Macbook Air 13 vs Macbook Pro Retina 13

Makes sense to get the Retina if they are the same price.

Get the air, you wont really enjoy using the retina since it can't maximize the full beauty of the retina screen due to the lack of GPU performance [ HD 4000 ] and it is the first year of apple making a retina laptop so expect ghosting and other issues . IMHO, id rather get the Air because of its portability and performance as well.

Retina is all the rage as it's new & Apple is promoting it. Sure it's nice (I use a 15" MBP retina) but it's not the holy grail. I also have a 13" MBA which is equally as nice. If I was suggesting one I'd get the Air.

In a year or two everyone will have retina equivalents & it will be no big deal.

I would say the Air....the retina has an Intel 4000 to power all those pixels and that is not acceptable. It lags, even on the UI. For the Air, it is great because it has less pixels. It can power the Air perfectly.

Other than that, the Air has a nicer form factor, is thinner, and lighter. Also, for your config., it has more storage.

i went with the macbook air i5/8/256 13" 2012 grand total including tax is $1706

even though i know the macbook pro retina 15" for about $550-600 more would have been the better option, or a lower end macobk pro retina 13" base model for $150 more compared to what i paid for my macbook air 2013 13" would seem like a better deal... in the end my main deciding factor was weight and portability.

i think you made the right choice, and its quite normal to look back and regret your decision and think to see if the macbook pro retina would have been the better buy at that price point that you paid. i know i did.

but if i wanted performance at its best, i would have gone for the macbook pro 15". i just felt theres no reason to go with the pro 13" when the 13" air is just as good, not to mention its lighter and more portable. that was my deciding factor.