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MacBook Pro Late 2011 vs MacBook Air 2013

Hey guys!


I currently own the basic, 13" late 2011 MacBook Pro (intel core i5 2.4 GHz; 4GB ram; 500 GB SATA Drive) and as I'm going to college, I'm planning to buy a light but still durable computer, capable of lasting, say, 4 to 5 years while still being able to run recent softwares (and hopefully games...). Since money is kind of an issue for me, I don't think I can afford the rMBP, still, I could afford the 11" MBA with 8GB of ram and the core i7. As for the hard drive, the 256 GB upgrade is just to costly, so I'm planning to use an USB 3 external hard drive to store my music and the apps I don't use too often.


My questions are:

Is the MBA faster or more powerful than my current MBP?

Will it last for that long without too much showing its age, or would an rMBP be better (I'm good in computer science but not in hardware, I would be unable to replace the ram or hard drive on a MBP...)?

I'm currently using parallels desktop 8 really often (sometimes playing an MMO called Star Wars the Old Republic), would it work better with the MBA?

And lastly, should I replace my current MBP? IMO, the specs are just horrible and it's kinda slow, but it's just me...


Any thoughts on those questions or other suggestions are welcome!

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Aug 9, 2013 2:34 PM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Aug 9, 2013 2:44 PM

Without specifically going through your questions item by item, there are two main messages I would like to convey:


1. Computers no longer should be expected to last 4 to 5 years. As evidence, consider this article that lists what computers can run Mountain Lion, and bear in mind Mountain Lion was released in July, 2012:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5444


2. A corollary to (1) above is "newer is better". I strongly suggest getting a new computer now. The MacBook Air 2013 is powerful.


Also, consider selling your older machine. It is not worthless. There are online sites, as well as Apple's recycling program: http://www.apple.com/recycling/

2 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Aug 9, 2013 2:44 PM in response to WhiteWizard

Without specifically going through your questions item by item, there are two main messages I would like to convey:


1. Computers no longer should be expected to last 4 to 5 years. As evidence, consider this article that lists what computers can run Mountain Lion, and bear in mind Mountain Lion was released in July, 2012:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5444


2. A corollary to (1) above is "newer is better". I strongly suggest getting a new computer now. The MacBook Air 2013 is powerful.


Also, consider selling your older machine. It is not worthless. There are online sites, as well as Apple's recycling program: http://www.apple.com/recycling/

MacBook Pro Late 2011 vs MacBook Air 2013

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