Ann.without.an.e Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 I see advantages and disadvantages in both. Macbook pro has a dvd/cd and macbook air doesn't. Macbook pro has the retina display. Macbook air has the solid state hard drive (is that better?) MacBook air is cheaper. Any thoughts? I have never had a mac so I just really don't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angie in VA Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 Are you buying used? I thought MacBook Pros dropped the cd/dvd player. I would get a Pro (retina, probably) over an Air. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 (edited) Check the website to be sure, but IIRC, neither have a cd/dvd. Both have solid state drives. Glad I could help :D ETA, http://www.apple.com/mac/compare/results/?product1=macbook-air-13&product2=macbook-pro-retina-13 I think the retina display is only available in the Pro. Plus, the Pro is faster. Check Best Buy for sales - they seem to go on sale every month or so, sometimes a slightly older model than the absolute newest, but it's usually not clear from the descriptions. (I bought mine at a Black Friday sale 18 months ago for $1350+tax and even though the latest model may be slightly different, it's still roughly around the same price, both regular and sale price, if that makes any sense.) Edited May 28, 2016 by wapiti 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted May 28, 2016 Author Share Posted May 28, 2016 Are you buying used? I thought MacBook Pros dropped the cd/dvd player. I would get a Pro (retina, probably) over an Air. Check the website to be sure, but IIRC, neither have a cd/dvd. Both have solid state drives. Glad I could help :D ETA, http://www.apple.com/mac/compare/results/?product1=macbook-air-13&product2=macbook-pro-retina-13 I think the retina display is only available in the Pro. Plus, the Pro is faster. Check Best Buy for sales - they seem to go on sale every month or so, sometimes a slightly older model than the absolute newest, but it's usually not clear from the descriptions. (I bought mine at a Black Friday sale 18 months ago for $1350+tax and even though the latest model may be slightly different, it's still roughly around the same price, both regular and sale price, if that makes any sense.) Ok so when I looked at it in the store I didn't see a dvd/cd either but it said it online so I assumed. Maybe they haven't updated the website. Thanks ya'll Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2att Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 You can get an external dvd drive for around $100. It connects via USB and is super easy. We use ours fairly regularly and have never had an issue. I have a 2013 MacBookPro with the retina display. It's a beautiful machine :thumbup1: Apple has an educational discount that applies to homeschoolers. Also, don't be afraid to go with a refurb from Apple. It carries the same warranty and can give you as much as a 20% discount. You can't use the educational discount with the refurbs, however, so run the numbers and see what gives you the best deal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samiam Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 (edited) I work for Apple. There is ONE MacBook Pro that offers the CD/DVD drive. It's the only one that is non-Retina, and it's in the 13inch size. If you are on the MacBook Pro page, it's way on the bottom and the cheapest MBPro you can get. But the real question is WHY do you want a CD/DVD drive? I mean, almost everything these days is a download. You can get most any software as a download. If it's a software that you already own on disc...unless it's made for Mac, it won't be compatible. If it's to watch movies on DVD....well, honestly spend $30 and get a cheap DVD player...or get Netflix/Amazon Prime/Hulu etc to watch movies. In general, the MacBook Pro is more powerful, as it has much faster processors and more RAM. It's my personal opinion the MacBook Air is a pretty basic computer. I only recommend it to people if all they really want to do is use their computer for internet surfing/Facebooking etc. If you want to really do anything that requires a few programs running, the MacBook Pro is the way to go. Edited May 29, 2016 by Samiam 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janeway Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 There are two types of pros. They do not all have cd/dvd players. Just make sure you get enough memory. I bought mine a year and a half ago and need more memory already. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 (edited) I work for Apple. There is ONE MacBook Pro that offers the CD/DVD drive. It's the only one that is non-Retina, and it's in the 13inch size. If you are on the MacBook Pro page, it's way on the bottom and the cheapest MBPro you can get. But the real question is WHY do you want a CD/DVD drive? I mean, almost everything these days is a download. You can get most any software as a download. If it's a software that you already own on disc...unless it's made for Mac, it won't be compatible. If it's to watch movies on DVD....well, honestly spend $30 and get a cheap DVD player...or get Netflix/Amazon Prime/Hulu etc to watch movies. In general, the MacBook Pro is more powerful, as it has much faster processors and more RAM. It's my personal opinion the MacBook Air is a pretty basic computer. I only recommend it to people if all they really want to do is use their computer for internet surfing/Facebooking etc. If you want to really do anything that requires a few programs running, the MacBook Pro is the way to go. So people ask me this all the time, even my own husband, and it gets annoying after a while. Most content I consume is not a download. The majority is foreign DVDs that even Netflix does not find profitable to take up bandwidth for. And I like owning my music in CDs and not buying it each time a machine crashes, etc. I'm antiquated by choice and would love to keep it that way :) Edited May 29, 2016 by madteaparty 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 So people ask me this all the time, even my own husband, and it gets annoying after a while. Most content I consume is not a download. The majority is foreign DVDs that even Netflix does not find profitable to take up bandwidth for. And I like owning my music in CDs and not buying it each time a machine crashes, etc. I'm antiquated by choice and would love to keep it that way :) Get an external drive and the TRULY better computer. I've used an external drive for 3 years now and am not one bit sorry because the trade off for the smaller screen/older tech would have made my computer worth less to me. I'm a pc user, by the way--Lenovo. But it was essentially the same decision. My best advice is to get the biggest and clearest screen that works for you, solid state memory (much more stable and QUIETER) and use external peripherals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janeway Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 So people ask me this all the time, even my own husband, and it gets annoying after a while. Most content I consume is not a download. The majority is foreign DVDs that even Netflix does not find profitable to take up bandwidth for. And I like owning my music in CDs and not buying it each time a machine crashes, etc. I'm antiquated by choice and would love to keep it that way :) I went through this battle big time. Then, after having my Macbook with no dvd/cd drive, I used an external one. it was so easy and smooth that I do not hesitate to go without a drive in the future. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samiam Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 So people ask me this all the time, even my own husband, and it gets annoying after a while. Most content I consume is not a download. The majority is foreign DVDs that even Netflix does not find profitable to take up bandwidth for. And I like owning my music in CDs and not buying it each time a machine crashes, etc. I'm antiquated by choice and would love to keep it that way :) And that is perfectly fine...though you may find it difficult in the future as it's not just Apple that is moving away from the cd/dvd format. Many computer companies are moving that way. We have several PC's in the house (cheaper than a Mac for kids) and they don't have cd/dvd drives either. Also do note that if you purchase music, say from iTunes (which can be done on a PC as well as a Mac), it's not lost just because the device crashes. It's always yours. Just log into iTunes on your new computer, or any computer ,and there it's in your library, forever yours. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 Why not get an Air and a usb cd/dvd drive? A superdrive is about $75? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 I work for Apple. There is ONE MacBook Pro that offers the CD/DVD drive. It's the only one that is non-Retina, and it's in the 13inch size. If you are on the MacBook Pro page, it's way on the bottom and the cheapest MBPro you can get. But the real question is WHY do you want a CD/DVD drive? I mean, almost everything these days is a download. You can get most any software as a download. If it's a software that you already own on disc...unless it's made for Mac, it won't be compatible. If it's to watch movies on DVD....well, honestly spend $30 and get a cheap DVD player...or get Netflix/Amazon Prime/Hulu etc to watch movies. In general, the MacBook Pro is more powerful, as it has much faster processors and more RAM. It's my personal opinion the MacBook Air is a pretty basic computer. I only recommend it to people if all they really want to do is use their computer for internet surfing/Facebooking etc. If you want to really do anything that requires a few programs running, the MacBook Pro is the way to go. At night our internet can be spotty. Thus streaming movies on Amazon/Netflix is not a possibility and that's when the CD drive comes in handy. Plus I borrow audiobooks from library and pop them in cd drive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 Both are fine machines and I agree the dvd/cd drive via USB works great, meaning that's not a deciding factor. Really you're asking which is powerful enough to do what you want to do. What do you want to do? If you want to photo edit (lightroom, photoshop), do serious power hogging stuff, get the macbook pro. If you're just wanting to surf, email, text, maybe run some Bible software, the Air will do all that, just fine. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 At night our internet can be spotty. Thus streaming movies on Amazon/Netflix is not a possibility and that's when the CD drive comes in handy. Plus I borrow audiobooks from library and pop them in cd drive. Amazon prime will download movies to your hard drive. So long as it's flash/ssd, it's not wearing it out to download and delete like that. For audiobooks, throw them on your phone or save onto a thumb drive or the hard drive. You can get thumb drives for $4 during back to school sales. We use a TON of audiobooks btw for ds. Everything goes onto the kindle or ipad. If it starts on cd, it immediately goes over. I've been seeing kindles on sale for like $70. It's almost cheaper to buy a kindle than a cd/dvd drive, and then you can save your amazon movies and music to the kindle to view when offline, yes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcmommy Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 I got the air bc I am cheap and macbook is not. I also recommend buying refurb direct from Apple. I also wanted to remind you of the ed discount. I use the air for school and internet surfing and typing papers and my kids do the same. I can run all the programs I need but prob not big huge add ons like Photoshop. (But who cares bc they have creative cloud now anyway.) I got a cd drive for like 30$ on amazon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janie Grace Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 I have an Air and wish I had a Pro. I am out of space. I use it for work, but if I just need it for email and web, I think Air would be fine. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted June 1, 2016 Author Share Posted June 1, 2016 (edited) Another question, if ya'll don't mind. I have heard that there is no need for antivirus on a mac. What do ya'll think? Do YOU use it? I'm really liking my macbook, btw <3 Edited June 1, 2016 by Attolia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in CA Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 Another question, if ya'll don't mind. I have heard that there is no need for antivirus on a mac. What do ya'll think? Do YOU use it? I'm really liking my macbook, btw <3 We are a Mac family and have never bothered with antivirus stuff. I have read that as Macs become more popular (esp. w/college kids), there may/will be a need for more antivirus precautions. We do spend most of our time on reputable sites (like WTM :D ), we don't click on dodgy links, etc. ... Glad you like your MacBook! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 I got the air because I needed a really portable laptop. I am always on the go and the tiny factor is important to me. I do plug my laptop into a larger screen when I am home so I can see better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 I love my MacBook pro with the DVD player I've had many netbooks which don't have a DVD, and although I purchased an external, it's much easier to have one in place. Also makes it easy to burn my CDs and audiobooks to iTunes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in KY Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 (edited) I really like my pro and have used it extensively since 2011. At the time I purchased, I went with it over the Air because it had a port for wired internet access and the Air did not. I used that port a lot in 2011, some in 2012, and maybe twice since then. If I were to replace the Pro today, I would seriously re-think my needs. I use a lot of office type programs (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) along with a PDF reader, but not much else. At this point, I think I might go with the Air next because it is so much lighter. ETA: I do like my DVD drive. I am still old in that I prefer using a DVD to paying for netflix. :blushing: Edited June 1, 2016 by Susan in KY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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