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Exchange MacBook Air for new Retina MacBook Pro

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Bryanw3535

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 15, 2006
150
0
Help me think through this...

I bought a refurb 13" 2013 MacBook Air 1.7/8 GB/512 GB for $1,569 plus tax.

I could buy a new 13" 2013 Retina MacBook Pro 2.4/8 GB/256 GB for $1,499 plus tax.

Pros: Better screen, better processing power, slightly cheaper, newer tech.

Cons: Less storage space, slightly heavier, slightly thicker.

I am within the return window. To me this seems like a no-brainer, right?
 
You listed the pros and cons for yourself, I know I need portability much more than a Retina screen, so it depends on your uses.

Btw, there are no newer technologies, it's just an MBP upgrade to MBA technology (Haswell, intel new gen GC: Iris is the model above 5000 but same gen, PCI SSD).
 
Bryanw3535 said:
Cons: Less storage space, slightly heavier, slightly thicker.
Click to expand...

here's two more cons:

Air battery up to 15 hours with Mavericks

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/10/os-x-10-9/18/

and about that retina screen:

http://thewirecutter.com/2013/10/new-ipads-and-macs/

the 13-inch Pro is now lighter and faster, but probably not powerful enough to justify its premium over the Air. Sure it has a retina display, But keep in mind the standard resolution of the retina, not maxed out and scaled, is less than that of the Air. And maxing out the 13 pro’s graphical resolution veers towards eyestrain inducing. The Macbook Air’s resolution seems to be at a really balanced point between pixel density and usability.

The rest of the equation is iffy, too. The pro 13 is 0.11 pounds lighter and 0.04 inches thinner than last year’s, but still half a pound heavier and up to 0.6 inches thicker than the Air. Its battery life is 3 hours shorter than the Air, and it still doesn’t have discrete graphics, but unlike last year, it has better integrated graphics. Haswell has different levels of integrated graphics and the Iris 5100 graphics in the 13-inch Pro are about 20 percent faster than the HD 5000 graphics in this year’s Air. You’re still trading the Air’s lightness and battery life for a Retina display, but at least there’s more of a performance boost—although the CPUs in the 13-inch are dual-core only, which keeps them out of power-user territory. The SSDs themselves are PCIe-based like in this year’s Air, so they’re roughly twice as fast as before. The 13-inch starts at $1300 with 4GB RAM and a 128GB SSD, or about $400 cheaper than last year’s entry-level 13-inch Pro, and only a few hundred bucks over a similarly configured Air. It’s probably not worth getting over the Air unless you must have a Retina display, 16GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD or the extra ports. In otherwords, if you’re a pro user, you can consider it. But you should really be considering the 15-inch Pro.
Click to expand...
 
You get less storage in a heavier device. I don't know if that's a no-brainer, but if you don't need that much storage, perhaps return your MacBook Air and get one with less storage?
 
New > Refurb

I personally prefer the Air over the rMBP, though the new prices are amazing.

But at the end of the day, a new machine is better than a refurb. Also has much better resale value.
 
Pros for the rMBP:

better I/O
arguably better keyboard feedback
smaller footprint (important if your bag is not very big)
 
I've got a 13" mba (2011) and although I'm tempted by the new 13" rmbp, an employee of mine has an early '13 15" rmbp (max'd version) and the thing I can't get over is the apparent need to crank up the screen brightness.

I've noticed this in the store as well. I'm always at 50% or less on my air, but it seems to take almost 100% brightness on the retina screens to make them comparable to the air. Doing that, I'm sure, is one reason the battery can't compare between them.

Can anyone with a 13" rmbp chime in on screen brightness? Perhaps I've just been in situations where the difference seemed drastic?

I also get a sense that the retina screen seems to have more light reflectance compared to the air. I've got an overhead light shinning from behind me now in my office and the air screen looks almost like my old anti-glare 15" mbp screen, which I love.
 
I just got my 13" air todays and I think the screen is superb. I dont see any individual pixels, it is exactly as sharp as I think it can be without all the icons being too small. Also websites are a pleasure to browse with it.

It even passes my wife´s ultimate tumblr page loaded with animated gifs test in that it runs it all smoothly (unlike the previous laptop which was acer pc dual core which had a discrete gtx 8600m gpu too.)

I dont see the point of higher resolution screen in a 13". Even when watching full hd movies it should seem like sharp enough and if we want to see every pixel then we will watch through tv :)
 
I have both... I'm doing some testing over the weekend but right now I'm leaning toward the reverse of the OP. I'm inclined to take back the rMBP and keep the Air... (although I might return the Air and get a refurbished 512GB Air)...

the battery life thing is a major plus. You can easily go a complete day without plugging in the Air...
 
yinz said:
Pros for the rMBP:

better I/O
arguably better keyboard feedback
smaller footprint (important if your bag is not very big)
Click to expand...

Does the rMBP really have better keyboard feedback?
I own a 15" rMBP now, but I've owned a 2011 11" MBA and the keyboard on the MBA had much more travel than the one on the rMBP. Did the MBA keyboard change?
 
leftywamumonkey said:
Does the rMBP really have better keyboard feedback?
I own a 15" rMBP now, but I've owned a 2011 11" MBA and the keyboard on the MBA had much more travel than the one on the rMBP. Did the MBA keyboard change?
Click to expand...

I agree with you about the MBA. I was choosing between the rMBP and the MBA, and the better keyboard on the MBA was one of the factors.

As far as the rMBP/MBA dilemma goes... go to the store and compare the two side by side. There is no comparison in terms of the screen, the retina wins hands down. To be honest that's the only thing I found superior. What bothered me greatly was the choppy scrolling through PDFs on the rMBP, but that might be a resolvable software issue. Apart from that I prefer the form factor of the MBA and as far as performance goes... well I don't think you'd notice that much of a difference to be honest. Then the brightness issue that is blatant when you have both machines next to each other. I find I'm repeating myself over and over again. I just think my opinion (personal opinion FWIW) is valuable in the sense that I had the choice, price difference was immaterial in my case and I just chose the machine that better suited my needs and I felt was superior.

But, it's me of course and people have different needs. If you are considering the "upgrade" just for the heck of it, you have to weigh the screen/form factor/battery life/in your case storage. The rest doesn't really make any difference in this case. If you just had to have the additional thunderbolt port and HDMI you wouldn't be asking.

Go to the store with your MBA, put it next to the retina and play around with the two. After a half an hour you'll know. I was in anguish, unable to decide and this solved my problem.

To me it would be a no-brainer given the 512GB you have on the MBA.

Another factor to consider is resale value, because the MBAs took a great hit from the reduction in price of the retinas. I didn't care, 'cause I'm planning to keep it (well at least after they replace it for one with a better screen, cause I lost the screen lottery) for quite some time. The MBA truly is a masterpiece and finally made me switch from Windows. When I hold the MBA there is a smile on my face, the rMBP didn't give me a similar experience :) (for a great machine that it clearly is)

AXs said:
New > Refurb
Click to expand...

This I cannot understand. How can people say such things? Not only you're getting a practically new and immaculate machine, but on top of that it's been through more stringent QC. If it wasn't for my edu discount, I'd have no problem with choosing a refurb over a new one.
 
radiohead14 said:
:confused:

i have both an Air and the new 13" rMBP in front of me.. both keyboards are exactly the same
Click to expand...

Well I compared the two side by side and I am 100% confident they are not. I've looked at 2 different retinas and 5 different MBAs (I was comparing the screens, because I have an issue with mine) and the keyboard on the MBA felt better.
 
Y'all are awesome. This is all really good advice.

This Daring Fireball piece put it nicely, which summarizes much of what people here have said:

"If your primary concerns are performance and display quality, you want a MacBook Pro. If your primary concerns are battery life and weight, you want a MacBook Air."
 
leftywamumonkey said:
Does the rMBP really have better keyboard feedback?
I own a 15" rMBP now, but I've owned a 2011 11" MBA and the keyboard on the MBA had much more travel than the one on the rMBP. Did the MBA keyboard change?
Click to expand...

arguably. I think it's a preference thing.
 
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