I went looking to replace my 2009 (I know) MBP this weekend. FWIW, the MBP had maxed out ram and a new SSD so it was actually pretty solid. The laptop itself was starting to get a little rickety, however.

Went to look at MBPs and Airs on Sunday. Best Buy had the 2015 12 inch MacBooks marked down to 1k. Was blown away by the display. Side by side it just embarrasses the Air, and while downgrading from 13 to 12 was not my intention (eye strain is something I have endured more and more), I played with it for a long time and just couldn't get over the clarity.

Also looked hard at the MBP, XPS (Dell) and the new Spectre from HP that is supposedly going to destroy Apple. The XPS is a nice machine, but I didn't want Windows unless I just couldn't pass it up. It wasn't THAT good. The Spectre is probably a nice laptop but holy shite it's ugly. It looks cheap, and yet it's $$$.

While the deals on the Air were great, couldn't pull the trigger with that display. MBPs are also great, but several hundred more and I know they're refreshing them in June. Tried to buy a MacBook 12, but Best Buy was sold out across the region.

On Tuesday, Apple released the new MacBooks, which most claim is a pretty mild upgrade with Skylake. I ended up going to the Apple site as soon as the refresh was announced and picking up a close to maxed out 2015 refurb on deep discount. It's great so far, haven't noticed any dropoff from my MBP. Single port doesn't bother me yet, and I don't expect it will.

For your uses with design and the like, you'll probably find the retina display pretty worthwhile. Don't compare an Air and the retina side by side, or if you do, be prepared for it to frick up your decision making process. Given what you need it for, the MacBook may not have enough power, but there is a lot of stuff online by tech folks and design people explaining what they can and can't do on the MacBook. If you end up needing the MBP, the current version is almost certainly going to drop in price after WWDC in the summer, but it also may be a pretty radical overhaul.