Macbook Air 13" or Macbook Pro 13"

Hello! I am a medical student from India. My use for buying notebook is web surfing, ebooks, documents, MS office, photo editing for my DSLR images and short-film editing (sometimes).
I can't decide which macbook I should buy in 13". One one hand I am getting an offer for latest 5th gen core-i5 128GB 13" macbook air for $850 (53,500 INR), on other macbook pro 13" 128GB model with 8GB RAM, brilliant IPS panel retina display, better processor and new touchpad for $1185 (74,600 INR).
The price difference is too much $335 (21,000 INR). Does it worth it as per my needs mentioned above? I think only 4GB of RAM looks very low in air. I can't decide which one I should go with. Please help me out there

 

I am afraid of closing of deal, so a bit in hurry.

 

I think the Air would be fine. The lower clock speed of the Airs isn't as big a deal when you consider Apple has implemented some pretty high Turbo Boost speeds on them. The 13" Air runs at 1.4Ghz but boosts up to... 2.5 or 2.7. 4GB of RAM shouldn't be a problem, and in the event you ran into a page file scenario, the SSD on Apple's newer stuff is ridiculously fast. FOr the price difference you mention, if you can live with the silver-colored bezel and the lack of ports, I say go for it.

 

I'd say go for the Pro. The CPU has a lot more power, 15 W vs 28W and you could use the extra ram for you editing. The Iris in the Pro is also much better than the GPU in the Air so that again will help you when editing videos. Of course the screens are worlds apart. 900p looks a lot worse on the desktop nowadays. Also the new force touch is quite a neat feature that will only improve.

 

So extra 340$ are worth spending on macbook pro 13"? I am not professional edition, I am medical student. Do photography and editing as hobby.

 

It is difficult to hand out value judgments based on a paragraph of thoughts. The MBA is likely do anything you ask of it, just be a bit slower for anything processor or memory intensive. Is the increased performance worth the extra cash? Some will say yes while others will pass, depending their particular situation and experiences.

 

I have a niece in med school at Penn. Their platform is an iPad. She has an old Windows beater for PC stuff. Does your med school have any recommendations or requirements on hardware and software platforms?

 

You will likely be fine with a MBA as far as med school goes, you might even prefer the extra two hours of battery life that you will get. The rMBP will provide a smoother experience as far as editing goes but it depends on you whether it is worth your money. Personally I tried out the MBA and hated the screen but it depends on the machine that you're coming from it may not matter to you at all.