rMBP or MBA

[Meister]

Why do you guys think there is a hardware problem ???

Speech recognition is demanding on CP, RAM and Disc. Everything else runs fine on the machine. There is no hardware problem. Meister I ahve DD3 and my use profile is totally different to your occasional use. It is widely reognised that DD is demanding on hardware to run smoothly - go goole some DD forums and stop trolling my thread please.

Please dont accuse us of trolling.
We made a perfectly valid point that was very much in relation to your original question.
I just googled: dd3 and ram. There seems to be a ram issue with it.
From what i could read there quickly it requires very unusual amounts of ram.
Then the problem is not with your macbook but with the program.
I didnt know this.
If you use it that much id say: go crazy with the ram!

 

[jarozi]

I had nearly this same decision to make but was cross-shopping the 13in MBA. I went to the Apple store and saw them side by side, the retina screen blew me away and the thickness/portability was only slightly in favor of the MBA.

I feel the current MBA's will take a bigger depreciation hit once the new model cycles in, which is a factor for me.

So based on those factors I went with the rMBP 13 (2.6, 8GB, 512GB).

 

[PeterJP]

Ah yes you describe the dilemma well. One last factor - I will buy in store so it depends what they have

Buying what they have in stock, for me, wasn't possible at all. I want a QWERTY, but here in Belgium, they only have AZERTY in stock. So I've got to wait 2 weeks until I get the 11" 8/256 I just ordered. I'm guessing those €300 extra over the base model will give me a few years extra and just a more capable machine. I've been playing around with virtual machines recently and those can take a bit of memory.

The 11" just seems more logical when I want to take the computer anywhere, with my bicycle as my main means of transportation. The 13" MBA doesn't make sense to me at all as it can't seem to decide whether it wants to be small (but it isn't: the footprint is larger than that of the 13" rMBP) or more powerful (which it also isn't). The 13" didn't make it because I wouldn't want to strap it to my bike's luggage holder. I can avoid that completely by carrying the 11" in a shoulder bag.

 

[The Mercurian]

Yes I have to say the portabiliy of the 11" is fantastic. If I had the 8GB 256Gbb model you have on order I would probably be happy to stick with it. Alas I do not! This is what happens when you buy in a hurry!

 

[fskywalker]

+1 for the 13" rMBP with 16GB of Ram. You may be able to get a refurbished Haswell as they started to appear already on the Apple refurbished store. You will get a better price and same as brand new warranty (1 year).