Base MBA 13.3 v/s Base MBP 13 non-retina.

I would personally recommend the pro with the SSD.

Depends what you want from it, if screen "real-estate" is a prime concern, then the Air wins hands down. If you want the opportunity to upgrade to more than 8GB of RAM sometime in the future then the Pro wins.

NutsNGum said:

Depends what you want from it, if screen "real-estate" is a prime concern, then the Air wins hands down. If you want the opportunity to upgrade to more than 8GB of RAM sometime in the future then the Pro wins.

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Personally think a little power is going to win out here. True there is more screen but I would still say the pro.

I know it depends what you are using it for, that the spec and the benchmarks say Pro, but I have both.

And I find that the Air is faster for everything I do. This includes basic day to day tasks such as browsing and launching programmes. I find gestures and the trackpad are smoother and more responsive on the Air, such as when swiping from desktop to desktop.

For more intensive things such as working with photos or working with large databases I also find the Air faster and snappier than the Pro.

Could be just my work flow, but my tuppence is that for many many things the Air seems to be quicker even if the specs and benchmarks say otherwise. Thus far I haven't come across a single time when I've felt my 13-inch Pro is faster than my Air.

That said, I was using the 2.9 i7 13-inch Pro (non-retina) in the Apple Store last night. If that is in budget, and you can put a SSD in and 16 GB of RAM (even if at a later date) then it would be beast of a machine which I would go for.

The difference in portability between the MBA and the MBP is smaller than the difference in performance between the two. In other words:

- If you want it for portability, get the Air;
- If you want it for performance, get the Pro;
- If you're not sure, get the Air.

In terms of specs, the Pro sports a bigger hard-drive and a speedier CPU. However, the GPU and the RAM are both the same in both models (although you can upgrade the memory in the MBP).

Also, the MBA comes with an incredibly fast SSD, which IMHO completely compensates for the slower processor.

Go with the machine that has the SSD. The difference between a mechanical HD and a SSD is huge. It makes the entire machine feel and act much speedier. Plus the Air is thin and light and very cool.

If you plan to keep the machine > 3 years
- If budget is limited, go with MBP. You can upgrade RAM, disk, etc later
- If budget is no issue, go with MBA but upgrade the RAM (must) and also disk (optional)

If you plan to renew every 2-3 years -> MBA. No point upgrading MBP later, because you will get the new generation anyway. Exception, if your usage requires > 4 GB RAM

Bear in mind, You can't upgrade processor on both. 3 years old machine usually start slowing down. The difference is not noticeable if you upgrade ram/SSD in MBP compared to MBA

I used to have MBP for 3 years, and found that even upgrading SSD and RAM didn't help much on performance (still core2duo). I sold it for MBA 128/8GB.