice?

@jnew619: If you're on the go carrying a laptop everywhere, that's where the Air shines. Otherwise, I'd get a MBP. JMO though. On the burning CDs or DVDs thing though, I haven't done that in a few years. The only MBP I'd wait til the fall for is the 13" retina MBP.