Macbook Air 12 inch VS Macbook Pro 13 inch

I would like to make a switch from windows to mac.
However, am having trouble trying to pick the right laptop for now.
As for windows, I can always run parallel desktop on a mac so I wouldn't be worried about that (if say I can't get used to using mac).

I'm actually quite interested in the new 12 inch Macbook but I would like ask;
- Intel Pentium M? (How's the performance on this as compared to Intel core i5)
- Is the in-build graphic good enough to run games? (Guild Wars 2, World Of Warcraft)
- How's the speed?
- Is it inconvenient to have one single USB port?
- Does the laptop get very hot as compared to Macbook Pro 13 inch?

 

The Core M is not for you if you want to do light gaming, and the real comparison should be the Air 13" vs the Pro 13"

I went with the Air, but the extra wattage on the Pro may be worth it for gaming.

 

Oh okay.
How is the air and what games do you play on it?
I liked the air but I really wanted the space (512GB).
I know both does not use cd drive (Idk who uses cd these days >_<).

 

Just a note, the integrated graphics may be powerful enough to run some worse looking games, but any more modern games are not going to run well on something like that. If gaming is important to you you should not be looking at a mac, they are probably the worse value for the money for gaming. Also watch out for things like the i7 u series processors. Those are way weaker than i7 hq or mq series as they are only dual core, and that's what apple uses in their "cheaper" laptops.

 

Don't buy a Macbook for gaming. Buy it for portability, build quality, and its OS.

 

Or you could hackintosh its OS

 

Well for gaming actually most of games are mmo rpg?
- Guild Wars 2
- World Of Warcraft
- Elder Scrolls Online
(Are these considered as heavy weight gaming?)

Was under the impression that heavy weight gaming is more like
- Need For Speed
- Grand Theft Auto
- Counter Strike
(Correct me if I'm wrong)

 

Elder Scrolls online has decent graphics. It's just in general gaming is not an enjoyable experience on an integrated graphics card, a dedicated one is way better, and Mac only has a few options for dedicated cards, and none of them are well priced.

 

WOW can also strain an integrated with the new expansions and some detail. ( have a cranky daughter because of it too )

 

Would just like to ask again.
Can Guild Wars 2 run on the new macbook 12 inch?

I ran diablo 3 before on a sony vaio Z3 and the laptop heated up to the point it damages the main board.
(Then again, been playing like 6 hours a day on it)

 

Look, in general if you want to game, you should look for a discrete card. Integrated can run some games, but its not an enjoyable experience playing everything on low settings at like 30fps all the time, (yeah yeah some game can run fine whatever) you'll have a much better experience with a discrete card.

 

the Z3 with the Core i5 2410M is still faster than the Core M .... but heat will be less for certain in the MB 12". so performance should be quite similar in many aspects.

 

I wouldn't even dare running GW2 on a Core M. While it's not as much of a CPU hog as it used to be, it's still one, add to that the integrated graphics and it definitely will not be smooth. That is also without taking into account the performance difference between the Windows and Mac client. The Mac version doesn't perform as well as the Windows one on similar hardware.

Overall the Pro 13 will give you slightly better performance with Guild Wars 2, but if I were to get a mac where I'd be playing GW2 at decent settings/performance, it'd be the retina 15" with the dedicated GPU.

 

Will you notice much of a difference weight and portability wise going for a 13 air over a 13 pro? Looking to buy my first mac, have no idea

 

Please make your own thread here or over in WNSIB and we can help you far better as we have no idea what you need it to do.

however in general, the Air is lighter HOWEVER it can also depend on what all accessories and cables you need to lug around as well. an example I use is my non Mac portable unit weighs more but I don't need to haul anything around with it for a full weekend. ( external drives, adaptors, a charger, case or sleeve, USB hub, etc )

 

We have three macbooks... older MB Air 13, new MB Air 11, and my MB Pro 15 Retina with discrete R9 processor. My rMBP 15 runs games great. For many games they run OK in Yosemite but MUCH better in Bootcamp on Win 8.1. The new little MBA 11 runs things like Portal 2 very well but would probably struggle with WoW or Guild Wars 2 unless you turned the graphics way down.

The bigger issue with the MB 12 to me is the lack of ports. These machines have small drives. I got the 1TB in mine but I have to run Yosemite and have enough room for a Windows Partition plus all the software I want to install and files I pack around. That means a smart person installs Steam or whatever on a portable drive so that has to be plugged in while you play games in addition to a mouse that you'll need, sometimes an Xbox 360 controller, and maybe a keyboard if you want. You will wind up having to but that extra port adapter that Apple sells and put a hub on it and then with all that stuff in it if your portable drive is self powered you might have trouble with it ejecting because all your peripherals are loading up the port too much or whatever.

I suspect if you want to do six hour sessions of GW2 or WoW, you're going to want a rMBP 13 or 15. You'd be happier with the one that has the discrete GPU but you'd be OK with the integrated graphics if you have reasonable expectations and are willing to spend a little time tweaking the settings right. You'll be happier running that stuff in Bootcamp. Many games I have seen have a wrapper/emulation layer by companies like Asper Media and are really running the Windows game in OS X. A game that runs 45 fps in Yosemite will run at 75 fps on the same machine in Windows. Therefore make sure you but a big enough SSD that you can lop off 100 to 200 GB of space for windows.

 

Guild Wars 2 requirements:

Mac Beta Minimum System Requirements

• Mac OS®X 10.7.X or later
• Intel® Core™ i5 or better
• 4 GB Ram or better
• NVIDIA® GeForce® 320M, ATI Radeon™ HD 6630M, Intel HD 3000 or better
• 25 GB available HDD space
• Broadband Internet connection
• Keyboard and mouse