Macbook Pro vs Air

Wife might have the option of buying one of the above through work. Is it really worth spending the extra on a Pro? I assume the new Air’s have Retina which is the main thing I’d want. Can’t really see myself playing games on it although you never know. Most will just be Web stuff etc.

I’ve just got one of the new MacBooks – the silly light and thin one. It’s amazing. Worth looking into. I get the feeling the air line is not long for this world.

The Macbook and Macbook pro have retina displays

I don’t think the air does.

Ah that’ll be my ignorance. I though it was just Air and Pro, didn’t realise there was a Macbook model in the middle.

We recently bought the Macbook Pro, we decided that the retina display, double the ram and faster processor speed was well worth the extra £170. Rightly or wrongly we thought the Pro was more ‘future proof’

I’ve just got one of the new MacBooks – the silly light and thin one. It’s amazing.

Mrs flap_jack has just bought one. It allows her to carry a laptop in a smallish bag. Don’t like the silly peripherals arrangement though (you have to buy a funny dongle to connect USB)…

The Air is available in a retina model.

it’s a bit weird right now. The thinnest lightest one isn’t the Air, it’s the ‘vanilla’ MacBook. Which has retina, but you need to be aware that it has naff-all ports so to plug anything into it requires relatively expensive dongles and looks a bit silly. Really depends a lot on how you’ll use it.

The Air seems semi-abandoned at the moment, the spec is quite low, no retina. Don’t really see much point in them right now as a new purchase.

The Pro is …different depending on if you’re looking at 15″ or 13″ so it’s not straightforward to summarise. But it’s not bulky or anything, anyway. I just upgraded from a top-end-at-the-time five-year-old one to the current top-end 15″ and it’s v. nice. Work are paying though so it’s easy for me to say.

If you really are just using the web and nothing else then the Macbook will probably suit you well. Then again so might an iPad.

The Air is available in a retina model.

no it isn’t. it’s not a bad screen or anything, but it’s not retina. Here’s some more geeky theory on its probable extinction

Ignore my post above, I was looking at a 12″ Macbook when I typed that.

I have both at home. Mine’s a 2015 Pro and the missus has a 2015 Air

Retina display looks great and the Air looks very low res next to it. However the Air is lighter (although a bigger footprint) and has a nicer keyboard (keys are slightly rounded where the pro is quite sharp edged). Battery life is an hour more on the Air too

I think the Pro is a better all rounder though but I don’t carry It around, where this missus carries her’s about for work

I love my Air: light, battery life that lasts forever and I’ve never had a case where it’s lagged in processing power. Had one since 2013 and now another one on the way from work. On screen, never really had a good look at the Retina ones, so don’t have much to say.

Depends what your priorities are, but portability, usability and time key for me

There was another thread recently. Have a look at MacRumors buying guide.

Had the same ‘dilemma’ a couple of years ago. SO’s white macbook was too slow for what she needed it for. She chose the 13″ retina MacBook Pro over the 13″ Air. Her reasoning went something like: the retina screen looks so much better; there’s barely any difference in weight and size.

Give the choice I would make the same choice: retina MacBook Pro rather than MacBook Air. Though the real competitor to the Air is the new MacBook: 12″, super slim, retina display…

side by side the retina and normal displays are worlds apart. Every time I use my work Carbon X1 I’m disappointed by its display after I’ve used my retina macbook pro 15″.