Should I get a 13¨ MacBook Pro mid-2012 non-retina or 13¨ MacBook Air early-2014?

[ostrich002]

I need a Macbook for light CAD and some coding. Both of these can be found around $300-$400 locally.

MacBook Pro mid-2012 13¨ core i5 @ 2.5 GHz non-retina with upgraded 8GB RAM and 128 SSD

MacBook Air early-2014 13¨ core i5 @ 1.4 GHz with 8GB ram and 128 SSD

Which would be better as far as performance/future-proofing?

 

[keysofanxiety]

I’d say the MBA.

CPU of the MBP is slightly quicker but not enough to make a difference. Storage of the MBA is much quicker (PCI-e vs SATA 6Gb). Graphics card is better on the MBA.

The MBA also has better battery life, is thinner, and generally a nicer laptop to use as a laptop.

 

[jmiddel]

The 2014 model will be supported longer, meaning it will accept the newest OS.

 

[GoldfishRT]

I’d say the MBA.

CPU of the MBP is slightly quicker but not enough to make a difference. Storage of the MBA is much quicker (PCI-e vs SATA 6Gb). Graphics card is better on the MBA.

The MBA also has better battery life, is thinner, and generally a nicer laptop to use as a laptop.

Not to mention one of the most important things in coding, screen resolution.

I got through a few classes with a 720p screen but to say that was the roughest part would be an understatement. If you can't see your entire block of code it's really just a pita. That 800p vs 900p seems like a small jump but it makes a huge difference in practice.

 

[Sedulous]

The battery life on the MBA is likely twice as long as the MBP. However, the RAM is upgradable to 16GB on the MBP. Both are good machines.