MBA 13 vs rMBP 13 (base model)

[DJTaurus]

I can purchase both of them on the same price

So its a tough question:

MBA Haswell 4GB or Retina entry level with the 8G ?


First of all 4gb is enough for me. I only surf on the web, listen to music and watch movies. Nothing else. I dont care about portability and battery consumption cause i use it mostly on home. My only concern over retina is how hotter it will run the summer season! Also for casual use do you think entry level MBA with Haswell is more powerful compared to the entry level retina?

 

[Djlild7hina]

If you can get them for the same price, I'd go with the rMBP. You won't have to worry about the rMBP being hotter and overheating. The rMBP is actually more powerful than the MBA but you won't notice the difference with everyday tasks.
They are both very good products

 

[Xcallibur]

Roughly the same processing power, although the graphics processing is a fair bit faster on the Air. Considering your not bothered about battery or portability that much, your choice is do you value a high resolution screen over a slightly faster GPU for up to 50% higher frame rates in games (to put it simply).

 

[lagisibuk]

I recomended for retina MBP,
for watching movie and browsing, it's more than enough.
u will get best screen resolution.

 

[DJTaurus]

Guys are u sure?

HD5000 only slightly more powerful than HD4000?

 

[Xcallibur]

Guys are u sure?

HD5000 only slightly more powerful than HD4000?

I said fair bit faster not slightly haha, personally I'd go for the rMBP, but some would value the GPU a little more. In the grand scale of things I don't think the HD5000 is worth more than the sum of a 2012 rMBP.

 

[jread]

The HD5000 is faster, but on the ULV processor in the MBA it's really not any faster than the HD4000 on the 13" rMBP. My 13" outperforms the Haswell MBA I had, both machines with the i7 upgrade and 8GB of RAM. I think it comes down to the pro having a higher voltage processor that is more powerful. I was disappointed with the Haswell MBA personally.

Oh, and the retina screen alone is worth it...