Anyone regret their Air purchase?

[cyb3rdud3]

I just priced both up on Apple US. The MBP isn't cheaper at all????

 

[motrek]

I just priced both up on Apple US. The MBP isn't cheaper at all????

MBP: $1099
+ 500GB SSD: $200
+ 16GB RAM: $135
Total: $1434

(Again, because as I explained above, the MBP is easily user-upgradeable with industry-standard 3rd party parts.)

The 13" MBA can't be upgraded to 16GB RAM but one with a 512GB SSD starts at $1599. So, already more.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

Slower ssd and slower ram, and after market products. Not comparing like for like at all.

But hey I guess if you want compromises and the key focus is getting it as cheap as possible and willing to compromise then that is one way.

 

[motrek]

Slower ssd and slower ram, and after market products. Not comparing like for like at all.

But hey I guess if you want compromises and the key focus is getting it as cheap as possible and willing to compromise then that is one way.

Not sure why you think it's slower RAM, it's 1600MHz DDR3. I mean, we could discuss RAM timings but I'm sure you can get 3rd party RAM with the same or better timings for far less money than what Apple sells you, if you really feel like you need that.

Yes, the SSD is not PCIe but it will still happily do 400+ MB/second. That's faster than Apple's SSDs can write, so literally the only time you would notice a difference is if you're doing massive sequential reads off the drive... not a common use case.

Sure, the parts are "after market" but if that really bothers you then I suppose you can choose parts from the same manufacturers that Apple does (Samsung, Toshiba, etc.). Don't fool yourself into thinking that Apple gives you special top-quality parts and you can't get the same or better elsewhere... how many massive recalls have they had to do just over the past couple years for defective hard drives and SSDs? At least two that I'm aware of.

You seem to be belittling the price difference between a $1400 laptop and a $2000 laptop, not really sure why. $600 is a pretty substantial amount of money to most people.

And again, the MBP has a built-in optical drive and an easily-replaced battery, so if you need either one of these things (for whatever reason) then it could be a pretty good option regardless of cost.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

Not sure why you think it's slower RAM, it's 1600MHz DDR3. I mean, we could discuss RAM timings but I'm sure you can get 3rd party RAM with the same or better timings for far less money than what Apple sells you, if you really feel like you need that.

Yes, the SSD is not PCIe but it will still happily do 400+ MB/second. That's faster than Apple's SSDs can write, so literally the only time you would notice a difference is if you're doing massive sequential reads off the drive... not a common use case.

Sure, the parts are "after market" but if that really bothers you then I suppose you can choose parts from the same manufacturers that Apple does (Samsung, Toshiba, etc.). Don't fool yourself into thinking that Apple gives you special top-quality parts and you can't get the same or better elsewhere... how many massive recalls have they had to do just over the past couple years for defective hard drives and SSDs? At least two that I'm aware of.

You seem to be belittling the price difference between a $1400 laptop and a $2000 laptop, not really sure why. $600 is a pretty substantial amount of money to most people.

And again, the MBP has a built-in optical drive and an easily-replaced battery, so if you need either one of these things (for whatever reason) then it could be a pretty good option regardless of cost.

I'm not at all, you just aren't comparing apples with apples (no pun intended). The difference between a SATA SSD and PCIe is enormous actually...And we haven't even started to talk about battery life either and graphics capabilities either. Also where is the built-in optical drive on the MBP? Not that that is important in 2014 I would argue...

Obviously you have different priorities and your key decision is to get it as cheap as possible. Absolutely fine by me if that is your key criteria. The thing is if you compare an 13" MBA vs MBP (non retina) on the Apple store, both with 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, i7 upgrade then one is not only much faster and lasting longer, but also much cheaper. Simples, however if you prefer to go even cheaper for a bigger, heavier, slower, and battery zapping machine, then yes you can with some home tinkering and aftermarket products. I'm definitely not denying that...

 

[motrek]

...
Obviously you have different priorities and your key decision is to get it as cheap as possible. ...

Huh? Look, I don't know what you're talking about.

You asked why somebody might choose a MBP vs. a rMBP or a MBA. I'm simply answering your question.

It has nothing at all to do with my priorities. I wouldn't buy any of these computers. I have an 11" Air that I'm perfectly happy with.

If you want to argue about whose priorities are better then take it up with somebody who cares, or even has said priorities. I'm just trying to give you some information.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

Fine but they don't highlight any relevant and comparable benefit which has consistently been my point. A chrome book is cheaper as well, so what?

 

[motrek]

Fine but they don't highlight any relevant and comparable benefit which has consistently been my point. A chrome book is cheaper as well, so what?

You don't see saving $600 as a relevant benefit? Are you being thick on purpose?

Fine, let's see, you can't even get a MBA with 16GB of RAM. What if you need 16GB for some specific use, like a specific scientific computing package, or a video editing workflow, or you need to run multiple VMs to do software testing, or something like that? Thus, you could do your work on an upgraded MBP and not on a MBA. That's a relevant benefit.

Let's say you need a 1TB SSD for whatever reason. Maybe you do data mining on a database that's that big. Can't get a drive that big with a MBA but you can easily upgrade a MBP with a 1TB SSD. Relevant benefit.

What if you have a job where you need to travel around and burn DVDs for customers? Maybe you're a wedding/event photographer and you don't want the inconvenience of carrying around and using an external drive? Relevant benefit.

Your problem is that you can't seem to imagine that other people might have computing needs that are different from your own.

 

[iHButt]

I am bit confused here, most of the posts compelled me on MBA 14 model but whats the difference between Core i5 U vs Late rMBP 13's Core i5m processors? I am not talking about clock speed here my focus is U vs M thing

thanks.

 

[motrek]

I am bit confused here, most of the posts compelled me on MBA 14 model but whats the difference between Core i5 U vs Late rMBP 13's Core i5m processors? I am not talking about clock speed here my focus is U vs M thing

thanks.

The (base) MBA has this processor:
http://ark.intel.com/products/75030/Intel-Core-i5-4260U-Processor-3M-Cache-up-to-2_70-GHz

The base rMBP has this one:
http://ark.intel.com/products/83508/Intel-Core-i5-4278U-Processor-3M-Cache-up-to-3_10-GHz

If you look at these pages side by side you can see there isn't much difference at all except that:
1) The base clock speeds are different (doesn't matter much, what's important is the turbo boost clock speeds)
2) The rMBP has Intel Iris graphics whereas the MBA does not. This will make a fairly large difference for 3-D stuff like games.

 

[macnewbieee]

I was using rMBP 15" . And still waiting my MBA 11". Since i maxed out my 11" . I think i will not dissapointed with my new MBA.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

You don't see saving $600 as a relevant benefit? Are you being thick on purpose?



Fine, let's see, you can't even get a MBA with 16GB of RAM. What if you need 16GB for some specific use, like a specific scientific computing package, or a video editing workflow, or you need to run multiple VMs to do software testing, or something like that? Thus, you could do your work on an upgraded MBP and not on a MBA. That's a relevant benefit.



Let's say you need a 1TB SSD for whatever reason. Maybe you do data mining on a database that's that big. Can't get a drive that big with a MBA but you can easily upgrade a MBP with a 1TB SSD. Relevant benefit.



What if you have a job where you need to travel around and burn DVDs for customers? Maybe you're a wedding/event photographer and you don't want the inconvenience of carrying around and using an external drive? Relevant benefit.



Your problem is that you can't seem to imagine that other people might have computing needs that are different from your own.

I fully can see and understand those needs. However you have considerably shifted the goal posts now compared to the first reply. That is fine, but let recognise that!

Ps. As I asked before I can't see an option for the internal optical drive. Is that still available I thought that went out years ago? Maybe different in the US but here in Eurooe most want it on a USB stick anyway. Or a blu-ray if it must be an optical media format.

 

[motrek]

I fully can see and understand those needs. However you have considerably shifted the goal posts now compared to the first reply. That is fine, but let recognise that!

Ps. As I asked before I can't see an option for the internal optical drive. Is that still available I thought that went out years ago? Maybe different in the US but here in Eurooe most want it on a USB stick anyway. Or a blu-ray if it must be an optical media format.

Nope. All I said with my original post is that you can swap/upgrade parts easily with the MBP which is still true and enables the scenarios that I described.

There is no "option" for an optical drive with the MBP. All non-retina MBPs have optical drives. You must be looking at the specs for the retina models if you don't see an optical drive.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

Nope. All I said with my original post is that you can swap/upgrade parts easily with the MBP which is still true and enables the scenarios that I described.



There is no "option" for an optical drive with the MBP. All non-retina MBPs have optical drives. You must be looking at the specs for the retina models if you don't see an optical drive.

Yes I stand corrected. Spotted it now. Damn it is a thick machine isn't it. Also noticed the slow graphics card, especially for OpenGL like employed by Aperture, and the lower resolution screen despite the same dimension.

 

[macnewbieee]

It's not the newest model, but I'm very happy with my 2012 11" MBA (1.7 i5, 4GB). If there's one complaint, it is having too small of a SSD (128GB)! Screen is good and bright. I only turn it up near full brightness when around a lot of sunlight. I use as my primary computer and treat it like a desktop, running media servers for my  TVs and iDevices. Even run Logic Pro/GarageBand and do recording/guitar amplification with it. It's my little powerhouse pc.

Why did u buy 128gb when u know that u need more space?

I will turn my Air as primary computer.

 

[iHButt]

The (base) MBA has this processor:
http://ark.intel.com/products/75030/Intel-Core-i5-4260U-Processor-3M-Cache-up-to-2_70-GHz

The base rMBP has this one:
http://ark.intel.com/products/83508/Intel-Core-i5-4278U-Processor-3M-Cache-up-to-3_10-GHz

If you look at these pages side by side you can see there isn't much difference at all except that:
1) The base clock speeds are different (doesn't matter much, what's important is the turbo boost clock speeds)
2) The rMBP has Intel Iris graphics whereas the MBA does not. This will make a fairly large difference for 3-D stuff like games.

Thank you very much for a clear answer

 

[Isamilis]

Unfortunately, I am still in Mavericks. Haven't tried Yosemite, yet.

Well I bought a 13" 2013 Air and it was too big. I switched it for a 11" and best laptop ever. Mind you, I have an iPad, mac mini and PC around me, but when you want to screen share or just do basic things, you can't beat an 11"!
Hehehehe that's what she said.

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Any new profiles for Yosemite? I'm still using the MacRumor color profile but was wondering if any new ones have come out? I have a LG screen.