Im debating an upgrade as my old pro is starting to get a bit overloaded.
If you were going to go one or the other which direction would you head in?
Im looking at 13 inch models.. the air is 4gb SD ram and 256gb of flash storage and the equivalent pro is 8gb memory and 128gb storage.
My main useage is running multiple photo editing softwares at the same time - camera raw, PS, lightroom, photomatix and i tend to store processed images on different passport drives.
Cannot make a decision :-/
If you're doing anything with photo's you need a Pro Retina, super fast and the screen is gorgeous!
I've had mine for a while and love it, but have been toying with the idea of selling it on as I'm in the process of moving house and could add the funds to something a bit more worthwhile!
I've been trying to gauge what it's worth second hand so if you have any input I'd appreciate it ;-)
I went for the Air with 8gB RAM and 256gN SSD - love it!
The bigger RAM might be useful if you are photo editing?
HTH.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
I have a pro retina 13" and its by far the best computer I have ever had. As previous poster said, the screen is gorgeous and if using lightroom, the retina will make a big difference. The only issue I had was the small SSD of 128GB but buy a external hard drive and use cloud storage and you are good to go. Looked at swapping out the SSD for a 512 unit but just too expensive and not worth the money
IMHO i would go for the Pro, I have one with 13" retina, 256 flash drive and i upgraded the RAM. I use Photoshop, Gimp and Lightroom and it never bats an eye. I don't use the video editing side of the software mentioned, so can't comment on its performance on the Pro.
There may be a forthcoming Air refresh at the Apple event on the 9th. Would hold off until then - an Air with 512 flash and a Retina display would be tempting, particularly if you are lugging it around. We've always had Pro purely down to the need for decent screen size and hard drive real estate, however the 512 HD would be the sweet spot for us, so possibly looking at chopping in our old Pro at some point.
^^^^
I would wait for the 'event' also.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
My old 2008 MacBook was creaking and overheating, and I faced the same dilemma.
Eventually, I took a deep breath and opted for a 13" MacBook Pro, with the Retina screen, 8gb RAM and 512gb flash drive.
It's a revelation. Despite running Yosemite, it works beautifully, and it's fast. My only reservation, apart from the price, was that the battery isn't user-replaceable (in theory).
What tipped the balance in favour of the MacBook Pro over the Air or the new MacBook was connectivity. The Air isn't exactly overburdened with connectors, but the new MacBook only has one, and you'll need an adaptor to connect a USB. Trip over the power lead and the whole thing could be toast.
From what i can work out the SSD's are faster than the HD's and the 8gb vs 4gb for memory is also faster so it seems to be fairly even pegging at the minute.
Ive got a temperamental motor to fix so i wouldnt be buying new but the pair of them seem to be going on local gumtree for 650-700 for 2015s with receipts and warranties.
If you're feeling brave you could replace your hot spinny hard drive with a flash drive, and upgrade your RAM as well.
Have a look on Crucial Memory and they can remotely scan your MacBook and tell you which upgrades you can use. Replacing the RAM is easy, doing the SSD upgrade takes a bit more effort and would certainly focus the mind.
Significantly faster!Originally Posted by verv
Which is why I went for SSD and 8gB - my Air flies for the stuff I do and I get a good 6-8 hours out of the battery.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
haha i may be even more baffled by choice than i was before!
seems like ssd and an 8 ram would be the ideal for my use.
I have an air, it travels a lot with me sometimes is in damp environments on boats, deals with varying voltage and puts up with occasional prods from a 2 year old. Still going strong. I do really like it, in the most part it's very adequate for what I use it for however when there are a few programs running like iTunes, Excel and GoPro editing suite it does have a moment!
Yes, I see them go for circa £750 on other forums I frequent, a good buy for the money!
I may stick mine for sale on SC in the coming weeks if the Wife doesn't stop spending......
There's a new Macbook out, with the Pro coming next year. I think the new Macbook is so thin there won't be a new Air. I'm waiting until the new Pro comes out.
I ran a high spec air for 4 years, replaced it with a 13 inch Pro this year. More ports, bigger drive and better screen at about the same price, and I don't notice the weight difference.
although I'd wait for Sept 9th just in case!
Certainly worth waiting a few days, but if not then a Pro is your best bet. I use one for much the same things as you (late 2013 Retina with the equally essential SSD and 8gb ram - first of the Haswell models) and it's great. No rocket ship - the Pro name is a bit misleading these days, because anything but the faster 15 inchers are only middleweights in performance terms - but it will do what you want for several years, even as image files get larger. That's the thing about MBPs, in my experience they keep going until long after the slightly steep purchase price is forgotten.
BUT if you're really using it desk bound - with an iPad for on the go surfing - then a higher spec Mini with a good screen is actually a better bet for photo editing I think. I have one of those too, and the whole lot cost less than a higher spec MBP with very similar performance.
Last edited by simoscribbler; 2nd September 2015 at 09:16.
I saw the new macbook. Very nice in space grey!
im going to wait until end of September and see if the new breeds knock the current prices down any i think.
or just give mine an OS refresh and take it back to orginal / get rid of the crap ive no doubt accumulated over the years!
Depends really like others have said if you are using a lot of photoshop ect go pro also if you think you may want to hook a larger monitor up .. i use a 17" macbook pro which also runs my 30" cinema display so worth thinking about if you need to do this , at the end of the day the pro range is more versatile!!...
I have a MacBook Air 13".. in fact, i'm using it right now to type this..
I find the whole thing brilliant... nice size, nice speed and the keyboard is great too. If you need to play a CD etc, you can always buy a plug in drive. I have one and have only used it twice - so it really showed me I didn't need a pro for my uses.
MacBook Air 13'' perfect if you travel a lot.
I may have a Pro for sale shortly
1 year old with 2 years AppleCare remaining
Give me a pre sale nod please. I may still be looking :-)
You might already know about this, but since people are raising the issue of a refresh, this site has the analysis of when is a good time to buy:
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#Mac
Happy hunting. I think you'd have difficulty going wrong either way, but just to throw something else into the mix: what about an MBA for portability when out and about, coupled to a nice big monitor when at your desk? Works for me :)
I'm a fan of the Pro, particularly after this incident.
MBPs haven't had CD spinners for ages, so that's not a point of difference now. Unless you're carrying a laptop about all day there's not that much weight difference in practice, because chances are the laptop will be in a sleeve in a messenger bag.
bought a new macbook pro retina 15 a few weeks ago...not sure if its worth the money but nice to play with
I would just like to point out that the messenger bag should, of course, be made from only the finest tactical materials known to mankind, with a little patina to prove that it has seen active service in the hell-hole that is the District Line.
I have an air, one thing i would say is make sure you get a model with 8gb ram, 4gb is not enough.
Amazon have a very nice Aquaquest waterproof case with an extra padding sleeve inside. It was around £20. Ideal to go inside a backpack.
I've had 3 macbook pro laptops and 2 macbook airs. Both are fantastic but for photo editing I would go with the pro. As others have said, wait until after the 9th to see whats new.
The screen on the retina macbook pro is much nicer and overall it performs better than the air. Think of the mbp as more of a desktop replacement and the air as a device for using on the go.
With that said, for photo editing, a bigger screen would be better, consider the iMac if you can manage without portability because they are amazing value for money and very capable. If you need portability then consider getting a decent monitor, 13" doesn't give you a lot to look at.
I've got a 2011 Pro. When replacing it, I want to go with the Air (cos it's just so darned sexy) but think I'll need another pro. That extra 'oomph' helps with the kind of tasks you do on a laptop (rather than a tablet) like photo editing and that retina screen will be a godsend for graphical work like that.
I had Air for a along time which drowned to beer, so I upgraded to rMBP. It's a tradeoff, you lose some portability and it does feel substantially bigger even though on paper it isn't that much larger. But you also get a lot, mainly the Retina display, which is something I couldn't do without anymore. Also connectivity and obviously the Pro is much more powerful. But IMO t's worth it just for the display, even if you don't care about anything else.
Thought I'd post this here rather than starting a new thread. My PC is on the way out and the wife would like to get rid of a big black box on the desk so I'm thinking of going the Apple route (my son has an Air which I like).
Would like a decent size screen (for photo editing)so looking at a 15" Mac book pro but have some questions:
- is it necessary to have a separate graphics card or is the Intel iris graphics ok for photo etc?
- I presume more memory is better so get 16gb?
As I'm not necessarily looking for portability would a Mac mini be more cost effective? If so what screen would people recommend (max 21").
Also have two USB2 external hard drives which I presume will work just fine for backup and extra storage.
Many thanks for any responses
I'll update too.
I bought a 15inch MBP with retina display and 16gig RAM.
Craig - i use mine to run fairly heavy duty photographic/editing software (usually all at the same time) and it doesnt slow down.. You'd probably be ok with 8gb ram but 16 is FAST.
You dont need a separate graphics card.
I just bought the top spec pro as well, for video and photo crunching it makes a big difference, it comes with a nifty graphics card with its own 2G RAM I think
For work, lectures, office stuff a 13" Air is perfect and does 95% of what I need
Simon
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