Macbook Air vs. Macbook Pro

[Daniboy]

What are the advantages (or disadvantages) of having a Macbook Pro compared to a Macbook Air when DJing with softwares like Traktor?

Considering I'm buying a 13 inch screen Macbook.

Thanks.

[frankle]

Are you looking at the older style MacBook Pro 13" or the Retina?

If it's the older style MBP then the limitation is the traditional HDD that it comes with and the resolution of 1280x800. The Air comes with SSD and 1440x900 resolution.

If you're considering the Retina 13" then things get harder as you can scale the resolution to what you like, 1280x800 standard, 1440x900 or 1680x1050, and it comes with SSD as well.

Processing power between all of the models is quite similar so that shouldn't be a concern.

[Daniboy]

Are you looking at the older style MacBook Pro 13" or the Retina? And was it the MacBook Air 13" you were considering?

Sorry forgot about that, Non-Retina Macbook Pro 13" and Macbook Air 13", buying it new on apple store

[Purplebuddha]

just dish out the extra couple hundred and go with the macbook.
you'll avoid kicking yourself later, lol.

[deevey]

The advantages of the pro of course is you can update the Ram and Hard disk and batteries (third party) by yourself, at the expense of slightly less screen resolution and portability.

Personally given the choice, I'd go with a maxed out MBA these days over the 13' MBP which hasn't been updated in almost 2 years and likely to be phased out soon (new Macbook Models on the horizon in the next few months rumored).

The SSD alone in the MBA is likely to speed things up immensely for the likes of Ableton if you are planning something like that in the future, however for DJ tasks even a 5 year old Macbook Pro will do job fine.

Really down to your own preference, both will last 5+ years on the road if looked after, both will run software just as fast as the other, potential user upgrades are the real benefits of the Pro.

Oh and Buy Apple Refurbs. You'll can save a bundle, get full warranty and it will have been thoroughly checked by Quality control a second time.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac

[tekki]

Come on guys, hardware questions.. -> Move thread.

[Daniboy]

Thanks for all the precious info!


I'm just concerned about the setup I will use. I plan to use a Xone:K2, which is bus powered, so I am concerned about the USB ports on the Macbook Air not giving much power to the device as they would on a Macbook Pro. Is it something I should be concerned of??

Considering I'm using the K2 on internal mixing mode when the place's mixer does not have a built in soundcard.

[makar1]

What makes you think the Air's USB ports are going to be any different to those on the Pro?

[Daniboy]

What makes you think the Air's USB ports are going to be any different to those on the Pro?

I don't know, I've heard people saying the Xone:K2 has a ridiculously low volume coming out of it when internal mixing. Which is something that didn't happened with me when connecting my K2 on my 15" Vaio, so maybe its their computers. Maybe little and lighter computers send less power through the USB ports, thats my concern.

A new Macbook Pro costs more than 4000 dolars in my country so choosing the right laptop it is kind of a big deal for me right now.

[makar1]

USB ports run at a standard 5V/500mA, or 900mA for USB3 devices.

The advantage of the old Pro is being able to put lots of storage in (2x SATA drives) cheaply. A disadvantage is that even if you use SSDs with the Pro, they will always be slower than the PCIe SSDs in the Air.