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rMBA?

Commy1

Commy1

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 25, 2013
731
77
Canada
When is the next estimated Apple announcement? Does it seem probable that the MBA will get an overhaul?

Can't decided between the MBA or rMBP as I'm an art student semi into photography but don't plan on pursuing it as my medium. I just want a portable machine to replace my aging desktop that can handle some Lightroom and CS6/CSCloud.

Am I going to be disappointed in a week when Apple announces a new rMBA with freakin' lazors and guns!?
(guns and lazors sold separate, batteries not included)
 
Commy1 said:
Can't decided between the MBA or rMBP as I'm an art student semi into photography but don't plan on pursuing it as my medium. I just want a portable machine to replace my aging desktop that can handle some Lightroom and CS6/CSCloud.
Click to expand...

Get the rMBP as it's priced extremely competitively these days. It's marginally heavier than the MBA but still lightweight in comparison to everything else. It's also more compact than the MBA which is a win in my book and I'm sure you'd appreciate the extra power & the retina display for photography.

The MBA is possibly going to get a hardware refresh this year, but no one knows for sure until they announce it. It's fair to say that they may scrap the 11" & 13" models and instead offer a single 12" model as there's a lot of rumours about the display size.

I also think that the refreshed MBA may actually be some kind of MBA/iPad Pro OS X/iOS dual boot hybrid with a detachable screen. No one actually knows for sure yet. However, if I was going to buy another 13" notebook I wouldn't look any further than the rMBP. It's perfect.
 
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Commy1 said:
Am I going to be disappointed in a week when Apple announces a new rMBA with freakin' lazors and guns!?
(guns and lazors sold separate, batteries not included)
Click to expand...
You're not going to see anything next week, Apple will update their computer line when Intel releases Broadwell, which isn't due out until 2nd or 3rd quarter of this year.

I'd personally go with the rMBP if you'll be working with images and photography and your artwork.

I also don't think we'll see a retina MBA as Apple wants to differentiate their MBA and MBP lines - just my $.02
 
What machine are you coming from? I went from a mid-2010 MacBook Pro core2duo to a mid 2012 MBA that I got through a great deal on eBay. To me this MacBook Air is a huge upgrade in every way and battery is awesome and even better in the 2013 models. As a current student myself. That extra battery around campus would be enough to steer me away from the rMBP but either way you're getting a great very capable machine.
 
studIOS5 said:
What machine are you coming from? I went from a mid-2010 MacBook Pro core2duo to a mid 2012 MBA that I got through a great deal on eBay. To me this MacBook Air is a huge upgrade in every way and battery is awesome and even better in the 2013 models. As a current student myself. That extra battery around campus would be enough to steer me away from the rMBP but either way you're getting a great very capable machine.
Click to expand...

A little off-topic but the main performance difference between the 2010 MBP and the 2012 MBA is the SSD. I'm writing this on a 2010 13" core2duo with a 512GB SSD that I put in myself and it is amazingly fast. For everyday tasks, it's not the processor but the boot drive that really matters. I get 210 MB/s write and 280 MB/s read speeds. Not bad for a computer that's almost four years old.

Enjoy your MBA though, it's an amazing laptop.
 
osx11 said:
the main performance difference between the 2010 MBP and the 2012 MBA is the SSD
Click to expand...

Not sure what chip you have in the 2010 MBP, but I have a 2008 15" MBP with core2 duo 2.4ghz and an 11" 2013 i7/8gb/512gb MBA. The CPU on the MBA is a little more than twice as fast as the old MBP. Might be even faster for some tasks that can utilize the burst mode of the new processors.

Granted, the SSD is what you immediately notice, since programs open so quickly, etc. But if you are doing anything CPU intensive like Final Cut Pro rendering, Logic Pro recording and so forth, you will notice a substantial difference between a new MBA and a Core2 Duo machine.
 
osx11 said:
A little off-topic but the main performance difference between the 2010 MBP and the 2012 MBA is the SSD. I'm writing this on a 2010 13" core2duo with a 512GB SSD that I put in myself and it is amazingly fast. For everyday tasks, it's not the processor but the boot drive that really matters. I get 210 MB/s write and 280 MB/s read speeds. Not bad for a computer that's almost four years old.

Enjoy your MBA though, it's an amazing laptop.
Click to expand...

It is and I know i made the right choice in getting one. My read and write speeds are blazing on this machine. It's the 1.8ghz core i5 with 8gb of ram and a 256gb ssd
 

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Boyd01 said:
Getting about 700 MB/s write and more than 700 MB/s read on the 512gb SSD in my 2013 MBA. :)
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That's crazy! I'm curious how much of a difference that makes in day to day use. You didn't by any chance have last years model or know someone that did did you?
 
I had a 2011 i5/4gb/256gb MBA. I see much less latency in Logic Pro with the 2013 machine, and I wonder if the main factor is the faster SSD? I never benchmarked the 2011 SSD, but I'm sure it's slower.
 
While I don't know if that's the primary factor for better performance I would probably say that helps. 2011 MacBook airs had read and write speeds of around 200 so the jump to 700 must at least be noticable
 
studIOS5 said:
That's crazy! I'm curious how much of a difference that makes in day to day use. You didn't by any chance have last years model or know someone that did did you?
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I can't tell the difference between a computer running PCI Express SSD and SATA 3Gbps SSD with normal day to day use.

For intensive writing, yes I notice (slower SSD is too slow), but otherwise there is really isn't much of a difference.
 
maflynn said:
You're not going to see anything next week, Apple will update their computer line when Intel releases Broadwell, which isn't due out until 2nd or 3rd quarter of this year.

I'd personally go with the rMBP if you'll be working with images and photography and your artwork.

I also don't think we'll see a retina MBA as Apple wants to differentiate their MBA and MBP lines - just my $.02
Click to expand...

I would agree with this because I see the MBA being a lite weight portable long lasting battery and powerful portable computer. Putting in the Retina is going to kill the battery, meaning your not going to get 9 to 12 hour's.

I have the MBA I7 512SSD & 8Gig, and I have to say the computer itself is great, the display "mine's a samsung" is poor , I'm supposed to exchange it for another one tomorrow, but I'm going to wait and see what they say at the store after they look at this one, if they it's normal, well I'll go back to a 15" mbp, I'm not playing the game of running back and forth to the store. I saw 2 other MBA's at a book store and they were 2013 MBA's the display was fantastic, and both owners said they did nothing , bought the computer loaded there software and files and have not altered anything in regards to the display.

Have to see what Apple says. I really do like this little thing though
 
rMBA is possible. Lenovo, Samsung and Pro all have ultrabooks equivalent to rMBA. Their Haswell processors are slightly inferior to what's inside the MBAs, so the CPU and GPU are not the bottleneck.

But not in a week. Probably in October.

Commy1 said:
When is the next estimated Apple announcement? Does it seem probable that the MBA will get an overhaul?

Can't decided between the MBA or rMBP as I'm an art student semi into photography but don't plan on pursuing it as my medium. I just want a portable machine to replace my aging desktop that can handle some Lightroom and CS6/CSCloud.

Am I going to be disappointed in a week when Apple announces a new rMBA with freakin' lazors and guns!?
(guns and lazors sold separate, batteries not included)
Click to expand...
 
I would say compare the screens before making our purchase. MBAs have fairly narrow viewing angles and a slightly reduced gamut compared to the others, which are close to sRGB and do not experience a noticeable gamma shift if you move your head from side to side. Compare in store if you are able. I have noted complaints about uneven screens on the rmbps. I don't know whether that extends to MBAs.
 
All valid points everyone,
I think I'm going to reconsider for an rMBP
The battery life is a loss, but considering the very slight difference in form factor and weight as compared to the increase in power and the retina the MBA seems... old?

I think it's safe to say that the Retina display isn't going away in the future and as I experience it's awesomeness everyday in the iPhone 5 and iPad I know it's not a gimmick. I'd love to see my photographs on a Retina, if I can make my art dazzle me on a retina then I know it'll dazzle on a standard pixel screen.

I'll never say "This is future proof!" but the 16GB ram upgrade seems like a necessity for future computing and the retina is only going to see more applications. Especially since in both of these devices upgrades are not a logical route after order. I'd rather not be left thinking "**** I should have ordered the..."
 
Suggestion

If you can goto the Apple Store and look and see if Adobe's cloud software is installed on any of the rMBP's and block out everyone around you and play and take note of what your seeing. I say block out because too many times I've been interrupted or seen others bothered by apple reps who really do not know JACK about the products capability's and limitations.

I have the MBA and the 15rMBP 2.3, 16gb, 512SSD and dedicated video, now here's the thing both have fresh installs and all added software is identical on both computers, the MBA starts faster, loads faster and shuts down and reboots faster than the Top of the line rMBP. I called the store this morning and explained this too them and they said to bring them both in , it sounded like I had a bad 15" rMBP.

From what your saying your need's are if your going to buy from the store meaning a stock configuration and can afford both systems I'd say do what I am doing.

The only reason I have the top of line 15" is because I said I play a game or two, so I trusted the reps suggestion. I'll never use it to it's fullest capability.

Live and learn
 
Ordered a MacBook Pro Retina 13" with the 2.4GHz i5, 256GB SSD and 16GB ram.
I weighed and measured what I want, what I need, how long I could expect this machine to last. I think it's a safe bet to say that if I treat it right I'll get 4 years or so out of it. The purchase was a little larger than what I wanted it to be but that's alright, it's an investment I hope will pay off. If I was a writer and never dabbled in Photography I think I'd have settled with the MBA
 
I have a mid-2011 MBA right now (1.7 i5, 4GB) and need a machine with more memory due to some development I need to do within VMs. I've been a MBA user since they came out and this is my second one and always thought of the MBP as big and clunky.

I went to Best Buy and handled the rMBP versus the MBA, definitely going with the rMBP. It's smaller than the MBA, the weight isn't really all that noticeable to me, and the screen is much much better.

I don't think we'll see a rMBA until later this year, maybe October, and I'm not expecting them to perform much faster than the current crop of Haswell versions, just give more additional battery life. I wish I could get a discounted 16GB machine, but alas it doesn't seem possible. Even my work discount now only applies to the standard 8GB builds...
 
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Have been running around New York City with my 11" 2013 i7/8gb/512gb MBA for the past week. I just love that machine more and more. The screen is not perfect, but it honestly doesn't bother me very much. Yesterday I did a theatrical photo shoot and took over 400 shots. Sat around editing them in Photoshop at the bar later that evening. Was surprised how good the photos looked on the little screen.

Whatever disadvantages there are to the screen, the small size and weight plus fantastic battery life more than compensate. I can carry it around all day and never even know it's there. A friend stopped by yesterday with an iPad in some kind of heavy duty case. It looked bigger and heavier than my MBA. :D After a couple days, I just stopped carrying the power adaptor. I never ran it down to more than 60% even after hours of web, mail and Photoshop use.

I'm sure the retina devices are nice and I would find uses for one. But I just don't feel the need right now. I would probably go with a 15" MPB anyway, like my old 2008 machine.
 
FWIW, I am on the fence as to returning mine, and in the course of doing do I erased the hard drive rebooted went through the steps of reloading the OS, after all was said and done I got the notion to give it another shot as to whether this computer would work for me , I really do not want to spend allot of money, well after everything was all said and done and the basic software plus VM was loaded I rebooted and this time around the display is much much better than what it was before. I don't do photo editing. Not sure what clicked, did everything the same way as before. I have the Samsung screen.

Who knows maybe something didn't load when I did the upgrade to mavericks when I first picked this up from the store.

Just thought I'd mention it.
 
Commy1 said:
Can't decided between the MBA or rMBP as I'm an art student semi into photography but don't plan on pursuing it as my medium. I just want a portable machine to replace my aging desktop that can handle some Lightroom and CS6/CSCloud.
Click to expand...

Get the Pro if you are studying photography. The display is simply amazing.
 
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