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

Macbook Air 13" 2012 or Macbook Pro 13" 2012

B

brysonleo93

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 12, 2012
4
0
Hey guys, I'm having a really hard time deciding between these 2 Macbook configurations available online directly from Apple. If I'm getting either the Air or Pro, I want these configurations:

Macbook Air 13" 2012
1440 by 900 px
2.0GHz dual-core Intel Core i7
256gb SSD
8gb RAM
$1699

Macbook Pro 13" 2012
1280 by 800 px
2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i7
128gb SSD
8gb RAM
$1599

Please give me some advice. I love photography so I work with Photoshop as a hobby and iLife just for fun. I will be using it for school and playing Diablo 3.
 
Last edited:
The 13" Macbook Pro has a lower res screen and weighs more.

Both will handle your use cases just fine. Gaming should be almost identical since they both use HD 4000 graphics.

The Macbook Pro is a bit more do-it-yourself upgradeable than the Air, but since you're looking at going with 8GB of RAM and the 256GB SSD right off the bat that shouldn't be much of a concern.

I would personally go with the Air. If at a later date you really need a DVD drive or an Ethernet port, you can get external versions of each.
 
Honestly, I'd get the base 13". That's what I'm going to do. Buy 16GB of ram for $100, get a 256GB Samsung 830 for $200 (right now it's $300 but it's been going on sale for $200 lately, just got to watch), and that's it. Honestly, the proc. diff really isn't that much. At least IMO, it's not worth it. Get base, and add $300 of gear and you'll be much better off than anything you've got listed plus you'll save some $$$.

Edit: Just to clarify what I'm going to do w/ the HDD is put that in the opti-bay thing-a-majigy. So SSD as main OS and programs and data will reside on the HDD in the optibay.

Edit #2: Why am I getting downrated? Just for sharing my opinion? Very mature guys. This site is starting to suck. At least guys at Appleinsider are sensible and mature. No name calling, no trolling... it's actually an adult conversation.
 
Last edited:
That 0.9GHz is a sizable difference, but I don't think it should have too much impact on your performance. Both machines come with the same GPU, but the Air has more pixels to push than the Pro.

If you're not gaming, I would go with the Air. I find mine so much better to use than my 13" Pro.
 
MBA gets my vote. Higher resolution is crucial. And portability. But that's just my opinion :)
 
I've been trying to make the same decision... I love the form factor of the Air, but I don't know how much I'll actually be lugging it around.

I'm curious how big the performance difference would be with each processor upgrade... Obviously the difference from the base 1.8GHz in the MBA to the 2.9GHz in the upgraded Pro would be large. But with either model (once I've decided Air or Pro), is the processor upgrade worth it for each model?

It appears I have to go to the 256GB 13" Air to have the 2.0GHz BTO option, when I really only want the 128GB, so I'm curious if that would make much of a difference. I'm also curious if upgrading a 13" Pro from 2.5GHz to 2.9GHz would make much of a difference. Again, it means I need to take the machine with more RAM/HD Space than I actually want and need. It DOES go from i5 to i7 in both cases, so I'm thinking it might be fairly significant.


I'll pretty well be using it for Diablo 3, and some remote access for work (just using Citrix so it's not very demanding).

Thoughts?


Thanks!
 
No extra graphics card for MBA

I just found out there MBA only has Intel HD Graphics 4000.

MBP however, has Intel HD Graphics 4000 AND NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory

Is this crucial?
 
brysonleo93 said:
I just found out there MBA only has Intel HD Graphics 4000.

MBP however, has Intel HD Graphics 4000 AND NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory

Is this crucial?
Click to expand...

Only the 15" has both intel HD 4000 and NVidia. The 13" Pro just has Intel HD 4000 just like the MBA.

As for which one to get, I would go with the air because it's easier to lug around for school.
 
brysonleo93 said:
I just found out there MBA only has Intel HD Graphics 4000.

MBP however, has Intel HD Graphics 4000 AND NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory

Is this crucial?
Click to expand...

The 13 inch MBP does not have the Geforce 650M, only Intel HD 4000 like the air, you're thinking of the 15 inch.
 
Does anyone out there have a good experience with the MBA? im worried it might overheat easily? and will it be able to run Diablo 3 smoothly?
 
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