rMB or MBA? Help me pick please.

[JoePa2624]

I have both RMB 12 and MBA 11. I have to say that MBA 11 (2013) is my all time favourite because it has useful ports, a long battery life and a good-travel keyboard. Also it feels like an all round solid notebook: trusty, tough and dependable. I have had it for two years with very little issues.

However the RMB 12 does not rate far behind. It is lighter than the MBA 11, has a retina display, a reasonable battery life, and an interesting keyboard which is very usable but takes some getting used to. The lack of ports may irk you, likewise, the lack of travel for the keys on the new keyboard.

Like the rest have said, try the both of them out at a brick and mortar store. Then let your head and your heart decide.

The more I read these forums, the more I come to the conclusion that the 11" MBA is like a Honda Civic. Not the flashiest car on the road, and doesn't have all the high-tech goodies of things like the rMB. But, it's incredibly dependable and just works flawlessly. It's a workhorse.

I've never owned a MBA, and I love my rMB, but would my fellow MBA owners agree with that comparison?

 

[zhenya]

I think that's why The Verge recently chose the Air as their 'best laptop'. When you take into account the size, weight, power, battery life, available ports, and price, the Air is a pretty hard to beat combination. Unfortunately for me I am completely ruined by high-end screens, so the Air, as good as it is, looks completely dated to me with a low resolution screen and huge bezel. However replacing that screen with something high res would eat into a couple of those key advantages - making it a somewhat less compelling choice compared to the rMBP.

 

[Badrottie]

So I can pick a rMB or Macbook Air 2015 with 8GB and 256 GB HD for work.

I love the size of the rMB and the retina screen.

I like the fact the Air is more powerful however it doesn't a retina screen.

I would just use the Mac for light work, nothing heaI would be RDP into a windows 7 computer a lot,

if the price is no concern to you then go for rMB. If not, MBA 13" is cheaper and powerful...Battery is awesome too

 

[js2704]

May I ask, do you also have a conventional mac keyboard? Another macbook perhaps, or an apple bluetooth keyboard?

If yes, my question is, when you switch back and forth between the rMB kb and a classic apple keyboard, does it take time to adjust? As if I bought the rMB, even if I got used to the keyboard, when I get home and start using the apple bluetooth keyboard, I'm afraid I'll never get fully accustomed to the rMB and it'll be a massive waste of a purchase.

Ah well, that's where my fanboy side comes out I'm afraid. I have a normal apple bluetooth that I use for the Mac Pro and I don't notice a massive difference between that and the RMB. I also, however, have an original ADB Apple Keyboard which I like to use occasionally (i.e. when the baby's not sleeping in the next room as it's hilariously loud!). That - or, in fairness, any other "normal" full travel keyboard - is a real adjustment when I pick up the RMB again.

 

[SSD-GUY]

Ah well, that's where my fanboy side comes out I'm afraid. I have a normal apple bluetooth that I use for the Mac Pro and I don't notice a massive difference between that and the RMB. I also, however, have an original ADB Apple Keyboard which I like to use occasionally (i.e. when the baby's not sleeping in the next room as it's hilariously loud!). That - or, in fairness, any other "normal" full travel keyboard - is a real adjustment when I pick up the RMB again.

Yes, I feared this would happen. The keyboard is the main reason I'm not getting the rMB.

 

[zhenya]

Have you tried the new keyboard yet? I'm more than a little picky about my keyboards - I own a couple of customized mechanical boards I use at work and at my desk, and while I'm still forming my opinion about the new keyboard, I'd say it's pretty good for what it is. The key size is large with good delineation between keys, and excellent tactile feedback. The only thing missing is the travel, but that can be learned to live with. I'm actually in the minority that doesn't find Apple's traditional keyboards that great. I always found them very loose feeling compared to say a good Thinkpad keyboard. The new Macbook keyboard doesn't suffer from that issue.

 

[JoePa2624]

Have you tried the new keyboard yet? I'm more than a little picky about my keyboards - I own a couple of customized mechanical boards I use at work and at my desk, and while I'm still forming my opinion about the new keyboard, I'd say it's pretty good for what it is. The key size is large with good delineation between keys, and excellent tactile feedback. The only thing missing is the travel, but that can be learned to live with. I'm actually in the minority that doesn't find Apple's traditional keyboards that great. I always found them very loose feeling compared to say a good Thinkpad keyboard. The new Macbook keyboard doesn't suffer from that issue.

I've never met somebody else that wasn't a fan of MacBook keyboards. I've never liked how loose the keys feel or the light-bleed from the backlight.

 

[zhenya]

I've never met somebody else that wasn't a fan of MacBook keyboards. I've never liked how loose the keys feel or the light-bleed from the backlight.

I think that also says a lot about the quality of the majority of laptop keyboards on the market. Compared to most everything else, they have been pretty good, as they've been backlit for a long time, the backlighting works flawlessly, and they feel decent, if not premium. As much as I like the Thinkpad keyboards, they sure have gotten the backlighting wrong. On mine, the bleed is blinding if you are not seated completely above the keys, and you have to turn the light on manually, and it constantly turns itself back off. Poor design on an otherwise good keyboard.

 

[throAU]

For your workload the rMB should be fine, and it is lighter and has a better display.

Just be aware it's significantly down on CPU, but from the sounds of it you won't be pushing it.

As above though, it may also be worth considering the base model 13" rMBP. I think you can get one cheaper than the rMB and it will have better spec and screen than both the rMB and the Air, except for storage perhaps in the base model.

 

[maflynn]

The OP hadn't provided a lot of details as to his usage, nor has he returned, so its hard to recommend any configuration without knowing the details.

The MBA's battery is better and will last all day, is that a primary need for the OP, he mentions the retina screen, would that be something that's high on his list or USB ports (old vs. new).

Personally, other then the ports and battery, its hard to beat the rMB, but its also hard to recommend something without knowing more details

 

[newellj]

Have you tried the new keyboard yet? I'm more than a little picky about my keyboards - I own a couple of customized mechanical boards I use at work and at my desk, and while I'm still forming my opinion about the new keyboard, I'd say it's pretty good for what it is. The key size is large with good delineation between keys, and excellent tactile feedback. The only thing missing is the travel, but that can be learned to live with. I'm actually in the minority that doesn't find Apple's traditional keyboards that great. I always found them very loose feeling compared to say a good Thinkpad keyboard. The new Macbook keyboard doesn't suffer from that issue.

For a different opinion, I thought I'd like it or at least get used to it and really came to dislike the absence of travel. I found it very hard to type on the rMB keyboard.

 

[zhenya]

Regarding the battery on the Macbook, I don't yet have enough time to speak definitively, but so far it looks like I may be getting 9-10 hours of battery life out of it under the same conditions my Surface struggles to get more than 5 - and with a lot less battery management happening by me. I hope this is true, because the ~9 hour threshold is where I find a device to become truly untethered from carrying a power brick...

 

[throAU]

Personally, other then the ports and battery, its hard to beat the rMB, but its also hard to recommend something without knowing more details

The details i got from his post were that it was mostly used as an RDP machine (i.e., remote desktop to servers and other general IT admin stuff) - none of which is demanding on the machine.

But yeah, more details would be helpful.


edit:
for what it's worth, battery life on the 2015 model 13" pro is pretty crazy... i regularly get estimates of 12 hours plus, depending on what i'm doing. Just the other day i got an estimate of 12 hrs 27 minutes remaining after streaming video for 1 hour and installing a few app from the app store in the background over wifi...

 

[AFEPPL]

rMB, much better screen, lighter. How often do people ever plug in devices - so the number of connections for me makes no sense as a reason not to.

 

[Eric8199]

if the price is no concern to you then go for rMB. If not, MBA 13" is cheaper and powerful...Battery is awesome too

The 13" really is not cheaper. Price it with the same specs as the rMB. I believe it ends up being the same or $100 less and the screen is significantly worse.

 

[throAU]

The 13" really is not cheaper. Price it with the same specs as the rMB. I believe it ends up being the same or $100 less and the screen is significantly worse.

I did exactly this a couple of weeks ago.

The Air is only cheaper if you go for the base spec. As soon as you start upgrading anything in it, it very quickly becomes line-ball with the rMBP 13 on cost for "equivalent" spec (ignoring the screen, which you essentially get as a free upgrade on the Pro at that point).

 

[JoePa2624]

for what it's worth, battery life on the 2015 model 13" pro is pretty crazy... i regularly get estimates of 12 hours plus, depending on what i'm doing. Just the other day i got an estimate of 12 hrs 27 minutes remaining after streaming video for 1 hour and installing a few app from the app store in the background over wifi...

The battery life on my 2015 13" MBPr was AMAZING! I would consistently charge it every 3 days and that was using it as my main computer. I was astonished by how good they've gotten the battery in the new Pros.