Hey all, I am looking for some buying advice:
I have an original 11" MacBook Air no upgrades and a heavily upgraded 2009 Mac Pro (quad). Both are starting to exhibit slow downs (particularly the pro) and battery issues (the air). Also, I like to have newer machinery some it is a bit of a vanity/quality of life purchase as well. I use the Air while working (as a teacher and tech coordinator at a local high school) for presentations, data entry, and network management. The battery life is terrible, I'm almost out of SSD space, and the thing is just pretty darn slow. I love the size, and most of the time it works just fine. My Mac Pro is used primarily to edit photos when I help my wife on photo shoots, do graphic design for work (mostly newspaper ads, newsletters, posters, and website), and play wow. The computer acts strange, hanging quite a bit (especially in safari and/or numbers). I have tried replacing all of the RAM, SSD, HDs, and video card (returning back to original parts) and it still behaves the same. I also have an iPad mini that i use for less complex work tasks and several windows desktops at work.
I'm looking to replace one or both of the computers with new hardware - replacing the Pro is more of a priority, but I'm also willing to buy a stopgap solution while waiting for another round of upgrades to find a better price/performance point for my needs.
My options (as I see them) are:
(as a teacher I get edu discount)
13" MBP retina 1399 - would lose ram, 2 cores, and video performance from the pro, but would easily outpace the air, would use as a replacement for the pro for the interim, and would do any heavy lifting on my wife's 2011 iMac.
11" MBA (fully upgraded) 1489 - would run pretty close to the 13MBPr would pick up i7, and double the SSD but lose out on graphics and screen. Size benefit (for my concerns) compared to 13. interim solution.
15" MBP retina (stock) 2399 - or upgraded 3029 - Would be pretty similar to my pro in performance (but would be working correctly) but falls far short of the new Mac Pro and costs almost the same. - would be a long-term solution
new Mac Pro (base) 2699 - upgraded 3969 - would purchase upgrades over time to RAM and SSD (video cards if ever available). Would by a large margin be the fastest option and could (if I keep upsetting myself) be a huge price increase. I can price itself out of my range pretty quickly. Gfx is more important to me than processor cores so the quad is fine for me. This would be a permanent solution, but would require me switching exclusively to my iPad on the road once my old MBA dies. Eventually I'm sure I'd want to buy a new air-like device, but would be beating up my budget pretty badly if it was anytime soon.
(EDIT) I guess I could also go for a new Mac Mini when they come out - which would work as an interim device but wouldn't be any faster than the 11/13 and I would still need to replace the old MBA at some point in the not-too distant future. If someone has a good case here, though, I'm willing to hear it out.
Thanks for any advice you can offer! (sorry for the long windedness)
I have an original 11" MacBook Air no upgrades and a heavily upgraded 2009 Mac Pro (quad). Both are starting to exhibit slow downs (particularly the pro) and battery issues (the air). Also, I like to have newer machinery some it is a bit of a vanity/quality of life purchase as well. I use the Air while working (as a teacher and tech coordinator at a local high school) for presentations, data entry, and network management. The battery life is terrible, I'm almost out of SSD space, and the thing is just pretty darn slow. I love the size, and most of the time it works just fine. My Mac Pro is used primarily to edit photos when I help my wife on photo shoots, do graphic design for work (mostly newspaper ads, newsletters, posters, and website), and play wow. The computer acts strange, hanging quite a bit (especially in safari and/or numbers). I have tried replacing all of the RAM, SSD, HDs, and video card (returning back to original parts) and it still behaves the same. I also have an iPad mini that i use for less complex work tasks and several windows desktops at work.
I'm looking to replace one or both of the computers with new hardware - replacing the Pro is more of a priority, but I'm also willing to buy a stopgap solution while waiting for another round of upgrades to find a better price/performance point for my needs.
My options (as I see them) are:
(as a teacher I get edu discount)
13" MBP retina 1399 - would lose ram, 2 cores, and video performance from the pro, but would easily outpace the air, would use as a replacement for the pro for the interim, and would do any heavy lifting on my wife's 2011 iMac.
11" MBA (fully upgraded) 1489 - would run pretty close to the 13MBPr would pick up i7, and double the SSD but lose out on graphics and screen. Size benefit (for my concerns) compared to 13. interim solution.
15" MBP retina (stock) 2399 - or upgraded 3029 - Would be pretty similar to my pro in performance (but would be working correctly) but falls far short of the new Mac Pro and costs almost the same. - would be a long-term solution
new Mac Pro (base) 2699 - upgraded 3969 - would purchase upgrades over time to RAM and SSD (video cards if ever available). Would by a large margin be the fastest option and could (if I keep upsetting myself) be a huge price increase. I can price itself out of my range pretty quickly. Gfx is more important to me than processor cores so the quad is fine for me. This would be a permanent solution, but would require me switching exclusively to my iPad on the road once my old MBA dies. Eventually I'm sure I'd want to buy a new air-like device, but would be beating up my budget pretty badly if it was anytime soon.
(EDIT) I guess I could also go for a new Mac Mini when they come out - which would work as an interim device but wouldn't be any faster than the 11/13 and I would still need to replace the old MBA at some point in the not-too distant future. If someone has a good case here, though, I'm willing to hear it out.
Thanks for any advice you can offer! (sorry for the long windedness)
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