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What would you buy at this price point?

Doc Shultz

Doc Shultz

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 12, 2013
22
13
Corvallis
This is my first Mac purchase, I have grown tired of windows BS.

I just purchased the Haswell 2013 Air. 13" 1.7ghz i7 8gb ram 256gb storage for $1480.

Should I stick with that, or purchase the baseline 13" 256gb rMBP for $1500?

I almost feel like I will still get a more powerful computer (even though its an Air) than the rMBP, just purely because it has the updated 5000 integrated GPU.

I am buying this as my portable college computer (going back again). I plan on writing papers, browsing the web, watching movies, photo editing (minor stuff), and if I do any video editing, it will be purely as a novelty. I would also like to be able to play a few games like borderlands 2, knowing these devices are not designed for that. The retina would be awesome, but isn't a deal breaker for me.

What would you do if you had $1500 and wanted your first macbook?
 
Based on your desired use, I'd stick with the Air since the 13" rMBP doesn't have a discrete GPU and you'd be stuck with the Intel 4000 graphics.

The Retina display is sweet, but based on Geekbench scores it's a little bit slower in general.

MBA mid-2013 1.7GHz i7 - 7067
rMBP early-2013 2.5GHz i5 - 6616 - About 6% slower

That's just general CPU and memory performance, it doesn't take into account the GPU performance difference which is supposed to be rather huge. I don't think you'll be able to play and enjoy the games you've listed on a 13" rMBP.
 
I may recommend the rMBP 15" for $1599. I've ordered the new 2013 Air and the refurb 15" to compare for my needs.

The price is certainly right on the more powerful machine.
 
Not only will the video be improved, the data transfers of the PCI-e SSD's will be significant. I'd go MBA in that price range. Considering one for myself in 11" since I'm used to a Chromebook in that size already.
 
Frankly, I'd discount the fact that the new MBA i7 is faster than the old rMBP i5. 10% change in speed is unnoticeable and negligible. The most important difference between the two is the screen. If you put an MBA next to a MBP (classic or retina) the MBA will look cheap and the MBP - classy. Of course, the HD4000, but the way you define what tasks your new computer will have to solve, I think you would be pretty well off with a 2010 MBA with C2D processor.

Really. Everyone nowadays is so obsessed with speed whereas in reality speed gains below 25% are unnoticeable unless you render stuff. But then you will not be looking at MBA anyway.

So, if you are still with me, you should decide which laptop to get based on which screen you like the better. And of course, the Haswell MBPr is just 'round the corner.
 
Soulstoner, that is an excellent deal. My biggest concern, is portability. If a 13 rMBP existed with discrete graphics, I would likely jump on that bandwagon and so would a huge number of 15" rMBP users I would think. I currently have a 15" windows laptop, and frankly its just too big to take with me on a day to day basis.

The more I think about my purchase, the happier I get with my decision.

Without discrete graphics the 13" rMBP is just a bigger MBA with a retina display (for the time being.)
 
Last edited:
Doc Shultz said:
What would you do if you had $1500 and wanted your first macbook?
Click to expand...
Based on your needs... stick with the MBA. Anytime I read the word "college" I think:

1.) Battery life
2.) Weight (portability).

The Haswell machine specs out to be pretty darned awesome in this regard.
 
TrollToddington said:
Of course, the HD4000, but the way you define what tasks your new computer will have to solve, I think you would be pretty well off with a 2010 MBA with C2D processor.
Click to expand...

Why don't you go play Borderlands 2 on a 2010 MBA and let us know how that works out for you. I don't think you really understood what the OP wants out of the machine.
 
Yahooligan said:
Why don't you go play Borderlands 2 on a 2010 MBA and let us know how that works out for you. I don't think you really understood what the OP wants out of the machine.
Click to expand...

While Borderlands 2 might not run well on the machine TrollToddington recommended, the rest of his post was spot on.
 
tgi said:
While Borderlands 2 might not run well on the machine TrollToddington recommended, the rest of his post was spot on.
Click to expand...

That's like saying "Except for ignoring certain things the OP wants to do, his post was spot on."

Just sayin'... :D
 
Yahooligan said:
Why don't you go play Borderlands 2 on a 2010 MBA and let us know how that works out for you. I don't think you really understood what the OP wants out of the machine.
Click to expand...
I did, that's what (s)he said:

I am buying this as my portable college computer (going back again). I plan on writing papers, browsing the web, watching movies, photo editing (minor stuff), and if I do any video editing, it will be purely as a novelty.

----
for which the the simple C2D in the 2010 MBA will suffice. You don't need a top-class BMW to drive at 50km/h. Ah, there's the occasional game, the occasional problem which serves as an excuse to get a more powerful computer. I'd like to be excused because I quitted playing games a long ago. That's why I have one problem less, I don't need to upgrade my stuff every so often to play the newly released titles. My iMac 2010 still runs Aperture like champ, I can use this computer until it dissolves into electrons and positrons. Or, if I were to give it a more tangible perspective, until I run out of HDD space.
 
Yahooligan said:
Based on your desired use, I'd stick with the Air since the 13" rMBP doesn't have a discrete GPU and you'd be stuck with the Intel 4000 graphics.

The Retina display is sweet, but based on Geekbench scores it's a little bit slower in general.

MBA mid-2013 1.7GHz i7 - 7067
rMBP early-2013 2.5GHz i5 - 6616 - About 6% slower

That's just general CPU and memory performance, it doesn't take into account the GPU performance difference which is supposed to be rather huge. I don't think you'll be able to play and enjoy the games you've listed on a 13" rMBP.
Click to expand...


Do you have a link to your claim?

I couldn't find it. I checked Geekbench and it shows that rMBP is faster than new MBA.
 
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