MBPr to MacBook Air?

[develpt]

I bought a refurbished MacBook Pro Retina just before WWDC.

I'm now considering exchanging for a new maxed out Air with Haswell processor and improved GPU.

Things I commonly do on my mac..

• Light video editing.
• Photoshop/InDesign.
• Audio editing/recording in Audition.
• General web browsing

Should I do it? I'm really on the fence.

PS: I'm a college student.

 

[PDFierro]

Depends on how much you like/need the Retina display, and if you want to trade that for Haswell.

 

[swerve147]

I'm now considering exchanging for a new maxed out Air with Haswell processor and improved GPU.

Still not nearly as powerful as the Ivy Bridge quad-core i7. And the Intel 5000 doesn't hold a candle to the discrete 650M. And to top it all off the Air has a terrible low-res screen.

The things that are advantage for the Air are the weight/smaller form factor and battery life.

Just because something's "new" doesn't necessarily make it better.

 

[Mercmanman]

I bought a refurbished MacBook Pro Retina just before WWDC.

I'm now considering exchanging for a new maxed out Air with Haswell processor and improved GPU.

Things I commonly do on my mac..

• Light video editing.
• Photoshop/InDesign.
• Audio editing/recording in Audition.
• General web browsing

Should I do it? I'm really on the fence.

PS: I'm a college student.

I had an 11" air, then 13" air core i7 as I found my workload increased online during first year of engineering. After studying for 12 hours a day, I switched to the 13" rMBP. It is faster and the screen is a life saver. The new airs look great, but for only 1/2 a pound, and with a smaller footprint, the rMBP is the perfect device for students.

 

[VTECaddict]

With all of the media creation and processing, stick with the rMBP. The processing power will come in handy.

 

[Tanax]

Still not nearly as powerful as the Ivy Bridge quad-core i7. And the Intel 5000 doesn't hold a candle to the discrete 650M. And to top it all off the Air has a terrible low-res screen.

The things that are advantage for the Air are the weight/smaller form factor and battery life.

Just because something's "new" doesn't necessarily make it better.

What if he has the 13" retina? No quad core, no discrete GPU.

 

[alphaod]

If don't care much for the Retina display and you have a 13", then the move is fine I think.

If you have a 15", then you'll be losing a lot of performance.

It helps to specify with some specs of what you have right now.

 

[wmage]

You're going to hate yourself after going back from Retina to normal display.

Source: I exchanged rMBP for Air after having the IR issue.

 

[swerve147]

What if he has the 13" retina? No quad core, no discrete GPU.

Good point.

 

[develpt]

It's a 13 inch MacBook Pro Retina.

128gb storage. 8gb of ram.
Intel i5 running at 2.5ghz
Intel 4000 Integrated Graphics.

 

[tgi]

It's all a matter of which laptop you like more and will suit you better. I personally would keep the retina, but that's me. I like the display. If you value battery life/portability in the Air, then by all means go for that.

 

[Krazy Bill]

Things I commonly do on my mac..

• Light video editing.
• Photoshop/InDesign.
• Audio editing/recording in Audition.
• General web browsing

Should I do it? I'm really on the fence.

PS: I'm a college student.

Even looking at your list, I'd say go for the Air. Only one post here mentions the phenomenal battery life you're trading for. As a student that might be the one thing to push you off the fence.