So I'm planning to buy a Macbook in a couple months (2-5). I just don't know which one, my budget is kind of limited and I can use an education discount (I'm going into high school), so my choices are a maxed out mba 8gigs of ram, i7 processor. The other option is the base model rmbp. Again I don't know the exact specs but either way Im going to wait for sky lake... My uses would be programming (Xcode), light gaming (CS:GO, mw2), school work (using word and powerpoint...) and netflix. I would like it to be future proof, and I know its kind of like choosing screen quality or portability and battery, I just want to know the differences. Thanks in advanced!
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Maxed MBA vs Base rMBP (Skylake)?
- Thread starter hotelspunk33
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Skylake is very unlikely to be in any apple laptops this year, so forget about that (and it looks like the air may well be on the way out and this last update is quite possibly the last one it'll ever get, much like the cMBP).
By the time you max out the RAM and add an i7 to an Air you can buy the pro for around the same price with the SSD the same size.
There are literally no advantages to the Air apart from battery life, (I don't consider 1/2 pound less weight to be a enough of an advantage to count and the rMBP is actually a smaller machine in all dimesions except thickness).
The CPU, GPU and connectivity are all significantly better on the pro and it has the force trackpad.
Most importantly though the screen is pretty much worth any extra money you pay. I would pay an extra $250 for that even if everything else was the same. It is great for everything but text is what makes it so much of a more pleasurabvle machine to use for studying,it's like reading print.
To sum up, forget skylake it's very unlikely in your time frame and buy the pro it is superior computer in every way and is only slightly more expensive.
By the time you max out the RAM and add an i7 to an Air you can buy the pro for around the same price with the SSD the same size.
There are literally no advantages to the Air apart from battery life, (I don't consider 1/2 pound less weight to be a enough of an advantage to count and the rMBP is actually a smaller machine in all dimesions except thickness).
The CPU, GPU and connectivity are all significantly better on the pro and it has the force trackpad.
Most importantly though the screen is pretty much worth any extra money you pay. I would pay an extra $250 for that even if everything else was the same. It is great for everything but text is what makes it so much of a more pleasurabvle machine to use for studying,it's like reading print.
To sum up, forget skylake it's very unlikely in your time frame and buy the pro it is superior computer in every way and is only slightly more expensive.
Even if Intel releases the Skylake processors on schedule, nobody knows how long it will be before Apple releases new Macs using them, or how much the designs and specs of the current range will change.
My guess is that, with the next major re-design, the 13" Air and the 13" rMBP will merge into one design and your dilemma will disappear - but that is just my guess, other peoples' guesses are just as good.
Out of the current range, I'd say that the $1,499 mid-range rMBP is better bangs-per-buck that the maxed-out Air at $1,450 - unless you are really concerned about the half-pound weight difference (the 13" rMBP is still a pretty small & light machine). Remember that the entry level rMBP only has 128GB of storage. If you're doing coding, and your eyesight is good, then you'll appreciate the ability to set the rMBP display to 'scaled' mode and cram an awful lot of text and windows on to it.
My guess is that, with the next major re-design, the 13" Air and the 13" rMBP will merge into one design and your dilemma will disappear - but that is just my guess, other peoples' guesses are just as good.
Out of the current range, I'd say that the $1,499 mid-range rMBP is better bangs-per-buck that the maxed-out Air at $1,450 - unless you are really concerned about the half-pound weight difference (the 13" rMBP is still a pretty small & light machine). Remember that the entry level rMBP only has 128GB of storage. If you're doing coding, and your eyesight is good, then you'll appreciate the ability to set the rMBP display to 'scaled' mode and cram an awful lot of text and windows on to it.
I definitely agree with the others and your choice. The rMBP will be a fantastic machine for what you are talking about.