Buying an Air to rMBP and Vise-Versa

[Atomicfission92]

So I am in the market for a new mac. I currently have a early 09' 24" iMac. Which has served me very very well for the past 3 years.

I am in the market now for a new mac, a portable mac. I am going to be going back to college, online with a local state school. I wanted to use a iPad but it is not going to be possible because their online school system just isn't compatible in any proficient manner. I know people who make it work, but I don't want to have to make it work. I just want something that does work ie. Full macbook.

The question comes in trying to decide to purchase a 13" MBA with 128gb ssd and 8gb of ram. Which would cost me about $1239 with my discount. Or get a base model rMBP for $1999. Which would include the 8gb ram and a 256gb ssd. Along with the awesome Retina display and quad core cpu.

Now I pretty much know I am not going to need the quad core cpu, as I am mostly just going to be doing word processing, excel and other similar tasks, But I do want the capability to convert a movie here or there, watch some HD tv shows and what have you. Not really that intense stuff.

As for the retina display, I love it. No questions asked. It is crisp, bright and the color is awesome. But is it worth the extra $760 + tax? There seems to be limited support for the retina display. I know OSX supports the retina screen, but Office for Mac does not. The display on the 13" MBA is no slouch. It has a pretty high res screen for its size. (Especially compared to the 13" MBP) And I was using Excel and word and other programs just fine on it.

Also since I have my iMac which is going to be my main computer still. I don't really need a full desktop replacement which is what I feel the rMBP is.

So if you had to make a decision, would you choose to save the $$ and go with the MBA which would compliment the iMac or the rMBP which would pretty much replace the iMac.

 

[joewillmott]

I would highly recommend the AIR. I had a rMBP and returned it for the AIR and I do a lot more demanding stuff than that but it has served me excellently. The processor and graphics may not be as powerful as the retina but they are more than capable of video conversion and obviously the SSD is almost the same speed (unnoticeable difference imo).

If you could be patient and wait til the 13" retina I feel that is going to be the gem many people are waiting for. I hope I can still get a decent price for my AIR when that beast is released!

 

[DVD9]

You don't need 8GB of RAM.

But the base Air has that P.O.S..Toshiba Sandforce SSD which will slow down when you encrypt it with Filevault2.

 

[iAppl3Fan]

I have both that I use daily. The MBA is fine for your needs as you'll enjoy the thin and light computer. If you plan to do alot of dvd rips then the rmbp wouldn't be a bad idea; however, with the 750ish saved from buying the MBA you could pick up a base iMac 21" for a little more as an option.

 

[Atomicfission92]

I would highly recommend the AIR. I had a rMBP and returned it for the AIR and I do a lot more demanding stuff than that but it has served me excellently. The processor and graphics may not be as powerful as the retina but they are more than capable of video conversion and obviously the SSD is almost the same speed (unnoticeable difference imo).

If you could be patient and wait til the 13" retina I feel that is going to be the gem many people are waiting for. I hope I can still get a decent price for my AIR when that beast is released!

That is my other "issue" I hate waiting to buy stuff. My classes don't start till the end of January. So I really don't have to purchase it until then. So I could hold off and hope that Apple releases a retina version of the MBA. But I have a feeling the cost is going to be quite a bit higher then the MBA's of current

You don't need 8GB of RAM.

But the base Air has that P.O.S..Toshiba Sandforce SSD which will slow down when you encrypt it with Filevault2.

I wanted 8gb of ram because that is the one thing I can't upgrade if I wanted to on the Air and or the rMBP. The SSD I can always get a larger one from OWC, (Which I may plan to do because their prices are quite a bit cheaper then that of Apples CTO options)

I have both that I use daily. The MBA is fine for your needs as you'll enjoy the thin and light computer. If you plan to do alot of dvd rips then the rmbp wouldn't be a bad idea; however, with the 750ish saved from buying the MBA you could pick up a base iMac 21" for a little more as an option.

I already have a 24" iMac currently. Upgrading both isn't a bad idea as I could use the 21" iMac as a display for the MBA. I currently can't do that with the 24" iMac I have without using some sort of air display server program.

 

[Atomicfission92]

I finally made a decision for my MBA purchase.

I went with a 11" MBA. - Reason is I wanted portability. I was originally going to purchase a iPad. A 13" MBA is quite a bit larger then the iPad and the 15" is larger still. I also used to own a 12" Dell XPS system which I loved because of the portability of it.

I went with 4gb of ram - My 2009 iMac has 4gb of ram, it has run everything I have ever thrown at it with ease. I have run Bootcamp, VM's of Windows, Games, pretty much everything and anything and it has yet to stutter. Also my feeling is that Apple is going to optimize their current hardware offerings to match the performance needed for their latest version of OSX. They wouldn't skimp on the customer if ML needed 8 gb of ram. They know better then we do as far as the memory requirements of their system.

I went with the 128gb SSD. - The 64gb is just way to small for me. And if I want to upgrade to 256gb in the future I know that OWC has some options for me.

I went refurb - The new price is $1099, refurb price is $929. Getting a 2012 MBA for less then 1 grand is a steal to me. Also I plan on selling this one in a year when the newer MBA is announced and paying the little premium to get the newest and greatest.