MBA or rMBP

[Batra555]

Hey guys,

So i have finally decided to upgrade from my 4 year old fujitsu lifebook, and with apple's new updated models they seem very attractive! However, i'm confused on which of the new models to buy!

My options are:
1. MBA - 13" fully maxed out - so i7, 8gb ram, 512gb ssd.

2. rMBP - 15" base model - so i7, 8gb ram and 256gb ssd.

Now i'm in the final year of school, and my purchase will be mostly used at uni and work. I am doing IT applications as a course at school and therefore i do require the use of photoshop, dreamweaver, microsoft access, visual basic etc. i will also be using vmware to run windows on it.

Price wise both are very similar and in my budget however i cant decide wether i need the new retina display and the better processer or do i need the extra storage and more portability. If this helps, i already own an ipad 2 which i do most of my non-flash web browsing on, and my primary use of the laptop will be on the iwork and office suites, watching movies, and the occasional use of the softwares mentioned above.

Portability is important to me, but from what i've heard the retina isn't that much heavier.

Please guys help me out!

Thank you!

 

[miles01110]

I'd get the 13".

 

[utahman130]

I'd get the rMBP, seems more futureproof. Better performance than the MBA, even fully specced. Yes, it has smaller storage than the MBA, but I just bought a 1 TB Seagate external hard drive for $80 at Costco so that shouldn't be a drawback.

 

[Black.Infinity]

Go with rMBP it is a bit heavy, but it is portable.

 

[softypolimer]

It's depend on your everyday life style but I recommended rMBP as it have a longer life span.

I used to use 13" macbook back in college mainly because I need carry it around the campus all the time. after I got a job I, my dad got me a 15" MBP and I really like it as it have a better working space, better performance and still portable since I no loner need to carry it round as much as before.

 

[fkhan3]

If you run vmware or bootcamp, you'll run out of space fast. Some IT applications can take up a lot of space. I would recommend going with MBA because it has larger SSD unless you want to shell out little extra and up the SSD on rMBP to 512.

I run Oracle, SQL Server, Office Suite and few other apps on my bootcamp partition and already used up close to 75GB

 

[maflynn]

It really depends on how you plan on using it.

Will you need the larger SSD or will you need the larger display? I think all things being equal, that is the major decision point. Since windows is one of the requirements, either vmware or bootcamp, storage could be an issue and the maxed out 13" MBA may make more sense.

Personally I opted for the 15" rMBP because screen size was more important then SSD size (and I didn't have the budget to upgrade the rMBP's SSD)

 

[balamw]

Just for the record, I have the exact same quandary. My 2011 base model 13" MBA is my favorite computer ever, but I lust after the rMBP and may want to replace both my 2008 and 2009 Macs sometime this year.

B

 

[wolfpuppies3]

Just went through the same choice and

I bought the maxed out MBA. The RMBP is larger, heavier, and has a lot less storage capacity which FOR A PRICE you can enhance.

 

[Batra555]

The RMBP is larger, heavier, and has a lot less storage capacity which FOR A PRICE you can enhance.

Thats what i've been thinking. But i also agree that the retina display is morE "future poof". I absolutely dont have the money to upgrade the ssd on rMBP and i will for sure be running windows on it either. Ahhh so confused!