<p>I'm going to college as a freshman this year and I wanted to upgrade my laptop. I was hoping to buy a Macbook air but i heard it gets too hot and lags. The only game I intend to play is COD: Black OPS and i'm not much of a gamer. I just want a laptop that doesn't cause me trouble. I don't mind if it has less memory as i'll buy an external hard disk too but it should be quick. Battery life would be an added advantage and price could also be a factor. I dont mind spending money for a pro but i want to be sure it's worth it. Thanks for the help in advance :)</p>
<p>I currently have a Macbook Pro and I love it. Though my version was an older one, so it was slightly cheaper than the Pros they sell today. What influenced my decision to buy a Pro versus an Air was the screen size. I feel that my 15 inch is the smallest that I would go on a laptop. It just feels like the perfect screen size - not too small, not too big. </p>
<p>Another reason for me buying the Macbook Pro was the internal disk drive. I didn’t want to go through the trouble of buying an external drive and I knew I was going to be burning CDs and watching DVDs.</p>
<p>The new macbook airs shouldn’t have any trouble playing Black OPs without lag.</p>
<p>So you think pro is completely worth the extra money? Do you think that, for a non gamer like me, a high spec laptop would be a waste of money? I would buy a pro with retina display 15 inch and with lowest specs or an air with descent specs. Any way the processor in air is pretty much slow when compared to pro. I thought it would suffice because i’m not much into gaming.</p>
<p>Not having a CD drive would be a bummer right? In college?</p>
<p>I only used an optical drive occasionally in college (when I rented a redbox movie or once when a couple times when I wanted to install lab software on my computer). It’s not a deal-breaker, necessarily, since you can always get an external optical drive. But it depends on how frequently you tend to use one. Most things are moving towards downloaded software and games, instead of installing them via a CD.</p>
<p>I am not sure about the comparisons between the two. I really can’t tell you if it’s worth the money. It’s a good $300 more now than what I got mine for, since mine doesn’t have the retina display. I’m not sure if it’s worth a whole $900 for the Pro with retina display (versus the 13 inch Air with 256 GB memory). The Air memory is also flash, which is debatably better than SSD memory. For instance, you’re less likely to lose data if you physically damage your laptop and it’s faster to access data. </p>
<p>Also, Apple has an external disk drive that you can purchase. I believe it’s less than $100. All you do is plug the drive in and it functions just like an internal drive would. For college purposes, I either just watch movies on Netflix now. Also, I’m not a media-oriented major, so I have not yet had to use my optical drive for a class or anything like that. I don’t anticipate having to. </p>
<p>So, the ultimate decision is up to you - weigh the pros/cons of each (a big one is money, probably) and make the decision.</p>
<p>I mind is fluctuating right now.I’m going to major in Physics so I dont think I need a cd drive that much. All I want a Mac is for watching movies and a smooth experience. Since the external dish drive is no longer a concern, my only doubt is will air be able to handle games like COD? And also does RAM or does Processor make a difference in the speed of working? Does retina display make a difference?</p>
<p>Macbook air should be able to run COD, I wouldn’t worry about upgrading the processor, however I would bump the RAM up to 8gb.</p>
<p>What about retina display? Is it that big of a deal?</p>
<p>You should go see what a retina display looks like and then decide if that is something you feel is worth paying extra for.</p>
<p>I guess I’m going to take a mac air 128 gb with high specs and external hard disk. Thanks for the help everyone :)</p>