Help me decide...

[JesseW6889]

I need a new laptop computer. I currently have an 11" Air, but my wife is getting that for her business. It's too small for the 8 hours a day I spend on a computer.

I do web design, graphic design, photography and school work. I also will use it to run businesses on the side. It needs to have enough memory to keep everything I need for the next 4 years (at least). So, I'm thinking in the 256 Gb range.

Price is most certainly an issue, as is portability and comfort (resolution, size, palm rest, etc.) I like the 13" size, but I feel like 15" might benefit me more in the long run. I just can't figure out what the sweet spot for me is...

I'm looking at 13" MBP's, 13" MBA's and 15" rMBP's and 15" MBP.

Additionally... I see they're coming out with a 13" rMBP?

 

[Bauer24]

Sounds like you want the retina MBP. You'd be ok with the low end 2.3/256GB model.

From what you've posted anyway, the 13" would be to cramped in screen real estate, and at 15" if you're getting a SSD anyway, the retina is actually a better option than the normal MBP if you don't need a DVD burner.

 

[zhenya]

Where do you spend most of your time working? If you have a home office that you are set up in much of the time, I strongly recommend an external monitor, or better yet, two. There is little you can do technologically that improves productivity so much.

The rMBP is certainly a great option, but boy do you pay for it.

 

[jefbond]

Well you do say that price is pretty important. In my opinion (which is what I did), I would go for a 13" MBA. Very portable and light compared to the rest, extremely fast, and you can get the 256GB storage as an option. It definitely won't be too outdated 4 years from now. And a number of the optional upgrades I would think are worth it. 2.0GHz (2.8 turbo boost) i7 vs 1.8 (3.2 turbo boost) i5 and 8GB RAM vs 4GB, both for just $100 each. Plus, if you do Apple's Education Store you'll get $50 off the MBA and 10% off those upgrades.

Personally, for the portability that you have with this, along with it being more than blazingly fast, I think this would be a great way to go.