Hi,
I got the base MBA a year ago and love it. However, over the past three months the retinopathy in both of my eyes has activated (retinal detachments, holes, vitreous detachment, vitreous haemorrhage... It's been fun!) and the MBA has gone from just on the edge of tolerable to frequently not so tolerable, visibility wise. There are many textual elements that I can't see, and zooming is horribly blurred. As a result I'm seriously considering moving up to the base rMBP13 just for the screen. Performance wise, I'm perfectly content with the Sandy Bridge MBA...it was a huge upgrade on the netbook and Core2Duo Vaio combo I was using before!
So my question is, if I go ahead and get the RMBP13 will I notice any sort of performance upgrade? Does the screen/ HD4000 combination mean that there are times when the rMBP13 will appear slower than the MBA 2011, just because the power to pixels ratio? I've read the reviews and comparisons, but understandably those tend to focus on the MBA 2012, and in any case I'm more interested in real world use.
My use is pretty light, when all is said and done. It includes:
- research and writing, so may well have Devonthink Pro, Evernote, multiple tabs in Chrome and Scrivener going at once
- image editing for making book covers on pixelmator - but I'm rarely working with any more than ten layers at a time, and only a couple of those will be hi def
- short video editing tasks in iMovie and ScreenFlow/ VideoFlow with iPad3 type video and multiple tracks of images and effects. Whole project rarely exceeds five or ten minutes.
I don't game and whilst I do use my computer for video encoding- mainly for iTunes capable subtitles as I'm deaf - I haven't used the MBA for much in the way of viewing. However, with the HDMI port on the rMBP that might change.
I have the iPad3 so I'm already aware of how good the screen is. I went into my local store last week to see the MBA and rMBP side by side and almost burst into tears because everything was so CLEAR. The ipad and FaceTime have already been transformative for me - the ability to phone people and be able to lip read or sign is priceless- and I'm hoping the rMBP could be similarly transformative for me sight wise, especially as there's a reasonable likelihood that my eyes will continue to deteriorate.
Any thoughts?
Thanks!
I got the base MBA a year ago and love it. However, over the past three months the retinopathy in both of my eyes has activated (retinal detachments, holes, vitreous detachment, vitreous haemorrhage... It's been fun!) and the MBA has gone from just on the edge of tolerable to frequently not so tolerable, visibility wise. There are many textual elements that I can't see, and zooming is horribly blurred. As a result I'm seriously considering moving up to the base rMBP13 just for the screen. Performance wise, I'm perfectly content with the Sandy Bridge MBA...it was a huge upgrade on the netbook and Core2Duo Vaio combo I was using before!
So my question is, if I go ahead and get the RMBP13 will I notice any sort of performance upgrade? Does the screen/ HD4000 combination mean that there are times when the rMBP13 will appear slower than the MBA 2011, just because the power to pixels ratio? I've read the reviews and comparisons, but understandably those tend to focus on the MBA 2012, and in any case I'm more interested in real world use.
My use is pretty light, when all is said and done. It includes:
- research and writing, so may well have Devonthink Pro, Evernote, multiple tabs in Chrome and Scrivener going at once
- image editing for making book covers on pixelmator - but I'm rarely working with any more than ten layers at a time, and only a couple of those will be hi def
- short video editing tasks in iMovie and ScreenFlow/ VideoFlow with iPad3 type video and multiple tracks of images and effects. Whole project rarely exceeds five or ten minutes.
I don't game and whilst I do use my computer for video encoding- mainly for iTunes capable subtitles as I'm deaf - I haven't used the MBA for much in the way of viewing. However, with the HDMI port on the rMBP that might change.
I have the iPad3 so I'm already aware of how good the screen is. I went into my local store last week to see the MBA and rMBP side by side and almost burst into tears because everything was so CLEAR. The ipad and FaceTime have already been transformative for me - the ability to phone people and be able to lip read or sign is priceless- and I'm hoping the rMBP could be similarly transformative for me sight wise, especially as there's a reasonable likelihood that my eyes will continue to deteriorate.
Any thoughts?
Thanks!