Need Collective Advice... "Best" 13" MacBook for school/development

Greetings Everyone,

I purchased the 13" MacBook Pro is my signature almost 2 years ago, with the intention of using it for my graduate program and iOS development. I got the "high" configuration with the 'i7' and 500 GB hard disk drive. I ended up adding a VM to it as my school required several Windows only applications (such as Visio and Visual Studio), which uses by far the largest proportion of my hard drive. I have extrapolated that if my VM were to max its hard disk, I would be using just under 200 GBs of disk space (that includes OS X and the bundled apps), which means I need at least 256 GB of space for storage. My biggest "problem" with my current MBP is the relative low-res screen. 1280 X 800 is rather limiting when using programs like XCode and even my Windows VM. So, I would like to upgrade to a higher res display, which naturally leads to the 13" MacBook Air, with its better resolution. However, there is also the "new" 13" MacBook Pro with Retina display, which could offer even better resolution. I am curious about the collective opinions of the folks in this forum on which 13" MB is the "best" for school (only about 5 months left) and development work. I know that I would need to get the configurations that offer 256 GB and 8 GBs of RAM at the minimum. I was eyeballing the base 15" with Retina as it seems to match the other two upgraded options, but I think that it would be too big. My MBP is my travel and 'go-to' device for portability and use on the "couch" as I have a larger Alienware that does my heavy lifting. Thanks in advance!

Rich S.

 

The 13" rMBP is great and smaller than the Air, but it all depends if you want to spend the money.

 

I'm not a fan of 13" MacBook Pros, this includes the standard and Retina models. I too purchased the Core i7 version of the 13" MBP back in 2011 but, after having it for 6 months and alter selling it, I thought the unit demanded too high of a price for what it offered. I feel the same way regarding the retina 13" MBP. The 256GB version of the 13" rMBP is quite expensive yet the hardware isn't anymore powerful than whats in the standard 13" MBP. The display is nice but I don't think that demands such a premium price hike.

That leads me to the MacBook Air. As I said, I had the same MBP as you but sold it and purchased a mid-2011 13" MacBook Air instead (along with AppleCare, a SuperDrive, bluetooth Apple keyboard, Magic Trackpad, plastic cliq dock for the keyboard and trackpad, and a 1TB external hard drive). Unlike the 13" MBP series (retina and standard), the MBA is more competitively priced and offers a lot compared to the competition. I like the higher resolution display better and it isn't as glossy as the 13" MBP, it is a lot lighter and thinner, the battery life is great, and the performance is about the same. I do a lot of MATLAB programming under a Windows 7 virtual machine using Parallels 7. Despite my MBA having "only" 4GB of RAM (my MBP had 8GB), I haven't noticed any slowdown. My macros, which all contain at least 2,000 lines of text referencing other 2,000 line macros and over 100 Excel files with over 100,000 data entries, still run just as quickly as on my MBP. The only aspect where my MBA falls behind is with video encoding. It takes about 50 minutes to rip and convert a DVD to an mpeg-4 AVC video file whereas my MBP could do that in 35-40 minutes.

The only real thing I don't like about my MBA is that it doesn't have USB 3.0 but Apple fixed that with the 2012 models. You can buy a small external USB 3.0 hard drive and the read and write speeds would be just as fast as having a secondary internal HDD. I have a 2TB Western Digital portable hard drive. It's aluminum like my SuperDrive and MBA, its USB 2.0/3.0 (though I only get USB 2.0 speeds on my MBA but I use it solely to store media so I don't need USB 3.0), and the drive set me back by only $130. That fits easily into my MBA slipcase and goes everywhere my notebook does. I did that with my MBP too since the 500GB internal hard drive was not enough to hold my media library (which is about 1.3 TB in size).

Edit: I don't know if I was perfectly clear. I highly recommend the 13" MBA. The 13" rMBP is nice but I don't think the hardware it runs (only dual-core processors with IGP, no GPU) justifies the high cost. The display is nice but, to me, that doesn't seem to be enough to justify the higher cost. The MBA paired with a USB 3.0 hard drive is a good combination. You'll even be able to install programs on the hard drive and they would load (almost) just as quickly as your current system. You can even upgrade the SSD in the MBA down the line if you don't want to spend the extra to get the 256GB model up front. Its nearly $700 for a 480GB drive but an aftermarket upgrade is still possible. That's $400 more than what the 256GB model costs over the 128GB MBA. OWC also offers aftermarket SSD upgrades for the rMBP.

 

What percentage of your time will you be spending in Visual Studio and Windows? What resolution are you seeking and what is your budget?

I have an array of Macs and PCs with some of the best screens on the market but a recommendation really needs more information to go on.

 

Hi Thors.Hammer,

Most of my time on the Mac will actually be in Xcode rather than Visual Studio. I need that for that school, and will be done in around 5 months, but plan on using the MacBook longer I had a 15" MacBook Pro several years ago with 1440 x 900 and that seemed OK, so that is probably my minimum screen res. As far as budget, I really don't want to go much over the $2199 of the base 15" or "maxed" 13" rMBP. Of course, If I can do it cheaper, that is cool too??

Hi Kornchild2000,

How does the keyboard of the MBA compare to the MBP? I have read that the keyboard is not as good on the MBA, and that the overall screen quality is higher on the MBP models vices the MBA? What are your thoughts on those? Thanks!

Rich S.

 

Like Korn, I am a big fan of the MBA. It is light, powerful, has good battery life, a decent 1440x900 screen, and now with the 8GB RAM option, plenty of RAM for a VM if needed. If/When it has a Retina screen, it will be perfect.

I have the 15" Retina MacBook Pro but it is a beast compared to the MBA. The MBA is an easier travel companion. If you need a quad core and more RAM, it is an excellent machine.

I also have a super slim and light magnesium chassis Samsung Series 9 NP900X3D. It is the machine I throw in the backpack when I don't need raw processing power and want something that is super thin and light. See Specs - Series 9 NP900X3D | Samsung Laptops for the specs. I upgraded the SSD to 256GB.

 

Those are two highly subjective things. Honestly, the best way to answer this would be to head to a Best Buy or Apple Store and try them yourself. Personally, I don't care for the shallower key travel and "semi-gloss" screen of the MBA, but the screen on the 13-inch Pro is worse both for resolution and glare. Still, I think the Air is the vastly better choice between it and a Pro of the same size.

 

Agreed. I actually don't have any issues with the MBA's shallower keyboard and kind of prefer it over my 13" MBP's. I wouldn't have really noticed that much of a difference between the two if I had the two next to each other at one point. I have no complaints in regards to display panel quality. Although the colors don't "pop" as much as on the 13" MBP, the higher resolution and lower amount of gloss more than makeup for that. I can use my MBA in my lab with fluorescent lighting and not have to constantly fidget with my display constantly moving it to adjust for the light. Not only that but, when light is shining on my MBA's display, it is still manageable whereas the glare on my MBP would bleed all over the glass.

 

I'd say if you run any kind of emulators on your Mac 8 GB is not going to be enough for Mountain Lion, either the air or retina will not allow you to upgrade anything beyond 8 GB, save yourself the money, get a MBP and get additional Thunderbolt display...

 

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the comments so far. Maxsquared, I use a single Windows 7 VM configured with 2 GBs of RAM which runs fine on my current 13.3" MBP with 8 GBs, so shouldn't it run just as well on the specified options? I don't run multiple VMs at a time. My MBP is my "go" laptop, and having to rely on an external display would tether me down :-(

I went to Best Buy yesterday and played with the display models of the MBA and rMBPs to get a feel for them. I didn't really notice much of a difference between the keyboards, but the the displays were a huge difference. The MBA looked washed out compared to the rMBPs, but the UI performance on the displays was vastly different. Bringing up Launchpad or Mission Control the frame-rate was noticeably slower. I played with the resolution slider to see how that impacts the UI, but the Display settings indicate that anything but "best" could impact performance. I tried it anyway, and didn't notice a difference in speed (but screen real-estate improved).

I like the idea of the MBA, but the washed out screen just looks bad, noticeably worse than my current MBP. I plan on making a trip to the Apple Store today, but am now also heavily considering the 15" rMBP, as its default configuration is only $200 more than the 13" rMBP, and has a faster CPU, and a beefier discrete GPU. I am just concerned with size. I had a 15.4" MBP in the past, and it is too big, as I really like the size of the 13". I'll post back later with an update! Thanks again!

Rich S.

 

the rMBP 15" is very nice.. and its noticeably smaller and lighter than a standard 15" MBP. I doubt you'd have a portability problem with it.

 

You could always split the difference and go with the 13-inch Retina.

 

Hi Everyone,

Thanks to all for your opinions. I always waffle a while when it comes time to make a major purchase such as this. I probably spent about an hour playing with the various options today, and ended up purchasing the Retina 15" MacBook Pro. Best Buy has them on sale this week, so the difference in price between the 'high' 13" rMBP and the 'low' 15" MBP was only $180, and I decided that it was worth it to get the faster CPU and dedicated video over the 13". I was a little concerned at the size difference, but so far the larger foot print does not seem to be an issue. I have a little less space on my laptop tray, but my external drive still fits. I am in the middle of restoring my applications, as I decide to not restore from my old Time Machine backup and do a "fresh" install So far, so good! Thanks again!

Rich S.