Yet Another 13in Air v. rMBP Thread

[sanjuanbear]

My wife and I are looking at replacing a failing Windows 7 laptop. We are deciding between the 13 in Air and rMBP. 95% of the time we use the laptop as a remote work desktop, usually logging in remotely to our work systems and doing some word processing. Mostly this is at home, so portability isn't a huge factor.

We have a 2011 iMac as our primary computer for photography (fairly heavy) and video editing (very light). We aren't gamers and we use our iPad for most mobile browsing. But we do like our computers to be fast, last a long time and still work effectively years down the road.

Given our needs, what would be the best model to go with? We'll probably look at a refurb through the Apple Store. Thanks in advance!

 

[audiokid]

I'd say, based on your needs, a refurb rMBP.

 

[sanjuanbear]

I'd say, based on your needs, a refurb rMBP.

Any thoughts on what specs? The i5 with 8gb of RAM and the 256gb flash drive seemed like a nice sweet spot for value and performance.

 

[robE89]

I am kinda in the same spot and was looking up for refurbs when i saw an MBA(i7/8gb/256SSD) somewhere around 1300+tax and rMBP 13'(i5/8gb/256SSD) at 1269$+tax, tbh i can trade that 5% or 10%(don't really know the difference) cpu gain for the beautifull retina screen i guess

 

[sanjuanbear]

That is a good comparison. Are these two models essentially the same as far as performance goes?

I am kinda in the same spot and was looking up for refurbs when i saw an MBA(i7/8gb/256SSD) somewhere around 1300+tax and rMBP 13'(i5/8gb/256SSD) at 1269$+tax, tbh i can trade that 5% or 10%(don't really know the difference) cpu gain for the beautifull retina screen i guess

 

[twingo]

In 2014 buying a notebook without retina display is a waste of money.
The screen really makes a big difference.

 

[Naimfan]

I am kinda in the same spot and was looking up for refurbs when i saw an MBA(i7/8gb/256SSD) somewhere around 1300+tax and rMBP 13'(i5/8gb/256SSD) at 1269$+tax, tbh i can trade that 5% or 10%(don't really know the difference) cpu gain for the beautifull retina screen i guess

In terms of speed, Geekbench shows the 2.4 rMBP to be equal to the i7 Air (23 points is a meaningless difference)

Unless battery life is the only thing that matters, the rMBP is the better machine.

 

[sanjuanbear]

In terms of speed, Geekbench shows the 2.4 rMBP to be equal to the i7 Air (23 points is a meaningless difference)

Unless battery life is the only thing that matters, the rMBP is the better machine.

Thanks for all the responses! I decided to go with the 8gb RAM/256gb SSD rMBP. Waiting on some new inventory at the Refurb store.