New MacBook Pro or Macbook Air

the new pro models with retina display seem to be pretty reliable with a minimum amount of moving parts. With the combination of the 3.6 ghz quad core, 18 gb sdram and up to 768 gb of flash memory (+ thunderbolt & USB 3.0), it’s likely going to be enormously fast as well. The only drawbacks I see is that your internal capacity is rather small compared to the standard model, the lack of a build in super drive and last but not least; most dj and producing software isn’t adapted to the high resolution of the retina display yet, making most of it look not that good. Oh, I almost forgot. Macbook pro’s are extremely expensive, especially the retina ones

Keep in mind you only get more screen real estate with either a regular 15″ MBP with Highres display, or, of course, with a Retina one. Other than that the 2012 revised 13″ MBA has the same resolution as the standard 15″ MBP.

Also keep in mind, that since it’s some kind of proprietary standard, you CANNOT upgrade SSD or RAM in an MBA yourself (well maybe you can, if you REALLY know what ur doing, you can solder and stuff and you’re willing to completely void any warranty). That means that for decent storage you HAVE to pay the horrendous upgrade fees of Apple.

Whereas with a 15″ MBP you can get one with a decent CPU and then just put in all the SSD/HDD’s you want, more RAM…
There’s also conversion kits, to swap out the superdrive for another SSD/HDD should you not need it.

I went for a highres 15″ MBP this year, put in a 500gb SSD and 8GB RAM and I think it’s going to last me a long time (I know my former MBP did). Once the 500gb aren’t enough I’ll just replace the superdrive.

I like the MBA, it’s sexy and very portable, but IMO for someone working a lot with their computer and as a long term investment the MBP is a better pick.

If portability is an issue though, I think the 13″ MBP Retina is a very nice alternative, since it kinda combines the best of both worlds. Would I be in the market for a new macbook now, that’d probably be my choice.

good choice for sure!

why mac books? i dont get it…can a ‘normal’ windows computer not do the job?..i have a crappy hp i3 running traktor and it runs ok…

just saving up for a powerful desktop as im happy being a bedroom dj….

cheers terry…cant really afford £1000+ just for a computer, and like you say for a semi or pro dj then they are good..

my take on this for me being a bedroom idiot, then windows is fine, and at £300ish i can get a good spec desktop..

thanks

Grats Hee. Well Alienware is not really a “standard windows laptop” and they too come at a rather hefty price. But yes they are too worth it and are very much road worthy machines.
I would not worry about your MacBook pro though. If it is 2 years old it is already a 440 (aircraft grade) aluminium unibody and those things can take a beating. You should see my 6 year old one… it has dents, scratches and I put stickers all over it to hide the beatings it took. But it still works like on the first day.

You cannot really compare a standard PC to a Mac, and i have been trying to tell people this forever.

If you are going to compare a mac to a PC then you really need to compare a PC laptop like an Alienware to a Mac…and here is why:

Macs construction is based off a 1 to 1…as in the same manufacturer of parts also creates the OS for these parts…that works to a tight integration of OS and Parts…where as 99.5% of PC laptops are created by different companies…Mobos, CPUs, Ram etc have a million different companies that create the same stuff…and then on top of that you have a different company altogether creating the OS…windows.

Now when you have a PC made with Asus Mobo, with an intel processor with kingston ram and a western digital Hard drive…well you are gonna run into more problems.

I have a macbook pro now…and yeah the thing is really nice, and i have my DJing stuff on it…but i still prefer to use my Alienware laptop as its what i have become accustom to.

And i hate to tell ya but Steve Jobs wasnt a Geeks Geek, he was GREAT at marketing and making people want to buy his products.

If you look at the average cost on parts of a macbook it isnt very expensive…Theres a reason why apple doesnt gross out the total of the PC competitors but they have the highest % in profits.