So Im about to buy a new macbook and I have about 1200ish to spend not counting tax/shipping. Is the 13inch macbook air with 8gb of ram,dual core i7 and 128 ssd be equal to the retina 8 gb of ram dual i5 and 128 ssd. I do play some light games and plan to use a micro sd card for extra storage. Would the higher res screen on the retina lower performance in games or is that compensated by the iris pro? As for games I would only be playing league of legends.
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Air vs retina config question?
- Thread starter verseafterverse
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They will perform about the same
The actual everyday performance is about the same, the pro will be better over time with better cooling and more powerful GPU, to be honest it's the screen that makes the difference plus the ease of connection to external displays that'll swing it. They will both perform surprisingly well with older games and some of the newer ones run fine on lower settings.
The actual everyday performance is about the same, the pro will be better over time with better cooling and more powerful GPU, to be honest it's the screen that makes the difference plus the ease of connection to external displays that'll swing it. They will both perform surprisingly well with older games and some of the newer ones run fine on lower settings.
I've had this dilemma few weeks ago and I ended up with 13inch retina. Mostly due to retina screen.
I've got 15inch retina already and simply can't back to those grainy displays on MBA.
Prisewise, it was onlu about £150 difference between air and retina.
I think that buying macbook air at the moment is not a good idea.
I've got 15inch retina already and simply can't back to those grainy displays on MBA.
Prisewise, it was onlu about £150 difference between air and retina.
I think that buying macbook air at the moment is not a good idea.
The 13" MacBook Pro does not have Iris Pro graphics (HD 5200 with 128MB cache); it only has the regular Iris graphics (HD 5100). The MacBook Air has even has HD 5000 graphics.
That said the lower resolution on the MacBook Air should help with the slower graphics chip. The only issue I have is the MacBook Air being smaller will have a harder time dissipating heat compared to the slightly thicker and better ventilated MacBook Pro.
The MacBook Air will have better battery life though.
If you want a powerful laptop, I think you'll be very satisfied with the 13" MacBook Air especially with the i7 upgrade and 8GB of RAM.
That said the lower resolution on the MacBook Air should help with the slower graphics chip. The only issue I have is the MacBook Air being smaller will have a harder time dissipating heat compared to the slightly thicker and better ventilated MacBook Pro.
The MacBook Air will have better battery life though.
If you want a powerful laptop, I think you'll be very satisfied with the 13" MacBook Air especially with the i7 upgrade and 8GB of RAM.
No they don't the ULV versions are the 1.4 and 1.8 ghz 15 watt in the macbook airs basically ultrabook spec, the 28watt 2.6 to 3.0ghz ones in the macbook pro are considered desktop replacement dual core low voltage mobile processors, the same as you would get in any high end laptop.
My bad, I assumed the U suffix at the end of the processors denote it as ULV.
Thanks for the replies everyone, after seeing the $100 student discount from best buy I think I am going to go with the retina (and I can get it asap). lets hope that doesn't spoil me as my tv is only 720p.