MacBook Air vs. MacBook Pro Retina Comparison: Battle of Specs, Other Features and Prices

By Adelyn Torralba Oct 08, 2014 11:10 AM EDT

Apple has various laptops to offer to consumers. The MacBook Air vs. MacBook Pro Retina comparison will help consumers understand the advantages and disadvantages of each laptop.

The MacBook Air comes with two display sizes, the 11 inch and 13 inch. The MacBook Pro Retina has the 13 and 15 inch. Both MacBook Air laptops can be powered by an Intel dual core i7 processor that can reached up to 1.7GHz. The 13 inch MacBook Pro Retina can have an Intel dual core i7 that can reached up to 3.0 GHz. The 15 inch Retina can have the powerful 2.8 GHz quad core Intel processor.

When it comes to memory, the MacBook Air comes in either 4 or 8 GB. The MacBook Pro Retina can have a memory of up to 16 GB. Both MacBook Air models can have up to 512 GB in flash storage. The two MacBook Pro Retina models can have up to 1 TB of flash storage.

The MacBook Air uses an Intel HD 5000 series Graphic Card. The MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch model uses the Intel Iris Graphic Cards. The MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch model enables you to choose from several high end graphic cards. This includes the Intel Iris Pro Graphics as well as the NVIDIA GeForce GT 750 MB which also has a GDDR5 memory 2 GB.

All MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Retina models are powered by the same battery made of lithium-polymer. If not connected to the internet, the MacBook Air 11 inch battery can last up to 9 hours while the 13 inch has up to 12 hours. Battery life for the MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch is about 9 hours if you are not using the web. The Retina 15 inch has a lesser battery life of only 8 hours without the net connection.

A standard MacBook Air 11 inch has a price of $899 while the 13 inch is about $999. The MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch is a bit higher at $1299. The Retina 15 inch is the priciest of them all at $1999.