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Recommendation, what MacBook?

D

dan iel

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 26, 2013
4
0
I bought a MacBook the other day but had to take it back because it was already used. I bought it as new. I am ready to try again but I thought I would research it a bit better and see what you guys think.

I already have a decent gaming pc at home which I use a lot but I am now after a laptop which I could bring around when I'm out but also do some web development and design on there. I would like to chill out and not be stuck at a desk when working on some personal web projects.

I really liked it for web browsing and watching stuff but I don't know how it is with anything else.

Would you guys recommend the 13 inch for web development? My concerns are that the screen might be to small. I mostly code away in dreamweaver or any text editor. I sometimes use photoshop to edit create and edit graphics.

Another concern is that with only an i5 dual core processor, it might become slow when I am switching through apps and browsers.

Does anyone code with the mac book 13 inch retina? How is your experience? Would you recommend it?

Does this macbook have any gaming performance?

Would you guys recommend me spending quite a bit more for the 15 inch with quad core and seperate GPU? It is quite expensive at £1699.

I can get the 13 MBPR for £1350.

Look forward to your views and opinions, thanks.
 
I honestly think that if you are vexing your budget to get one of these machines, then I think you are much better off looking at cheaper alternatives.

Unless you absolutely need one of these machines to generate your income, I don't see any reason to consider a MacBook over other alternatives just for web design.
 
Can't speak on web development much but in my opinion, definitely go retina unless you have to have the drive for some reason. For me the 13" is a bit small on real estate. However, you could always scale the resolution which will provide a bit more workspace. If you have the budget, splurge and get the 15" retina for the bigger screen and much better internals. Go refurbed, you likely won't be able to tell the difference between it and a brand new one and you'll save hundreds.
 
Go for a refurbed 15" rMBP base model, they are on the apple store for £1500 or so. Essentially its a brand new mac, for less money. I bought one a few weeks ago and its by far the best bit of tech I've ever bought. Go for it, you won't regret it!
 
We have developers on the 13" Air and 13" Pro. They are fine and all plug into an external monitor at the office.

I have the 13" Retina and it's nice to be able to go up to 1680x1050 and even 1920x1200 (with QuickResX)

The i5 is not an issue. It wasn't even an issue when we were using C2D's.
 
Thanks for the feedback.

It is true that I'm worried about the budget and that other computers will do well at a lot less but I just want something different to windows and I love the tech.

I could plug it into the monitor at home which will be nice for when I need a bigger screen.

Just need to think if it's worth it even though it isn't a necessity to bring in income. Would be nice to have a decent laptop. I haven't been impressed by windows based ones.
 
Go for a refurbished 13" MacBook Air. That's just under $1000 before taxes. I'm a programmer and I also do web development. I work in a variety of environemtns (Linux and Windows VMs using Eclipse, Netbeans, Visual Studios, etc.) and my 13" MacBook Air is perfect. Only issue is drive space. My 128GB is a bit small. To make up for it, I have a 1TB USB 3.0 external drive.
 
SnowLeopard2008 said:
Go for a refurbished 13" MacBook Air. That's just under $1000 before taxes. I'm a programmer and I also do web development. I work in a variety of environemtns (Linux and Windows VMs using Eclipse, Netbeans, Visual Studios, etc.) and my 13" MacBook Air is perfect. Only issue is drive space. My 128GB is a bit small. To make up for it, I have a 1TB USB 3.0 external drive.
Click to expand...

And the 13 inch screen and less keyboard space for hands ok for coding away? :)
 
I believe a 13" MBP will fit your needs.

It will not however have sufficient gaming power, but that doesn't seem like your top priority anyhow.
 
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