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MBA 13" vs MBP 13" (2.9 GHz) vs rMBP 13"

Something to bear in mind.... don't know how educational discounts work over there but in the UK if you order online from an educational campus - because they detect your ip/location - you get something like another 3% off the normal educational discount.

But... I've been told you can get the same discount if you ring and ask.
 
You can't be hung up on processors only. The Air features a MUCH faster SSD compared to any other Mac (including the current rMBPs). Processor may not be top notch but it isn't far, but the hard drive speeds will definitely make a difference in snappiness and will make your computer "faster."

Just something to keep in mind
 
Suraj R. said:
You can't be hung up on processors only. The Air features a MUCH faster SSD compared to any other Mac (including the current rMBPs). Processor may not be top notch but it isn't far, but the hard drive speeds will definitely make a difference in snappiness and will make your computer "faster."

Just something to keep in mind
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Doesn't the SSD only affect the start up speed of the computer/applications?
With a better processor you have generally a better performance all the way through while the better SSD only affects the launching of an application.

Aesthetically, the rMBP looks a lot better than the MBA because of the screen. I really don't like the silver border of the MBA and much prefer the black border of Pros. I don't know. It's a weird thing I'm looking at. The black border just makes the Pro look a lot sleeker than the Air. But I'll probably get over this real soon.
 
skimmilk13 said:
Doesn't the SSD only affect the start up speed of the computer/applications?
With a better processor you have generally a better performance all the way through while the better SSD only affects the launching of an application.

Aesthetically, the rMBP looks a lot better than the MBA because of the screen. I really don't like the silver border of the MBA and much prefer the black border of Pros. I don't know. It's a weird thing I'm looking at. The black border just makes the Pro look a lot sleeker than the Air. But I'll probably get over this real soon.
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That's what I thought about the bezel of the Air too, but really you get used to it, and now I really like how it looks. I really wouldn't mind it being black either. But its better to have the silver bezel without all of the glassiness/glossiness that the black bezeled MBPs have.
 
Suraj R. said:
That's what I thought about the bezel of the Air too, but really you get used to it, and now I really like how it looks. I really wouldn't mind it being black either. But its better to have the silver bezel without all of the glassiness/glossiness that the black bezeled MBPs have.
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Haha yeah I guess I will get over this issue rather quickly.

For the MBA, I assume people would recommend the i7 processor.
How about the MBP? Should I go with an i5 or i7? I don't really know the difference (battery life, processing speed), but maybe I'll give it to i7 since it's a bigger number? :rolleyes: haha
 
skimmilk13 said:
Haha yeah I guess I will get over this issue rather quickly.

For the MBA, I assume people would recommend the i7 processor.
How about the MBP? Should I go with an i5 or i7? I don't really know the difference (battery life, processing speed), but maybe I'll give it to i7 since it's a bigger number? :rolleyes: haha
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If you go to the MBA forums, the general consensus is that people recommend the i5 for the battery life, and the i7 only if you know that you're going to benefit from the little power boost that it provides.
 
About gaming performance for the i5 vs i7 on the air. I pulled this from one of the other threads on the MBA forums. Since I noticed you wanted a fairly decent LoL experience I thought it might be of use to you. It seems he has the 11" air because of the resolution being 1366x768 instead of the 1440x900 on the 13"

Jazwire said:
Lol I have both machines, you don't, I know this 1st hand, I am not repeating what others have assumed.


Not all games are GPU bound,

Here is my League of Legends results.(From Jul 1)

*************************************

** League of Legends Test**

Setting on both machines.
Resolution - 1368x768
Character Quality - High
Effect Quality - Medium
Environment Quality - High
Shadows - Off

i5 results:
Avg FPS:41
FPS Range:37-50
Heat: Warm, maybe slightly less warm than i7 , fans running fairly loud

i7 results:
Avg FPS: 48
FPS Range:44-58
Heat: Warm - No Fans (Actually ran i7 test twice, because thought maybe I didn't hear fan on 1st run.)
***********************.


Also i is well known and documented even by Blizzard, that their games WoW, SC2, Diablo3 are indeed in fact impacted by CPU speed.

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/6787819464

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3646384611

http://www.techspot.com/review/305-starcraft2-performance/page14.html

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...9-CPU-or-GPU-priority-for-StarCraft-II-new-pc




http://www.overclock.net/t/1268825/...lly-gpu-intensive-and-which-are-cpu-intensive

This post says it best;

"Most games are GPU dependent at the moment.
Besides..
Starcraft 2, World of Warcraft, CIV 5, Battlefield 3, GTA 4, Flight Simulators, Bad Company 2, basically most modern RPG, RTS, and free roaming games.
"

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1258142-single-GPU-config-7970-vs-680
When talking about Blizzard games they are not that GPU intensive. In WoW you need a very good CPU (as much GHz and cache as possible) and in Diablo 3 you need a very fast HDD. Starcraft 2 runs perfect on almost every system out there.

I could list a few hundred more, but these are the 1st few i grabbed.
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Also, given the prediction for what the new rMBP chips might bring in terms of the iGPU, you can bet that the HD 5100 Iris graphics will beat out the HD 5000 on the air any day of the week; even with the extra pixels it'll push.

One other thing to take into consideration is that if you ended up picking a new computer out before they refresh the MBPs, there is always the consideration of the cMBP. It seems like you've all but ruled it out at this point, but if you don't mind it's more bulky body and the lower resolution display it should be able to do you fine. The base 13" currently sits at $999 with education pricing. Plus you can easily swap the HDD out for an SSD, or just put one in the optical drive bay; then there's the possibility of upgrading to 16GB of RAM in the future. Plus, for the current generation comparison of rMBP vs cMBP, the HD 4000 iGPU would be able to make the performance of the machine seem better in the cMBP because it doesn't have to push nearly as many pixels as the rMBP (4 times less in fact).

I'm in a similar predicament as you and my mind is scattered to all three of these lovely machines.
 
bhayes444 said:
About gaming performance for the i5 vs i7 on the air. I pulled this from one of the other threads on the MBA forums. Since I noticed you wanted a fairly decent LoL experience I thought it might be of use to you. It seems he has the 11" air because of the resolution being 1366x768 instead of the 1440x900 on the 13"




Also, given the prediction for what the new rMBP chips might bring in terms of the iGPU, you can bet that the HD 5100 Iris graphics will beat out the HD 5000 on the air any day of the week; even with the extra pixels it'll push.

One other thing to take into consideration is that if you ended up picking a new computer out before they refresh the MBPs, there is always the consideration of the cMBP. It seems like you've all but ruled it out at this point, but if you don't mind it's more bulky body and the lower resolution display it should be able to do you fine. The base 13" currently sits at $999 with education pricing. Plus you can easily swap the HDD out for an SSD, or just put one in the optical drive bay; then there's the possibility of upgrading to 16GB of RAM in the future. Plus, for the current generation comparison of rMBP vs cMBP, the HD 4000 iGPU would be able to make the performance of the machine seem better in the cMBP because it doesn't have to push nearly as many pixels as the rMBP (4 times less in fact).

I'm in a similar predicament as you and my mind is scattered to all three of these lovely machines.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the little tidbit on LoL!
I haven't necessarily ruled out the cMBP, but there are several factors dragging it down. It possibly may be the last regular Pro, as there are rumors that Apple might stop updating that line. Plus the bulk isn't doing much for it.
My only wish is for Apple to release the new line of rMBPs and the Maverick OS late August, early September. Looking at it from a sales perspective, that should be the ideal time to release it. Unless Apple wants the squeeze a few dollars on the old rMBP models. :confused:
 
Nothing beats MBA in terms of portability and price, and the cMBP is looking a lot like a dinosaur these days. :cool:
 
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