When Schiller announced the MBA and MBP spec upgrades I was quite satisfied and seemed set on the 2012 11" MBA (unless its battery is even worse than the 2011 model). But the Retina Pro threw a spanner in the works, at least to my heart.
I think given the form factor and thermal envelope they were working with, with no space for a discrete GPU or extra battery, anything more than the current update on the MBAs would have had a serious, serious inhibiting effect on its portability. I mean the 11" model with a retina display would be crippled both in terms of CPU processing images and the battery may as well not be there as you'd have to have it plugged in pretty much all the time.
As good as a realistic upgrade as you were going to get I guess. Still, when you max out the 2012 MBA, the price approaches the new retina MBP, but the form factor is just still to big on that one for me. I've found the 11" to be absolutely perfect in size.
Now if the next gen Pro came in a 13" flavor, I would have strongly considered it. But I have to put on my rational hat and despite the definite benefit of having that beautiful screen, I just wouldn't enjoy anywhere near the same portability with a 15" notebook, plus it is way, way too overpowered for what I use them for.
The only other hook keeping me intrigued (apart from the screen) is that with the 15" next gen Pro, it may well get me back into more serious PC/Mac gaming...
Your thoughts?
I think given the form factor and thermal envelope they were working with, with no space for a discrete GPU or extra battery, anything more than the current update on the MBAs would have had a serious, serious inhibiting effect on its portability. I mean the 11" model with a retina display would be crippled both in terms of CPU processing images and the battery may as well not be there as you'd have to have it plugged in pretty much all the time.
As good as a realistic upgrade as you were going to get I guess. Still, when you max out the 2012 MBA, the price approaches the new retina MBP, but the form factor is just still to big on that one for me. I've found the 11" to be absolutely perfect in size.
Now if the next gen Pro came in a 13" flavor, I would have strongly considered it. But I have to put on my rational hat and despite the definite benefit of having that beautiful screen, I just wouldn't enjoy anywhere near the same portability with a 15" notebook, plus it is way, way too overpowered for what I use them for.
The only other hook keeping me intrigued (apart from the screen) is that with the 15" next gen Pro, it may well get me back into more serious PC/Mac gaming...
Your thoughts?