13 inch macbook pro vs macbook air 11 inch for school

[Sossity]

I would like to carry and use a laptop for school, my school has lots of steps, so I have to carry all I have in on my backpack, so I am looking for a lightweight modern fairly powerful machine, it does not have to be the fadstest, but I dont want something too dated, and could handle some light video and photo editing. I also have to ride a bike with my backpack to a bus station to get the bus after classes.

I have a 15 inch retina macbook pro, love the machine, but I think it might be too heavy for school to carry in a backpack all day, so am looking for something smaller.

which would be better? I also want a good battery life, very important, in classes all day, and cant always get a wall wart to charge.

 

[Patcell]

Are you looking to replace your current 15" rMBP or get something additional to carry around at school? If replacing, I'd go with the 13" rMBP - it is pretty darn thin and light and battery is good to excellent.

If you are getting something in addition to your 15" and/or need to eek out the absolute maximum battery life, then the 13" Air is probably the way to go. 11" Air is about same battery life as 13" Pro.

 

[Sossity]

I may replace the 15 inch if the 13 inch retina is alot lighter, I got the 15 in as a backup and portable to my desktop, I could use it if my desktop tanked, I do use photos spreadsheets, would a switch from a 15 in retina to a 13 inch be drastic downgrade? would it be lightweight enough to carry in a backpack all day?

 

[Patcell]

I may replace the 15 inch if the 13 inch retina is alot lighter, I got the 15 in as a backup and portable to my desktop, I could use it if my desktop tanked, I do use photos spreadsheets, would a switch from a 15 in retina to a 13 inch be drastic downgrade? would it be lightweight enough to carry in a backpack all day?

IMO, the 13" inch rMBP form factor is pretty much a perfect compromise between performance an portability. Including for carrying around in a bag all day. I do carry my 15" pretty much every day, but I do sometimes miss the portability of the 13". As far as the downgrade in performance goes... That depends totally on your use case. Moving from a quad-core CPU (15") to a dual-core (13") is a drastic downgrade, but not in general use. Quad-cores are beneficial for heavy-weight computational performance or video editing/rendering, but if your use case is not one that demands serious computing power (or doesn't make good use of multiple processor threads) than you may not even notice the decrease in performance from 15" to 13". Certainly you would not benefit from a quad-core CPU when taking class notes or working in productivity apps, for example.

 

[robvas]

Smaller is better - if you can get away with the 11" screen get the Air - it's awesome and very small. Or you could go with the newer 12" MacBook

 

[maflynn]

I'd consider a 12" Macbook over the 11" MBA, partly because you get a bit more screen real estate and its a much better screen.

 

[jerryk]

I may replace the 15 inch if the 13 inch retina is alot lighter, I got the 15 in as a backup and portable to my desktop, I could use it if my desktop tanked, I do use photos spreadsheets, would a switch from a 15 in retina to a 13 inch be drastic downgrade? would it be lightweight enough to carry in a backpack all day?

The 13 inch rMBPs are slower than your 15 inch. They are 1 pound (< .5 kg) lighter. I use Lightroom and really prefer the 15 inch over the 13 inch. I find the extra space and power to be more than worth the extra weight.

 

[redheeler]

The 13" rMBP is definitely worth it over the 11" Air for the display alone. If you can get by with one USB-C port the 12" rMB is also worth considering.

 

[Altis]

I'd recommend trying out how your 15" works as it is. I personally much prefer the extra screen space and you already have one.

Why not try it and if it becomes a pain, maybe sell it and get a 13" and a dockable set up at home?

 

[Patcell]

I'd recommend trying out how your 15" works as it is. I personally much prefer the extra screen space and you already have one.

Why not try it and if it becomes a pain, maybe sell it and get a 13" and a dockable set up at home?

I tend to agree also... I carry a 15" rMBP in my messenger-style bag everyday and I don't find it that much of a hassle. I definitely notice the difference in weight coming from a 13" in the past, but not a deal breaker to be sure.

 

[Rhinoevans]

I would recommend just caring the extra pound of the 15 inch you already own. Consider it exercise.

 

[Closingracer]

I'd consider a 12" Macbook over the 11" MBA, partly because you get a bit more screen real estate and its a much better screen.

I would agree but if this is for school I would kill myself if I had to use that keyboard.... It is horrible and if the rumors are true they would be adding the butterfly keyboard in the Pro models that will guarantee my first and last Macbook will be this 13 inch rMBP 2015 model. That keyboard is just outright bad.