rMBP (2015) or MBA (2017)

[applemac25]

Hey everyone. Ive been waiting for a 13in 2015 MBP to come up on the refurb store for ages with no luck. I needed a machine to do uni work on so eventually bought a 2017 MBA (I only get on with the old style keyboards).

I’ve just seen 2.7 and 2.9 MBPs become available and now I’m doubting my buying choice. I mainly use my MacBook for word processing, recording music in GarageBand, and occasional image editing (scanning/touching up drawings)

Which is the better buy? the Pro is around £150-200 more expensive than I paid for the Air. Should I return the Air for the Pro?

Thanks in advance.

 

[kschendel]

I'd keep the bird in hand. The MBP is faster, although you probably won't notice much for what you're doing. The retina screen is a lot nicer IMO but whether it's worth £200+ is a question only you can answer. If you're happy with the Air, keep it and stay happy. (If you do swap, don't bother paying for the extra 200 Mhz, you'll never notice it.)

 

[kompot]

Imho 16 GB RAM is a minimum for _basic_ things in 2018.
So I guess it narrows it down to MBP.
8 GB is barely enough even in 2018 let alone 2020 and i'm sure you want you laptop to last at least 2 years.
On the other hand - non-retina display are intolerable once you get used to it. So be careful

But maybe you've other priorities - like battery life. Then stick with Air.

 

[smallcoffee]

I’d stick with the pro for sure.

 

[Fishrrman]

2015 MBPro.

 

[applemac25]

Thanks a lot for the replies. Is the MBP really worth the extra £? The Air was £949 whereas the Pro is £1299 (and is only 8GB ram, sadly, but 512gb storage)...

Basically I’m wondering if the Air will limit me at all. The most extensive task I’ll be using it for is multitrack recording

 

[applemac25]

Also is it an issue that the Pro is a 2015 model in terms of potential repairs etc later down the line?

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Imho 16 GB RAM is a minimum for _basic_ things in 2018.
So I guess it narrows it down to MBP.
8 GB is barely enough even in 2018 let alone 2020 and i'm sure you want you laptop to last at least 2 years.
On the other hand - non-retina display are intolerable once you get used to it. So be careful

But maybe you've other priorities - like battery life. Then stick with Air.

Why is 16gb a minimum?? That is nonsense 8gb is masses of ram for the vast majority of computer users and will be for the foreseeable future. And the OP’s use case would be fine on 4gb, hell an older machine with 2gb of ram will work ok for a huge percentage of school users.

My 8gb 2013 MBP has been used for protein modelling, dual booting OSes, running 10-12 virtual desktops all showing multiple huge pdf’s and multiple safari pages all while using email and running iTunes for music, it never skipped a beat.

This huge amount of ram nonsense needs to end....

 

[kschendel]

A little hyperbole in both directions here. I would not want to try to get anything done under HS or even El Cap with 4 Gb and a hard disk. 4 Gb and an SSD might be workable for really basic usage. 2 Gb is just a non starter. I agree that 8 is OK for a lot of basic things today, especially if storage is an SSD, but if I wanted to keep a new machine for as long as I usually do (8 years average so far), I'd want 16 just because of never ending bloat over the years. That's why I have 16 in my 2013 rMBP. Also, I run virtual machines and then you DO need 16 for any kind of serious work that involves both mac and the VM.

 

[kompot]

I have never seen my rMBP 15" mid 2012 use less than 7-8 gigs of RAM.
Every single app that's Electron based is 500-1000 Mb+ (i've got 5 of them running right now).
Chrome is 100-300 Mb per tab. Multiplied by 10-50.