Upgrading to a Pro

[iJcaP]

I currently own a 2013 13" base model Macbook Air and since the release of the newest Pro models, I've been thinking about upgrading. My machine works perfectly fine, it's my first Mac and I couldn't be happier to have this as my first one. I'm a computer science student (aka I code a lot now) and when I'm typing code for the courses I'm taking, the fans crank up all the way and the battery drains really fast and the notebook heats up to an alarming temperature. I also notice rapid battery drains and performance stutters when a lot of things are running at the same time (which tends to be most of the time). Will it be worth it upgrading to a Pro improve all these scenarios? I understand there is a compromise in battery life, but will the Pro manage it better since it has more advanced internals?

Just searching for some general feedback and input. Thanks!

How much would I gain by upgrading is kinda the key question.

 

[Meister]

What apps are you running exactly?

When you switch to the Pro you will lose battery endurance.

 

[iJcaP]

What apps are you running exactly?

When you switch to the Pro you will lose battery endurance.

Since I'm a junior programmer, I'm primarily running eclipse. Aside from that I usually have Safari, Twitter, Spotify (or iTunes), Todoist, Calendar, and Messages open in the background.

 

[Meister]

Since I'm a junior programmer, I'm primarily running eclipse. Aside from that I usually have Safari, Twitter, Spotify (or iTunes), Todoist, Calendar, and Messages open in the background.

I am not familiar with eclipse and todoist. The other apps mentioned should run cool. When your mac runs hot again, I recommend monitoring the activity monitor and see what is putting strain on your cpu.

 

[Rigby]

You may be running out of memory, causing the computer to start swapping. Eclipse can be a beast with regard to memory footprint (also depending on what plugins you have installed). Go into activity monitor and check the memory pressure graph. If that is the problem, upgrading to something with 8GB would probably help the most. You may then also be able to increase the heapsize for Eclipse in eclipse.ini which can speed up some things considerably.

 

[totten76]

This is a good question. Does a better equipped computer with lower battery life last longer than a lower equipped computer with higher battery life. Interested to see what some owners say