Oct-23: Good day for Air Owners

Cheers!

Yeah the 13" rMBP is wayyy too expensive, if you want to do upgrades- forget about it.

They should have just slapped the better screen on the Air, thing would have sold like hot cakes.

Battery life

DrumApple said:

Yeah the 13" rMBP is wayyy too expensive, if you want to do upgrades- forget about it.

They should have just slapped the better screen on the Air, thing would have sold like hot cakes.

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As soon as they figure out how to extend the battery life, I'll get excited.

But I couldn't imagine that happening now.

It's probably deliberate. The Air is being positioned to take over as the "main" Apple notebook. Had the 256GB version been $1699, it would have dampened Air sales. That said, I wonder how much longer Apple will be able to sell the upgrade from 128GB to 256GB for $300.

I would've loved for them to spec up the Air since I'm in the market for one now. Would've made it easier to grab a cheapie from someone with upgrade fever.

I wanted to make the switch but this is ridiculous. The 13" i7/256 rMBP costs the same as the 15", which has quad core and a dedicated GPU? I'll get an Air.

Indeed. Waited for the rMBP13" but that turned out to be a wasted time.

I'm really into getting the base 13" Air, 8gb RAM which is 400$ cheaper than the rMBP. That's the machine I've been looking at the whole time.

Don't care for the retina as well. I've had a lot of Macs and the display seems fine to me (let's not get into the whole discussion here, just pointing out the subjective perspective)

Others who waited for the rMBP and now opts for the Air?

Was so excited to make the switch from a 2011 13in (i5/4GB/128GB) MBA to a 13in (i5/8GB/256GB) rMBP... but that was under the assumption it was getting a quad-core CPU and discrete GPU.

Sticking with this bad boy for another year it seems. Might get a 256GB SSD off Ebay and throw it in here.

New Air owner here, well within the return window. I have to say, there is no chance this thing is going back. It's a fantastic machine! My expectation for the screen were low after the reviews I had read... Well I have to say, to my eyes it looks fantastic!

To pay $400 to upgrade to the 13" rMBP seems nonsensical. You could pick up a high resolution 27" monitor for that price.

Yep, sold my rMBP 15" this morning during the announcement. Only took a $100 loss for using it for 4 months overall very happy. I'm going to pick up a 27" iMac. Best bang-for-buck it seems.

I'm extremely happy with my 11" i7 8GB RAM 128gb SSD I picked up last week too. Air + new iMac + iPad Mini is my winning combo

AlvinNguyen said:

Yep, sold my rMBP 15" this morning during the announcement. Only took a $100 loss for using it for 4 months overall very happy. I'm going to pick up a 27" iMac. Best bang-for-buck it seems.

I'm extremely happy with my 11" i7 8GB RAM 128gb SSD I picked up last week too. Air + new iMac + iPad Mini is my winning combo

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You won't miss the retina screen?

tredstone said:

You won't miss the retina screen?

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Never used it. - Always had it hooked up to my 27 inch Cinema display. I don't ever take the computer out because it's a little too heavy still. I go to really remote locations for photoshoots so the lighter the better I believe the MacBook air 11 inch is the best and most rounded portable laptop ever built for people like me who trek miles and miles to do video/photoshoots.

Lukewarmwinner said:

Indeed. Waited for the rMBP13" but that turned out to be a wasted time.

I'm really into getting the base 13" Air, 8gb RAM which is 400$ cheaper than the rMBP. That's the machine I've been looking at the whole time.

Don't care for the retina as well. I've had a lot of Macs and the display seems fine to me (let's not get into the whole discussion here, just pointing out the subjective perspective)

Others who waited for the rMBP and now opts for the Air?

Click to expand...

The Air has been the best computer I've ever, ever owned (2011 13"). Changed how I think of computers (I also work in the industry). With that said, I just ordered the rmbp 13, as it addresses the couple issues I hit while using the air:

1. I push the Air CPU a lot with what I do. It can do so much, but some activities aren't feasible.

2. The display led me astray... luckily iPhoto saves the original pictures, so I reverted everything. But while editing, I got the colors all wrong. Only noticed when I viewed the pictures on the iPad. Display on Air is lovely for a lot of things, but not precise enough for detailed photo editing. Really looking forward to the IPS retina.

3. Ports. My model only has USB2 and one thunderbolt. The upgrade to USB3 will be welcomed. The 2 thunderbolt ports and HDMI are going to be really really great.

Nova Sensei said:

New Air owner here, well within the return window. I have to say, there is no chance this thing is going back. It's a fantastic machine! My expectation for the screen were low after the reviews I had read... Well I have to say, to my eyes it looks fantastic!

To pay $400 to upgrade to the 13" rMBP seems nonsensical. You could pick up a high resolution 27" monitor for that price.

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Very exciting review. I plan on picking up one of these puppies in a few weeks. I've always loved the thin and sleek design.

How does the 13" MBA screen compare to the 1680X1050 screen on the 15" MBP?

ECUpirate44 said:

How does the 13" MBA screen compare to the 1680X1050 screen on the 15" MBP?

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I think the screen estate would be the same, but not really a mathematical person, so others might weigh in

Lukewarmwinner said:

I think the screen estate would be the same, but not really a mathematical person, so others might weigh in

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It's exactly the same - 128 vs. 128. The 11" is better at 135.