MacBook Pro or MacBook Air for Web Design

Question

MacBook Pro or MacBook Air for Web Design

Happy 4th of July. I have a question regarding on deciding to buy a MacBook Pro or the MacBook Air for my online marketing (Web and graphic design) business. I have already asked this question on two other Mac forums but neither have given me a clear answer.

I'm stuck between purchasing the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air. I understand the differences between the two computers (the MBP has the Retina Display, the ForceTouch trackpad, and more ports. And the MBP comes standard with 8GB of RAM.)

Is the base-model MBP worth the extra $300, or should I stick with purchasing a high-er end MBA (13" with 8GB of RAM and 128GB SSD)? I use Pixelmator for graphic design almost everyday, and I use Adobe Brackets (before that, I used TextEdit) for web design itself. In the future, though, I may switch to using Adobe applications exclusively to run my business, with the exception of the general things (like Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.) I want something powerful (and I'm 99.9999% certain that both machines can do everything I need them to do, as my late 2014 MacMini handles the tasks with no problem - the only reason I need a laptop to replace the mini for my business is that I want to isolate my business files from my personal files, and I need more portability as I want my documents to be there when I need to give presentations or have a meeting with a client.) If it helps, here is a list of my needs.

Needs:

External display output (I want to buy a projector sometime in the future, and sometimes I will need it to connect to a VGA-based monitor or projector.)
At least 8GB of RAM
At least 2 USB ports
Be able to run Pixelmator and Adobe CC in the future
Connect and play wireless. I will be purchasing an AirPort Express WiFi system with it, and I want it to work right out of the box with me having to install it in System Preferences only once.

I also have a real quick question regarding SSD's. A friend who is essentially a veteran in the IT world (he has worked at several different computer stores, and even sold the original 128k Macintosh back in 1984 and '85 at a ComputerLand store) told me that SSD's are more durable than HDD's (even I know that) but they can only read and write to the flash chip so many times before it "locks up." Is this true, and if so, should I worry about that since the storage and RAM is soldered to the logic board (even though I H-A-T-E disassembling laptops.)

Any help would be greatly appreciated. My heart is telling me to go with the MBA as I would save some money, but my brain, gut, and people over on the other Mac forums are pointing to the MacBook Pro. I would like a "Mac expert" to tell me which machine would be better suited to my needs, and which would give me the bigger bang for my buck as well as better reliability. Also, sorry for the long post and this post being extremely choppy and clunky. It's 4 AM and I still haven't climbed in my bed - so I guess it's time for me to do so.

P.S. - While I seriously doubt I'll have problems on this forum, on the other forums people tried to get me to go with something Windows-based. I made it very clear I don't want a Windows PC. I've used every Windows version since 3.1, and I switched to Mac after my main Windows 7 machine died (and Windows 8 was the only thing you could buy for a decent price.) I don't want to go back to Windows for various reasons, and I've looked at almost every Windows machine out there that would even slightly interest me and I don't want any of them.

~Garrett

Posted on Jul 4, 2015 2:15 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 4, 2015 2:32 AM in response to garrettfromboonville

For me,

MBP is the good one

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Answer 2

Jul 4, 2015 8:45 PM in response to garrettfromboonville

Both have ssd's and can use external monitors and wifi. The difference comes down to portability, screen real estate, and power.

My choice for doing web design would be the MBP, especially for the screen real estate.

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Answer 3

Jul 4, 2015 9:16 PM in response to BobTheFisherman

Besides the display, is there any real difference between the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air? What resolution would I have on the MacBook Air when compared to the MacBook Pro? Screen size isn't a huge issue of mine (especially since I may end up purchasing an external monitor, like an Acer or something, to pair up with the laptop if I go MBA) but I don't want everything to look crammed together and clunky. And then again, I like having a lot of room to work with.

And if I go with the MBP, should I keep it at 8GB of RAM or is 16GB of RAM okay? I've been told that 8GB is good enough and 16GB would be "overkill", but I've also been told that 16GB is the only way the computer will be "future proof." Which should I go with?

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Answer 4

Jul 4, 2015 9:28 PM in response to garrettfromboonville

For web design I want the largest screen real estate of a 15".

Not to mention all the multiple apps I have running at one time.

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2012), OS X Yosemite (10.10.4), i7 500GB 16GB RAM iPhone5 iOS8.3, Paralles10.0.2

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Answer 5

Jul 5, 2015 12:40 AM in response to leroydouglas

Yes, I run multiple apps at one time. I plan on purchasing another monitor sometime down the road if that will help the screen issue. I can only afford a 13" of each model (I can't afford the 15" MBP) but is there any difference in the resolution between the MBP and the MBA?

I don't want a super small screen where everything is crammed tight together. My current monitor is a 20" with a resolution of 1600 x 900 pixels, and it works fine. I understand that I will never get that good resolutions from a small, 13" screen - I also don't want everything tight together like in a 1200x600 screen resolution.

While most of the sites I construct and test are between 600 and 900 pixels wide, many of my older sites are 1200px to 1300px wide.

And, if I was to need to get an external monitor to alleviate the resolution issues when working at my desk or to use as a extension of my desktop (which I would like to do for stuff that requires even more room) - what monitor would you recommend? Of course I just can't purchase a Thunderbolt display (though that'd be great, though.) But I also don't want an el cheapo monitor that may die on me within several months. Are there any brands that stick out?

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