Practical differences between macbooks

You look at the specs and then you try them out a bit.

 

1) Determine what your current day to day computing needs are (re: programs currently used and manner of using the internet in general)

2) Look at the different MacBook Pros on the Apple website to get an idea of the technical aspects of each model.

3) Go to Apple store (or similar place) so that you can view the models up close and can experiment with each one.

4) Determine budget and compare it to the model(s) that best suit your needs.

5) Purchase Mac based on the aforementioned considerations.

 

I get one powerful enough for my needs. That's how everyone should be buying a computer in the first place.

 

Simple really

Air: low power dual core, very light, very slim, stupid long battery life. Unfortunately screen a bit out of date probably best to avoid until it gets a retina screen. However it is cheaper and will run almost any day to day software you throw at it. ok for casual gaming.

rMBP 13; much like the air to be honest but with better connectivity, better CPU and GPU and a fantastic screen that makes this the best all round day to day laptop available at the moment in my eyes. Still thin and light but the battery life takes a bit of a hit.

rMBP 15; this is your desktop replacement screaming fast quadcore processors good graphics amazing screen. A must for those wanting desktop like performance and screen real estate on the road.

rMBP 15 with NVIDIA graphics: As the other 15 inch but a must for those rendering 4K video, and using CUDA enabled apps extensively and playing modern games at a decent level.

Hope that helps...

 

The 13" Pro or Air will probably cover most people's needs......
...Just pick more power or more battery, Personally I went for the
Pro due to the Retina screen. I'm sure either would do the job for
you.

 

Really oversimplified?

1. Size? 15" is too big for daily carry. 11" is practically an iPad, not big enough for working on a couple of documents at the same time. 13" - best compromise. (This is all my opinion, obviously.)

2. Screen? The Air screen looks like roadkill. (That's my opinion and it's an overstatement, but I really did not like it.) The retina MBP screen was great, and best at full resolution.

3. Weight? The 13" rMBP weighs only a little more than the 13" Air, so no reason to re-evaluate 1 and 2.

4. Cost? The Air is cheaper but the rMBP was no prohibitively expensive, so no need to re-think 1, 2 and 3.

YMMV (both on what's important and how you slice the facts) but those are the big four for me.

 

Since you can't upgrade a MacBook at all, I went for the top of the line 15. I plan to keep it for 3+ years. The 13 is great for portability, but I took the 15 all over Europe. The size and weight are still great for traveling.

 

My 13" MacBook Air didn't have:

15" retina display
2.2 quad core i7
16 GB ram
256 GB SSD

So I bought one that did.

 

macbook air:
-lighter
-better battery life
-mediocre screen
-low power CPU, so slower than the pros

macbook pro r13:
-retina 13" screen
-dual core CPU

macbook pro r15 with igpu:
-retina 15" screen
-quad core CPU

macbook pro r15 with dgpu:
-retina 15" screen
-quad core CPU
-switchable, more powerful graphics

RAM and SSD size depend on your needs. I wouldn't go with less than 8gb of RAM for any usage case anymore. If you can live with putting all your media on an external USB 3 hard drive, a small SSD is enough.

 

EveryMac.com has detailed specs for all of them: http://www.everymac.com/

 

I'd say the 13" rMBP with 8gb RAM and probably the 256gb SSD. I have the late-2013. The only difference between it and the mid-2014 is a very slight bump in processor speed. I used mine for school work, watching movies (HD and SD), and music. I can't speak for gaming, but it could probably handle causal gaming.

 

Design and built quality in my opinion. Customer support is also superb, as I can stop by an Apple Store for troubleshooting. Just a few reasons why I'll continue buying apple.

 

Pick and post an example. That Macbooks are double the price of a comparable Windows machine is a myth. It's not about the specs entirely. You pay for the design and build quality, the specs, the OS and pre-installed software, for the support and then maybe a little bit for the brand.

 

The one that you linked to appears to have 5400 rpm HDD with cache vs PCIe SSD storage in rmbp 15.

 

Isn't that Dell $1500, and the MacBook Pro is $1999? Hardly double.

 

Then you must be blind. The 15 retina MBP has a much faster storage and a 40% larger battery (which translates to more than 2x real usable time on battery ).

Price and feature set do not scale linearly. Every increase in multi-purpose functionality beyond a certain point is going to cost you extra (and it does not matter whether the company is called Apple or Dell). Its you who needs to decide whether its worth it or not. We certainly can't do it for our.

 

They aren't. If you do (pardon the pun) and Apple to apples comparison (i.e., configure the Dell the same way), they're the same cost. Since the Mac is better made and has much better warranty coverage in real life, the Mac is a better value.