Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Is it a good time to get a MacBook Pro 13"?

I

Iza

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 19, 2012
5
0
I am planning to get my very first mac laptop, and the ideal pick for me is the MacBook Pro 13". However, there are rumors regarding the retina display will be available on the 13" ones this fall.

Personally retina display does not really a huge part to me, but I am wonder is there any spec will be upgraded or the price will change.

So if anyone here would give me some advise, it would be much appreciated.
 
Iza said:
I am planning to get my very first mac laptop, and the ideal pick for me is the MacBook Pro 13". However, there are rumors regarding the retina display will be available on the 13" ones this fall.

Personally retina display does not really a huge part to me, but I am wonder is there any spec will be upgraded or the price will change.

So if anyone here would give me some advise, it would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...

Why are you getting the 13"? If it's for price reasons, I personally wouldn't expect to see the Retina for under $1800.

If it's for the form factor, you might do yourself to wait unless you have some pressing need for a laptop right now.

If you're set on a 13" computer, I'd recommend the Air. The SSD will offer much more speed than the slightly better processor - more bang for the buck.
 
You're probably not going to want to hear this but its a pretty bad time to get a MBP 13in right now considering a new rMBP 13in may be right around the corner and the 13in MBA is arguably just as good of a laptop with added portability.

What do you want to do on the laptop?
 
It's highly unlikely for apple to re-upgrade the mbp-13 along side of a separate product launch (which will likely have similar specs as the one you're looking at).

Think about it this way.. what could they possibly upgrade in a couple of months (Intel isnt releasing another chipset quite yet) other than a few extra Ghz or GB that in the grand scheme of things will basically mean nothing to you.
 
I am planning to get the macbook Pro for development. The MBA looks slim but I just feel it does not really meet my needs.
 
Iza said:
I am planning to get the macbook Pro for development. The MBA looks slim but I just feel it does not really meet my needs.
Click to expand...

If you don't mind me asking, howso? Aside from upgrade-ability, there's very little difference. ULV processors are quickly reaching the Geekbench scores of their full-sized counterparts. They both can be upgraded to 8GB of RAM. The Air actually has a better screen. I just don't see why anyone would want to get a 13" Pro at this point.
 
Slivortal said:
If you don't mind me asking, howso? Aside from upgrade-ability, there's very little difference. ULV processors are quickly reaching the Geekbench scores of their full-sized counterparts. They both can be upgraded to 8GB of RAM. The Air actually has a better screen. I just don't see why anyone would want to get a 13" Pro at this point.
Click to expand...

MBP has more ports and mainly b/c I am scared I will bent it lol
 
Slivortal said:
Why are you getting the 13"? If it's for price reasons, I personally wouldn't expect to see the Retina for under $1800.

If it's for the form factor, you might do yourself to wait unless you have some pressing need for a laptop right now.

If you're set on a 13" computer, I'd recommend the Air. The SSD will offer much more speed than the slightly better processor - more bang for the buck.
Click to expand...

What he speaks, is the truth.
Why are you getting a 13" MBP in the first place? Price, or portability?
 
I was set on getting an Air before I decided to pick up a used 2010 13" Pro. It was inexpensive and if I didn't end up liking it, I could easily sell it for the same price.

Turns out I love it. I upgraded the system to 8GB of RAM right away and put in a 120GB SSD... I realize now that 120GB might be a bit small so I'm going to put a 240GB SSD in no problem. The 2012 model supports 16GB of RAM. It's not too big and not too small, it has a good selection of ports, I like the battery indicator as well. I like the screen too, good viewing angles for a TN panel (like the Airs), one of my coworkers even thought it was one of those new Retina displays.

I tell you, I'd be kicking myself if I got an Air with 4GB/128GB SSD, I use my Pro for work (mechanical engineering) and need 8GB minimum, and I'd have to use OWC's expensive mSATA SSDs instead of the standard 2.5" SSDs.
 
I'd go with a 13'' MBA (with upgraded RAM and SDD capacity if money is not a problem for you) BUT if money is an issue here, then I'll get a MPB. The 13'' MBP offers you the opportunity to update any spec later on, allowing you not to wait to save all the money for buying it all at once. I mean, you could get the base model now and then next month upgrade the RAM and five months later swap the optical drive for a speedy SDD (or even replace the HDD and keep the optical drive, in case you'll be using it).

It all depends on how people value the upgradability of the Pro versus the almost inexistent upgrade option of the Air.
 
The 13" Pro is a great machine... I love mine. There are a few reasons why I did not get a MBA; a major one is getting decent specs (more than the standard 128GB of memory) would be quite pricey; I also rather have all of the included hardware in the MBP for one more computer lifespan (about 4 to 5 years for me). Next computer I'll get will have no CD drive, Firewire, etc. I still do things that require those; I'd rather not have to get a dongle and external drive for now.

While the 13" rMBP will be a great machine, it, too, will be more costly than the cMBP... I can live without retina for now.
 
13" MBP max memory is 16GB
MBA max memory is 8GB

You say you are using it for development, so you know, RAM is king - especially if you plan to run VM's. Go MBP... add an SSD ---
 
wordoflife said:
What he speaks, is the truth.
Why are you getting a 13" MBP in the first place? Price, or portability?
Click to expand...

Before, when the MBA was much more expensive, and there was a bigger CPU speed gap the mbp 13 made sense. Now it didn't really anymore. Too bad Apple didn't put a quad core in the mbp13, maybe in the fall refresh.
 
Iza

Go for the Air. Its a rockstar. Macbook Pro Retina 15" is not perfected yet. There is no way you will see a 13" Macbook Pro Retina this fall. Technology takes time. There is no option to get a dedicated card in 13" MBP. Air handles minor video editing just fine. It handles the development pretty smoothly.

Looking at the benchmarks, 2012 Macbook Air has twice the score of 13" Macbook Pro from 2010. It is super powerful for its size.

You won't bend it. Trust me on this 8)

----------
magbarn said:
Before, when the MBA was much more expensive, and there was a bigger CPU speed gap the mbp 13 made sense. Now it didn't really anymore. Too bad Apple didn't put a quad core in the mbp13, maybe in the fall refresh.
Click to expand...

Looking at the past product cycles, if a product has been launched in the middle of the year, then that has been the only product refresh for the year. It was only in 2011, that there was an early refresh for mbp lineup and and late 2011 product refresh.

I'm pretty certain there will not be any more 13" mbp refreshes this year.
 
I say buy a 13" MacBook Pro from Apple's Refurbished section for 1019$ (around that). Then upgrade the HDD to a Crucial M4 SSD for 179$ and the Ram to 8GB for 45$.

For $1245 you will have an amazing Core i5 MacBook Pro with an SSD and plenty of ram for the same price as a MacBook Air with the same warranty but bigger SSD and more ram and a faster CPU.

I like the air but I don't by any means believe the 13" MacBook Pro is unportable by any means. So for the same amount of money you spend on the 13" base model Air you can get more performance, more ram and more storage and the same warranty with the added versatility of being able to upgrade to 16Gb of ram and a bigger SSD or SSD/HDD combo.

The only sacrifice is thinness and weight and the macBook Pro is not a fatty by any means

Just my take as I have the same exact setup only with 16Gb of ram.
 
xfs said:
Looking at the past product cycles, if a product has been launched in the middle of the year, then that has been the only product refresh for the year. It was only in 2011, that there was an early refresh for mbp lineup and and late 2011 product refresh.

I'm pretty certain there will not be any more 13" mbp refreshes this year.
Click to expand...

I also think the same, but we are not talking about a current 13'' MBP refresh this year (which most certainly won't happen), we're speculating about the release a of new retina 13'' MBP which won't be the same product as the current 13'' in the same way the current 15'' isn't the same product as the 15'' rMBP.
 
Rockoar said:
I also think the same, but we are not talking about a current 13'' MBP refresh this year (which most certainly won't happen), we're speculating about the release a of new retina 13'' MBP which won't be the same product as the current 13'' in the same way the current 15'' isn't the same product as the 15'' rMBP.
Click to expand...

I didn't think about the timing of the release, I agree with you, HD4000 would be pathetic as the only GPU driving a rMBP 13. Apple is either going to have to find a way to cram a dGPU in there or wait for Haswell's HD5000 which supposedly over 2x as fast as HD4000.
 
It is most definitely a great time to buy any new Mac laptop. Even if they do release a Retina 13'' soon, it will be a more expensive option than the current model. And as others said, if it were to be released by year's end, there is nothing Apple could really do to "upgrade" it. Apple is very consistent and it's likely, assuming they do make a 13'' Retina, they would keep the exact design of the current Retina and just shrink it. Port wise, the two are similar (15'' Retina and current 13'' Pro). The only difference would be the specs, but you'd probably get something you'd expect to see, spec-wise, from a 13'' laptop. I'd be surprised to see a quad core 13'' Retina by years end.

As for Pro vs. Air, I have to agree with several others that it seems like the Air would be a good fit for you. I think most people would enjoy the lighter, thinner form factor because it really is night and day compared to your average laptop. However, some people will always prefer a sense of heft in their machines. For those people, I can't really see myself recommending an Air unless I think they could change their mind. Based on your comments, it seems you might be someone who prefers heft, but if you could go try both models out and pick which one you like the most I'd think that'd be your best option. Both are good quality machines and I think you'll enjoy your choice either way. Go buy one today it's the best possible time to buy a Mac.
 
I recently sold my 2011 Macbook Air 11, and brought a 2012 Macbook pro 13 for £800 brand new on ebay. I then spent £150 on a Samsung 256GB SSD, and £35 on 8GB Corsair Vengance RAM and I'm really happy...considering I now have the equivalent of a £1400 laptop (from Apple) for £985! :D

I would just go for it, like others have said even if Apple do release a retina model, it will be more expensive, and to be honest the screen is lovely on the 13...much better than my 11 Air.
 
Oreon said:
I recently sold my 2011 Macbook Air 11, and brought a 2012 Macbook pro 13 for £800 brand new on ebay. I then spent £150 on a Samsung 256GB SSD, and £35 on 8GB Corsair Vengance RAM and I'm really happy...considering I now have the equivalent of a £1400 laptop (from Apple) for £985! :D

I would just go for it, like others have said even if Apple do release a retina model, it will be more expensive, and to be honest the screen is lovely on the 13...much better than my 11 Air.
Click to expand...

I definitely prefer the extra resolution on the 13'' Air vs the 13'' Pro, though it's definitely opinionated. It's a lot easier to work with extra space, but some colors don't pop as much as on the 13'' Pros. Personal preference, really.
 
Thank you guys for advise. I have gotten the basic model of MBP 13, and will take it to upgrade for a SSD and 16GB ram.

Any accessory do you guys think is worthwhile to get?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back