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13" rMBP next to 11" MBA

jakesaunders27

jakesaunders27

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 23, 2012
907
6
United Kingdom
does anyone have a photo of a 11 inch air next to a 13 inch mbp, i want to see the size difference from my air to my future pro

thanks, couldn't seem to find any photos on the net
 
jakesaunders27 said:
does anyone have a photo of a 11 inch air next to a 13 inch mbp, i want to see the size difference from my air to my future pro

thanks, couldn't seem to find any photos on the net
Click to expand...

I've just put "macbook air vs macbook pro retina" into Google Images and found loads.

Barney
 
jakesaunders27 said:
perfect, thanks man! god the 11 inch is tiny isn't it, how have i lived with it!
Click to expand...

I think the rMBP in those pictures is the 15" though. If your getting the 13" rMBP look at the MBA13 in those pictures and the rMBP13 will be a little bit smaller (its thicker but has a slightly smaller footprint).

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6409/13inch-retina-macbook-pro-review

The fourth picture shows them stacked and as you can see in terms of width theres not much in it between the MBA11 and rMBP13.
 
Last edited:
5to1 said:
I think the rMBP in those pictures is the 15" though. If your getting the 13" rMBP look at the MBA13 in those pictures and the rMBP13 will be a little bit smaller (its thicker but has a slightly smaller footprint).
Click to expand...

Im still a tad undecided, defiantly a retina pro just 13 or 15 thats the question!
 
jakesaunders27 said:
Im still a tad undecided, defiantly a retina pro just 13 or 15 thats the question!
Click to expand...

I went for the 13 as the 15 is too big to be truly portable for me. The footprint of the 15 is significantly bigger and when in use thats a factor across two almost perpendicular planes.

The 13 is perfect to use on my lap, at meetings (can still comfortably see/be seen over it and not squished by other people next to me), at the coffee shop, in colo's, planes, trains, etc. Whereas I'm never quite comfortable with a 15 on my lap and it can be tight in many of the other scenarios (especially when other people next to you are using large laptops). Also I'm often using more then one machine or my iPad as a reference device at the same time.

MBA11: 30 x 19.2 (CM) = 576 (CM^2)
MBP13: 31.4 x 21.9 (CM) = 687.66 (CM^2)
MBA13: 32.5 x 22.7 (CM) = 737.75 (CM^2)
MBP15: 35.89 x 24.71 (CM) = 886.842 (CM^2)

Hope that break down helps :)
 
Last edited:
5to1 said:
I went for the 13 as the 15 is too big to be truly portable for me. The footprint of the 15 is significantly bigger and when in use thats a factor across two almost perpendicular planes.

The 13 is perfect to use on my lap, at meetings (can still comfortably see/be seen over it and not squished by other people next to me), at the coffee shop, in colo's, planes, trains, etc. Whereas I'm never quite comfortable with a 15 on my lap and it can be tight in many of the other scenarios (especially when other people next to you are using large laptops). Also I'm often using more then one machine or my iPad as a reference device at the same time.

MBA11: 30 x 19.2 (CM) = 576 (CM^2)
MBP13: 31.4 x 21.9 (CM) = 687.66 (CM^2)
MBA13: 32.5 x 22.7 (CM) = 737.75 (CM^2)
MBP15: 35.89 x 24.71 (CM) = 886.842 (CM^2)

Hope that break down helps :)
Click to expand...

Wow thanks for that! I'm leaning towards the 13 because of the size it's just the power of the 15 keeps me looking at that, what Config did you get?
 
2.6GHz, 16GB, 512GB.

512GB SSD - due to the cost of going after market in the near future, thought it best to play safe. 256GB would have been borderline for me already, let alone in a year or two.

16GB - Primarily for VM's/etc. 8GB is probably sufficient for 90% of what I do. Probably erring excessively on the safe side from past experience (lost count of the number of machines where the standard memory and HDD was the only thing holding them back a few years down the line, whereas the processor/etc was still perfectly adequate).

The minor processor bump was just "forced" on me to get the SSD :D
 
5to1 said:
2.6GHz, 16GB, 512GB.

512GB SSD - due to the cost of going after market in the near future, thought it best to play safe. 256GB would have been borderline for me already, let alone in a year or two.

16GB - Primarily for VM's/etc. 8GB is probably sufficient for 90% of what I do. Probably erring excessively on the safe side from past experience (lost count of the number of machines where the standard memory and HDD was the only thing holding them back a few years down the line, whereas the processor/etc was still perfectly adequate).

The minor processor bump was just "forced" on me to get the SSD :D
Click to expand...

Nice! I was thinking the midrange config, but like you I think 256GB will be borderline, I have a 500GB drive in my Mac Pro and 64GB in my Air now (Yes its impossible to use!) so will most likely go with the same config if I do. What do you use it for, is it your main computer? Sorry for all the questions!
 
jakesaunders27 said:
Nice! I was thinking the midrange config, but like you I think 256GB will be borderline, I have a 500GB drive in my Mac Pro and 64GB in my Air now (Yes its impossible to use!) so will most likely go with the same config if I do. What do you use it for, is it your main computer? Sorry for all the questions!
Click to expand...

NP.

This is my main machine now both work (Embedded design and also still work on Tier 1 Comms projects) and personal.

I generally have lots of apps/windows open when working, but most of them aren't too processor intensive (PDF's, Logs, SSH sessions, compilers, simulators, high res images, etc), although I occasionally use VMs to test cross platform compliance/compatibility.

For personal it tends to be the normal browsing/videos/light gaming to kill time/editing my amateur pics/etc. Although work generally relies on a large breadth of knowledge, so I've become conditioned to constantly flitting between some technical paper, specs of a new IC/FPGA/etc, or something else that takes my interest randomly :)

As you can imagine the high res display is important to me, along with decent battery life and portability because I work for myself (well my companies) so I am never really off as far as my clients are concerned (so I need a machine thats ready and with me most of the time).

No machines perfect, but this ones the best so far :D
 
5to1 said:
NP.

This is my main machine now both work (Embedded design and also still work on Tier 1 Comms projects) and personal.

I generally have lots of apps/windows open when working, but most of them aren't too processor intensive (PDF's, Logs, SSH sessions, compilers, simulators, high res images, etc), although I occasionally use VMs to test cross platform compliance/compatibility.

For personal it tends to be the normal browsing/videos/light gaming to kill time/editing my amateur pics/etc. Although work generally relies on a large breadth of knowledge, so I've become conditioned to constantly flitting between some technical paper, specs of a new IC/FPGA/etc, or something else that takes my interest randomly :)

As you can imagine the high res display is important to me, along with decent battery life and portability because I work for myself (well my companies) so I am never really off as far as my clients are concerned (so I need a machine thats ready and with me most of the time).

No machines perfect, but this ones the best so far :D
Click to expand...

Awesome thanks for that!
 
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