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What is the best Apple laptop to run Yosemite?

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Fantoni

macrumors member
Original poster
May 23, 2010
37
0
Hi, I'm currently a Windows user, but I would like to buy an Apple laptop with Yosemite. I will use Office, Photoshop, SketchUp.

Should I buy a MacBook Air 13" (256GB + 8GB RAM) or a MacBook Pro Retina 13" (256GB + 8GB RAM)? I ask this question because I've read that the MBP Retina has some graphic issues (lags, etc.) especially with Yosemite. Is the MBA's graphic performance better because of its non-retina display?

Thanks
 
T

Trioptre

macrumors newbie
Nov 15, 2012
9
1
Go Retina

I have the rMBP 2013 2.4 i5, and it's fantastic. The right combination of cost and power. The retina screen is worth the price of admission. Get what best suits your needs.
 
S

Samuelsan2001

macrumors 604
Oct 24, 2013
7,729
2,153
Go retina

I have no graphics issues with my 13 inch retina 2013 on mavericks and Yosemite is reportedly even smoother.

That retina screen is definitely worth it everything looks great but text especially is amazing.
 
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,627
43,623
I think any of the current or near current machines are fine for Yosemite. Its running great on my 2012 rMBP.
 
MacDawg

MacDawg

Moderator emeritus
Mar 20, 2004
19,823
4,504
"Between the Hedges"
As stated above, any of the current Mac laptops will run Yosemite just fine

I have the 15" late 2013 rMBP and there are no lag issues whatsoever
And I run 2 large external monitors in addition to the laptop monitor
 
J

Johbremat

macrumors regular
Feb 8, 2011
149
16
Have 10.10 installed on an early-2011 15" MBP (7200RPM HDD; 8GB RAM) and I dare say it runs better than Mavericks.

Been a bit since I've rebuilt the machine...may be that blatting the disk and doing a fresh install could (read: possibly, but won't hedge bets) yield better results.
 
F

Fantoni

macrumors member
Original poster
May 23, 2010
37
0
Do you think that taking the having 8GB RAM could improve the graphic performance of the MacBook Pro Retina 13"?
 
S

Samuelsan2001

macrumors 604
Oct 24, 2013
7,729
2,153
Only if you are using a lot of ram

Fantoni said:
Do you think that taking the having 8GB RAM could improve the graphic performance of the MacBook Pro Retina 13"?
Click to expand...

The Iris graphics will comandeer up to 1.5 gb of RAM if needed so if you run a lot of programs at the same time it could become a bottleneck with 4gb
 
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,627
43,623
Fantoni said:
Do you think that taking the having 8GB RAM could improve the graphic performance of the MacBook Pro Retina 13"?
Click to expand...

I found 8GB to be the sweet spot for most users, and 4GB to be on the too small side of the fence. To be sure, many people are running with 4GB w/o any issues, but I think the long run 8GB is better. I think Yosemite can probably spread its wings a little better with 8GB and will work more smoothly.
 
JHUFrank

JHUFrank

macrumors 6502a
Apr 16, 2010
652
66
Holy smokes, now I am frantically searching for lag on my relatively new rMBP 13. ;-)
This thing has been pretty much flawless on Yosemite all through the beta. I had the wifi flipping out for about a week, but a patch fixed that. Great laptop
 
F

Fantoni

macrumors member
Original poster
May 23, 2010
37
0
16GB RAM: graphic performance boost?

I've just noticed that 8GB Ram is already the default for MBPr 13". So I edit my original question: "do you think that 16GB RAM could improve the graphic performance of the MBPr 13"?"
 
S

Samuelsan2001

macrumors 604
Oct 24, 2013
7,729
2,153
In a word No.

Fantoni said:
I've just noticed that 8GB Ram is already the default for MBPr 13". So I edit my original question: "do you think that 16GB RAM could improve the graphic performance of the MBPr 13"?"
Click to expand...

Basically nothing will improve the graphics performance, extra RAM may be useful in rendering large RAW files, or Editing HD video that will also max out your graphics processor nut it will not actually make your graphics any better.
 
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