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nathansz

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 24, 2017
1,796
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2.0 i7 macbook air
2.5 i5 macbook pro

both 2012
same price
both 8g ram
both 256g ssd
both 13”

it will only be used for mainstage

how do i choose?

thanks !
 
Last edited:
The i7 in the MBA is slightly superior to the MBP based on benchmarks.

I wouldn't base my decision on the processor alone though, the difference isn't that big. Here are some other differences that could help you:
- Is the MBA 11"? If so would you prefer the 13" on the MBP?
- Do you need an Ethernet port? The MBA requires a dongle for that.
- Will you carry it a lot? The MBA is smaller and lighter.
- The MBA seems to have a higher resolution than the MBP based on everymac.com. Maybe verify this one, I find it surprising.

How much would you be paying for those? As you know, they are already kind of old, don't invest too much because macOS support might not last long for them.
 
thanks for the reply

i had checked everymac benchmarks which made the decision harder since they were so similar

don’t need ethernet
both are 13”
weight doesn’t matter
i’ll be using it for music and either way will be the lightest piece of gear by far!

i’m wondering if the smaller, lighter air would get hotter and throttle the processor?

they are $600 CDN so about $470 US

does this seem too much for they age?

i know they won’t last for that long but i have a small budget and just need something that will work right now

thanks again

The i7 in the MBA is slightly superior to the MBP based on benchmarks.

I wouldn't base my decision on the processor alone though, the difference isn't that big. Here are some other differences that could help you:
- Is the MBA 11"? If so would you prefer the 13" on the MBP?
- Do you need an Ethernet port? The MBA requires a dongle for that.
- Will you carry it a lot? The MBA is smaller and lighter.
- The MBA seems to have a higher resolution than the MBP based on everymac.com. Maybe verify this one, I find it surprising.

How much would you be paying for those? As you know, they are already kind of old, don't invest too much because macOS support might not last long for them.
 
thanks for the reply

i had checked everymac benchmarks which made the decision harder since they were so similar

don’t need ethernet
both are 13”
weight doesn’t matter
i’ll be using it for music and either way will be the lightest piece of gear by far!

i’m wondering if the smaller, lighter air would get hotter and throttle the processor?

they are $600 CDN so about $470 US

does this seem too much for they age?

i know they won’t last for that long but i have a small budget and just need something that will work right now

thanks again
I'm not sure about the throttling but I think it should be fine.

I would get the Air if I were you mostly because of the higher resolution (I verified and indeed it has a higher resolution although the colour spectrum is better on the MBP) and weight.

Seems like a fair price.
 
thanks for the reply

i had checked everymac benchmarks which made the decision harder since they were so similar

don’t need ethernet
both are 13”
weight doesn’t matter
i’ll be using it for music and either way will be the lightest piece of gear by far!

i’m wondering if the smaller, lighter air would get hotter and throttle the processor?

they are $600 CDN so about $470 US

does this seem too much for they age?

i know they won’t last for that long but i have a small budget and just need something that will work right now

thanks again

I personally would go for the pro.

It has a much nicer screen its actually less pixels than the air but is a much brighter nicer IPS panel over the airs TN panel, with mainstage I assume you want to be able to glance at the screen, from various angles and see the picture well this will be much easier on the pro than the air.

I'll be honest that price sounds fair and they both have an ssd so you should be all good for at least 2-3 years, barring catastrophic failure of course that can happen to any computer anytime but at 6 years old they will be more prone. Saying that both these models are just about the most stable laptops apple ever produced.
 
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thanks for the tips everyone

i ended up going with the pro in case it turns out i need to add more ram

and got the price down to $385 CDN so basically $300 US
 
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