Hi everyone,
So, I'm going to Europe for a 22 day vacation this year and I'm trying to decide if I want to buy a Macbook Pro 15” retina or just get a Macbook Air. I will be using Aperture everyday to sort and label my pictures, but I'm not going to be doing any real editing other than post a few shots to Facebook for the family. I do plan to have two extra portable hard drives for backups and I'll be keeping the photos on the memory cards until I get home (a little anal, I know).
I definitely want to take advantage of USB 3.0, so I need to keep that in mind. Normally, I wouldn't consider the 15” MBP Retina, but I am looking to replace my 27” 2011 iMac later this year, and I thought that there is no sense to buy the Air if I'm going to do that. But…. the Air is lighter and smaller, but I'm guessing that I would need the 128GB SSD.
Your thoughts and experiences please!
Thanks, Mark
If you’re going to replace your iMac with a new unit then I’d definitely get the 15” MBP Retina with 768 SSD, the LaCie 2little big disc with Thunderbolt is spectacular but needs it’s own power supply (could be a problem travelling), considering it’s 2TB and thunderbolt and fits in the palm of your hand it’s amazing to travel with. They are noisy but the speed is crazy. I’ve travelled with this set up with my old 17” MBP and it was fantastic, I plan to travel again soon but this is a road trip, so I’ll take my new MBPR and possibly a 2big 4TB because it’s just me in the car…BUT I’ve never used an air…….
If you’re replacing your iMac soon and this computer is just for the interim, I’d get an air. If it isn’t, I’d get the MBPR without a shadow of a doubt!!! I wasn’t quite sure if this will be your new main computer, if so the Retina is just sensational. Have a great trip.
If just for travel, I’d go with the Air.
I have and (older one with USB 2 but with 256GB SSD) and just for importing, sorting, rating in Aperture it is fast enough. I clean up all unnecessary stuff before vacation so the 256 GB SSD can hold all pictures. And I mirror them on import to a small external Firewire drive.
I’d definitely go with a USB 3 model as USB 3 hard drives are much cheaper (and faster) than Firewire.