Q: Desktop replacement?
I am looking for my first laptop as well as a desktop replacement to my 4 year old HP.
Just as a reference my HP is an AMD Athlon II X3, 8GB DDR3, 1GB ATI Radeo HD 4650 Graphics, 128GB SSD. I'm currently dual booting Windows 7 & Linux MInt XFCE. Both actually run quite well. On Windows I often do rather basic photo editing in photoshop with RAW files (nothing professional, at least yet), and I do fairly basic video editing with Sony Vegas for personal videos (again, nothing professional with no intention of doing anything professional). I shoot at 720p and each video is between 3-20 minutes in the length.
This will be my first Mac, so I'm looking for something that can at least handle basic RAW photo editing, basic 720p video editing, converting files with Handbrake, watching Netflix and general web use.
Retina isn't that big of a deal for me as I don't have any retina devices. Although the way resolution works does confuse me. The rMBP lists the native resolution as 2560 x 1600, yet I read elsewhere the actual resolution is 1440 x 900 (same as the Air).
Also, skimming through the forums here, it seems like the Air has less issues than the Pro (keyboard/trackpad freezing, burn in's etc. on the Pro). I would like one that will last me at the very least 4 or 5 years.
Portability isn't that big of a deal for me, as I'll only be moving it around within my house (tired of being stuck in one spot on a desk). But I won't be taking it out with me, so weight/size etc. doesn't matter.
Option 1:
MacBook Air 13"
-1.3Ghz i5 (Turbo Boost 2.6Ghz)
-8GB RAM
-128GB SSD
-$1,200 (CDN)
Option 2:
MacBook Air 13"
-1.7Ghz i7 (Turbo Boost 3.3Ghz)
-8GB RAM
-128GB SS
-$1,350 (CDN)
Option 3:
MacBook Pro 13"
-2.4Ghz i5 (Turbo Boost 2.9Ghz)
-8GB RAM
-256GB SSD
-$1,550 (CDN)
Posted on Nov 9, 2013 4:26 AM


