Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

gadgetgirl85

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 24, 2006
3,807
374
I'm thinking of selling my late '12 13" rMBP for a new 13" i5 8gb MBA. Is there much difference other than the screen? If I went i7 would it make much difference?
 
I thought I would try the air because of the battery life. There is nothing like a Retina! This air is going back to BB! I would not give up on Retina!
 
Thought I'd chime in too. The new air is INCREDIBLY fast at waking up. That's one thing that annoyed me about the retina 13.

I'm split though. Hate the screen on the air, but love the weight and the speed. Retina felt the same speed and I have the i7 air. I have 12 days left to return, not sure. Money is not a problem
 
I think weight + screen should be your choice. As everything else won't be that noticeable.
 
+ battery life. It's a laptop after all

Yeah but rMBP is already at 7 hours, to me that's huge. I guess 12 hours is even more. I think I'm stuck on the screen, ignore everything else I say.
 
Yeah....screen is a hard one. I do like mobility though. How about processing?
 
Yeah....screen is a hard one. I do like mobility though. How about processing?

CPU has stopped being the performance bottleneck long ago, unless you do 24/7 rendering, which is strange then if you want a MBA for that.
 
There are some minor differences which may/may not bother you between them that I noticed:

-The rMBP has the superior keyboard, although honestly, both of them aren't as good as the cMBPs. I personally think the Airs have the worst keyboards in any mac I have ever used, but that's just my opinion.

-They have comparable trackpads, but with the additional depth in the rMBPs, you get more positive feedback.

-The rMBP has superior speakers, but if you really cared about audio, you would have it hooked up to decent speakers/headphones anyway.

-It's easier to use 2 monitors with a rMBP than an Air, although, if you're using external monitors a lot, one might question why you need a rMBP at all...

I'm sure there are other differences as well that aren't obvious (dimensions/weight/battery life/etc.), but what it boils down to is: do you want the retina screen or not?m
 
I like the lightness of the air but I don't know about the screen ugghhh. I guess I should go and play with one and decide if I can downgrade
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.