I am weighing the options to buy a portable Mac. I already have a 2014 i5 Mac Mini that has become my main production machine. It's alright for running my workflow and I am yet to floor it. It runs an Apollo Twin interface.

I want a portable Mac for field recording or bedroom inspiration on headphones.

Should I get one of the new retina MacBook Airs? Do they measure up to the job, or should I go for a 13" MacBook Pro with the chassis-soldered RAM?

Unfortunately as new generations of portable Macs emerge the difference between the two seems to be narrowing, and they don't feel as pro as yesteryear's MacBook Pros, so I'm kind of reluctant to go too notch and top dollar on a portable Mac. I could settle for a toy-ish Mac to supplement my work.

Any ideas?

 

Just make sure to stay far away from the new born in Apple, their last Macbook (don't remember the name) which will be presented in the future, have a read here to know why...

 

Go for a MacBookPro 13 " where you could put 2 HD inside ( SSD for OS and a good Tera 7200 rpm) 8 Go of ram is enough for running any daws.
Forget about MacbookAir not enough tweakable and damn fragile …
Be aware that you'll need USB, FW &/or Thunderbolt ports. Check the model which could better fit for your needs.

Cheers

 

2012 Macbook Pro 16GB RAM and 2 TB HD. Stay away of the newest one.

 

You will see less and less Macbooks made for pro/power users. I posted about it software-wise. But it is the same with hardware.
Apple laptops are going mainstream. They make computers like iPod,iPad and iPhone now.
Trashable computers : a nightmare to expand, to fix, to dismount...
Final advice : take an Apple Care. Because buying any repair will cost you the price of a new computer...

I wonder how many time Apple laptops music makers/power users will keep buying them, as they are less and less made for them, but for the average Joe
For now, you can buy a 2012 one. But in 2017 ? Who knows...

 

Agreed. For better or worse, I am locked to Apple, as the Twin is a hell of a rocking machine and I'm sure it will outlive several Macs. If I'm not wrong, does the 2012 come with only one Thunderbolt port? Believe it or not, that could be a deal breaker for me, as the Apollo Twin takes one port, so no chance for a second monitor.

Thanks guys for your replies. I'll put some more thinking before I make up my mind. I'll jump at the purchase by the mid of the year.