Q: The value of the HDMI port?

You can use the HDMI port on the Retina model to connect to a projector... or you can use the Thunderbolt port (on either machine) with an adapter to connect to a projector.

The Air is nice becasue it'a ao very lightweight... but the Retina model really isn't THAT much lighter.

Other than presentations, what would you be using the machine for?

Clinton

Hows Japan!        I had BOTH for a few weeks, still have the Air.

but id frankly call the NEWEST Pro a "macbook Air with Retina display" , or

Maybe a “macbook Air PRO with Retina display” 

Yes, you can get a HDMI dongle for $30 for the Air..However if you have an Apple TV, theres no real need for it. Just wifi Airplay movies and vids to your AppleTV hooked to your TV.

Either the Air or the new Pro are so much more light weight than youre used to, youre gonna love it either way.

DETAILED bench tests between the new AIR and the new PRO here:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/11/how-to-choose-13-inch-macbook-air-vs-13-i nch-retina-macbook-pro/2/

Have some other folks weigh in,,....but Ive got some good comparison info below:

The newest macbook Pro is essentially a larger macbook Air with Retina display and options for speed in increasing prices up to an independent graphics and quad core processor.

both Air and new Pro now have PCIe SSD and permanent RAM.

The Air is the lightweight portable form factor, fast to boot and shut down, but with longer battery life than any of the macbook pro in 13"

Now the new macbook Pro and macbook Air are extremely close in form factor and nature.

both have 802ac wifi

both have permanent RAM, no superdrive

both are slim profiles and SSD

The only real differences now are (in the most expensive Pros) faster processors and quadcore processors and top end model autonomous graphics, also HDMI output on the new macbook Pros!. ....and of course the retina display

both are now "very good for travel"

Other than features the form factor of the Air and Pro are VERY close now,....so now its merely a matter of features and price more than anything.

You need an external HD regardless of what you get for backups etc.   Drop into an Apple store and handle both and make your choice based on features, such as Retina or non-retina, .... both at a distance now look like the same computer.

The Pro weighs more, ....but nowhere near what it used to just a month ago on the older macbook Pros

The NEW macbook Pro is a different creature entirely than the older macbook Pro, .....the new Pro is thicker than the Air,

Instead of Air vs. Pro now,.....its really a smooth transition from Air to pro without comparing say, 2 different creatures, now its like contrasting a horse from a race horse (rough analogy)

Either one in 8gig of RAM (preferably)... the 4gig upgrade costs very little,  the I7 you will notice only 15% faster on heavy applications over the I5, and NOTHING on most APPS.....I5 has longer battery life.

As you see below, the non-Retina 13" AIR is 82% of the Macbook with Retina display in resolution

there is no magical number of pixels per inch that automatically equates to Retina quality.

http://www.cultofmac.com/168509/why-you-might-be-disappointed-by-the-resolution- of-those-new-retina-display-macs-feature/

A huge internal SSD isnt a game changer for anything, you need an external HD anyway

what you WONT READ on Apple.com etc. is that the larger SSD  are much faster due to SSD density

"The 512GB Samsung SSD found in our 13-inch model offers roughly a 400MB/s increase in write speeds over the 128GB SanDisk/Marvell SSD"

http://blog.macsales.com/19008-performance-testing-not-all-2013-macbook-air-ssds -are-the-same

Here is an excellent video comparison between the 11” I5 vs. I7 2013 Macbook Air.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDqJ-on03z4

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7113/2013-macbook-air-core-i5-4250u-vs-core-i7-465 0u/2

I5 vs. I7 performance 13” Macbook Air 2013

Boot performance

1. 11.7 I5 ……11.4 I7

  Cinebench 

1. 1.1 I5….1.41 I7

IMovie Import and Opt.

1. 6.69 I5….5.35 I7

  IMovie Export 

1. 10.33 I5…8.20 I7

Final Cut Pro X

1. 21.47 I5…17.71 I7

  Adobe Lightroom 3 Export 

1. 25.8 I5….31.8 I7

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Performance

1. 27.3 I5…22.6 I7

Reviews of the newest Retina 2013 Macbook Pro

13”

Digital Trends (13") - http://www.digitaltrends.com/laptop-...h-2013-review/

LaptopMag (13") - http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/lap...play-2013.aspx

Engadget (13") - http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/29/m...-13-inch-2013/

The Verge (13") - http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/30/5...ay-review-2013

CNet (13") - http://www.cnet.com/laptops/apple-ma...-35831098.html

15”

The Verge (15") - http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/24/5...w-15-inch-2013

LaptopMag (15") - http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/lap...inch-2013.aspx

TechCrunch (15") - http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/25/lat...ok-pro-review/

CNet (15") - http://www.cnet.com/apple-macbook-pro-with-retina-2013/

PC Mag (15") - http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2426359,00.asp

Arstechnica (15") - http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/10...-pro-reviewed/

Slashgear (15") - http://www.slashgear.com/macbook-pro...2013-26303163/

Macbook Pro ports:

Macbook Air (13") ports:

No, the Air is too cracker thin to support Retina

As someone that "hates everything" lol,  I love the Air, owned 3 of em' 

Surely hundreds by now.

I use my 15" late 2011 MacBook Pro primarily as a desktop, letting it slip its tether only about once every two weeks to run the battery down a bit and keep it in good shape. I've two LaCie 2big Thunderbolt drives attached and, at the end of the chain, a 27" Apple Thunderbolt Display. In addition to being used for Thunderbolt devices, you can attached a world of adapters as the TB port also operates as a Mini DisplayPort which can use a variety of video adapters to plug up to just about any configuration you can imagine.

Keep doing your research - I, personally, would go for a 15" Retina if I had to choose today.

Clinton

Though I love my Air, I agree with Clinton,

if money is irrelevant get the 15" Pro

doug wrote:

 

About the battery issue Clinton mentioned, while I don't want to digress into battery maintenance, I understand with modern batteries it is no longer necessary to let the battery run down to maintain its health.

That's correct - you NEVER want to run the battery completely discharge - that's not the router to a healthy battery. Like I said, I go off mains twice a months, let my battery run down to about 20-30% then plug back in.

And after over 1 1/2 years my battery is still 99% healthy.

Clinton

Keep it plugged in when near a socket so you keep the charging cycles down on your LiPo (lithium polymer) cells / battery, but not plugged in all the time. When not being used for several hours, turn it off.

And best "tip" is if its near a socket,...plug it in as long as you can (especially at home) since cycle count on the battery are the "miles that wear out the tires (battery)", however again, not plugged in all or most of the time.

http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

"Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time."

General rule to remember of Lithium batteries is:

Never drain them LOW  &  never store them HIGH

While cycle count is commonly seen to be the “miles” on your Lithium Ion pack cell in your Macbook, which they are, this distinction is not a fine line at all, and it is a big misconception to “count charge cycles”

*A person who has, for example, 300 charge cycles on their battery and is recharging at say 50-60% remaining of a 100% charge has better battery usage and care than another person who has 300 charge cycles at say 15% remaining on a 100% charge. 

DoD (depth of discharge) is far more important on the wear and tear on your Macbook battery than any mere charge cycle count.  *There is no set “mile” or wear from a charge cycle in general OR in specific.    As such, contrary to popular conception, counting cycles is not conclusive whatsoever, rather the amount of deep DoD on an averaged scale of its use and charging conditions.

(as a very rough analogy would be 20,000 hard miles put on a car vs. 80,000 good miles being something similar)

*Contrary to some myths out there, there is protection circuitry in your Macbook and therefore you cannot overcharge it when plugged in and already fully charged

*However if you don’t plan on using it for a few hours, turn it OFF (plugged in or otherwise) ..*You don’t want your Macbook both always plugged in AND in sleep mode       (When portable devices are charging and in the on or sleep position, the current that is drawn through the device is called the parasitic load and will alter the dynamics of charge cycle. Battery manufacturers advise against parasitic loading because it induces mini-cycles.)

Keeping batteries connected to a charger ensures that periodic "top-ups" do very minor but continuous damage to individual cells, hence Apples recommendation above:   “Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time”, …this is because “Li-ion degrades fastest at high state-of-charge”. This is also the same reason new Apple notebooks are packaged with 50% charges and not 100%.

LiPo (lithium polymer, same as in your Macbook) batteries do not need conditioning. However...

A lot of battery experts call the use of Lithium cells the "80% Rule" ...meaning use 80% of the charge or so, then recharge them for longer overall life.

Never let your Macbook go into shutdown and safe mode from loss of power, you can corrupt files that way, and the batteries do not like it.

The only quantified abuse seen to Lithium cells are instances when often the cells are repeatedly drained very low…. key word being "often"

The good news is that your Macbook has a safety circuit in place to insure the battery doesn’t reach too low before your Macbook will auto power-off. Bad news: if you let your Macbook protection circuitry shut down your notebook at its bottom, and you refrain from charging it for a couple days...the battery will SELF-DRAIN to zero (depending on climate and humidity)…and nothing is worse on a Lithium battery being low-discharged than self-draining down to and sitting at 0

Contrary to what some might say, Lithium batteries have an "ideal" break in period. First ten cycles or so, don't discharge down past 40% of the battery's capacity. Same way you don’t take a new car out and speed and rev the engine hard first 100 or so miles.

Proper treatment is still important. Just because LiPo batteries don’t need conditioning in general, does NOT mean they dont have an ideal use / recharge environment. Anything can be abused even if it doesn’t need conditioning.

From Apple on batteries:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1446

Storing your MacBook

If you are going to store your MacBook away for an extended period of time, keep it in a cool location (room temperature roughly 22° C or about 72° F). Make certain you have at least a 50% charge on the internal battery of your Macbook if you plan on storing it away for a few months; recharge your battery to 50% or so every six months roughly if being stored away. If you live in a humid environment, keep your Macbook stored in its zippered case to prevent infiltration of humidity on the internals of your Macbook which could lead to corrosion.

My choice would be the Retina Display model - it should do everything you need.

And, no, you don't have to purchase AppleCare when you buy your MacBook Pro - just within a year of date of purchase (although it's  agood idea to purchase within the first 90 days because you free phone tech support runs out 90 days from data of purchase yet you have three years of phone support if you go ahead and purchase AppleCare).

Good luck - those are some good prices!

Clinton