Hello MacRumors Community,
since about half a year I was saving money for a new laptop. I never intended to buy a Macintosh but after the WWDC I really felt in love with the Retina-Macbook and that's why I am about to jump in foreign water (I am using Windows for more than 10 years).
...of course, this decision has not only been made because of the new Macbook release but although because of the fact that I am Computer Science student and I would like to obtain as much information about operating systems as possible. Having Windows, Linux and Macintosh on a single system sounds perfect for this purpose.
Anyway, I am having a hard time choosing the right Macintosh system for my needs. I already own a pretty powerful desktop machine, that's why I feel the power of the Retina-Macbook could be kind of wasted. As the Macbook air cost's 1500€ with 256GB SSD and 8GB Ram there is only a price difference between the base Retina of 400€. This money is invested into a powerful GPU and a Quad-Core CPU... which enables me to make video and photo editing while I am on the go or in university (which gives me more freedom as I can run every application at home or away). I do not plan to game on my laptop as I am only a casual gamer... so this factor is not important to me.
Yet I defiantly need at least 256GB data space as I will run 3 operating systems and quite a lot software applications... this could actually lead to problems of compatibility between the Retina-Display and the software that I use, as I don't think that every software will be updated, at least for quite a while.
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My real problem is that I am concerned about the robustness of the rMBP (especially the display). As I will carry it around pretty often I wonder if the fact that it lacks the security display glass could lead to problems. Although I am afraid that it could be stolen cause of its pretty high value... I feel like I maybe would be super cautious while carrying it around. I don't think that I would have this feeling while carrying around the Macbook Air. I really would like to have the Retina-Display... its pretty awful that the Air does not have it yet.
So after I explained everything.. what should I buy in my situation?
Macbook Air 13' Inch - 2.0GHZ Dual Core, 8GB-Ram, 256GB SSD (1600€)
Macbook Retina - 2.3GHZ Quad Core, 8GB-Ram, 256GB SSD, 650m (2000€)
I know that even these days most applications only use a single core... so the Air will have about the same speed in many cases, compared to the Retina-Mac.
my third option is to buy the Asus UX21A, which is a 11inch Laptop with a pixel density of 190 DPI (Retina has 220 DPI). It would cost 1300€ but only has 4GB of Ram (rest of the specs are the same as air). The biggest factor against the Asus is that I would lack the Macintosh OS.
since about half a year I was saving money for a new laptop. I never intended to buy a Macintosh but after the WWDC I really felt in love with the Retina-Macbook and that's why I am about to jump in foreign water (I am using Windows for more than 10 years).
...of course, this decision has not only been made because of the new Macbook release but although because of the fact that I am Computer Science student and I would like to obtain as much information about operating systems as possible. Having Windows, Linux and Macintosh on a single system sounds perfect for this purpose.
Anyway, I am having a hard time choosing the right Macintosh system for my needs. I already own a pretty powerful desktop machine, that's why I feel the power of the Retina-Macbook could be kind of wasted. As the Macbook air cost's 1500€ with 256GB SSD and 8GB Ram there is only a price difference between the base Retina of 400€. This money is invested into a powerful GPU and a Quad-Core CPU... which enables me to make video and photo editing while I am on the go or in university (which gives me more freedom as I can run every application at home or away). I do not plan to game on my laptop as I am only a casual gamer... so this factor is not important to me.
Yet I defiantly need at least 256GB data space as I will run 3 operating systems and quite a lot software applications... this could actually lead to problems of compatibility between the Retina-Display and the software that I use, as I don't think that every software will be updated, at least for quite a while.
________________________
My real problem is that I am concerned about the robustness of the rMBP (especially the display). As I will carry it around pretty often I wonder if the fact that it lacks the security display glass could lead to problems. Although I am afraid that it could be stolen cause of its pretty high value... I feel like I maybe would be super cautious while carrying it around. I don't think that I would have this feeling while carrying around the Macbook Air. I really would like to have the Retina-Display... its pretty awful that the Air does not have it yet.
So after I explained everything.. what should I buy in my situation?
Macbook Air 13' Inch - 2.0GHZ Dual Core, 8GB-Ram, 256GB SSD (1600€)
Macbook Retina - 2.3GHZ Quad Core, 8GB-Ram, 256GB SSD, 650m (2000€)
I know that even these days most applications only use a single core... so the Air will have about the same speed in many cases, compared to the Retina-Mac.
my third option is to buy the Asus UX21A, which is a 11inch Laptop with a pixel density of 190 DPI (Retina has 220 DPI). It would cost 1300€ but only has 4GB of Ram (rest of the specs are the same as air). The biggest factor against the Asus is that I would lack the Macintosh OS.
