Newer MBA or Older MBP for light - moderate music, video, and graphic editing
Essentially I would be using it for the following:
- Word Processing (ms office suite)
- Video editing (primarily YT videos) via FCP X
- Music editing / production via Garageband, Logic Pro, and Melodyne
- Adobe Photoshop CS6 (nothing to heavy like I said willing to live without retina)
- Probably light gaming
- Coding ( I don't think this should be an issue, but want the ability to write apps for iOS)
- Web surfing obviously
- Building itunes library
It seems like a bit now that I look at it, but I don't think I would have more than two of these programs running at the same time (my guess is the worst would be fcpx, garageband, and cs6 all open at the same time). I have a 500GB western digital external HD that is practically empty minus a recent backup of all my files on my current computer.
Which do you think would fit my needs more? Portability is a factor for me but I think the mba is like 1/2 a pound lighter or something which I'm not sure makes a huge difference to me since I'm currently lugging around a 15" pc that is around 7-8lbs.
So I've kind of figured that 256 gb ssd is probably going to be the most I can afford with a budget of $1190 and under ( could I get away with 128gb with my 500gb external hd?).
I know I can get the ssd and ram (at least 8GB unless 4GB would suffice) I need with a MBA but I do not know if the processor will be good enough for everything i'm planning to do. I've seen older MBP (circa 2011-2012) that has adequate ram (8-16gb) minus a ssd but regular hd with 500-700gb in some cases 1 TB. I've seen these for less than 1000 on ebay.
So which is a better choice? I don't want a system that is too old. I currently have a working cd/dvdr drive on my pc so I could live without having a cd/dvd drive in my mac or superdrive or whatever.
I'm interested in brand new or refurbished (either by apple or seller). Nothing used. An SD slot would also be nice to have but I'm unsure as to which models have them.