MacBook Pro without retina display, or MacBook air?

By Brie96, 11 January, 2014

Forum
Apple Hardware and Compatible Accessories

Hello,
As an early graduation present, my family is purchasing a mac for me. However, I'm not sure what one to get. From what I've read, the MacBook Air is more portable, but the pro is more powerful. Pricing is not really an issue because, although I am in high school, my classes are at the local community college, so technically I am elligible for the education discount, which takes 200 dollars off the price of the pro's and 50 dollars off the airs. So I thought the pro would be a good option because it is priced at 1199, and with the discount it would be the same original price as the MacBook Air. However, I discovered that the MacBook Pro without retina display is a little more outdated than both the air and pro with retina display. I don't exactly want to spend the extra $100 for the one with retina display, as I have not usable vission.
In short, I'm wondering if it is worth it to get the pro, even though it's a bit out of date, or if I should get the MacBook Air, simply because it is up to date.
Thank you so much for any help.
Brie

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Comments

By Rat on Wednesday, January 8, 2014 - 20:37

If I were you I'd go for the MacBook air, I have one and it really is plenty fast enough for what most people need. Granted I added some options to mine, I increased the ram a little, but it's still almost a standard machine. Since you plan to use this for college the air might be better as it gets way longer battery life, my 13 inch air gets anyware from 9 to 12 hours on a full charge.

By Serena on Wednesday, January 8, 2014 - 20:37

hi. though i've never purchased a mac, and i am not sure if i ever will, from looking at the stats and performance information of current mac airs, i'd say to get an air. they are actually quite good in performance, and if you have a little extra cash, you can have one that has a bit more ram and things to help boost it. the old macbook pro without retina is out of date, slow, and heavy compared to the air. plus, as the previous poster said, the battery life on the new air 13 inch is mind blowing, especially for a laptop computer.

By John W. hess on Wednesday, January 8, 2014 - 20:37

Good morning Brie. I have the Mack book Air and love the thing. It's the 11 inch and I did max it out with 512 GB SSD drive 8GB ram and the 2 GHZ processor. I use this for audio work, and productivity such as word processing and spreadsheets. it's small, fast, and yest the battery lasts quite a long time. it would be a fantastic tool for you to have as a college student. Also, Apple's productivity software has come along way in accessibility and is quite usable.

By Brie96 on Wednesday, January 8, 2014 - 20:37

Thanks guys for the responses. Battery life is really important. I guess then it's probably best to go with the MacBook air, Especially if the regular MacBook Pro truly is slower. I wwill for sure be using it for wordprocessing, I also plan to be a music major and I'm assuming I will need it for things like garage band. I wish apple had updated the pro though.

By Chelsea on Wednesday, January 8, 2014 - 20:37

Keep in mind that Apple offers education discounts to students or people associated with schools. Also, depending on when you may need the Mac, you might be able to get in with the back-to-school promotion, usually starting around July. I personally have a MacBook air, love the thing for its weight, size, and portability, and find it very difficult to go back to spinning hard drives.

By Usman on Wednesday, January 8, 2014 - 20:37

Actually, the regular mac book pro has been discontinued. the new mac book pro with retina has been updated with the new crystalwell chips. I opted for the pro with retina display for the processor power, and graphic power. Not to mention the battery life for the pro isn’t too shabby either.