Macbook Air 2012 with 240GB SSD or Macbook Pro 2012 240GB SSD or Macbook Pro with Retina

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BamNanas Author

Level 1

0 points

Macbook Air 2012 with 240GB SSD or Macbook Pro 2012 240GB SSD or Macbook Pro with Retina

Macbook Air 2012 13inch with 240GB SSD SPECS:

1.8GHz Intel Dual-Core Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
240GB Auro Pro 6G Solid State Drive
Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz
Intel HD Graphics 4000
Overall Price $1600+Tax

or

Macbook Pro 13inch 2012 240GB SSD Specs:

2.5GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
4GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM — 2x2GB
500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
240BG Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD
Intel HD Graphics 4000
Overall Price $1600+Tax

or

Macbook Pro Retina 15inch 2012 256SSD Specs:

2.3GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
256GB Flash Storage
Intel HD Graphics 4000
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory
Overall Price $2199+Tax

or

Macbook Pro Retina 13in 2012 256SSD Specs:

2.5GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
128GB Flash Storage or 256 Crucial m4 256GB 2.5 inch if possible to upgrade
2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
8GB 1600MHz memory
Intel HD Graphics 4000

I'm looking for a laptop that will last me a couple of years which is why I'm upgrading to SSD without losing performance. I usually game on my Mac so I want a laptop to handle that, handle programs in the background and writing or reading without losing speed, I also need a laptop that has fast boot time.

I will be using the laptop mainly for school and running programs such as iWork and mircrosoft office as well as websurfing and video streaming thanks for any advice.

MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Oct 28, 2012 6:59 AM

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Answer 1

JasonFear

Level 5

4,965 points

Oct 28, 2012 7:28 PM in response to BamNanas

I don't understand why you're upgrading the standard SSD in the 13" MBA right out of the gate. Why not get the machine and see if it satisfies your needs before dumping several hundreds of dollars into a brand new machine? Secondly, is there a particular reason you're excluding refurbished 15" MacBook Pros from your search? You can get one in that ~ $1600 and put a quality SSD in one for less than $2199 rMBP price point if budget is a concern.

If gaming is a priority use for the machine, the MacBook Air and 13" MacBook Pro with Retina Display should not be considered, especially if you're looking to have this machine last you a couple of years. The shared GPU in those machines (Intel HD 4000) just don't hold a candle to the discrete GPUs offered in the 15" MacBook Pro, especially if you indeed to game in Windows (via Boot Camp). Heck there's a dozen or so games I've played over the past year that wouldn't even install on my MacBook Air (due to GPU).

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