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I need a new 13" MacBook for around £1,000 mainly for work. Seems to me that the Pro isn't that much heavier/bulkier than the Air but you get a better spec for your dosh. Any reasons to go Air apart from these negligible weight/bulk savings? Top priorities are reliability and something that won't need upgrading for a few years. Anyone know of plans to put Retina screens on the Airs, and is Retina worth having? And where's the best place to buy from? Ta v much.
This article might be of interest
http://www.macworld.co.uk/review/mac-laptops/which-apple-macbook-air-vs-pro-comparison-review-3481192/
Seeing as you work with text a lot and have dodgy eyesight I reckon Retina is worth having. 🙂
I'd recommend getting as much RAM as possible and an SSD drive on purchase as they aren't really upgradeable afterwards any more sadly.
How much are you going to be transporting it around? If a lot I'd get the Air - if not then the Pro.
Do you do any intensive graphics stuff like gaming or video editing?
Refurb store is worth a look. Same warranty as normal purchases.
Air has slightly more battery. I get about 10 - 14 hours(ish) when just reading lecture slides. It drops when doing more computationally expensive though.
I am biased in that I bought an air, but that was in the knowledge that I have a desktop for games and heavy computation.
Recently had the same debate - went for the MB pro 13" retina with 8GB ram and solid state drive (512gb) as not much more than air but much more powerful and many more connections. I travel a lot (car and plane) and it is a great size (just as workable on an easyjet tray as a BA business class one!). Battery life is amazing - 8+h of work, more if wifi off. Even has an HDMI socket for lectures (and video for the kids!)
Again am biased as I have one already, but no regrets - also get jealous looks from 2 people at work who have airs...
Grum - good advice. Even with a 13" I'll need a magnifying glass.
Cheers all. My work is writing and a tiny bit of CMS, so nothing graphics related or owt like that. Can't see much point in me paying the premium for Air as I won't be travelling loads or carrying the laptop around a great deal. In the Apple shop I was surprised how little difference there was between the two ranges in terms of size and weight, and that seemed the only real advantage of the Air over the Pro, apart (arguably) from drool factor.
I've got both a recent 13" Air and 15" Pro. Air is a LOT more portable but even using Safari, Office or any of the iWork apps it seems slower than my Pro. The Pro's retina screen is also so much nicer.
jam - thanks for this, interesting. I can't help feeling the difference between two 13" models wouldn't make a huge difference in terms of portability. Presumably the 15" Pro is a significant jump up in terms of bulk. Anyway, cheers, useful to know about the comparative speed, and that the Retina screen is a good feature, not just marketing clap-trap.
I had the same budget end of last year and went for the Pro. I didn't need the transportability of the air - it is a lot lighter. I liked the extra spec of the Pro and the disc drive that was convenient. I don't have any regrets yet...