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Which One - nrMBP or Air - or Retina??

stark4 said:
13" retina MBP has yellow tint issue. Check demo 13" retina MBP at apple store and compare the screen with Air screen. Air screens has very accurate color balance and all the 13" rMBP has yellow tint issue. At least at my apple store. I bought a 13" rMBP and yellow tint is really bothering me. I have MBA also and i compared the two screens. Yellow tint is so obvious on rMBP screen specially if you watch youtube videos or movies.
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No. This is a lie. Not all of them have a yellow tint, perhaps the ones that you saw but my ones are perfect colour representation.
 
stark4 said:
13" retina MBP has yellow tint issue. Check demo 13" retina MBP at apple store and compare the screen with Air screen. Air screens has very accurate color balance and all the 13" rMBP has yellow tint issue. At least at my apple store. I bought a 13" rMBP and yellow tint is really bothering me. I have MBA also and i compared the two screens. Yellow tint is so obvious on rMBP screen specially if you watch youtube videos or movies.
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It's hilarious how people state anecdotes as if they are facts ! I have a 2012 MBA and it has a horrible yellow tint, my late 2013 rMBP has a fantastic screen. Stop spreading useless FUD. Stating anecdotes as facts is so very wrong.

And the screen of MBA feels horrible after using rMBP for even one hour.
 
dano91 said:
It's either the 11" Air or 13" rMBP (both 8/128) - I'll go and have a look today and decide.
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I'd go with the rMBP over the MBA - better processor, GPU, more ports and you have a gorgeous screen.

Is it only Apple store that do refurbished models?
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Yes.

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stark4 said:
13" retina MBP has yellow tint issue.
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Some does not equate to all, in this case. YMMV but clearly not every rMBP has a yellow screen.
 
Went to the store today and I'm non the wiser.

Thoughts:
cMBP has a low resolution that I didn't like.
MBA was impressive, but might need 13"?
Retina just seemed like the Air with more ports.
Didn't really notice the difference between Retina and Air screen quality.
But still like upgradeability of cMBP.

With this in mind I am leaning towards the 11"/8/128 MBA at £830.

This will save me £300 over the retina. I don't think id notice the difference between the performance of the air and retina so might as well save the money!

Now - is the 13" worth an extra £100 or do I make do...

No love for the cMBP around here at all?
 
dano91 said:
Went to the store today and I'm non the wiser.

Thoughts:
cMBP has a low resolution that I didn't like.
MBA was impressive, but might need 13"?
Retina just seemed like the Air with more ports.
Didn't really notice the difference between Retina and Air screen quality.
But still like upgradeability of cMBP.

With this in mind I am leaning towards the 11"/8/128 MBA at £830.

This will save me £300 over the retina. I don't think id notice the difference between the performance of the air and retina so might as well save the money!

Now - is the 13" worth an extra £100 or do I make do...

No love for the cMBP around here at all?
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I would say no love for the cMBP due to the low screen resolution (lower than either Air model) and the internals are already 2 years old. When I first started looking at getting a Macbook I also gave some thought to the cMBP but realized that the processor and overall design of the machine was behind the Air or rMBP. Plus I would have to upgrade to an ssd immediately which (when that cost is figured in) makes the cMBP not that great of a deal.

If you could not tell a big difference between the retina and non retina then you should not go for the rMBP as the display is 90 percent of the appeal.

Sounds like you just need to decide if you want the 11 or 13 inch Air. It's a very tough choice that many including me ran into. I ultimately went with the 13 inch model as I figured it would be more comfortable for long writing sessions or when doing a research paper(college). On the same account, I didn't feel cramped or that the display was too small on the 11 inch when playing with it in the store. If you cannot justify the 100 difference to have a bigger display and 3 hours more battery life, then go for the 11 inch and save the money.
 
Right guys. I've decided on a MBA 13"

Pretty sure I'm gonna go for the 4/128 setup as well as I really won't be doing any heavy work on it. As long as it lasts me a few years I'm happy.

Are there any major problems in the future with 4gb or is it just necessary for gaming and video editing?
 
Cheers for all your help guys.

Looks like I'm gonna go for the 13"/4/128 MBA. Will hopefully be making the purchase tomorrow.

I'll let you know how I get on! :D
 
I'm one of the few who sprung for a cMBP recently. It's feature set/connectivity fits my usage better than the Air or rMBP. It has a resolution that I've been comfortable with for years. Perhaps the biggest plus is the upgradability, as I was on a strict budget when I picked it up, and now I can pick up my upgrades when the budget allows. I could not be happier with my choice. I considered all three options carefully, and just could not justify the cost increase of an Apple specced rMBP over an upgraded cMBP.

I will say that after the spec bump and price drop, the Air would have been much stouter competition for my money.

For your usage, I think you landed in the right place. Enjoy your new machine.
 
With the recent price drop, the Air is a much better buy, but I recommend opting for 8GB RAM. For work or when I lived in the dorm, where there is typically no wifi, the connectivity of the cMBPs worked out much better than a rMBP in the long run.

A rMBP would be great, and I've considered numerous times to save up for one, but I would have to get the $2600 model to get the GPU performance, RAM, and SSD space as my current 15" cMBP. (Not saying the $2600 model isn't worth it, but that's allot of cash to save up, especially since it would come out nearly $3k after California Taxes)

With that said, the Air is a great choice, especially since the processors have gotten better in the Airs over the years.
 
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stark4 said:
13" retina MBP has yellow tint issue. Check demo 13" retina MBP at apple store and compare the screen with Air screen. Air screens has very accurate color balance and all the 13" rMBP has yellow tint issue. At least at my apple store. I bought a 13" rMBP and yellow tint is really bothering me. I have MBA also and i compared the two screens. Yellow tint is so obvious on rMBP screen specially if you watch youtube videos or movies.
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I remember the yellow tint issue since the first adoption of the led back lighting on the Macbook Pros. After having exchanged over 15 Macbook Pros (yes you read that correctly), I eventually preferred the displays with the yellow tinting as the colors produced from it looks much more vivid.

I also noticed the non yellow tint displays had lower color gamut and looked more dull to me, probably due to the cooler push rather than the warmer push of the yellow tint that it used. I know the type of panel would make the biggest difference in the color gamut that you get but perhaps the yellow phosphor led backlighting all came assembled with the higher end/better display. At least this was my conclusion. So now whenever I buy a new Macbook Pro, I don't mind the yellow tint anymore. I actually hope that it has the yellow tint.
 
Meister said:
My mac mini has the same guts as the cmbp.
Its not bad by any means, but the hdd is crippling.
With the cmbp youll end up buying an optibay, an ssd and maybe even a ram upgrade. The cost will be no fun.

The mba is much lighter and faster out of the box. Pcie ssds are a blessing.
Getting the 256gb is worth a consideration. We have one of those at home and its amazing.

In your case getting the mba is a no brainer imo.
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While I agree that for many people the MBA or rMBP would be the logical choice, I can't see why the cMBP would need an optibay - if you want an SSD just replace the HDD and leave the optical drive alone.

Plus there is no reason why you'd need a ram upgrade with the cMBP, anymore than you'd need a ram upgrade with the MBA or rMBP.

To me the cMBP can make sense if you plan to add large SSD capacity. Then you can purchase something like a Crucial MX100 512GB for USD $220 which is much cheaper than the 512GB upgrade for the MBA or rMBP. It's even better if you can get a refurbished cMBP - after all, the specification hasn't changed since 2012, so no need to get a new one.

However, if someone wants a new Mac and gets the base specification or perhaps base spec with RAM upgrade to 8GB, it's a different matter. Particularity if they are happy to store large files on USB, NAS or Cloud Storage, then the MBA and rMBP models are the best option.
 
alex0002 said:
, I can't see why the cMBP would need an optibay - if you want an SSD just replace the HDD and leave the optical drive alone.

Plus there is no reason why you'd need a ram upgrade with the cMBP, anymore than you'd need a ram upgrade with the MBA or rMBP.
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of course you dont necessarily need a ram upgrade, but without the pcie ssd ram is more relevant sooner.

without the optibay youll be carrying around a dvd reader/burner with you all the time.
Unless you need that its just inconvenient.
 
Meister said:
of course you dont necessarily need a ram upgrade, but without the pcie ssd ram is more relevant sooner.
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The PCIe SSDs are nice, but the difference isn’t going to be noticeable for most people. For a start, I’d expect most buyers to take the 128GB base configuration.

306 MB/s sequential write.
620 MB/s sequential read,

http://www.macworld.com/article/2150841/lab-tested-new-2014-macbook-air-benchmarks.html

The 620 MB/s sequential read might be useful when booting or loading programs, as it’s about 15-20% faster than a good SATA SSD, but few people will notice outside of benchmarking. On the other hand, 306 MB/s write speed is a bit slower than some SATA SSD, but non-benchmarkers won't notice that either.

If you’re going to need 8GB with a SATA SSD, you’ll probably need it with a pcie SSD too.

without the optibay youll be carrying around a dvd reader/burner with you all the time.
Unless you need that its just inconvenient.
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Perhaps I misunderstood your comment about the optibay as it sounded like you were saying it was a negative for the cMBP, unless you mean a few grams of extra weight? In which case, yes if weight is the overriding factor, you certainly want the MBA.
 
My advice is to go and compare the macbook air and the macbook pro at a store. See it for yourself. You might like the larger 15" display than the 11" or 13" of the air.

As far as specs is concerned you want at minimum 8GB of RAM and 256GB drive. I have a 180GB and I'm struggling with it. I have the classic macbook pro so I upgraded the hard drive to a 180GB ssd from a 750gb HDD. It was worth the loss of disk space.

When I upgrade my macbook pro I will definitely be getting the 1TB SSD.

But if it's just a home computer I say just get the 15" base first tier retina model. I think you'll want the display size.

Oh and welcome to the club :apple:

dano91 said:
Hi guys. I've been a windows guy my whole life but after owning a few apple devices i feel its time to upgrade my awful acer laptop, and have decided to give a macbook a go.

I will be using it for browsing the web, recording music (with a USB 2.0 audio interface), streaming videos (netflix etc), light gaming (League of Legends, Hearthstone) and some light work (spreadsheets, possibly blog work).

I am thinking of getting the non-retina MBP at £899 with 4gb ram and 500gb hdd. Is this a better investment due to upgradeability?

I wouldn't mind the 4gb 128gb ssd Macbook Air at £699 - but for £200 more is it worth getting the nrMBP?

The retina jumps right up to £1129 for 8gb 128gb ssd. If it was really worth this price hike then I would pay the extra.

It would be used around my house as I don't have space for a desktop - it would be my main and only PC. I already have an external harddrive.

Please somebody help me choose. :eek:

I apologise for all the questions. Cheers!
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Ahh I see you already ordered. Congrats!

Go to amazon.com.uk and buy their hdmi cable. It'll be cheaper. HDMI is a standard so it doesn't matter what and where you get it. Amazon cables are 5 bucks in the US. I can't imagine it being any different in the UK.

At least I assume you're in the uK heh.

I'm pretty sure the air has a hdmi port right? It's been awhile since I looked at those.

dano91 said:
13" MBA ordered. Can't wait for it to arrive!

Quick question:
I want to buy the HDMI adapter so that I can connect up to my TV for streaming movies.

Which one shall I buy? Is it worth getting the official one for £25 from Apple? Theres one here:

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/HA824ZM/A/belkin-mini-displayport-to-hdmi-adapter

but everyone says it breaks easily.:eek:
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I just took a look and you'll want the Apple thunderbolt adaptor to hdmi. Another one that works well for me is monoprice.

I use this one myself. http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=104&cp_id=10428&cs_id=1042802&p_id=9426&seq=1&format=2 and I don't have any issues.

Amazon has this as well.

dano91 said:
13" MBA ordered. Can't wait for it to arrive!

Quick question:
I want to buy the HDMI adapter so that I can connect up to my TV for streaming movies.

Which one shall I buy? Is it worth getting the official one for £25 from Apple? Theres one here:

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/HA824ZM/A/belkin-mini-displayport-to-hdmi-adapter

but everyone says it breaks easily.:eek:
Click to expand...
 
stark4 said:
13" retina MBP has yellow tint issue. Check demo 13" retina MBP at apple store and compare the screen with Air screen. Air screens has very accurate color balance and all the 13" rMBP has yellow tint issue. At least at my apple store. I bought a 13" rMBP and yellow tint is really bothering me. I have MBA also and i compared the two screens. Yellow tint is so obvious on rMBP screen specially if you watch youtube videos or movies.
Click to expand...

No yellow tint at all on my 13 rMBP.
 
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