I’m in a no-man’s land of techno-illiteracy!

what are the appreciable differences between a macbook pro and a same-screen-sized macbook air in terms of usability?

I’m looking at these options: http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/specialdeals/mac

and can’t decide (though have decided I need one)

massive thanks x x x

I’ve just bought a refurb max book and its like brand new.
The air doesn’t have a cd drive.

They will all be brand new for all intents and purposes but might not be the latest spec.

It really depends on usage, the air is designed as a lightweight laptop for lighter weight processing tasks and apart from having no optical drive is suitable for 95% of peoples computing needs.

The pro is a heavier weight machine that is designed for more intensive tasks and older models were more customizable in spec to accommodate huge amounts of RAM and storage.

What’s your intended use?

decide on the spec you want then use one of the refurb notification sites that mails you when in stock.
i used http://refurb-tracker.com and just cancelled it when i had my laptop, they dont spam you marketing mails.

i wanted a 2.6 16gb 512 retina as the 2.7’s (pointless minor speed bump but more money) were more abundant and mostly 8gb not the 16 i needed.

I’m an academic/writer and deal with images a lot but not in vast quantities. I would want to carry it around everyday and definitely do not want to be buying another computer for a while after this. Either model was going to be a 13″ one.

I actually thought i could get a refurb from a US shop when i go there this year. But wondered if the guarantee would travel back to the UK with me.

I had a macbook out in the US when I was working there and my understanding is you have a 1 year guarantee internationally but maybe worth checking with Apple. Also remember the keyboard will be different.

A lot of my friends who are developers and spend time coding but nothing graphically intensive love the Air a it’s so portable and if you do need a big display you can always use a monitor out. A friend who is a technical writer also has an air.

When you say you deal with images, what sort of images? Are we talking huge raw files being edited down or small JPG screen grabs that you’re formatting for an article?

The thunderbolt port on the Air may not support all the display outputs that the Pro does (you would need to check the full specs for each machine to be certain I have used the page you linked to for a quick look). Storage will be smaller for similar pricing on the Air, processor speed about half that of the Pro. No ethernet on the air, important if like our office the BOFH (me!) doesn’t allow wifi.

You could always buy this and then put more RAM and an SSD in it:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-ot-macbook-pro-13-i5-2011-apple-care-to-march

Check which model of Pro it is on the refurb site as some newer ones don’t have network/optical either.

Also bear in mind that if paying for extra graphics upgrade Macs run a duel chip system where the high end graphics on kicks in with an external monitor connected.

you can get a thunderbolt/ethernet adapter if you use ethernet a lot.
personally i would go for a retina 13in as they are good value and the screens are impressive. having used most of the Mac laptops i wouldn’t go for the old 15 or 13’s over a retina unless my budget was very tight. i still have a 13 ‘normal’ MBP and the retina is in a different league. i am doing heavy lifting with it though not spreadsheets and viewing ‘art films’

You cannot get a retina screen on an Air, if you put retina and non retina side by side you can notice a big difference, that being said the standard Apple screens are great
The latest MacBook Pros (MBP) are much lighter and have no DVD drive so check specs – the weight difference between the latest MBP and Air is quite small
I would suggest you look for machine with 8GB RAM, the later macs are not easily upgradable for RAM. 4 runs ok but 8 is better
I would suggest you look for a machine with 256gb hard drive (SSD better) minimum – extranal drives are cheap (eg 1TB £50) but IMO 128 isn’t enough.
13 screen is a good choice, 11 on base Air is a bit small IMO

Happy hunting

Can I just say as a mac owner I have no idea what any of you are talking about.
Am I over computered?!

all this is great, thanks so much, esp jumbalaya. A broader question is, do the macbooks and airs originally released in 2013 and refurbed on the site represent good value over buying new?

To be honest i am using a 2009 macbook pro and rarely do i find i have problems, other than the hard disc is a little small, I have upgraded to 8gig of ram though.

I would have thought buying last years as a refurb would be fine for a good few years.

@mrmo pretty easy to put a new drive into the machine, plus as I posted a 1TB external drive is £50, just out your media on that and back up all your photos to Flickr (1TB free storage)

Am I over computered?!

Zippy, you might be but you’re not smart enough to know it so blissful ignorance 😀

do the macbooks and airs originally released in 2013 and refurbed on the site represent good value over buying new?

I’d say so, not mega differences, especially if you buy a retina one from the refurb store and a 15% discount.

Airs are a work of art – nicest laptop you’ll ever own.

I’ve got a 13″ MBP and will get an Air when it dies, as they’re just so much lighter. My brother is a graphic designer and bought a retina MBP but says it was a bit of a waste as the only time he uses the built in screen, rather than a monitor, is on the train into London and retina is a bit overkill for one train journey a week….