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Buying a new Macbook right now

E

east1999

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 1, 2011
83
8
Hi guys,

I have a four year old 13" Macbook Pro and I'm getting a new one at work. The price point is mostly the same to the following setup: 256gb SSD and 8gb of RAM. So I'm divided between the new 12" Macbook or the 13" Air/MBP.

Thing I love the most in my current computer: the screen
Thing I hate the most in my current computer: the fan

I have only updated it once, changing the HDD to an SSD, which gave it new life. I plan to give it to a family member.

My current job requires me to take my laptop to work every day, so portability is more of a requirement than it was when I bought my current MBP.

I was attracted, of course, to the fanless and ultrasmall 12" MB, but a few things put me off: I would have to buy a combination of dongles to use some tools (wired mouse always, sometimes Wacom tablet, sometimes ethernet when in the office) and, while I don't plan to play games other than League of Legends, I'm really afraid the processor will come up short sometime during the next five years. I work in Photoshop a lot, and while reviews don't see a problem now, I don't want to feel conned in a year or two.

The MBA has come up as a compromise solution (still portable, but powerful and with some ports), and the retina MBP as more of a continuity choice. Am I simply afraid to take a risk?
 
If your commute involves miles of walking and standing, then there might be an argument to make... But years down the road, you're going to feel the MacBook lag with your use case.

Seems like rMBP is the laptop for you.
 
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I thought I would use a wired mouse and ethernet, but have found no issues at all using a bluetooth one and wifi over 802.11ac. You might find it a lot easier than you think to cope with the ports. And you might find it a lot more powerful than some reviews would have you believe.
 
I recently purchased the rMBP 13 and haven't even heard the fan yet. The screen is awesome too. Portability is important, but this is fairly thin and light as well. The rMB is certainly lighter and thinner, so if portability is your primary need, go rMB, otherwise, the rMBP is a dream...at least for me. Good luck.
 
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I don't think that the dongles issue should be a big one for you. Buy the Apple digital a/v adapter and a usb/Ethernet hub, and you have a permanent one-cable docking station at your desk. This is actually a plus over the Pro model because it's one cable and you keep the ports where you need them - at your desk - and you don't have to carry them around the rest of the time.

There should be considerably less fan noise on the new Pro than on your model, however, but of course this is somewhat dependent on your workflow and personal habits. My wife's MBA fan is running full speed most of the time because she never closes anything until she is absolutely forced to. I think that there is a good chance that you will find the rMB to be adequately powerful for your needs, but you need to figure that out for yourself, perhaps by taking advantage of the return period if available to you so that you can put it to use yourself.
 
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