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Need help on deciding on a Mac for college

viperGTS said:
So it boils down to the 13" MBA and 13" MBP. The air is $50 more (after edu discount), has better battery, faster SSD, and is lighter. The MBP, while cheaper, has more but slower storage/faster CPU/optical drive. Which better fits my needs? And I can upgrade the HD to an SSD myself possibly.
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^ This is basically all of what I was going to mention if it had not already been said. With your situation, if you are not waiting till October, I would definitely go with the MBA. The weight, form factor, and better graphics would make it a sure win over the MBP. An entry level coding class isn't going to require a MBP, lol. And I don't even think a moderately high level class would.

If you are willing to wait till October for the new 13" MBP, I would personally get that. 1. It'll be much lighter (never to a MBA's weight though, but not a chore to carry around) 2. Retina (you said you don't care about that though) 3. Processing/graphics (if you care about games, more is more)

Other than that, I'd go with the MBA for you.
 
VanillaCracker said:
^ This is basically all of what I was going to mention if it had not already been said. With your situation, if you are not waiting till October, I would definitely go with the MBA. The weight, form factor, and better graphics would make it a sure win over the MBP. An entry level coding class isn't going to require a MBP, lol. And I don't even think a moderately high level class would.

If you are willing to wait till October for the new 13" MBP, I would personally get that. 1. It'll be much lighter (never to a MBA's weight though, but not a chore to carry around) 2. Retina (you said you don't care about that though) 3. Processing/graphics (if you care about games, more is more)

Other than that, I'd go with the MBA for you.
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So basically, if I buy before October, 13" MBA. After October, 13" MBP non retina? Thanks :)
 
viperGTS said:
So basically, if I buy before October, 13" MBA. After October, 13" MBP non retina? Thanks :)
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Oh wait you're looking at non-retina. No definitely go MBA, lol. I'm fairly certain the 13" MBP non-retina is going to be discontinued in October. Which means MBA is gonna be your best bet, imho
 
VanillaCracker said:
Oh wait you're looking at non-retina. No definitely go MBA, lol. I'm fairly certain the 13" MBP non-retina is going to be discontinued in October. Which means MBA is gonna be your best bet, imho
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I doubt it'll be discontinued, seeing as it's a lot cheaper. Say Apple releases a non retina 13" MBP with haswell and other improvements, would it be better than the 13" MBA? Especially since the MBP would be cheaper.

Also, remember that this computer will be replacing my desktop at home, so I want it to be able to handle everything I throw at it (for the most part), and be able to hold ALL of my files, including photos/videos/movies/apps. I feel like the MBA will be lacking in storage at that point, and the 1.3 GHz processor seems rather weak if I'm going to use it as a primary machine. :(
 
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viperGTS said:
I doubt it'll be discontinued, seeing as it's a lot cheaper. Say Apple releases a non retina 13" MBP with haswell and other improvements, would it be better than the 13" MBA? Especially since the MBP would be cheaper.

Also, remember that this computer will be replacing my desktop at home, so I want it to be able to handle everything I throw at it (for the most part), and be able to hold ALL of my files, including photos/videos/movies/apps. I feel like the MBA will be lacking in storage at that point, and the 1.3 GHz processor seems rather weak if I'm going to use it as a primary machine. :(
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It probably will be discontinued. There is no reason to keep it around. Speculation is that the price of the rMBP would lower a bit if the classic MBP were to be discontinued. It also hasn't been updated in over a year.
 
viperGTS said:
I doubt it'll be discontinued, seeing as it's a lot cheaper. Say Apple releases a non retina 13" MBP with haswell and other improvements, would it be better than the 13" MBA? Especially since the MBP would be cheaper.

Also, remember that this computer will be replacing my desktop at home, so I want it to be able to handle everything I throw at it (for the most part), and be able to hold ALL of my files, including photos/videos/movies/apps. I feel like the MBA will be lacking in storage at that point, and the 1.3 GHz processor seems rather weak if I'm going to use it as a primary machine. :(
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The main benefit to the refresh this october would be the re-design. Which is going to be for the 13" retina MBP, not the non-retina. It'll be much lighter and thinner, for mobility. And when they redesign the 13" retina, I'm sure they'll discontinue the non-retina. If not, and they do refresh the 13" then you might lean towards the MBP, because of the massive storage in comparison. I don't think you could go wrong with a 13" MBP, as long as you don't mind the weight. It's kinda like comparing a iPhone 4s to an iPhone 5. The iPhone 4s feels significantly heavier, but it's not really a burden. I've picked up 13" MBP's before and they're not a brick at all. It feels like a normal 13" laptop in terms of weight. Most people think the MBA is necessary cus it's paper light. It's preference. If you need more than 256gb storage go with the MBP, you'd be happy with either though. I would say wait till October, and then you can get the Refurbed 13" non-retina even cheaper after announcement. That would certainly be a deal. I'm not sure if student discount doubles up on refurbs, probably not actually o.o
 
PDFierro said:
It probably will be discontinued. There is no reason to keep it around. Speculation is that the price of the rMBP would lower a bit if the classic MBP were to be discontinued. It also hasn't been updated in over a year.
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How disappointing. The MBP seemed like a true replacement to my desktop as well. :(

So eventually id have to choose between an MBA, which seems too little, and a rMBP, which seems like overkill (and that display would make the HD 4000 crawl on it's knees). No middle ground. :(

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VanillaCracker said:
The main benefit to the refresh this october would be the re-design. Which is going to be for the 13" retina MBP, not the non-retina. It'll be much lighter and thinner, for mobility. And when they redesign the 13" retina, I'm sure they'll discontinue the non-retina. If not, and they do refresh the 13" then you might lean towards the MBP, because of the extra storage
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I'll play the waiting game. If I absolutely need a computer for school, I might just get the 13" MBA. If I need extra storage, I'll probably get an external portable hard drive.

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VanillaCracker said:
The main benefit to the refresh this october would be the re-design. Which is going to be for the 13" retina MBP, not the non-retina. It'll be much lighter and thinner, for mobility. And when they redesign the 13" retina, I'm sure they'll discontinue the non-retina. If not, and they do refresh the 13" then you might lean towards the MBP, because of the massive storage in comparison. I don't think you could go wrong with a 13" MBP, as long as you don't mind the weight. It's kinda like comparing a iPhone 4s to an iPhone 5. The iPhone 4s feels significantly heavier, but it's not really a burden. I've picked up 13" MBP's before and they're not a brick at all. It feels like a normal 13" laptop in terms of weight. Most people think the MBA is necessary cus it's paper light. It's preference. If you need more than 256gb storage go with the MBP, you'd be happy with either though. I would say wait till October, and then you can get the Refurbed 13" non-retina even cheaper after announcement. That would certainly be a deal. I'm not sure if student discount doubles up on refurbs, probably not actually o.o
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The discounts dont, a refurb is the same price as a student discount for a new computer.
 
I was going to buy the MacBook Air for portability but then I read this review at http://www.squidoo.com/apple-macbook-pro and I realised that the MacBook Pro with Retina is only 1/2lb heavier so I decided to buy the rMBP instead.
I love it, fits in my bag nicely and has really fast sleep/resume and long batter life too,
 
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