CMBP vs Air

[SouthernStar14]

I am debating between the 13" CMBP with 2.9ghz i7 processor and the 13" MBA, upgraded with 1.7 ghz i7 and 8gb memory. I am starting college in the fall and i know that the Air would be lighter; however, the pro is cheaper and that is definitely a plus. I would be using it for school work, some gaming like Sims 3, and probably photoshop (just for personal projects, not professionally). I would most likely use bootcamp and run windows on my machine occasionally. I'd really like the computer to last my whole four years in college, maybe more. Which would one be faster/better for my use? I am leaning toward the pro at the moment, but would the air be better? Thanks in advance for replies,

SouthernStar14

 

[hkim1983]

If you're looking for the absolute best bang for your buck, it's hard to argue against the cMBP, especially with the $200 off edu customers are getting right now on it (which you could probably get B&H to price-match and also avoid paying taxes).

That being said, the Air has superior battery, superior resolution, and better portability (in terms of weight) on its side. It also comes stock with a SSD, although from the sounds of it, you may need to get the 256 GB/8 GB of ram model which puts the price of the Air up to around $1350 before taxes.

It doesn't really matter which computer you get in terms of your usage from the sounds of it.

As for it lasting 4 years, that really depends on your potential future usage and more importantly, what you consider to be "tolerable" performance, so it makes it impossible for an outsider to say. Generally speaking, I think either computer will last you a minimum of 3 years with almost no issues, but you begin to start noticing diminishing performance around year 4, so...(this applies to both of them).

 

[SouthernStar14]

Thanks

Thank you for the reply. It sounds like either one would work fine for me. I just need to decide between convenience and cost.