Right for me

[nicholask1993]

So I've got a $3000 budget to upgrade from my 2007 15" MBP.

I was set on a rMBP but after seeing so much talk about lag issues, the integrated graphics not being up to snuff, and ten the whole not much stuff has caught up to Retina I'm thinking I may be better off with a MBA.

I'm your average college student so the higher portability of the Air is a huge plus. The main thing in concerned with is if it will be enough for Aperture and occasionally Final Cut Pro with the i7 and HD4000 graphics. Also plan on setting up a XP bootcamp partition for the few programs I use that aren't Mac compatible and for League of Legends.

Should I just get a rMBP and hope that any of the lag issues can be fixed via software or get a 13" MBA and use the money I'd save to put toward a next gen rMBP or even an iMac?

 

[tigert07]

Have you considered a 15 inch MacBook pro non-retina? Extra screen real estate and power would help out. What will you be doing with aperture?

 

[nicholask1993]

Photo management and editing of raw photos from a D5100 and possibly D300s in the future.

 

[tigert07]

Ah sorry I realize I read the question wrong. Sorry! Which MacBook air are you going for? For aperture and final cut I would for sure upgrade the ram if you want the MacBook air. The air is great for college! Light and small so it's easy to travel with. The mbpr still is rather large/heavy to carry around. If I were you and I had that budget you could have the best of both worlds and grab an air with128 gb w/8gb ram and an iMac. Tough decision but it's really all up to you

 

[nicholask1993]

If I go with the Air:
2.0GHz i7
8GB Ram
256GB SSD

If I go rMBP:
2.7GHz i7
16GB Ram
512GB SSD

I'm sure the rMBP would be faster but if the MBA will do what I need without taking foreeeeevvvveeerrr like my current MBP I'll be fine and enjoy saving money.

 

[msullivanxi]

If I go with the Air:
2.0GHz i7
8GB Ram
256GB SSD

If I go rMBP:
2.7GHz i7
16GB Ram
512GB SSD

I'm sure the rMBP would be faster but if the MBA will do what I need without taking foreeeeevvvveeerrr like my current MBP I'll be fine and enjoy saving money.

Not for nothing but even the least powerful Air is still more powerful then your 2007 MBP

And I would hold off on the rMBP it seems they introduced it a year to early spec wise

 

[Fernandez21]

I say get the air and with the money you save get a thunderbolt display with wireless keyboard, mouse, and superdrive. This way you get the portability of the air but get the added features of a desktop (larger screen, optical drive, ect....) For college this would seem like the best combo, laptop for class, thunderbolt for when your studying, writing, and even watch movies.

 

[nicholask1993]

I'm going with the aforementioned 13" MBA with AppleCare. Comes out to just under $2000 with my student discount, an extra charger, Bluetooth mouse, and a hardcase.

The money I save is going to be out aside for when the Haswell based rMBP is released and if I can justify spending the money I'll sell this one and upgrade.

I can run Aperture and FCPx smoothly and play LoL at high settings at native resolution. I'm set!