MacBook Air

[TreVader]

wtf? They are two different classes of machine. To even try and compare the two is just flat out idiotic.

Why? Because it makes the macbook pro look like nothing more than a better screen (which, admittedly, is amazing but...)?


The 13" macbook pro should disappear and they should add the retina to the air. Nobody need a slightly higher processor clock. Benchmarks show that because the MBA has turbo frequencies similar to the rMBP 13 they perform basically the same.

The only difference beyond the screen is the air is lighter and has much better battery life.


The 15" pro gets the same battery life, has a better screen, is also very light (but no MBA light), and performance wise it totally eclipses the 13"..



As far a the OPs question


YES 4GB will work, but you want 8GB. I had 4GB in my MBA and it would've been nice to have 8GB. I certainly wasn't wondering why I payed the extra for the 4GB vs 2GB.

 

[smackababy]

I own both a 15" rMBP and a 13" macbook air you fool.


Just because you made poor decisions with the meager funds you had to buy a macbook, doesn't mean everyone else is that poor or that dumb.

How about this then troll: post a picture of both of your Macbooks side by side with a note containing your username. If not, instant troll.

And I'm sure your a millionaire... Are you alky's other account? I'd wager you drive an M3.

 

[TreVader]

If the put a retina screen on Air it would effectively kill the MBP. There is no way Apple would self cannibalize like that. I can see Apple moving to IGZO for next year's MBA to increase battery life even more but you are not getting a retina screen.

and you have your explanation right there. Nobody needs a 13" Pro if the Air has retina. It's superfluous. Even you admit the rMBP is pointless if the Air gets retina.

 

[TreVader]

How about this then troll: post a picture of both of your Macbooks side by side with a note containing your username. If not, instant troll.

And I'm sure your a millionaire... Are you alky's other account? I'd wager you drive an M3.

Hey how bout when I get home from work, and I do, you give me your password so I can delete your account you troll?


Put your money where you mouth is. Otherwise, shut up.


Lets keep it civil, both smackababy and TreVader.

-Apple Mod Aphex

 

[gus6464]

You stick the 13" rmbp screen on the Air and now that i7 ULV you are so enamored with won't be so hot. Iris 5100 is over 50% faster than the GPU's in the Airs. Now you need a 28w Intel part and battery life goes down to not so Air levels.

How hard is it to comprehend:

Air - ultraportable ultrabook with huge battery life
Pro - latop with very high res screen and good battery life

You stick one in the other and what you are left with is a machine that doesn't excel at anything unlike the current models.

 

[TreVader]

You stick the 13" rmbp screen on the Air and now that i7 ULV you are so enamored with won't be so hot. Iris 5100 is over 50% faster than the GPU's in the Airs. Now you need a 28w Intel part and battery life goes down to not so Air levels.

How hard is it to comprehend:

Air - ultraportable ultrabook with huge battery life
Pro - latop with very high res screen and good battery life

You stick one in the other and what you are left with is a machine that doesn't excel at anything unlike the current models.

Even if the Iris pro is 50% faster, it's driving 300% more pixels which makes it actually substantially slower.


The ULV i7 still can boost itself to the performance level of the regular wattage dual cores when under load. Also, Ultrabooks run windows and were created to compete with the MBA. The MBA is not an ultrabook.

The screen is a lot better, but if all you're doing is browsing and light load stuff (which is all a 13" rMBP is really good for anyway) what is the point? I get it crisp text, and if you NEED retina then fine, but if you want great battery life and the same performance, the air is by far the better laptop. When they put a retina in the air, the 13" will sell so poorly they will discontinue it.

Photoshop and illustrator are the main reasons i got a rMBP, and those kinda need large amounts of pixels to work well. I don't know what you're running on a 13" rMBP that requires high rez and wouldn't run much much better on a 15"

 

[StinkyPinky]

Even if the Iris pro is 50% faster, it's driving 300% more pixels which makes it actually substantially slower.


The ULV i7 still can boost itself to the performance level of the regular wattage dual cores when under load. Also, Ultrabooks run windows and were created to compete with the MBA. The MBA is not an ultrabook.

The screen is a lot better, but if all you're doing is browsing and light load stuff (which is all a 13" rMBP is really good for anyway) what is the point? I get it crisp text, and if you NEED retina then fine, but if you want great battery life and the same performance, the air is by far the better laptop. When they put a retina in the air, the 13" will sell so poorly they will discontinue it.

Photoshop and illustrator are the main reasons i got a rMBP, and those kinda need large amounts of pixels to work well. I don't know what you're running on a 13" rMBP that requires high rez and wouldn't run much much better on a 15"

Man, the Air does NOT have the same performance as the MB Pro. The Pro has a faster SSD, faster CPU, and a superior GPU.

Plus you overlook the importance of the screen to a lot of people. What device do you spend 100% of the time looking at? Answer: The screen. So since you use it 100% of the time, wouldn't it make sense to get a good one?

No one is suggesting the 13" MB Pro comes anywhere close to the performance of a 15" MB Pro with a dedicated GPU, but you are paying for that performance and not everyone requires that level of performance. My 13" MB Pro only needs to run virtual machines and it does that nicely. The faster SSD helps and the ability to ramp up the resolution also helps.

People have different requirements for different things. If the MB Air had a better screen, then I may have got the i7 version of that. But it doesn't, and I'm willing to sacrifice some battery life and portability for a better display (and let's face it, the 13" Mb Pro is still quite light and still has excellent battery life). It's not like carrying around a 13" MB Pro is going to tire you out.

 

[gus6464]

It's like trying to explain something to brick wall...

 

[Tweak155]

Snip

The 15" pro gets the same battery life, has a better screen, is also very light (but no MBA light), and performance wise it totally eclipses the 13"..

Snip

It also eclipses it in pricing.

 

[Eug]

If the put a retina screen on Air it would effectively kill the MBP. There is no way Apple would self cannibalize like that. I can see Apple moving to IGZO for next year's MBA to increase battery life even more but you are not getting a retina screen.

Guaranteed the ultralights will get Retina. It's not a matter of "if" but "when". No guarantee that the next ultralight will be an Air though. It may be a completely new form factor.

BTW, your argument is the same one why Apple would never put a G4 in a 12" laptop, until they did. To put it another way, Apple has done this sort of thing time and again for eons, when the time was right. And now, the time is right. Given that even $399 iPad minis have Retina screens now in 2013, the MacBook line is ripe for increased Retinafication in 2014.

 

[TheStu]

Guaranteed the ultralights will get Retina. It's not a matter of "if" but "when". No guarantee that the next ultralight will be an Air though. It may be a completely new form factor.

BTW, your argument is the same one why Apple would never put a G4 in a 12" laptop, until they did. To put it another way, Apple has done this sort of thing time and again for eons, when the time was right. And now, the time is right. Given that even $399 iPad minis have Retina screens now in 2013, the MacBook line is ripe for increased Retinafication in 2014.

Exactly.

Just because the MacBook Air may never get a retina display doesn't mean that there won't be a retina display in a lighter class machine. Though with as thin and light as the rMBPs are gettings, I wonder what Apple'll do. Return of the plastic?

 

[smackababy]

Exactly.

Just because the MacBook Air may never get a retina display doesn't mean that there won't be a retina display in a lighter class machine. Though with as thin and light as the rMBPs are gettings, I wonder what Apple'll do. Return of the plastic?

I think eventually, the 13" rMBP will become the 13" and they might introduce a 12" MacBook Air with an IPS (although not retina) screen as the only Air line up. I wouldn't have a problem with the Air's if they had an IPS even at their resolution. That TN just doesn't look good in store when you have the rMBP to compare it to. And for the small increase in price, the slightly larger form factor, and a bit less battery life, it is worth it IMO.

 

[Eug]

I likely will not buy another Mac laptop until it is both Retina and ultralight.

 

[raildogg]

The rMBP 13" weighs 3.46 lbs. and the MBA 13" weighs 2.96 lbs. That's barely noticeable. And the thickness isn't really that big a deal. A tenth or so of an inch isn't a big difference, to say the least.

There might be a couple of hours extra battery life on the MBA 13" but when you're talking about 11 hours vs. 8 hours, it isn't that big a deal (to repeat).

 

[manly]

The rMBP 13" weighs 3.46 lbs. and the MBA 13" weighs 2.96 lbs. That's barely noticeable. And the thickness isn't really that big a deal. A tenth or so of an inch isn't a big difference, to say the least.

There might be a couple of hours extra battery life on the MBA 13" but when you're talking about 11 hours vs. 8 hours, it isn't that big a deal (to repeat).

I wouldn't say half a pound is barely noticeable, that's subjective. As an unrelated example, iPad 3 was a bit thicker and heavier than iPad 2, but for many that bulk/heft was a showstopper. Not everybody is built like an NFL linebacker.

I'd agree about the "all day" battery being somewhat overkill, unless you're a workaholic with infrequent access to AC power. Most people are lucky to get 2 hours out of an average laptop battery (not brand new) so 8 hours is fantastic.

 

[JAG87]

Not everybody is built like an NFL linebacker.

Umm, I think it's more like "unless you have muscular dystrophy" half a pound (or a 16.6% difference in weight if that helps you put it into context) is pretty irrelevant. But hey just look at where laptops were 10 years ago, when the average laptop was 5-6 pounds. At this point complaining that a laptop weighs 3.5 vs 3 pounds is becoming pretty ridiculous.

 

[StinkyPinky]

I wouldn't say half a pound is barely noticeable, that's subjective. As an unrelated example, iPad 3 was a bit thicker and heavier than iPad 2, but for many that bulk/heft was a showstopper. Not everybody is built like an NFL linebacker.

I'd agree about the "all day" battery being somewhat overkill, unless you're a workaholic with infrequent access to AC power. Most people are lucky to get 2 hours out of an average laptop battery (not brand new) so 8 hours is fantastic.

Depends on the person I guess. I'm 5'11" and in pretty good shape, so carrying half an extra pound is nothing to me. I'd rather have the extra power and superior screen.

I really cannot think of many situations where half a pound is going to be a problem for any healthy human being.

 

[Eug]

Half a pound makes a noticeable difference. I'm not in tip top shape now, but it made a difference when I was exercising and weightlifting regularly too.

 

[JAG87]

Half a pound makes a noticeable difference. I'm not in tip top shape now, but it made a difference when I was exercising and weightlifting regularly too.

You must curl 5 lb dumbells then, no offense.

I'm not the strongest person in the world, but if I was blindfolded I would not even be able to tell which is which unless I was holding them both at the same time one in each hand.

 

[Eug]

You must curl 5 lb dumbells then, no offense.

Heh. Whatever you wish to believe, if it suits you.

I'm not the strongest person in the world, but if I was blindfolded I would not even be able to tell which is which unless I was holding them both at the same time one in each hand.

Well, in actual experience, I find it pretty easy to notice the difference for 1 lb.

However, I have an old shoulder injury too.

 

[JAG87]

Heh. Whatever you wish to believe, if it suits you.


Well, in actual experience, I find it pretty easy to notice the difference for 1 lb. However, I have an old shoulder injury too.

Well for 1 pound yes, I agree with you. We're talking half a pound here.

And I was just kidding about the dumbells of course.

 

[Eug]

Well for 1 pound yes, I agree with you. We're talking half a pound here.

And I was just kidding about the dumbells of course.

I also notice the difference between my 5 lb MacBook and my 4.5 lb MacBook Pro.

BTW, I also have a 3 lb Windows laptop, and it does feel noticeably lighter than the new 3.5 lb 13" MacBook Pro. Once you get used to a sub 3 lb laptop, everything significantly over 3 lbs feels heavy.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think the new 13" MBP is massively heavy, and in fact if I had to buy today, that is what I would buy. However, it's just not absolutely ideal for my wants, and I'm more than willing to wait another generation to see what pops up, hoping for a rejig of the Air line with Retina, or something to that effect.