Which MacBook should I get?

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ACE_350

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I'm in the market for a new laptop, and after going through many Windows laptops I've decided to go ahead and pay the premium for a quality laptop, so treating myself for Christmas I'm going to be grabbing a MacBook. Question is, which one?

I've owned them in the past, from a PowerBook G4, BlackBook Core 2 Duo, and a 2008 Aluminum Macbook Pro 15" .. right before they switched to unibody designs, I still think to this day MacBooks make the best laptops, I've had dozens of Windows laptops inbetween that time frame and none of them just compare.

I'm mostly going to be using the computer for web, emails, and light multimedia, also some productivity with documents. It won't really be used for any kind of video editing or gaming. Some portability would be nice, so I'm thinking the MacBook Pro 13" or 15" .. problem is, the 15" is so much more expensive then the 13" ... Or should I take a look at the MacBook Air? Problem is, while the SSD is nice, its not going to fit my iTunes library which is one thing I want in the MacBook as well. I think with the light usage I'd be giving it I'm not really sure if I want to go with a SSD, and I could always put my own SSD in it at some point in time.

I use a windows custom desktop I've built and it's still going to be my main machine, this is going to serve as a personal laptop that will be sitting in my bedroom as opposed to my PC in my den, and given the chance, I'd be able to take it on the road with me.

Any input or advice?
 
The jump $ from 13" to 15" is pretty substantial, though the main selling point with it would be that it comes with a discrete GPU, but you aren't gaming or video editing, so that's moot.

I think base 13" pro hits the sweet spot due to it's upgradability. It's what I currently own maxed out at 16GB ram, and 240SSD with 500gb HDD moved to the optical bay.

Have you looked at the 11" Air? I love the form factor of it....

So I think it really comes down to the 13" Air vs 13" Pro for you. If you are doing a lot of travelling, why not the 13" Air?

13" Air - Pros:
Higher Resolution 1440 x 900
More compact

13" Air - Cons:
Can't be upgraded
Limit to storage capacity
Less Computing power (though this is probably negligible)
No optical drive (though whether this is a con, is up in the air)
Due for a refresh
More expensive

13" Pro - Pros:
Upgradeable
Cheaper
Optical drive (again, debatable)
More processing power

13" Pro - Cons
Lower resolution Display 1200 x 800
Heavier
Due for a refresh, probably with Haswell.

I will say though that the HD4000 is no slouch. I can run most games I want to play with little effort, it's just the MBP gets a little warm.

If you have a large media library, you can always lug it around in an external hard drive, or USB thumbstick...other wise if it's just music iTunes match also works, or you can just enable home sharing from your main rig.

Given the choice again, I am happy with the 13" MBP. While I do love the form factor of the Air and how thin it is, I just needed a little more juice for myself to do medium gaming.
 
13" Macbook Air, no question. With the standard SSD it feels faster than the 13" MBP, and of course it is much thinner and lighter. It also has a better display than the standard 13" MBP.

The Retina 13" MBP is another option, but IMHO at that price you might as well spend a bit extra and get the 15" version, but that is probably overkill for what you intend on using the notebook for.

The only machines I don't like right now are the Fatbooks. IMHO they don't offer anything over the MBA or rMBP outside of larger storage, and at that point I'd rather just get an external drive if you want to carry your iTunes library with you. iCloud is always an option if you don't want to be plugged in.

I dunno, the tradeoff in speed, size, weight, and display quality don't seem worth it to me going to one of the Fatbooks, but if it is that important then it is always an option. If I were you I'd be trying to find a way to make the 13" MBA work.
 
I second the MacBook Air nomination. It fits all of the use cases you outline.

Your iTunes library is going to be an issue though, depending on how large it is. You might want to look into iTunes Match so you can just play all your music from iCloud, eliminating the need for local storage; or you might want to look into some sort of iTunes NAS server; or just prune down your library. It's really tough to say what you should do here without more information on just how large your iTunes library is and what it contains.
 
Xan433 said:
I'm mostly going to be using the computer for web, emails, and light multimedia, also some productivity with documents. It won't really be used for any kind of video editing or gaming. Some portability would be nice, so I'm thinking the MacBook Pro 13" or 15" .. problem is, the 15" is so much more expensive then the 13" ... Or should I take a look at the MacBook Air? Problem is, while the SSD is nice, its not going to fit my iTunes library which is one thing I want in the MacBook as well. I think with the light usage I'd be giving it I'm not really sure if I want to go with a SSD, and I could always put my own SSD in it at some point in time.
Click to expand...

13" MacBook Air is definitely the best machine for you. You'll quickly get used to less SSD space at the benefit of lightning responsiveness. You can get external USB 3 hdd for rarely accessed files.

See:
www.thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-laptop/
www.thewirecutter.com/leaderboard/laptops/
 
I agree with Ultraman7, he has given comprehensive detail and analysis of all books.
 
Another vote for the MB Air. Seems perfectly suited for what you plan on doing with a laptop.

I'm holding out for the 13" MBP Retina with Haswell.
 
The macbook air 13" can be configured with a 512GB drive. This is a formidable and very portable machine with good battery life. If you really need more storage than that I would look at external and go with that 13" air anyway.

Myself I needed the GPU so I went 15" pro. It's a big machine.
 
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