Here's our breakdown of how the MacBook Pro Retina stacks up against the MacBook.

Pros and Cons of the MacBook Pro Retina:
The MacBook Pro Retina has a more powerful CPU compared to the MacBook Air. Besides, it has much larger storage capacity and RAM. The latter is limited in terms of both power and storage capacity.

The MacBook Pro is, however a heavier device. The 13-inch model weighs 3.46 pounds while the 13-inch MacBook Air weighs just 2.96 pounds.,

Pros and Cons of the MacBook Air:
The MacBook Air is a much lighter laptop. It is in fact one of the lightest devices in its segment, and it comes loaded with the latest version of Mac OS.

There are many cons to MacBook Air despite it being a lightweight laptop. It has lesser RAM and storage space, and it has a less powerful CPU. Besides, its battery is also not as powerful as in the MacBook Pro Retina.

Specs:
The MacBook Pro Retina is available in 13.3-inch and 15.4-inch displays. The 13.3-inch screen has a resolution of 2560x1600 pixels at 227ppi, and the larger laptop has a 2880x1800-pixel screen with 220-ppi density. It runs on a 2.6-GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 Haswell CPU or a 2.2-GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 Crystal Well processor, but you can also choose other optional processors.The 13-inch MacBook Pro has 8GB RAM and the 15-inch laptop has 16GB RAM. The different models are available with different storage configurations ranging from 128GB to 1TB. Both the sizes have a 720p FaceTime camera. The Pro Retina is powered by OS X.

The MacBook Air is available in two display sizes - 11 inches and 13 inches. The smaller 11.6-inch laptop has a resolution of 1366x768 pixels while the 13.3-inch Air has 1440x900 pixels. Both the models run on a 1.4-GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 CPU with the option to choose a 1.7-GHz dual core Intel Core i7 too. Other configurations include 4GB RAM, 128GB or 256GB storage, and a 720p FaceTime camera. The MacBook Air runs on OS X 10.10 Yosemite.

Talking Points:
The MacBook Pro was first launched in 2006. Its latest iteration, the MacBook Pro Retina, was recently released in July 2014 with many updates in CPU and prices. Back in 2011, manufacturing defects related to overheating, GPU and logic board were reported by users. By November 2014, the thread with the complaint on the Apple Support community grew to 2 million visits and 9,650 posts. The issue has been supported by more than 25,000 petition signatures and has been widely published in a number of IT magazines.

The first MacBook Air was released in January 2008 at the Macworld Conference and Expo. The latest models were released in April 2014, all with SSD storage. Apple promoted the MacBook Air as the thinnest laptop, but after Dell Adamo was released in 2009, Apple removed the tagline from its promotional materials.

Prices:
MacBook Pro Retina is currently available on Amazon with a price tag starting from $859.00. The MacBook Air on the other hand, starts at $988.00.

Conclusion:
Both the MacBook Pro Retina and the Air are designed to be the perfect fit for professionals who want to carry their office along. The MacBook Air is evidently light in every aspect, while the Pro Retina does more justice to the kind of market Apple tried targeting. Thus, the MacBook Pro Retina fares well on most of the parameters.