Macbook Pro or Air?

Domski1856

Domski1856

Member
So guys, I'm going to med school this fall and I need a new laptop. I'm set on a macbook but idk which one to get. I want either the 13inch macbook air (8gb RAM) or the 13inch Macbook pro (4gb RAM) no matter which one I get, It'll come out to the same price. I'll be using it for writing, internet, music, and maybe some video editing in Final Cut. Any advice would help, thanks a million guys!
 
Pro!! Checkout www.macofalltrades.com they sell almost every year of macbook and you can choose extra ram and such for relitevely cheap
 
pro with 8gb, use the education discount, or look for a sale/third party seller. I would also recommend waiting a while to buy one. If you see a good deal, then go for it, but if you don't need it for at least a few months, no sense in paying full retail for it now.
 
Are there any specific reasons the MBP is better? If I get the MBA it'll be upgraded to 8gb of ram which I hear is more than enough speed to do a little editing. But still, I'll be using almost always for school and internet (I also heard that the MBA had faster wifi connectivity).
 
13404341:Domski1856 said:
Are there any specific reasons the MBP is better? If I get the MBA it'll be upgraded to 8gb of ram which I hear is more than enough speed to do a little editing. But still, I'll be using almost always for school and internet (I also heard that the MBA had faster wifi connectivity).
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I bought an air last year and i use it for editing and it works fine for anything that is not to intensive but i will always regret not getting a pro. As soon as i try and make anything longer than 8-10 minutes, it starts to hyperventilate. Another thing is memory, my air is choker full and when you have 150+GB of video footage from a season it makes it really difficult especially as Final Cut is insistent on creating backups on your hard drive.
 
13404341:Domski1856 said:
Are there any specific reasons the MBP is better? If I get the MBA it'll be upgraded to 8gb of ram which I hear is more than enough speed to do a little editing. But still, I'll be using almost always for school and internet (I also heard that the MBA had faster wifi connectivity).
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You really want 8gb regardless. Open up a few tabs, listen to some music, and either download an app or be doing light office work, and you will be closed to maxed out on 4. You also can't upgrade it, and in the future you will probably want it. 8gb is what you want for any sort of multitasking, and also for video editing (which is highly processor dependent). 16gb (or more) is only needed for heavy video editing. For example, when I had my macbook, with 8gb of ram, it would crash making panoramas (working with 30+ raw 16MP photos at once). With 16gb of ram, it would do the same job in 15-20 minutes, and I could watch youtube and use other apps while it was doing this.

Air is more portable, and I believe better battery, though honestly, I nearly mistook the retinas for airs the first time I saw them. The air, at it's thickest, is nearly as thick as the pro. Battery life on the pro is also very good.

Advantages for the pro:

Screen. 2560x1600 (pro) vs 1440x900 (air). The air has a good screen, the pro has a great screen. For video editing, you will be able to have more on the screen at once, and what is on screen will be more detailed.

Processor. The pro has much more power. Speed will be very similar for light work (office apps, web browsing). Once you get into anything that is actual work for the computer (photo/video editing), the pro will handle it a ton faster.

Personally, I would get the 13" pro with 8gb of ram, and as much storage as you can afford. The battery is still very good, the screen is a lot better, and it is a ton more powerful.
 
13404100:Uglyboy said:
Air is made for teenage girls using it as a fashion statement. Get pro
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Lol I edit and play csgo on my mb air.

I recommend the air, I love mine. The low end mbps are fucking worthless, the only thing it has on the mb air is a slightly faster processor, they're the same computer.
 
Also the rentina screen at 13" is pointless, I looked at a retina next to the mb air and the screens look identical.

A low end 13" mbp is the same as a higher end 13" mb air but the air is smaller and has better battery life.
 
13404463:eheath said:
Lol I edit and play csgo on my mb air.

I recommend the air, I love mine. The low end mbps are fucking worthless, the only thing it has on the mb air is a slightly faster processor, they're the same computer.
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The screen on the pro is much better than the air. Plus I've found pros to break less than airs. But that may a coincidence. And I may be wrong but most of your edits are relatively short. Editing for longer periods of time on air is a hassle. As for counter strike I played CS on a shitty government hand out laptop
 
13404467:Uglyboy said:
The screen on the pro is much better than the air. Plus I've found pros to break less than airs. But that may a coincidence. And I may be wrong but most of your edits are relatively short. Editing for longer periods of time on air is a hassle. As for counter strike I played CS on a shitty government hand out laptop
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They are the same unless you're 1cm away from the screen, dont even try to argue this with me, ive tested it, with my stupendous vision. I know what a good screen looks like, theyre identical.

And you can edit on any machine bought in the last 4 years, its the render/export that is faster/better.

As for them breaking, just because you think a pro breaks less doesnt mean it does, ive had my air for a year and a half with no problems and ALOT of use.

And csgo isnt like cs 1.6 lol.
 
It only has 4gb of ram? wtf my macbook from 5 years ago or something has 8gb...

Is it still just DDR3 or something or what?
 
All the macbook pro's start at 8gb of ram, the air starts at 4gb, OP probably mixed up the two.

Eheath is right, they are very similar computers and retina is completely overrated on a 13in screen. If you don't need i7 and 16gb of ram just get the air and spend the difference on a monitor.
 
13404341:Domski1856 said:
Are there any specific reasons the MBP is better? If I get the MBA it'll be upgraded to 8gb of ram which I hear is more than enough speed to do a little editing. But still, I'll be using almost always for school and internet (I also heard that the MBA had faster wifi connectivity).
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While RAM is def. important(if your looking to edit videos I'd start at 8gb) the CPU/GPU is just as important. This is where the MBP will be leap and bounds better than the air. The airs have lower powered CPUs to help with battery life/heat and will be considerably slower encoding video. But either way I think a MBP/MBA will take care of your needs..
 
Bump. Stuck between this 2 a well. I want to go with MacBook Air kinda, and Eheath has some pretty sick edits so i think it could get the job done for that, but everyone else is saying go pro. What should I do?

Basically Ill be getting this for my senior year of HS and for college. Used for writing, music, editing, and other college skier crap.
 
13409590:.lencon said:
Bump. Stuck between this 2 a well. I want to go with MacBook Air kinda, and Eheath has some pretty sick edits so i think it could get the job done for that, but everyone else is saying go pro. What should I do?

Basically Ill be getting this for my senior year of HS and for college. Used for writing, music, editing, and other college skier crap.
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Id once again recommend the air because its almost as powerful, thinner, lighter and has a better battery life, the 13" mbp is a joke.
 
13409606:eheath said:
Id once again recommend the air because its almost as powerful, thinner, lighter and has a better battery life, the 13" mbp is a joke.
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What's the difference in power between the 2?
 
13409606:eheath said:
Id once again recommend the air because its almost as powerful, thinner, lighter and has a better battery life, the 13" mbp is a joke.
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Alright thanks. I'll probably just get the air then unless I see a deal on a pro. Do you know how much it costs to upgrade the processor on the air from 1.6 i5 to 2.2 i7?
 
13480552:.lencon said:
Alright thanks. I'll probably just get the air then unless I see a deal on a pro. Do you know how much it costs to upgrade the processor on the air from 1.6 i5 to 2.2 i7?
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Probably $200-$300 dollars. I'd 100% get the 2.2 i7, it will make a big difference. Go 8gb of ram too. My mb air is pretty much maxed (minus SSD) and it was 1350.
 
13480951:eheath said:
Probably $200-$300 dollars. I'd 100% get the 2.2 i7, it will make a big difference. Go 8gb of ram too. My mb air is pretty much maxed (minus SSD) and it was 1350.
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Alright sweet. That's probably what I'll do when the time comes. Thanks man.
 
just pulled the trigger on the new pro earlier today. got the 15", but to save money went with the one with the 228 SSD drive instead of the 500 SSD. 228 is enough what i use on a daily basis, then ill just store videos and pictures on an external hard drive for when i need them. couldn't be more stoked and I'm a huge fan so far
 
13480951:eheath said:
Probably $200-$300 dollars. I'd 100% get the 2.2 i7, it will make a big difference. Go 8gb of ram too. My mb air is pretty much maxed (minus SSD) and it was 1350.
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How much storage did you get? Just curious. Went through my mac that I share with my family and most of the storage was taken up with footage and "other" lol. Should I just get a low end storage then buy an additional flash and hard drive or what? Trying to save as much money as possible.
 
13481354:.lencon said:
How much storage did you get? Just curious. Went through my mac that I share with my family and most of the storage was taken up with footage and "other" lol. Should I just get a low end storage then buy an additional flash and hard drive or what? Trying to save as much money as possible.
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I have the 128gb. I run everything on an external raid.
 
Get the air. The battery life is phenomenal. I can go a few days with watching netflix every night and using it for most of the day for music which is a huge plus because you don't need to bring your charger everywhere.
 
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