Cant Make My Mind up

[iampaulb]

Right i need some opinions from some fellow mac geeks!

I currently have a mid 2010 i7 iMac as my main machine at home. However I have recently landed a new job (YAY go me) Where ill be managing the company's Ad Ops, Social Media & Email Marketing.

The job is in London, eventually I plan on moving there. So thinking of swapping in my iMac for a laptop. But I cant decide which one!!! The work ill be doing will be using a lot of online web tools, with a little bit of coding, photoshop and of course email and documents.

My worry is that ill struggle from going from a 27" screen to a 13 / 15 " screen. As i like my screen real estate! I have put together a numbers doc, screen shot attached of the specs im after. Has anyone else downsized and are very happy. Eventually ill look to get an external screen, but for the time being ill be using a laptop at home and in the office.

So far with my investigations, I have come up with. Do i want to sacrifice screen res for battery power? With the MBA having a higher bench than the i5 retina I wouldn't really be losing power. Its only when i upgrade to i7 that i see the benefit of a faster machine AND better screen res, but then its almost £300 more...

Thoughts?

 

[maflynn]

The final example you have a MacBook Air R "15 I think you mean Retina MBP 15" correct?

I don't think you'll see any difference in performance between the i5 and i7. I do think a quad core processor as found in the rMBP is a better option. It really depends on your usage, do you need a laptop that will last most of the day unplugged or do you need a 15" display?

Personally I'd say going from an iMac to a MBA may be too much of an adjustment and the 15" rMBP provides a good balance between portability and power.

 

[macs4nw]

Right i need some opinions from some fellow mac geeks!

I currently have a mid 2010 i7 iMac as my main machine at home. However I have recently landed a new job (YAY go me) Where ill be managing the company's Ad Ops, Social Media & Email Marketing.

The job is in London, eventually I plan on moving there. So thinking of swapping in my iMac for a laptop. But I cant decide which one!!! The work ill be doing will be using a lot of online web tools, with a little bit of coding, photoshop and of course email and documents.

My worry is that ill struggle from going from a 27" screen to a 13 / 15 " screen. As i like my screen real estate! I have put together a numbers doc, screen shot attached of the specs im after. Has anyone else downsized and are very happy. Eventually ill look to get an external screen, but for the time being ill be using a laptop at home and in the office.

So far with my investigations, I have come up with. Do i want to sacrifice screen res for battery power? With the MBA having a higher bench than the i5 retina I wouldn't really be losing power. Its only when i upgrade to i7 that i see the benefit of a faster machine AND better screen res, but then its almost £300 more...

Thoughts?

Never thought of myself as a geek, but I'm gonna give this a try. These decisions are something most of us struggle with, at one time or another. There always seem to be compromises, that have to be made. It's almost impossible for another poster to give you 100% advice, because we don't really know all your wants and needs, not to mention your financial situation; it's mostly personal preference we're stating.

For £460 less, your first option, that MBA, will probably do everything you want it to do, beautifully. And since you're planning on going to an external screen, unless you have to lug that screen home with you everyday, the Air's 13" size, plus it's ultra-lean form factor, will be a huge plus for you. Not to mention, you get that PCIe flash storage, HASWELL with INTEL5000 graphics, 802.11ac WiFi and industry-leading battery-life. You could take that £460, and use it towards that larger external screen, or up your storage to 512GB (what I would do).

Consider your options carefully, and then make that leap of faith. You're never going to be 'stuck' with it anyway; there's always that two week return policy. Cheers!

 

[glenthompson]

I used to use a 14" Lenovo connected to dual 19" monitors at the office. When dealing with on-call issues at home, it was a bit difficult to deal with the smaller screen space.

Move forward to present and I'm using a 15" MBP with an old 23" ACD in clamshell mode on my desk at home. That screen space is just right for my current needs. When traveling and using the 15" screen it's a little harder but better than the Lenovo 14" was.

To make a short story long, have you considered getting an external display for the MacBook for use at your desk? It's a way to get the best of both worlds, though extra cost is involved.

 

[DarkoDonnie]

I too am transitioning from 27" iMac to macbook,

I opted for the 15" rmbp because:

- retina screen is amazing
- screen can adjust if more screen real-estate is need, things get smaller, but may not be an issue
- I'm not giving up any power going w the rmbp

I feel like size-wise I'm downsizing but not power, or they way the screen looks.

IMO the MBA would of been a real down-size, as the only real benefit (in my eyes) is the lightweight and battery-ness.


As well, most important, I will invest in a thunderbolt display should I ever get tired of the 15" screen

 

[vistadude]

First, isn't your job going to supply you the computer you'll be using? You don't even know what software they use, most likely, it is for windows only.

Secondly, for work purposes, 13 inches at any resolution is too tiny. 15 inches is much better. I would get a 15 inch macbook pro without retina. Since most of your viewers won't have a retina computer, you'll want to see how your work/webstuff looks on a regular monitor, so retina is not a good idea.

 

[iampaulb]

Work wise they won't be providing me with a laptop. This will be for personal use and taken into work as BYOD. They company uses web tools so either mac or windows will work, if needed I could always use a windows computer if I had too, and I have office for mac also.

I have decided that I'm ditching the 15 idea. 1. I really don't need all that power, 2. It would just be abit much using it on the commute. All thought the 15 is gorgeous and powerful it's abit overkill for what I need.

With the future purchase of a external screen, (there will also be one at the office) 13" would be best suited. But now it's deciding about maxed out air, i5 mbpr or the i7

Money isn't really an issue, as I was willing to spend the 1799 on the 15 mbpr but then again we would all like to save as much as possible.

And thought, is that retina although amazing the only retina product I have is my iphone5 so I'm not really missing out on the retina display. However it does appeal to me because of the screen real estate have nearly over a 1000 pixels more in the width