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Shall I change my 13.3" MacBook Air with 12" retina MacBook?

febahadir

febahadir

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 3, 2015
49
6
Turkey
Hi guys,
I have been using my top end MacBook Air 13.3" for three years. I used Thunderbolt Display for a short while. Then I sold TDB.
I am using my computer for blogging, translation and surfing on the Net.
I visit Apple Store and take a glance at 12" retina MacBook. I love its design just because I have used 12" laptops for 10 years.
By taking into consideration of my using habit, do you advise me to change my MacBook Air wit retina MacBook? I'm curious about rMB's 1.3GHz processor's speed. My MacBook Air has 1.7GHz processor.
Thanks in advance for your responses.
 
Personally, I would not do so if I were you. The decision you've is would you like to have something that is pretty much futuristic in the 12" MacBook with only the 1 usb C port vs the ability to do a lot more with your retina macbook. I've the latter myself and I picked it over the MacBook Air when it came out. Since you're going to be use medium level of powers both computer are fine for you. However with the Macbook Pro you've the chance to do more in the future with the same computer. It has fans that can be triggered to run faster to cool your computer. If you don't mind the little more weight (Pro VS Book) it should be fine. You can always upgrade the processor and I believe the new Macbook Pros with force touch now have a default 1.7GHz processor.
 
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Is there something you dislike about your current laptop? Have you been hoping for better battery life? A better screen? Something more portable?

Those are the primary advantages of the new Macbook over what you have now. You have to decide whether the tradeoff of a lack of ports and the cost are worthwhile to you.
 
I've owned both and can tell you this;

The MacBook 12" is beautiful and the screen is far, far better than the MacBook Air's, but you're making a huge sacrifice in terms of connectivity.

If you ever plug into a monitor or use any USB devices, you're going to have problems straight away. There's an adaptor, but it only has a equivalent USB2 and HDMI connection. No use for a Displayport/miniDisplayport monitor.

The Air is a better machine overall, but the screen is awful by comparison and to be honest, that's what you end up looking at most of the time.

I found performance wise that I did notice some UI lag on the MacBook 12", despite what people are saying to the contrary after updating to slightly newer OSX versions about performance improvements, I'm pretty sure they're just trying to reconcile the cognitive dissonance they have after dropping $1200 on a machine that performs like a 2011 Air.

TL;DR

It's has a great screen and it's capable of doing the work you've mentioned, even some photoshop/illustrator. But if you like connecting things to it either via USB or monitors. Forget about it for the time being.
 
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Macisperfect said:
Personally, I would not do so if I were you. The decision you've is would you like to have something that is pretty much futuristic in the 12" MacBook with only the 1 usb C port vs the ability to do a lot more with your retina macbook. I've the latter myself and I picked it over the MacBook Air when it came out. Since you're going to be use medium level of powers both computer are fine for you. However with the Macbook Pro you've the chance to do more in the future with the same computer. It has fans that can be triggered to run faster to cool your computer. If you don't mind the little more weight (Pro VS Book) it should be fine. You can always upgrade the processor and I believe the new Macbook Pros with force touch now have a default 1.7GHz processor.
Click to expand...

I sometimes think of using rMBP but when I see my habit of computer usage, I give up. I'm not a professional user. I just blog, word and surf.
 
zhenya said:
Is there something you dislike about your current laptop? Have you been hoping for better battery life? A better screen? Something more portable?

Those are the primary advantages of the new Macbook over what you have now. You have to decide whether the tradeoff of a lack of ports and the cost are worthwhile to you.
Click to expand...

I love rMB's secreen and its keyboard. Normally I like my MBA till I see rMB.
 
NutsNGum said:
I've owned both and can tell you this;

The MacBook 12" is beautiful and the screen is far, far better than the MacBook Air's, but you're making a huge sacrifice in terms of connectivity.

If you ever plug into a monitor or use any USB devices, you're going to have problems straight away. There's an adaptor, but it only has a equivalent USB2 and HDMI connection. No use for a Displayport/miniDisplayport monitor.

The Air is a better machine overall, but the screen is awful by comparison and to be honest, that's what you end up looking at most of the time.

I found performance wise that I did notice some UI lag on the MacBook 12", despite what people are saying to the contrary after updating to slightly newer OSX versions about performance improvements, I'm pretty sure they're just trying to reconcile the cognitive dissonance they have after dropping $1200 on a machine that performs like a 2011 Air.

TL;DR

It's has a great screen and it's capable of doing the work you've mentioned, even some photoshop/illustrator. But if you like connecting things to it either via USB or monitors. Forget about it for the time being.
Click to expand...

I even don't use ports on my MBA; thus, I don't care about the ports. I'm not sure about rMB's processor when I compare to MBA.
 
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