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Air or Pro Retina? Got a great offer

G

Geddenmark

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 12, 2009
17
0
Hi

I was going to get the basic 13" Air with 4GB Ram and 128GB SSD, but then I was offered a one week old 13" Retina with 8GB Ram and 256GB SSD for only $50 more.

I am mostly going to use it for running mail, text editing and having a lot of browser windows open at the same time and then I am travelling a lot working on the road so lightness and silent fans matter. Stability is also important which is why I love the Mac's. The screen doesn't make any difference to me. The Retina sounds like a great deal; strong but still light but I heard that there is a lot of issues compared to the Air.

Is the Retina a better choice or should I go with the Air?
 
I think the answer is pretty obvious here.

Just make sure you're not getting a defective one.
 
Agreed. The rMBP is a better laptop in almost every aspect (except processing power, maybe, since the newer MBAs have Intel HD5000 x HD4000 on retina ones.

If the options were only brand new ones, I would get the air with 512GB SSD/8GB RAM/i7. It's lighter, has greater battery life and better performance, albeit it doesn't have a high res screen.
 
Geddenmark said:
Hi

I was going to get the basic 13" Air with 4GB Ram and 128GB SSD, but then I was offered a one week old 13" Retina with 8GB Ram and 256GB SSD for only $50 more.

I am mostly going to use it for running mail, text editing and having a lot of browser windows open at the same time and then I am travelling a lot working on the road so lightness and silent fans matter. Stability is also important which is why I love the Mac's. The screen doesn't make any difference to me. The Retina sounds like a great deal; strong but still light but I heard that there is a lot of issues compared to the Air.

Is the Retina a better choice or should I go with the Air?
Click to expand...

Go with the Retina if the deal is legit - I can't think of any legitimate reason that you'd be offered such a huge price break on a week-old Retina that's still returnable.
 
I'd go with the macbook air. Better graphics, better processor, nearly double the battery life. It will probably get more updates for OS X and Windows bootcamp since it's newer. The retina has a lot of problems with display quality and slow graphics performance. Also the air is much thinner.
 
I prefer the Air, I was only worried that 4GB of Ram wouldn't be enough. However the battery and lightness will probably win me over, though it haven't got the power that the rMBP offers.

By the way the offer on the rMBP is legit. One of my friends got it from work, but don't really need it, so he offered it to me at a good price because he knew that I was looking for a new Mac.
 
Geddenmark said:
I prefer the Air, I was only worried that 4GB of Ram wouldn't be enough. However the battery and lightness will probably win me over, though it haven't got the power that the rMBP offers.

By the way the offer on the rMBP is legit. One of my friends got it from work, but don't really need it, so he offered it to me at a good price because he knew that I was looking for a new Mac.
Click to expand...

If you know the rMBP is a legitimate deal, why wouldn't you go for it? ;)

Just my $0.02

- Kyle
 
MeUnix said:
If you know the rMBP is a legitimate deal, why wouldn't you go for it? ;)

Just my $0.02

- Kyle
Click to expand...

Because it really was an Air that I wanted and I had also bought a new Haswel model but not opened it yet because I was in doubt if 4GB Ram was enough. Anyway I ended up opening it and am using it now.

Would never buy a stolen laptop. Morally it would be wrong but it wouldn't be wise either. I got an electronics insurance which covers all of my home electronics, so buying an expensive laptop without an official receipt would be quite a gamble, especially with the problems that some of the retina displays have had.
 
I love my Air and think its amazing.

But for that price, the retina seems much better. More for your buck.
Go with the Retina, as long as its all intact etc.
 
Geddenmark said:
Hi

I was going to get the basic 13" Air with 4GB Ram and 128GB SSD, but then I was offered a one week old 13" Retina with 8GB Ram and 256GB SSD for only $50 more.

I am mostly going to use it for running mail, text editing and having a lot of browser windows open at the same time and then I am travelling a lot working on the road so lightness and silent fans matter. Stability is also important which is why I love the Mac's. The screen doesn't make any difference to me. The Retina sounds like a great deal; strong but still light but I heard that there is a lot of issues compared to the Air.

Is the Retina a better choice or should I go with the Air?
Click to expand...

I like both laptops, but for only $50 more, they're selling you a Retina? That's the better deal. Now, when are you ever going to get a deal like that again? I'd buy that in a heartbeat.
 
I purchased a haswell Air shortly after it was released then found a retina macbook with a case as well as extended Apple Care for dirt cheap. So far I love the retina. Initially I was worried about the battery life...Apple states that the battery life is around 8 hours, however with my settings I'm topping 9-10 hours before charge.

I'd say go for the Retina.
 
So far I am very satisfied with the Air, and it has had plenty of speed, so even though the Retina might have been a better deal I don't regret it.

In Denmark you can't return the laptop after breaking the wrapping so I am going to stick with it, but thank you for all of the input.
 
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