Macbook Pro or Macbook Air? (Late 2013)

Question

Level 1

0 points

Macbook Pro or Macbook Air? (Late 2013)

The age-old question

Though here is my own twist since searching brought up nothing of recent reqs.

Here's the scoop

My Air (Mid 2011) blew up on me. Sad but yes, a signle drop of water (yes, a single) destroyed the invertor that drove the power to my backlight, costing me a $800 dollar repair. I will take my loss and purchase a new Macbook, but after test driving the Air, I have some concerns on which one. This is where I need help from users who are using them/have used both heavily in the past.

I will need this laptop for ease of writing, creating projects/code/and simple photoshop. My last laptop had a count of over 4k hours of music listened to and over 6k hours of videos watched with great battery life, so the retina is looking a better option here as well as I heard the keys are rised slightly higher and higher amp'd speakers. I need the best here - 13in wise (I hate any screens above 13.3in).

The CPU/RAM is not my worry, its the screen pixel quality and sound, as well as battery life. The Air was wonderful with battery life and my recent Late 2013 Air my fiance has is wonderful, suprisingly, much better than my Mid 2011 in all aspects (as it should be). Though, that makes me wonder if a Pro is needed? I haven't seen enough one-on-one comparable action between the two, but I know the retina is beautiful when it comes to my videos. Though battery life is an issue and I know there can be no after-market upgrades due to the chassis being glued to the battery.

The Pro weighs 1/2 lb more than the air, but is a bit slimmer, with a beatufiul display for movies and better built in speakers for music. Though seems ugly to me, with an hour less compared to the air with what I do on average.

The Air is lighter, but longer, though the screen lacks in quality, the sound is a few watts lowers, but looks clean and chiseled with a an extra hour squeezed out of it with what I will do on average.

What does the community recommend? Or should I wait a few more months and buy a Mid 2014 Air/Pro then?

Thanks for all input in advance.

Posted on Mar 12, 2014 12:11 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

jakeolson57

Level 1

5 points

Mar 19, 2014 8:11 PM in response to K.Jeffrey

I honestly would go with the Macbook Pro with the Retina. If you're doing intense work on your Macbook Air, even if it's just photoshop, it's possible that the processor will go into turbo boost mode and kick up the processor and fan which cuts down on battery by a lot! If you're traveling quite a bit, you may want to go with the Air because of the weight difference (even though it's not a lot, you feel it after awhile). I own a fully upgraded Macbook Air (current model) and I absolutely love it for what I do with it, like music, movies, some games here and there, and school work because of it's super light weight. However, rounding back to the Macbook Pro with Retina, for movies and photoshop work, if that half pound doesn't matter to you, it can't be beat. Also, the battery on the Macbook Pro with retina is always meant for a faster processor than the Macbook Air, so even though it's an hour less, it's an hour less of a constantly fast processor. Unlike the Macbook Air where it's meant for a lower speed processor.

Hope this helps!

Reply

Answer 2

Mar 19, 2014 8:20 PM in response to K.Jeffrey

The Air is lighter, but longer, though the screen lacks in quality, the sound is a few watts lowers

As for sound.....Actually the Air cranks out lounder than the Pro (go figure).

I have both, I prefer the Air, but like both.

However the contrast is higher on the Air (despite its non-retina display), and ergo the movies look better to me on the NON-Retina display.

13" Air is

Weight: 2.96 pounds (1.35 kg)²

13" Pro is

Weight: 3.46 pounds (1.57 kg)²

Only a half pound. In packing both around for much time, there is no difference of significance.

The NEW macbook Pro and Air are very close in form factor

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 between Air and Pro....are (in the most expensive Pros) faster processors and quadcore processors and top end model autonomous graphics and the Pro has HDMI output.....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, but id frankly call the NEWEST Pro a "macbook Air with Retina display" , or

Maybe a “macbook Air PRO with Retina display”

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.

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/

As for both Pro and Air in the SSD dept:

➕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

11.7 I5 ……11.4 I7

Cinebench

1.1 I5….1.41 I7

IMovie Import and Opt.

6.69 I5….5.35 I7

IMovie Export

10.33 I5…8.20 I7

Final Cut Pro X

21.47 I5…17.71 I7

Adobe Lightroom 3 Export

25.8 I5….31.8 I7

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Performance

27.3 I5…22.6 I7

Macbook Pro processor and configuration options:

http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs-retina/

Macbook Pro ports:

Macbook Air (13") ports:

Reply

Answer 3

K.Jeffrey Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 19, 2014 9:03 PM in response to K.Jeffrey

Great news,

I went with the 13 in PRO with 256gb and 8gb of RAM. I decided that was the most I needed for what I was doing since I do not render videos and 8gb is more than enough to code with background tasks. I absolutely love it and happy I got it now and not some touchscreen crap (which I hope apple never releases). It's a great upgrade over the AIR I had and even though it weighs a bit more, I enjoy the form size just well. Now I just have to write a few hundred words to smooth the bezel to where it doesn't cut my wrists as I type at an angle again like my old AIR! Thanks for all your help!

Again, for people out there looking, if you need a great writing machine or starting off, get an AIR. Later on when it's time to upgrade, you can decide if an AIR meets your need or you require a PRO. It's ultimately up to you but unless you're going to use CPU intensive programs (such as myself) you will find battery life better on an AIR.

Fun fact: If you use CPU intensive apps, upgrade the CPU or get a PRO. I did tests and saw I get over an hour more battery life on a Late-2013 PRO than on a upgraded Late-2013 AIR (I have both in my arsenal since that one is my fiancé's) so that was a big win for me. Also, watching videos and view photos is more satisfactory on my PRO due to the retina, but I'm sure the AIR will get it in the next years models. Good luck to anyone with his question too, especially college students! :)

Reply