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aros1983

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 4, 2014
2
0
I'm going to start programming in Objective C and was wondering if I should get a Macbook Air or Macbook Pro. Your insights are appreciated!
 
Get the Air if you will go long periods without plugging it in or will carry it around a lot.

Get the Retina Pro if you want the Retina display or if you want a 15" screen.

Get the non-Retina Pro if you need or want an internal optical drive, replaceable battery, and replaceable RAM.
 
I recommend the Retina Pro to almost anyone. The battery life is still great (8+ hours with light use), and the screen is phenomenal. You also get a bit beefier performance.

The Air does have fantastic battery life (12+ hours), as well as slightly better portability, but not drastically. The Pro weighs about half a pound more.

You won't be disappointed with either one, I'm sure. If you think there's any chance you'll do some photo editing, or just general movie watching on it, I'd recommend the Pro for its screen any day of the week. If it's gotta make it across an international flight with no plug, grab the Air.
 
The Pro definitely. The Retina display will keep your eyes healthier, while the better CPU will make debugging much more pleasant.
 
I'm going to start programming in Objective C and was wondering if I should get a Macbook Air or Macbook Pro. Your insights are appreciated!

I'm assuming by MacBook Pro, you refer to the Retina display models.

The MBP is the better Mac. But for people who are just beginning to learn about programming, both are more than enough. You don't "need" anything that isn't on the Air but is on the Pro.

How do I know? I'm a computer engineering major. Started with a MBP (not Retina), went through some Airs and finally landed on a Mac Pro. Each computer was more than enough for beginning programming. As the difficult of my work progressed, so have my computers.
 
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