Resolved Which Mac notebook should be bought?

[di1in]

I am confused with this:

I have a 2010 15" 2.66GHz 8GB AntiGlare macbook pro with me (apple care ends in May 2014), and have an offer to exchange it for a brand new base 2012 13" MBA + new apple care (meaning I would get apple care until Jan 2016).

Performance Benchmarks show that the 2012 MBA beats my 2010 MBP on all grounds, including battery life.

I do not use the optical drive on the MBP, nor do I need the HDD space (I have used 60gb/500gb after 1.5 years of use). But I do like the big screen. The games I play are Civ 5, Age of empires 2 through vmware, and CoD4.

Please give your opinion on whether I should stay with the current Mac, or move on to the new MBA. I am trying to see if there any angles that I might have missed in my considerations.

 

[ConCat]

The only issue with the upgrade would be storage. If you need more storage than what the MBA can provide, either you could go for an external drive, or you'd have to get an MBP. That would be the deciding factor IMO.

EDIT: Okay, after rereading what you wrote, I guess storage isn't a problem. Derp... Yes, I'd go for the new MBA. You can always expand it later when external GPUs and stuff come along.

 

[di1in]

The only issue with the upgrade would be storage. If you need more storage than what the MBA can provide, either you could go for an external drive, or you'd have to get an MBP. That would be the deciding factor IMO.

EDIT: Okay, after rereading what you wrote, I guess storage isn't a problem. Derp... Yes, I'd go for the new MBA. You can always expand it later when external GPUs and stuff come along.

Thanks for your reply.

There is one more issue -- the RAM. MBAs are not user upgradeable..and in India we do not have the option of BTO so I have to make do with the 4gb version. I was not able to stand the paging delay that I faced in my 5400rpm hdd on the current mac, which is why i upgraded to 8gigs.

Any idea what would be the situation on the SSD based Air? I usually hover at 4-5 gb of ram used.. peak at 6.

 

[ConCat]

Thanks for your reply.

There is one more issue -- the RAM. MBAs are not user upgradeable..and in India we do not have the option of BTO so I have to make do with the 4gb version. I was not able to stand the paging delay that I faced in my 5400rpm hdd on the current mac, which is why i upgraded to 8gigs.

Any idea what would be the situation on the SSD based Air? I usually hover at 4-5 gb of ram used.. peak at 6.

Well, macs tend to try to use as much RAM as is available for performance reasons. You may end up using less once you get the air. If not though, the performance penalty from paging doesn't tend to be as noticeable on an air due to its SSD. The SSD in the current Air is quite fast. I've never noticed any major performance issues on mine due to paging at least, and mine is the 2011 model. My SSD is about half as fast as the 2012 Air's SSD. You should be just fine with 4GB.

 

[NewishMacGuy]

The other big issue will be CoD4. Giving up discrete graphics (even on a 2010 machine) for an HD4000 is probably not the way to go if you game at all.

 

[di1in]

The other big issue will be CoD4. Giving up discrete graphics (even on a 2010 machine) for an HD4000 is probably not the way to go if you game at all.

But, according to notebookcheck, nvidia 330m is equivalent to the HD4000..

 

[NewishMacGuy]

But, according to notebookcheck, nvidia 330m is equivalent to the HD4000..

Can't pull up the page for the 330M, but I have a hard time believing that it could be as bad as this:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4000.69168.0.html

 

[di1in]

Can't pull up the page for the 330M, but I have a hard time believing that it could be as bad as this:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4000.69168.0.html

I don't understand: doesn't it say "First benchmarks position the HD Graphics 4000 (in a fast quad core desktop CPU) on a level with a dedicated Nvidia GeForce GT 330M and therefore above the AMD processor graphics Radeon HD 6620G."

 

[NewishMacGuy]

I don't understand: doesn't it say "First benchmarks position the HD Graphics 4000 (in a fast quad core desktop CPU) on a level with a dedicated Nvidia GeForce GT 330M and therefore above the AMD processor graphics Radeon HD 6620G."

Benchmarks are one thing, actual real life gaming performance is another thing almost entirely. Scroll down to see the framerates on various games at various graphics settings. Not a lot of green on that list. Also you won't be getting a fast quad core desktop CPU in the MBA.

 

[di1in]

Benchmarks are one thing, actual real life gaming performance is another thing almost entirely. Scroll down to see the framerates on various games at various graphics settings. Not a lot of green on that list. Also you won't be getting a fast quad core desktop CPU in the MBA.

I checked the stats comparing both gpu solutions for CoD4, and here they are:

CoD4 in medium:
HD4000: 44fps
330M: 60fps


You are right, the HD4000 doesn't come up to the 330m, which doesn't seem surprising now..

 

[di1in]

Benchmarks are one thing, actual real life gaming performance is another thing almost entirely. Scroll down to see the framerates on various games at various graphics settings. Not a lot of green on that list. Also you won't be getting a fast quad core desktop CPU in the MBA.

We have a user who says that he has played Cod4 in full on MBA 2012 with no lag:
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/16512995/

 

[jfriedman8]

I would go for the MBA. I play some light games on mine and have no issues. If you need the portability, you can't beat the air either.