I don't know what to get. Since there is 500 difference in price, but they both have Pro's and Con's.

MacBook Air (AU $1099)
- 12 Hour Battery (most people report they get more than that)
- Thin and Light
- Has a 1440-by-900 screen (which isn't overly amazing but it's better than the 1280 x 800 I have now)

MacBook Pro Retina (AU $1599)
- Retina Display
- 8 hours battery (they boast 10 but my friend says she only gets around 8 when browsing and 10 when she's just doing school work)
- LOOKS AMAZING. Black glass screen >>>
- Thicker and bulkier but built to be more robust

I just don't know which one to get. Is it worth saving $500 now that the MB Air's price has been dropped? If anyone has either did you feel satisfied with the Air, or wished you got the pro?

Or people with the Pro, do you regret paying the extra cash?

Thoughts pls xD

Obviously the pro. Both my flatmates bought brand new airs and both randomly crash and have errors opening things occasionally. But TBH buying my Mac was such a regret, it's "stylish" but useless. Spend your pennies on a less flashy but better brand.

Pro.

Although the Air does have a better battery life but overall I think the Pro is better anyway.

Depends on how much you want to spend really. The Pro is a better laptop overall, the Air is not even that much thinner than it and that's it only advantage over the Retina. The Retina display is amazing, nothing can compare to a full HD screen.

Air unless you have any specific needs like gaming, programming, video editing, music making etc

I have both and honestly the pro is amazing for everyday use has way more storage and it's faster.

The air i only use for travelling and school.

Mac's aren't really useless since they can run every OS. Lol.
You should just run boot camp and make a Windows partition.

Besides my old Mac has lasted since 2006. I've tried other PC's and they all broke (one cost 2k).

And it's not the stylish factor that makes me like a Mac since there are stylish PC's. It's the OS.
It runs all the apps I use (Garage Band, Final Cut Pro etc). and I just prefer it.

I have a Windows partition on my Mac to play games, and when I quit the game I usually find myself restarting so I have my Mac partition back xD

Depends what you want it for. I had a Macbook Pro and only used it for iTunes and internet so spending that extra money was kinda pointless.

Brought an Air a few months ago. No problems with it at all and the extra battery life is really handy.

I should probably mention that in the OP

I mainly use my Mac for Photo editing (I'm doing a photography course), Movies/TV, Internet Browsing and typing up documents.

I take my Mac to my course all the time, and would prefer to not worry about chargers etc.
Also being lighter helps xD

At the same time, I'm thinking photos would look better on a HD screen so Idk :S

you should definitely get the pro if ur planning on doing some video editing
not sure bout photo editing tho

Pro. The Air is simply only good for web browsing and Word documents. If you need to download a lot of files, use an editing program, etc, get a Pro.

Only for Uni I'm doing TAFE.

That's a pretty good discount though!!

I have both and my Pro is sitting on my desk collecting dust. The Air's battery life is everything and I've found even when I get into video editing and all that good stuff it's a bit faster than the Pro.

This is the key.

I own a Pro, previously owned an Air (up until a month ago). The Air is perfect for everything except video editing, so if you won't be doing much video editing, go for the Air. It's lighter, slimmer, and the battery life is phenomenal.

If you're hung up on the Pro's Retina display, I'd recommend going into an Apple store and checking out the Air's and Pro's displays. If you feel justified in buying a Pro for its display, then go for it. If not, the Air is awesome.


Edit: I'll also add that I have loved both computers, so there is no wrong choice. Any extra money you spend won't feel wasted at all.

Pro. For video editing, it's the best.

Get Air if you travel a lot as it is lighter lol.

What do you have now? I have a pre-retina MBP 13 inch and I've played with a few MBA and the MBA display sometimes looks a bit washed out, even if it does have a few more pixels, but not terrible either. I added an SSD to my MBP and almost feel that the base model MBA 13 inch would be a step backwards. I'm trying to resist the temptation of the 15 inch rMBP.

You said you were doing photo editing, so perhaps the better display in the retina would be worth the extra. How long you need to go between charging might be the deciding factor.

Would you be getting the base model or going for 8GB RAM and at least 256GB SSD?

Right now I have a 17" from 2006 which still manages to be really fast for some reason.
I also have a 13" White MacBook from 2010 which has become slower () than the 2006 one.
But because I obviously can't take a 17" it school etc. I need something smaller.

I guess I would have to do 8GB of Ram because my white macbook has 16gb and I find (before it started getting slow and unresponsive) I have to clear the ram a lot or it slows down.
Especially when using heavy apps like Aperture or Photoshop.
It's a shame 16gb is only available for the 15" model. The 15" retina's are more expensive than the 27" iMac