Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
2013 MBA 13" vs 2012 MBP 13"
- Thread starter 3lite
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Saying don't worry about my uses and asking which is more powerful doesn't really work. The air is great for everyday tasks and even editing. The 2013 MBA though isn't too much less powerful than the 2012 MBP base model. I had a pro and switched to a 2012 air and have seen very few performance drops
Have you seen this? http://www.macworld.com/article/204...13-holds-its-own-against-the-macbook-pro.html
Also this: http://blog.laptopmag.com/macbook-air-2013-vs-retina-macbook-pro-which-should-you-buy
But I agree with mattbaar26 - it really depends on your needs.
Also this: http://blog.laptopmag.com/macbook-air-2013-vs-retina-macbook-pro-which-should-you-buy
But I agree with mattbaar26 - it really depends on your needs.
Ive juggled this decision...
I've flip flopped twice from the 13 rMBP to the new 13 Air. I'm convinced that once you use a retina screen you can't go back. At least that was the case for me. The Air is nice, and the 12hr battery life was nice; but the rMBP is a nicer a machine overall(hence the higher price tag).
I bought a refurbished 13 rMBP for 1250 from Apple and returned it for a 2013 13'' MBA base model. It was nice for about a month and the I decided to trade it in for the rMBP. I found someone close by me that would trade strait up and I'm so glad I did. The retina screen is a must and 5-7hrs of battery life on the rMBP is better than 10-12hrs on the poor MBA display.
Performance is about the same on the two machines(I was using a DP of Mavericks which really helps on the 13" rMBP) If you do decide to go with the MBA make sure you upgrade the RAM. It wasn't to bad with 4GB on the Air, but I noticed some problems with Chrome(with 20+ tabs open) that I didn't see on the rMBP with 8GB RAM. Encoding video projects went significantly faster with the pro, but moving the files generally went faster on the Air. Graphics performance seemed about the same.
One more time, and I can't stress this enough. You spend 98% of your time on your computer staring at your display and the retina is THAT much better than the Air...My vote: RMBP
I've flip flopped twice from the 13 rMBP to the new 13 Air. I'm convinced that once you use a retina screen you can't go back. At least that was the case for me. The Air is nice, and the 12hr battery life was nice; but the rMBP is a nicer a machine overall(hence the higher price tag).
I bought a refurbished 13 rMBP for 1250 from Apple and returned it for a 2013 13'' MBA base model. It was nice for about a month and the I decided to trade it in for the rMBP. I found someone close by me that would trade strait up and I'm so glad I did. The retina screen is a must and 5-7hrs of battery life on the rMBP is better than 10-12hrs on the poor MBA display.
Performance is about the same on the two machines(I was using a DP of Mavericks which really helps on the 13" rMBP) If you do decide to go with the MBA make sure you upgrade the RAM. It wasn't to bad with 4GB on the Air, but I noticed some problems with Chrome(with 20+ tabs open) that I didn't see on the rMBP with 8GB RAM. Encoding video projects went significantly faster with the pro, but moving the files generally went faster on the Air. Graphics performance seemed about the same.
One more time, and I can't stress this enough. You spend 98% of your time on your computer staring at your display and the retina is THAT much better than the Air...My vote: RMBP
I spend about 90% of my time staring at a 23" monitor connected to my 11" MBA.
But when I'm travelling, the small size and weight is a big plus.