Macbook Air vs Macbook pro

[piranha786]

I never used a Macbook before, and was thinking of getting 1.

I have used Ipad / iphone for the past 5-8 years, so i'm not new to Apple.

I will mainly use it for web browsing / document editing etc, but will need some processing power for large Excel documents and formula processing power.

I'll probably need a 13 inch. 11 inch macbook air is too small.

There is so many options available, what is the most suited for my needs? - even second hand is fine max budget 15k.

 

[konfab]

I will mainly use it for web browsing / document editing etc, but will need some processing power for large Excel documents and formula processing power.

A bog standard MacBook Pro will be fine. Excel has never come close to lagging my computer (at least not compared to running two IDEs )

If it is just Excel, Web and documents, why not get an ordinary laptop? R15k can get you a Lenovo laptop that would be absolute overkill.
http://www.comx-computers.co.za/Buy-Notebooks-Laptops-80QB008QSA-Lenovo-Thinkpad-Edge-lp-145039.php

 

[unskinnybob]

Depends on what you want: processing power or battery life. Macbook Air for me - or the new Macbook. Battery > CPU.

 

[gfmalan]

Macbook 12" battery last all day, can do everything you requested, the question I have is related to Excel, how many formulas does it have or how big is the file?

I have a 60mb file with +\- 140 000 lines and 23 formulas per line.
On a Dell i5 NB with 16g ram it take 20 seconds to to open/load into ram from ssd, with the mac it take just over a minute, after that it takes 5 seconds for every change.

 

[unskinnybob]

Macbook 12" battery last all day, can do everything you requested, the question I have is related to Excel, how many formulas does it have or how big is the file?

I have a 60mb file with +\- 140 000 lines and 23 formulas per line.
On a Dell i5 NB with 16g ram it take 20 seconds to to open/load into ram from ssd, with the mac it take just over a minute, after that it takes 5 seconds for every change.

If the information isn't confidential you're welcome to PM the file to me and I'll time it. I have the low spec Macbook 12".

Only thing Mac Excel doesn't do is power BI.

 

[Rickster]

When the price of an Air is more than a Pro, you have to be some kind of idiot to buy an Air.


Or you could buy a Windows PC for 1/2 your budget and it would probably have better specs.

 

[piranha786]

Macbook 12" battery last all day, can do everything you requested, the question I have is related to Excel, how many formulas does it have or how big is the file?

I have a 60mb file with +\- 140 000 lines and 23 formulas per line.
On a Dell i5 NB with 16g ram it take 20 seconds to to open/load into ram from ssd, with the mac it take just over a minute, after that it takes 5 seconds for every change.

About 480 000 rows, with Index, match formulas. Reason why I was asking, the macbook air that I "like" says i5, 1.6ghz which cost more or less the same as a i5 2.5ghz. Macbook pro

 

[piranha786]

View attachment 376872

A bog standard MacBook Pro will be fine. Excel has never come close to lagging my computer (at least not compared to running two IDEs )

If it is just Excel, Web and documents, why not get an ordinary laptop? R15k can get you a Lenovo laptop that would be absolute overkill.
http://www.comx-computers.co.za/Buy-Notebooks-Laptops-80QB008QSA-Lenovo-Thinkpad-Edge-lp-145039.php

I already have a ordinary laptop for work, and a small microserver, for 24/7 use.
Macbook will be for play basically, but it must be fast enough if needed for work.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Pro all the way and then a Retina at that although that won't fit in your budget. At least not new.

Never understood the Air. It's not much lighter and the battery isn't much greater but it's far inferior in every other aspect for the same money.

Check out secondbite.co.za for some good second hand deals.

 

[gfmalan]

About 480 000 rows, with Index, match formulas. Reason why I was asking, the macbook air that I "like" says i5, 1.6ghz which cost more or less the same as a i5 2.5ghz. Macbook pro

If I had 35k, I would go PRO, the Macbook 12 is really small and portable, but it have a retina display. Best of bothe worlds.
I skipped the Air.

 

[vinodh]

If I had 35k, I would go PRO, the Macbook 12 is really small and portable, but it have a retina display. Best of bothe worlds.
I skipped the Air.

Agreed. I had the old MD101 Macbook Pro and 11" Macbook Air and had to decide between the 2015 Macbook and a 13" Macbook Pro. I went for the 2015 Macbook since it has 8GB and a 256GB SSD in the baseline version, a truckload cheaper than the Pro and runs perfectly fine for what I do.

iStore have it for R18000 which is actually a good deal if you compare it to the prices at Dion Wired and Incredible Connection. One thing I bought that works really well with the Macbook is this Kingston USB/USB type-C USB 3.1 flash drive:

Esquire have the 32GB version for R179 excl VAT.

 

[piranha786]

What is the Turbo boost? I see they advertise.
1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz) with 3MB shared L3 cache

Doe this mean the 1.6Ghz, (2.7Ghz Turbo Boost) can outperform the 2,5 Ghz macbook pro?

 

[gfmalan]

What is the Turbo boost? I see they advertise.
1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz) with 3MB shared L3 cache

Doe this mean the 1.6Ghz, (2.7Ghz Turbo Boost) can outperform the 2,5 Ghz macbook pro?

In CPU speed turbo boost would be faster than the std speed yes, but the pro can also boost, the other thing to compare is the cores, ill check spec little later

 

[Thor]

When the price of an Air is more than a Pro, you have to be some kind of idiot to buy an Air.


Or you could buy a Windows PC for 1/2 your budget and it would probably have better specs.

Not probably, definitely. It will definitely have better specs