If I got paid a dollar for everytime I’ve gushed over my MacBook Air to someone I’d be independently wealthy. I freakin’ love my MacBook Air and I truly believe it is the best notebook every created. You can, of course, read my 1o reasons why as well (if you need a refresher).
And if there was an affiliate program I’d be even more wealthy since I’ve convinced a number of you to drop some serious coin on this notebook as well. The thing is that I’ve never heard a single response back from anyone regretting the purchase! Winning.
I mean… shoot, it does everything I need, ever since the first generation and I have almost nothing negative to say about it!
But after watching Monday’s WWDC event and when they announced the release of the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display and the fact that it has reduced it’s form factor to be incredibly close to that of the Air I knew that I would (again) be sucked into the machine and see if it was truly worth my hard earned green.
After some healthy discussion with one of my startup teams and seeing 2 of them instantly buy it the announce day I rolled it over in my head for a few days and eventually decided that I would pull the trigger:
I promised myself that I would go in and at least put it in my hands, roll it for a test drive, and if the form factor ultimately was too large for me to handle then I could easily return it. Apple’s return policy is great so I’d have nothing to lose, right?
(How likely would that be once I played with it? Sheesh. I’m such a sucker.)
It is worth noting explicitly that my biggest concern was in fact that form factor and the weight – I wanted to know if it was going to be worth the hassle of walking around with a 15″ instead of a 13″. Remember, there’s not just a size difference but a weight difference!
Here’s a short clip showing my concern:
[tentblogger-vimeo 44100126]
But regardless, I decided to pull the trigger (again, because of the return policy). I purchased it yesterday early morning with a custom config and headed to the store later that day to play around with it, bringing my MacBook Air so that I could directly compare the two side-by-side.
The important configuration points are as follows:
- 2.7GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7
- 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
- 512GB Flash Storage
I opted to upgrade the processor to the largest option, the memory to a whopping 16GB, but not go crazy on the harddrive. Otherwise it’s nearly completely maxed out.
When I landed in one of my local Apple Stores I proceeded to spend more time than reasonably necessary taking a lot of pictures of the two machines together.
Here are some of my thoughts with respective images:
The retina display has been an incredible marketing point for this new iteration of their celebrated line. I can’t even tell you how many times during my stay I overheard one of the employees say something to the affect of:
Isn’t the new retina display absolutely gorgeous?
Looks like they were paying attention to the keynote announcement, right? Over and over again in the keynote they would use the words “gorgeous,” “impressive,” “stunning,” and a host of other synonyms.
I wanted to really see if it was as true as they were advertising.
I’ll be honest, I’m very much a skeptic by nature but I tested it around and it is very impressive. I downloaded a few HD videos and tested the different display modes. The text is incredibly rich and it is like reading print on the screen.
[tentblogger-vimeo 44100346]
Really cool, right? The text and images scale from the large to the very small but what you won’t see is any pixelation. Incredibly technology!
I’m not easily amazed but I was here. The hype appears to be dead-on. But that’s not why I bought the machine! I wanted to know more about the form factor.
The following images showcases a direct comparison between the MacBook Pro and my lovely MacBook Air:
The front was the biggest difference since it’s tapered on the MacBook Air. Not that big of a deal though although if you look at it from a horizontal plane you couldn’t tell that there was a Pro in the back:
You can see this difference here better:
This was awkward, but I decided to stack three of the machines together to see from the top and bottom perspective:
As you can imagine I got more than a few odd stares and I could tell one employee wanted to ask me what the heck I was doing.
I just acted very casual like every customer does this type of weird stuff…!
The next was comparing the screens:
Very slim screen for the Pro. Not too bad at all.
Now, the form factor difference in body:
Not too much larger! I was pleased with this as it felt comfortable moving back to a 15″ and I didn’t feel that it would swamp my lap or my desk at home.
I picked it up a few times as well, comparing the weight – this is probably the biggest change since the Pro is exactly 1.5 pounds heavier. This was definitely noticeable and I wasn’t too thrilled with that since I enjoy walking around with my Air everywhere and not noticing it’s weight.
But perhaps I could overlook that…
Love that last view!
What I came away with is a feeling that the increased form factor wouldn’t be as threatening as I first thought and that I could most likely deal with the larger frame and just suck it up about the weight difference.
Blogging…?!
Of course, I naturally have to say something about it’s usefulness for blogging and that answer is pretty easy: It’s not worth it, especially at a starting price of over $2,000. My config was way higher than that!
Do you need this machine for blogging exclusively? Obviously not! And it’s not as portable to boot. If blogging was your chief motivation than an 11″ Air or the 13″ Air will do just fine. I would save my money otherwise.
But if you’re interested in using it for advanced photography, media, and more then that might be a good jump. I’ll leave that decision to you.
When my order comes in I’ll let you know how it works with my flow and process!
How about you? Your thoughts? Will you be getting one? Did I change your opinion at all?
You made the MacBook’s SPOON each other? You have no shame.
Thanks for the great review. I would love to have one, but I can’t justify it. My three year old MacBook still works, so I have some time to think about whether to go with this beauty or the MacBook Air when replacement becomes necessary. Luckily having an iMac I won’t be under pressure even then.
I want one. For all the graphics work, and a bit of video/motion graphics stuff, I need a powerful portable machine. And being that my only machine right now is my iMac, this is the next logical step.
Great review John!
I want one badly!
Can’t afford it though. Will start saving from my web jobs!
Enjoy it man I Have heard awesome things about it, minus the fact you can’t upgrade it yourself any longer.
Looks good. I wam waiting for some more reviews of the new macbook air before I make a decision (and waiting on my wife to say it is ok to buy one of them.)
Screen is great, but really I want to know the difference in processing power between the new airs and the macbook pros.
If the extra $1000 to max out both is only 10% in processing power then I am going with the air. But if it is a significant difference I might go with the pro.
An extra $1000 is almost enough to buy another air in a year or two.
I ordered one. I’ve got a 13″ pro now (couldn’t afford the air at the time) and it’s ok but I really miss the dedicated graphics. The Airs look awesome, but the added wait of the pro is a good tradeoff for the graphics chip as I seem to need it for quite a bit of photo/video/games/etc.
Great post. I was struggling with the decision as well, went to the store and compared as you did (well, not stacking 3 on top of each other).
My conclusion? I ordered a 13″ Macbook Air with 8G ram. More than sufficient for what I need from a computer and couldn’t justify nearly doubling the cost for a ‘gorgeous’ monitor. It was impressive though…
I really want one. I do quite a bit of designing, video and audio. The MB Air I have falls short sometimes in those areas.
I had to purchase the air because I couldn’t afford to go with the Pro again after I killed my last one with tea (Yes… I feel very stupid
). And of course all of these things are more expensive here in Canada.
But, alas, I will not be getting one. At least not soon. Cost is the biggest issue. I have to stop doing free web sites for people!!
Thanks for making me feel covetous with your review. Now I’ve gone and sinned. LOL. J/K.
Thanks for the review man! Awesome as always.
I am more so interested in how the display holds up for normal tasks youtube, viewing web pages and also programs not made for retina. I just recall all the issues with the retina on the iPhone and how so many apps looked horrible because they were not updated to use retina display yet. Did you notice any issues like that when messing around with the MBP Retina at the apple store?
Now you know you can’t just write an article like this, show all these pictures and then ask the question “are you getting one,” knowing full well that I’ll be there the MINUTE I get off work, hahaha.
I’ll think about it, but, I think I’ll take my trip to the Apple store to, ahem, just look around!
Thanks for the detailed comparison John!
I’m really hoping that these machines come down in price in the same way as the original MacBook air came down in price. That way they’ll be much more affordable in a few years!
I want one real bad. But not $2,500 real bad. I’d rather get a couple Airs hahaha!
Don’t get upset… I’m still on an HP laptop…
Once I either start to pay for internet or get a good free signal, then I think I will try out a Mac. Until then, it’s my 17inch HP laptop getting powered by the internet I get on my phone… One 16 dollars charge for the connection. Compared to the 60 dollars most people spend on internet every month, I’d say I have saved 700 dollars already. Another year like this and I’ll be able to buy a new Mac with the money I saved.. hmm Got my mind wheeling now about a Mac
I am tempted. I am going to try one at the Apple Store. I just doubt it’s worth it for me, since, increasingly, I am focused on JUST writing. Thanks for a great review.
I work with audio and music, and coming from the drool factor, I. WANT. ONE.
My only problem is this: you can’t upgrade the thing. According to iFixit (link: http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Pro-with-Retina-Display-Teardown/9462/ ) everything is either soldered or glued to the frame (including the battery). So, if something breaks, you take the whole smash in. If you want an upgrade, well, tough luck cuz it’s all hardwired in.
To me, that stinks. I don’t need 16GB of RAM now, but I’d like the option of maxing out later. Or if you get a bum battery (I had one once…) you can’t just swap the thing out.
Now, outside of that, the thing would rock my socks off using that onstage for Reason/Live or recording/mixing.
Oh boy, now I have Apple Envy…
I just got my first MBP only 2 months ago. Love it!! I think it will be a while for me before I get another notebook…maybe.
Dont laugh guys, but Im still kickin it with my Power Book G4. The damn thing just wont give up. Yes it chugs along but i dont replace things until they break. However, after seeing this, it made me think about finally ditching the dinosaur. The only draw back (at least for me) is the lack of a bigger HD and a Superdrive. I edit a lot of family videos, and as a bedroom DJ mix a lot of music using Serato. That being said, people are always wanting the media on a disc. So I do have the need to burn a ton of dvds and cds. I also need a ton of room for video and music files. If it had those options, I’d buy it in a second, but since it doesnt so maybe i might end up getting the previous version of the Pros. …..and yes i know, i could easily hook up a burner to the thing, but i dont like clutter, and having an external burner just seems so 90s. lol. Any thought or suggestions?
I’m about half way there in savings to buy the MacBook Air. It’s something I’ve wanted, John, since reading your posts about it and getting a writer friend’s recommendation. The Pro is more than I need, but it sure is beautiful. I’ve been using an iBook G4 since 2005. It keeps on ticking, but the Air will soon be mine to help celebrate my blog’s first year.
I am so glad I bought MBAir a week ago, before i read your article and knowing that i made the right choice.
I decided that i wanted to blog seriously after reading Jeff Goins book ‘You are a writer’ and invested in an MBAir 11″ and promised myself I’ll be a pro blogger, or at least a tentblogger lol.
i absolutely love love this baby, it’s like falling in love with Mac/Apple for the first time again. (It’s my 5th mac)
In reply to your question you, you definitely changed my opinion. I literally and metaphorically can’t wait for your next blog setting out you own final decision re: retain or return the rMBP, as I have to order a machine today. I had it narrowed down to either a maxed out 13 Air or maxed out 15 rMBP. Like you, I think the air is fantastic and definitely hard if not impossible to better in relation to form factor and weight. I would say 80% of the time I don’t need the power of the pro, but I wondered if the tasks I currently undertake is in some way driven by / restricted by the fact that I don’t have the pro…? After seeing your incredibly compelling spooning pics, I think a slight increase in form factor and weight is worth the compromise on absolute portability. I’m looking forward to the newly unlocked potential and possibilities offered by the pro to enhance my workflow. I’ve been trolling you tube and the rMBA seems to perform most video and graphic labour intensive tasks at least twice as fast as the air…
Looking forward to hearing whether you decided to keep the rMBA and your reasoning for doing so, or otherwise…
Excellent post! was also a VERY devoted fan to my MacBook Air since 2 years and was just waiting for the upgrade to get a new-and-improved, fresh Air. After years on a Titanium then 15 and even 17 inches, I felt a lot lighter later with Air in my hands! Proportions and weight were perfect! Despite warnings, I was even heavily using Aperture & Photoshop, shaking the core 2 duo… imperfect-perfect, but for me, at the time, love and transportability were sooo much more important that pure efficiency.
Yesterday, I went to the Quebec city A-store, decided to take a breath of fresh 512/8Go Air and… ayaya, until I saw the Retina from my eyes.
Yes, I do admit, I am writing this post on a Retina.
I am currently actively getting used to the size of the wild beast… So far so good.
As for the extra weight, I think I’ll just leave the water bottle at home. Who needs to drink anyways, when retinas take over?
Just a question what’s that wire you attached to the MacBook Pro?? (besides the charging)
that was the security wire from the Apple Store.
I had my Macbook Air 2012 and love it! It’s just lighting fast, one bounce for every app, instead of something more than 7 bounces for my old MBP13.