2013 Macbook Air, MBP Retina or Wait?

I like the 8GB 13" MacBook Air with the 1.7GHz Haswell. It would be an upgrade versus what you have in terms of CPU, RAM, and portability.

I wouldn't buy another Retina until they get those straightened out. I got LG displays on mine with lots of ghosting. I also had far too much lag in scrolling to the point it was frustrating.

The MBA is my favorite Mac. I will be happy when it gets the Retina display, assuming Apple has figured out the driver situation by then. You can always upgrade later.

If your MBP is still kicking, just wait for the rMBP.

I in a very much similar position. Have the 2009 17" which I no longer need for my work. I went to Apple story, the retina is really sweet so I am not sure I can live without it. My hope is that the next 13" rMBP will be thinner, then it would be the ultimate computer for me

if weight form/factor doesn't matter, add an ssd to your current mbp and you'll get a second wind from it for everyday use, will make a massive difference in speed... otherwise, i think both machines would suit you well and it doesn't really matter.. get the rMBP if you want a better screen, but get the mba if you want a better form factor.. i think the rMBP won't experience much ui lag with mavericks, my 15" certainly doesn't, the newer OS fixes most gripes in such regards...

Wait for 2014, there will likely be a redesign of the Air. The 2013's have unresolved Wifi issues.

calvol said:

Wait for 2014, there will likely be a redesign of the Air. The 2013's have unresolved Wifi issues.

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I'm not sure where you got your crystal ball, but I cannot imagine Apple will redesign the Air ... at least, not substantially. As you can see elsewhere in this forum, most WiFi issues have been resolved satisfactorily.

One can always wait around for something better; if your need is fairly immediate, on the other hand, the current MBAs represent excellent value for money.

calvol said:

Wait for 2014, there will likely be a redesign of the Air. The 2013's have unresolved Wifi issues.

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The WiFi problems have probably been sorted by now. My WiFi has never missed a beat! And I doubt the Air is going to see a refresh any time soon.

I have both an Air (11" for carrying around) and a rMBP (15" as my workstation). The only way to pick between them is with what you're going to do with it. If you're going to be carrying it around all the time, go for the Air. No questions. It's so much nicer to have in your backpack than a MBP. If you're only going to carry it around every once in a while, then go for the pro. The retina display really does make one hell of a difference (especially compared to the much cheaper panels in the air). OS X is very nice to use on a retina display!

Same boat here.

I'll wait till the next rMBP gets announced. That way I can have a comparison between the three models, and see which suits me best.

jmoore5196 said:

I'm not sure where you got your crystal ball, but I cannot imagine Apple will redesign the Air ... at least, not substantially. As you can see elsewhere in this forum, most WiFi issues have been resolved satisfactorily.

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This is the fourth year of the current Air chassis, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and historically Apple has not gone five years without a design... take it FWIW.

You might want to read a few of the 113 forum pages about the WiFi issue before proclaiming it's been mostly resolved....

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5100655?start=15&tstart=0

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Brian Y said:

The WiFi problems have probably been sorted by now. My WiFi has never missed a beat! And I doubt the Air is going to see a refresh any time soon.

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As above....

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5100655?start=15&tstart=0

calvol said:

This is the fourth year of the current Air chassis, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and historically Apple has not gone five years without a design... take it FWIW.

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I'm not sure you can pronounce any redesign or rework "likely" given Apple's track record over the past couple of years. That was why I took exception to your comment ... I can remember MacBook Pro iterations that lasted only two years.

The fact that the MBA design has succeeded for nearly three years (the current iteration debuted October 14, 2010) does not mean it's due for some revamp. I cannot see the sense of trying to "trick" a current design that is selling as well as the MBA.

Any substantial change - a retina screen, for instance - would come at the expense of battery life or machine speed. The current MBA hits a sweet spot in performance, price and usability. I can think of only a few Apple products over the past 20 years that have enjoyed such unparalleled success.

Likely? I don't think Apple is likely to screw around with a proven product in the current climate.

th3godf4th3r said:

I am really torn between the 13" rMBP and 13" MBA, realistically what are the pros and cons between the two? battery life, speed etc..

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Well since the Pro has not been updated to Haswell yet, you are going to get much better battery life on the Air than the Pro.

Otherwise the differences really are

Air-
Battery
Weight
More usable screen real estate than a pro in "retina" mode
Faster WiFi
Better Graphics

Pro-
Higher resolution screen
More RAM
Faster Processors
2 thunderbolt and an HDMI port
Scaled screen resolutions

When the Pro is updated to Haswell, it will gain the better battery life, 802.11 AC wifi, and the Intel HD5000 graphics. For now though, the differences are more substantial.

WEIGHT

oh god... i could never go back to a mbp... the protability of the air wins big time... yeah i would love to have retina, but i dont think that will come soon on a mba.... but i don't miss it. my partner has it and yes it looks nice... but i really don't miss it.

plus 12 hour battery life on the new mba...

but most iportantly:

^^ some people need portable machines that are more powerful than an air.

Hi-res MBA's are slated to be released in 2014. Hopefully towards the beginning as opposed to later in the year.

what do you use your computer for??

I highly doubt you would see the benefits of the processors in the Pro as much as you would enjoy the benefits of having a lighter more portable machine.

Yeah, you don't really need a pro for those types of apps, you will be plenty happy with an Air and I think would appreciate the weight savings more because you will never tap the power of the pro.

Seems like you're doing fine with your current computer (in terms of weight and size, and it's working great), so i would wait until there is a refresh on the rMBP.

You won't have to deal with adapters for watching movies on your TV, it's got more I/O should you need it and the performance and screen will be nicer.

Personally I see no reason to buy a 13" MacBook Air over the 13" MacBook Pro Retina. The only MacBook Air, I would look at is the 11" which doesn't look like something you need.

jmoore5196 said:

I'm not sure you can pronounce any redesign or rework "likely" given Apple's track record over the past couple of years. That was why I took exception to your comment ... I can remember MacBook Pro iterations that lasted only two years.

The fact that the MBA design has succeeded for nearly three years (the current iteration debuted October 14, 2010) does not mean it's due for some revamp. I cannot see the sense of trying to "trick" a current design that is selling as well as the MBA.

Any substantial change - a retina screen, for instance - would come at the expense of battery life or machine speed. The current MBA hits a sweet spot in performance, price and usability. I can think of only a few Apple products over the past 20 years that have enjoyed such unparalleled success.

Likely? I don't think Apple is likely to screw around with a proven product in the current climate.

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Haha, spoken like a true soothsayer, not...

https://www.macrumors.com/2013/10/1...inch-macbook-with-retina-display-in-mid-2014/

th3godf4th3r said:

so now is there any reason to upgrade to 1.7ghz on the air?

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I don't think so. I am actually in the exact same boat as you, trying to decide whether to get the 13" MBA or 13" rMBP.
I currently have a 2011 13" MBP (i7) with 256GB SSD and 16GB RAM, but have had it swapped with my husband's 11" MBA for the last 3 months because the USB ports on the MBA didn't always work.
So, having used the 2012 11" MBA (i5, 8GB RAM) for the last 3 months I have to say I didn't miss my MBP much, except I prefer the bigger screen size. Performance was more than enough (web design & development) and the portability is just the best.
I am saying this because I really don't think processor speed matters too much these days, unless you are doing video work.
What makes me lean towards the MBA right now is that the rMBP won't have 16GB RAM. I run one or two VM's and it's handy having the extra RAM. So if both machines can have 8GB RAM max then the slightly lighter and slimmer design of the MBA is more appealing to me.
I might wait to see what the new rMBP's will look like, but I am most likely going to get the MBA.