please provide some insights between air and rmbp

[j1huynh]

hi, please help to provide some suggestions. this will be my first MacBook purchase.

currently I have 15 rmbp with 2.3ghz, 16gb ram, 256ssd coming this week. after reading and looking at the apple store, I am thinking the rmbp is a little too advance for the graphic card and everything else... so I am thinking of getting the 1.8ghz, 8gb, 128gb 13.3 air.. it's light and very nice.. perfect compliment to ipad3..
my question is I intend to use the MacBook for 75% basic stuff (surfing, office tasks, ppt, online video) + parallel for some very light gaming like navyfield.. the other 25% for adobe photoshop for my baby photo album and hd video editing with final cut or iMovie .. all files stored on external drive..
will the air be good enough for the video editing or will it take long time to load etc?
I think the rmbp should be ok but its too expensive and prefers to wait the next version.
Tia!

 

[KPOM]

The rMPB will be better for video editing because of its quad-core processor. The Air can handle all the rest just fine. If you are worried about the sluggishness of the Retina Display, note that Mountain Lion is supposed to address this. Also, more and more sites and applications will be optimized for the display in the coming months.

 

[stevelam]

The MBA is completely fine for your needs. You don't need quad core to do basic video/photoshopping at all.

 

[iHorny]

i apologize if this is off-topic, but can i ask if the i5/8/256 mba good enough to handle certain games like gta, fifa, sims3 etc? and when school starts i need to do long hours of writing (5-7 hours) each day and during holidays when i get real free at times, i can watch tv shows/movies for nearly the whole night... am i killing the air this way or drastically shortening the mba's lifespan with these long hours of usage?

As i want the mba to last around 4 years at least, should i go with the 15" pro or would you guys think the air is enough for me?

Once again, sorry for crashing in from nowhere, OP..

 

[dkersten]

i apologize if this is off-topic, but can i ask if the i5/8/256 mba good enough to handle certain games like gta, fifa, sims3 etc? and when school starts i need to do long hours of writing (5-7 hours) each day and during holidays when i get real free at times, i can watch tv shows/movies for nearly the whole night... am i killing the air this way or drastically shortening the mba's lifespan with these long hours of usage?

As i want the mba to last around 4 years at least, should i go with the 15" pro or would you guys think the air is enough for me?

Once again, sorry for crashing in from nowhere, OP..

The Air should be fine for your needs. And for watching movies, with mountain lion and an ATV you can mirror your laptop screen to your HDTV, just something you might want to look into

 

[iHorny]

The Air should be fine for your needs. And for watching movies, with mountain lion and an ATV you can mirror your laptop screen to your HDTV, just something you might want to look into

Alright thanks, i have a tv and an hdmi cable already, just waiting for a laptop to connect it to

 

[j1huynh]

thanks all.. I'll get the air then.