How fast is it? The MacBook Air is quite capable of handling everyday tasks, such as emailing, Web browsing, using office applications, and more. You can even use it for editing short videos, and for working with JPEGs from your iPhone or point-and-shoot camera.
The flash storage in the MacBook Air really helps the performance. For example, the MacBook Air actually outperforms several of the standard configurations of the non-Retina MacBook Pro, which uses a hard drive (solid-state drives for the MacBook Pro are available for an additional cost).
Macworlds buying advice: The MacBook Air is a great laptop for someone who does general-purpose work and moves around a lot, such as students or the self-employed. If youre planning to buy an 11-inch model, go for the one with 128GB of storagesince you cant upgrade the storage after purchase, you should buy the model with the most storage that you can afford.
Read our complete review of the MacBook Air (Mid-2012)
MacBook Pro
Apple sells two types of MacBook Pros. Ill cover the standard MacBook Pro first.
What is it? The MacBook Pro is Apples performance-oriented laptop. It's bigger and heavier than the MacBook Air, and it's designed for more-demanding tasks.
Whos it for? The standard MacBook Pro is for the user who wants a portable computer that doesnt sacrifice a lot. The MacBook Pro isnt as fast as an iMac desktop system, but it can be faster than the MacBook Air at certain tasks.
What are the specifications? The current models feature Core i5 and Core i7 processors. Two 13-inch standard MacBook Pro models are available. The $1199 model has a 2.5GHz dual-core Core i5 processor, 4GB of memory, and a 500GB 5400-rpm hard drive. The $1499 model includes a 2.9GHz dual-core Core i7 processor, 8GB of memory, and a 750GB 5400-rpm hard drive. Both 13-inch models use the integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 graphics subsystem.
Apple also sells two 15-inch standard MacBook Pro models. The $1799 model has a 2.3GHz quad-core Core i7 processor, 4GB of memory, and a 500GB 5400-rpm hard drive. The $2199 model offers a 2.6GHz quad-core Core i7 processor, 8GB of memory, and a 750GB 5400-rpm hard drive. Both 15-inch models have two graphics processors, the integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 (used to help preserve power), and the Nvidia GeForce GT 650M (used when faster graphics performance is necessary). The $1799 models GeForce chip comes with 512MB of video memory, while the $2199 models GeForce chip has 1GB.
