MacBook Pro Air? Retina Display?

[Beef Oven!]

I am fed up with my laptop (even though I only bought it last year). It's great for surfing the net etc, but it could be better with my music library and my Apple Airport thingy. Also it doesn't talk much to my iPad and iPhone.

I think I'm going to buy a MacBook Pro. However, I notice that there is an Air version with no CD slot (a major issue, but perhaps not a show-stopper) and 'Retina display' (which comes at a premium).

I think I'm going to get a common or garden 13'' MacBook Pro with no Retina display. Am I missing something?

[MrGongGong]

I think I'm going to get a common or garden 13'' MacBook Pro with no Retina display. Am I missing something?

Works for me.
I've upgraded the HD to 1TB hybrid (8gb solid state) which has made a massive difference.
I still use the DVD drive for some things (I was contemplating replacing it with a second hard drive) so stuck with that.
The problem (for some of us!) with the Air is the lack of connectivity, not a problem for many users but a bit of a deal breaker for me as I want to be able to connect multiple controllers and external soundcards etc

[Beef Oven!]

Works for me.
I've upgraded the HD to 1TB hybrid (8gb solid state) which has made a massive difference.
I still use the DVD drive for some things (I was contemplating replacing it with a second hard drive) so stuck with that.
The problem (for some of us!) with the Air is the lack of connectivity, not a problem for many users but a bit of a deal breaker for me as I want to be able to connect multiple controllers and external soundcards etc

Thanks. I'm thinking of going for 750gb. Regarding the Air, connectivity isn't an issue for me, but it looks so flimsy (and no CD slot).

Btw, what is Retina Display anyway? I had it explained to me in the shop by the pleasant enough young salesboy, but his explanation was resplendent with loads of 'innits' double-negatives and 'you know what I means' that much of it was lost on me!

[Word]

The MacBook Pro with Retina display is a MacBook Pro without the optical drive but with a lovely high-DPI display (and solid-state drive) instead. It has the same, beefier CPU / GPU found in the regular Pro rather than the more energy efficient but slower combination found in the Air.

The high-DPI display means that instead of 1440 x 900 pixels on the 15" model, you have 2880 x 1800 in the same area, so text, icons, etc. are far crisper.
Probably best explained on Apple's website.

I have the 15" Retina MBP and couldn't go back to a standard display (or a mechanical HDD); everything else looks blurred by comparison.
(You can use just about any external optical drive, if you have a need for that.)

One minor thing to note; only the faster of the 15" (and none of the 13") Retina MBPs have discrete GPUs, so if you need the extra graphics processing power (for playing graphically-intensive games at high frame rates?) that would limit your choice.

[Dave2002]

Thanks. I'm thinking of going for 750gb. Regarding the Air, connectivity isn't an issue for me, but it looks so flimsy (and no CD slot).

Btw, what is Retina Display anyway? I had it explained to me in the shop by the pleasant enough young salesboy, but his explanation was resplendent with loads of 'innits' double-negatives and 'you know what I means' that much of it was lost on me!

We have one each of an Air (2011) and an MBP (2013).

The Air is great for people who want to take it around with them - the 11 inch version is so light. The sceeen is slightly smaller, which means more scrolling, and ours is only 128 Gbyte. The SSD memory is great - around 30 secs max startup from cold, but normally we don't bother, just wake the thing up - near instantaneous.

The Air is limited in connectivity - and if you want ethernet you need an adapter, but it's not really a deal breaker.
Similarly lack of a CD/DVD player isn't too big a problem. It is possible to get an external Superdrive - I have one - but it's never been unpacked! If you have other Apple machines you can simply share the CD/DVD player over a local network - works fine - though you have to take care you know whether to open the CD/DVD on the host machine or on the attached laptop.

I gather that the very latest MBPs are even lighter than previous, and converging towards the Air. My MBP has the Retina display, and consequently doesn't have an ethernet port. I don't see much point in having a hard drive in a laptop nowadays, and in any case the SSD drives are now up to 512 Gbytes, and costs are coming down quite rapidly. Fusion drives are quite good news in desktop iMacs and Mac Minis if more storage is required.

For external storage why not consider either the 2 or 3TByte Airport Extreme Time Capsule drive/routers/wireless base stations - see http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-802-11...irport+extreme though I'd reckon these might be updated fairly soon as currently they are only providing USB 2 support for attached drives.

I'd say that if you want to save money, the Air is a really good buy, and has the merits of being very light weight, but no Retina Display.
Having said that, my MBP is not quite maxed out, is an RD model with an i7 and 8 Gbytes of main memory.
I would recommend getting more memory if you do a lot of heavy duty work - though 8Gbytes is probably enough. "Future proofing" by going to 16 Gbytes is probably OTT.

The Retina Display is simply a very high resolution display - rather better than an HD TV in some models. It allows you to use smaller fonts and still be able to read them, which in turn means you can get more on the screen. This can be worth doing. The RDs are usually very much better than anything you get on Windows laptops.

I don't normally notice that the Air hasn't got an RD, but I did feel that since I was looking for a decent MBP laptop it was worth the extra. Some people claim that it really helps their vision - others don't notice. It very much depends how much money you have to throw at it, and what you want to do, and/or what you are used to doing. I'm probably not intending to buy another for several more years now. Sometimes the bundled price for higher spec machines is more interesting, and also the prices for current models tends to dip a bit before new releases. Also Apple sometimes upgrade during the year without a big fuss, so one month you may get a 256 Gbyte main memory, and the next month you might get 512 GByte for the same price. They also do this with "base" models, which may mysteriously get a spec improvement over a month or two.

Currently the pricing on a RD MBP is not too bad - see http://store.apple.com/uk/buy-mac/ma.../A&step=config

Not sure if this gets you what you want, but upgrading a bog standard (non RD) MBP to the same spec will cost more. I'd suggest using SSD memory and 8GBytes main memory - so you might just as well go for the RD MBP in the first place.

If you can live with 128Gbyte flash memory, the Air with 4Gbyte main memory is cheapest, but even upgrading it to 8Gbyte main memory keeps the price under £1k.

[Nick Armstrong]

I have the 15" Retina MBP and couldn't go back to a standard display (or a mechanical HDD); everything else looks blurred by comparison.
(You can use just about any external optical drive, if you have a need for that.)

I have an older MBP and love it. What you say about the Retina display is tempting but not enough to outweigh the fact that mine is one of the last 17" MBPs made. The size for me is perfect and I'm gutted that they've discontinued it. If there were 17" Retina MBPs being produced, I would have succumbed to temptation long before now. But as things are, especially after upgrading to Mavericks, I love my standard (non-glare) display MBP and dread it packing up.

Only if I travelled more would I get the Air.

(And yes - as a point of order on the OP - I don't think there is any such thing as a 'Macbook Pro Air' - it's the Pro or the slighter Air)

[MrGongGong]

I have an older MBP and love it. What you say about the Retina display is tempting but not enough to outweigh the fact that mine is one of the last 17" MBPs made. The size for me is perfect and I'm gutted that they've discontinued it. If there were 17" Retina MBPs being produced, I would have succumbed to temptation long before now. But as things are, especially after upgrading to Mavericks, I love my standard (non-glare) display MBP and dread it packing up.

Only if I travelled more would I get the Air.

OT question
is it worth 'upgrading' to Mavericks ?
I'm not sure that everything I use will work yet ?
(I know there were issues with Max/MSP etc)

[Nick Armstrong]

OT question
is it worth 'upgrading' to Mavericks ?
I'm not sure that everything I use will work yet ?
(I know there were issues with Max/MSP etc)

I just use standard Apple things plus one or two extras like VLC: the transition from 10.6 'Snow Leopard' direct to 10.9 'Mavericks' was totally glitch-free and has rejuvenated my computer (and allowed deployment of my Airport Express Xmas present) so I'm 100% in favour.

[MrGongGong]

I just use standard Apple things plus one or two extras like VLC: the transition from 10.6 'Snow Leopard' direct to 10.9 'Mavericks' was totally glitch-free and has rejuvenated my computer (and allowed deployment of my Airport Express Xmas present) so I'm 100% in favour.

Ok thanks

I don't really use Apple software much (apart from Mail and Safari)
so will dig a little first, maybe try it on another machine first

[Stunsworth]

Thanks. I'm thinking of going for 750gb. Regarding the Air, connectivity isn't an issue for me, but it looks so flimsy (and no CD slot).

Btw, what is Retina Display anyway? I had it explained to me in the shop by the pleasant enough young salesboy, but his explanation was resplendent with loads of 'innits' double-negatives and 'you know what I means' that much of it was lost on me!

The air has an all metal case, so I don't think it would be flimsy in use.

'Retina' display refers to the screen being a higher resolution that a standard laptop - it's around 300 dpi. The idea is that at that level the user can't see the effect of individual pixels (think of the 'jaggys' that are seen on normal displays).

[Stunsworth]

OT question
is it worth 'upgrading' to Mavericks ?
I'm not sure that everything I use will work yet ?
(I know there were issues with Max/MSP etc)

If you're using a laptop you should see an improvement in battery life - that's according to all the reviews, I don't have a Mac laptop myself (or at least not one I use any more), just a couple of Mac Minis. They upgraded without any problems.

[Beef Oven!]

Thank you all for all the information. Some excellent post-purchase stuff there too, so thanks again!

I actually went out before post #4 and bought a 500gb MacBook Pro without Retina display.

Sorting out my music library and enjoying the novelty of the new machine.

[Dave2002]

Ok thanks

I don't really use Apple software much (apart from Mail and Safari)
so will dig a little first, maybe try it on another machine first

I'm contemplating this - Mavericks upgrade - but mostly I don't think I need to upgrade yet, except perhaps for the Air which is mostly used by Mrs. D, and I think that would make it compatible with the Apple TV which is otherwise not getting much use. I am wondering whether to experiment with bootable backups before trying the Mavericks upgrade.

I'm not sure which is the best software for bootable backups - possibly Super Duper, but I hear tales of others.

[teamsaint]

Thank you all for all the information. Some excellent post-purchase stuff there too, so thanks again!

I actually went out before post #4 and bought a 500gb MacBook Pro without Retina display.

Sorting out my music library and enjoying the novelty of the new machine.

Ooh sounds lovely. Can I borrow it please?
I'll give it back.
Honest.

I love these tech threads. So many great new words and concepts.

[Beef Oven!]

Ooh sounds lovely. Can I borrow it please?
I'll give it back.
Honest.

I love these tech threads. So many great new words and concepts.

You takin' the mick?