MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro

[daisybuchannan]

I'm debating this too, so thanks for posting this!

For people with the air, how annoying/inconvenient is it not to have a cd drive?

[Deleted]

I just bought a Pro the other day. I did it because of the retina display. When I put them side by side, I thought the display was worth it. I take a lot of pictures, so I wanted a good display.

As far as not having a drive, the only way to get a drive is to get the 15" models. I have an old 15" macboook and it's so clunky and heavy. Not to mention they are expensive. I realized I hadn't used the drive in forever so it didn't scare me.

[koopa17]

Actually my MacBook Pro doesn't have a CD/DVD drive either. I miss that part only b/c my stupid car doesn't connect to my iphone or anything. But otherwise, I believe the air doesn't have as much storage and is a little slower. The latest MacBook Pros are really light already...personally I'd get the Pro again.

[Deleted]

By the way, if it wasn't clear in the post above, the 13" pro doesn't include a drive either.

[noodleskooze]

I have the Air, and I love it so far. When I go to work I have my purse, my work bad (with binders and laptop), my lunch, my baby in his infant seat, and his cooler with bottles to lug into the building, so having something light is AWESOME.

[underwaterrhymes]

I would tell you Pro and H would tell you Air.

I like the CD drive and having more storage.

He likes how lightweight his is and how much faster.

In a head-to-head contest either one would win depending upon what you're looking for.

[shauni27]

lurker chiming in--I have a 2011 13" pro and a 2012 13" air...the only difference other than weight for me is the lack of CD drive on the air. I hate not being able to pop in a DVD while on an airplane. But it is also super light, so it is, of course, the one I always take on a plane. If a 15" air has the drive, I would suggest that over the pro.

[BicycleBride]

I just bought a new Air about a month ago. I had a 2006 MacBook that had been dead a couple of years and since that time I had just been using my iPad. I bought it because after DS was born I suddenly had lots more photos and videos and managing and editing those was just getting to be too big a job for my iPad. If the CD drive aspect is what is holding you back, then you can always purchase a separate usb drive for less than $100. And if you find you need more memory, you can purchase an external hard drive. Although I thought that would be a big pain to have all those things separate, I actually like it that way to keep the computer light and thin. I don't know if you were considering the 11" model but I would just skip it and get the 13". 11" is quite a bit smaller and doesn't have a SD card reader which I use all the time.

[Redpoppy]

I got a pro because I needed more storage for photos. The flash drives in air made that prohibitively expensive. I like externals for backup but want pictures in my laptop.

[Deleted]

By the way, the Pro battery rocks. I was watching a movie and surfing the web and had 7+ hours.

[VillainV]

I have an 11" Air and H has the 13". We love them. They don't have a TON of storage, but both of us keep all of our important stuff (like photos) on external drives anyway. And the newer Airs have twice the storage of the ones we have.

They are SUPER light and easy to use. We have an external CD/DVD drive and almost never use it. It boots really fast because of the flash storage instead of spinning hard drive (not sure what the Pro has). Neither of us has ever had a single problem with our Airs in over 2 years.

[adhdfashion]

The Air isn't upgradeable. You are stuck with the hardware you get . So no new graphics card for you! Serious con. It has air flow issues and is prone to over heating. It is basically a netbook in power and performance. Get the Pro. You might be able to send your mac to be rebuilt. It costs about $350 and is gone for up to six weeks. They send it to India or some bs. We did that with H's 19 inch.

[Deleted]

I just saw this article on CNN that compares them. Worth a read when thinking about one over the other.

[Deleted]

Oct 30, 2013 12:37:12 GMT -5 VillainV said:

I have an 11" Air and H has the 13". We love them. They don't have a TON of storage, but both of us keep all of our important stuff (like photos) on external drives anyway. And the newer Airs have twice the storage of the ones we have.

They are SUPER light and easy to use. We have an external CD/DVD drive and almost never use it. It boots really fast because of the flash storage instead of spinning hard drive (not sure what the Pro has). Neither of us has ever had a single problem with our Airs in over 2 years.

The new Pros also have flash memory. Mine boots in about 9 seconds from being turned off.