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Resolved Considering switching from mid-2012 MBP to new MBA - worth it?

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darrenc95

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 24, 2014
8
0
I currently use a mid-2012 MacBook Pro (non-Retina) and while it works fine, sometimes I wish I had a slightly longer battery to work with (I'm a college student, so I go to and from class a lot, and it would be nice to not have to lug a cord around all the time), and I am more drawn to the design of the MacBook Air. Silly things to consider buying a new computer for, sure, but this comes at a time when a friend wants a Mac and is considering buying mine from me.

Let's assume I sell for about $700, since my MBP is a 13" model with the largest RAM option.

If I do sell and get a MBA, my main concern is whether I should get 4 or 8 gigs of memory. (256GB SSD is a given since I am currently approaching 100GB of hard drive usage on my Pro.) I don't do any fancy things such as gaming, graphic design, or video editing, but I am a very heavy internet user. I would like to be able to get the 4GB version and save some money if possible.

All things considered, I'm wondering if this is worth it. I'm leaning towards doing it, but I want some extra opinions. Also, if you could give feedback on RAM, that'd be great.
 
Last edited:
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motrek

macrumors 68030
Sep 14, 2012
2,613
305
darrenc95 said:
I currently use a mid-2012 MacBook Pro (non-Retina) and while it works fine, sometimes I wish I had a slightly longer battery to work with (I'm a college student, so I go to and from class a lot, and it would be nice to not have to lug a cord around all the time), and I am more drawn to the design of the MacBook Air. Silly things to consider buying a new computer for, sure, but this comes at a time when a friend wants a Mac and is considering buying mine from me.

Let's assume I sell for about $700, since my MBP is a 13" model with the largest RAM option.

If I do sell and get a MBA, my main concern is whether I should get 4 or 8 gigs of memory. (256GB SSD is a given since I am currently approaching 100GB of hard drive usage on my Pro.) I don't do any fancy things such as gaming, graphic design, or video editing, but I am a very heavy internet user. I would like to be able to get the 4GB version and save some money if possible.

All things considered, I'm wondering if this is worth it. I'm leaning towards doing it, but I want some extra opinions. Also, if you could give feedback on RAM, that'd be great.
Click to expand...

Might as well get an 11". It has essentially the same screen real estate as your MBP but is smaller and weighs half as much.
 
D

darrenc95

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 24, 2014
8
0
motrek said:
Might as well get an 11". It has essentially the same screen real estate as your MBP but is smaller and weighs half as much.
Click to expand...

I would much prefer the 13" model. The size of my MBP is perfect; I feel that anything smaller would be harder on the eyes. The 13" MBA also has the best battery life of any current MacBook models.
 
M

motrek

macrumors 68030
Sep 14, 2012
2,613
305
darrenc95 said:
I would much prefer the 13" model. The size of my MBP is perfect; I feel that anything smaller would be harder on the eyes. The 13" MBA also has the best battery life of any current MacBook models.
Click to expand...

Just because a screen is smaller doesn't mean its pixels are smaller or the text on it is smaller.

If you're worried about having trouble seeing text/graphics on the 11" screen, you should be aware that your 13" MBP has a resolution of 113 points per inch and the 13" MBA has a resolution of 127 PPI, i.e., everything will be be 12% smaller.
 
Dweez

Dweez

macrumors 65816
Jun 13, 2011
1,248
10
Down by the river
The only reason I chose to go with 8 gig was due to the fact that I need to run a VM and give it 4 gig of memory. My opinion is that 4 gig will be more than sufficient for your use cases.
 
Kobayagi

Kobayagi

macrumors 6502a
Dec 18, 2012
918
2,075
I have a 2011 13" Air and I really wish I picked the 8gb option. I'll have to say, for college, I do use photoshop, illustrator and premiere, but nothing heavy, just editing short videos during this semester. But still, having 8gb of ram is always useful, not just with demanding apps. Even with light use, you'll be able to do more at the same time/have more apps open and have everything run smooth.

And don't forget, your Mac will be more future proof because the next OS updates will demand more and more power. My MacBook is far from slow at the moment, it's as fast on Yosemite as when I had OSX Lion, but I do notice I can't comfortably use premiere with Safari when I need to search something, and that's mainly due to ram shortage. I mean it works, but not as smooth.

So my advice is to get more ram, if you can afford it, you'll need it down the road.
 
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