Macbook air or pro

[Soumodeep Saha]

Hi , I am a Computer Science student , I want to buy a laptop , basically for reading , writing , programming , Internet browsing and few movies and music . Please suggest me whether i should go for macbook air or pro .

 

[Warukyure]

Which pro are you considering? The base Pro with the i5, 4 GB RAM, Optical drive, 500 GB HDD? or the Retina Pros?

Is this going to be your main computer or do you have another computer with more power for heavier tasks?

There are much better options for the price you're willing to pay for an apple, but if you're for sure set on apple then if its going to be your main computer get the MacBook Pro. The Base model has a decently powered i5, and it has more internal storage compared to the other models if you want to download your music and movies instead of streaming. Otherwise the retina macbook pros have a really nice screen, have the newer more efficient i5s and have 8 GB of RAM, downside is they only come with 128 GB flash to start with.

If you have a desktop or another more powerful computer to do work on then get the Macbook air. I am actually typing this out on my 13" MacBook air. Its light, easy to carry around, decent battery life, decent screen resolution (the 13" is 1440x900), while storage is a bit on the low side (128 GB and I like to download some movies, legally) its still more than enough. But if I ever need to do things like gaming, converting video and etc, I'll always have my desktop. Would not really recommend a MacBook Air as a main computer.

 

[Ijack]

I want to buy a laptop , basically for reading , writing , programming , Internet browsing and few movies and music.

Are you looking to specifically target iOS or OS X with your programming? If not the answer may be "Neither".

 

[Soumodeep Saha]

@warukyre
Well i have one desktop and one laptop , both are quiet old , i will be replacing my compaq's laptop with a new one which i have been using it for 6 years now .
My desktop is intel core 2 duo and 4 gb ram , which i will soon be upgrading soon. Right now i dont need macbook anything other than reading , typing , movies and programming.
And considering you are a macbook user can you please tell me if u can download file with more than 4 gb because its not ntfs .

 

[Soumodeep Saha]

@ijack
Well i have two devices which run windows so kinda looking for a different device , i am impressed with the macbook's battery life and diplay so i am looking forward to the macbook

 

[Ijack]

Well, if the display is an important feature - and as money seems to be no object - the MacBook Pro would seem to be the best option. Also, you mention large files (which are no problem on OS X) so you will want to go for the largest amount of storage. Again, this points to the MacBook Pro.

 

[Warukyure]

The Mac is able to handle files larger than 4 GB. If you're wanting to transfer 4 GB files or larger all you have to do is convert the USB stick to exFAT format instead of FAT32 or NTFS which the macs really can't handle.

If you're gonna be getting a newer desktop anyways. I would suggest go with the MacBook Air since you're going to be taking it with you a lot, light, and longer battery life will be important to you. From the things you do you'll hardly stress the laptop.