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New MacBook Retina vs MBA for casual everyday use

2

212rikanmofo

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 31, 2003
1,836
691
I was holding off on getting the 13" MBA for the new Retina MacBook, but now it looks like I'm unsure of which route to go with. I already have a 27" iMac at home that I use for everything. My main decision to get a laptop was for portability. I will be using the laptop for the typical/casual stuff, such as surfing internet, facebook, email, youtube, imessage, facetime, google hangouts, skype, etc. With some occasional graphic design work using photoshop/illustrator/indesign, and iWork, MS Office, and photo editing work as well. Will the new Retina MacBook work well for this compared to the MBA?

I'm not familiar with the new Intel Core M chips and Intel HD 5300 vs the i5/i7 and Intel HD 6000 in the MBA. Overall, which one will perform better and if so, will it be a much noticeable difference? I really like the retina screen and size and looks of the new MacBook, and that's my number reason to get it, for portability.

Would like to hear your thoughts and opinions for those of you who face a similar situation as me and can't decide on which to get.
 
itsOver9000

itsOver9000

macrumors 6502
Mar 29, 2013
374
329
B.F., KS
MBA is more powerful and has a better camera. since you say you use Skype/FaceTime/Google hangouts that might be a big deal for you.
 
newellj

newellj

macrumors G3
Oct 15, 2014
8,127
3,030
East of Eden
I would hold off if possible. While the rMB has some very slick features, it has some real trade-offs, and we know nothing about how it will really perform in the wild. It's a first gen product. It could be brilliant, or have some serious flaws. Only time will tell.
 
M

motrek

macrumors 68030
Sep 14, 2012
2,613
305
212rikanmofo said:
...
I'm not familiar with the new Intel Core M chips and Intel HD 5300 vs the i5/i7 and Intel HD 6000 in the MBA. Overall, which one will perform better and if so, will it be a much noticeable difference? I really like the retina screen and size and looks of the new MacBook, and that's my number reason to get it, for portability.
...
Click to expand...

None of the software you run makes any noteworthy demands on the GPU. Never mind the difference between Intel HD 5300 and 6000 or whatever, you'd be happy with Intel integrated graphics from 5 years ago.

Improvements to the GPU are basically only useful if you play 3-D video games or do GPGPU scientific computing (in which case you wouldn't be doing it on a MacBook) or if you want to connect to a 4K monitor or something.
 
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