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MBA 11.6in or MBP 13.3in?

Bateluer

Bateluer

Lifer
Likely going to buy one or the other this weekend, if the models I want are in stock for store pickup.

Definitely want 4GB of RAM, so that puts the models I want at roughly the same price, 1139+tax at Best Buy.

The main difference is the i5's clocks, I think, 1.6Ghz on the Air, and 2.3Ghz on the MBP. Extra I/O ports and such as well on the MBP compared to the Air. But they both have the same HD 3000 IGP, so I'm thinking any potential gaming performance is going to be pretty similar between the two. The MBP has a 320GB hdd, vs the 64 or 128GB SSDs in the Air, but its 5400rpms. And I believe the native resolution on the Air, 1366x768 is better than the 1280x800 on the 13in MBP.

Discuss.
 
I like the Air a lot for a secondary machine, but its mediocre battery life is somewhat concerning.

I have the 13" MBP for my every day secondary machine, but I have a tertiary 11" Windows machine too for when I want to travel light. It's got a very long battery life. They advertise 10 hours, but I'd say 7 hours is realistic for light real world usage.

Interestingly though, I do prefer 1280x800 on my 13" MacBook Pro over the 11.6" 1366x768. The 11.6" feels like a turbocharged netbook with a decent keyboard, but the 13" MacBook Pro feels like a "real" computer. I dunno, maybe it's just my aging eyes these days.
 
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I don't own an Air. People I know who have one say it doesn't last so long, whereas for business use I get a LOT of battery life out of my Acer ultraportable. Battery life is supposed to better in the current Air than prior Airs though, but I wonder how much of that is due to the lack of pre-installed Flash. I install Flash in all my Macs.

http://osxdaily.com/2010/10/30/macbook-air-2010-battery-life/

With my 13" mid-2009 MacBook Pro I get much less than the Acer, but it's supposed to be in the same ballpark as the Air. What effectively this means is that for long meetings, if I carry my MacBook Pro, I will usually take my power adapter with me. With the Win 7 ultraportable, I take nothing but the laptop.
 
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Kadarin said:
How do you like it?
Click to expand...

So far, its damn nice. Played with the MBP and the larger Air, and they both feel gigantic compared to the 11in Air. Even the 13in MBP feels like the Hulk.

There were updates to iTunes, and a couple of the iLife apps, which I probably won't use at all. There was also the 10.7.1 update too. I must have missed the change log when it downloaded, if it displayed it at all.

Still putting in through its paces, but I definitely like how smooth the entire OS feels. My AMD Fusion HP notebook is nice, for a 500 dollar machine, and I'm pretty sure it can play more games than the Air is capable of playing. But Win7 on it can chug most of the time. Lion on the Air only has a hint of stutter when I forget to close iCal/Mail/etc. Haven't done anything with Facetime yet, but I don't know anyone that has a Mac.

Definitely like the Mac App Store too, digital distribution has been entirely too slow in coming, IMO, even if Apple is a control freak with their store. I don't like that it prompts me to enter my AppleID creds twice for every install and update in there though.

I got the 4GB and 128GB model, fyi.
 
Eug said:
I like the Air a lot for a secondary machine, but its mediocre battery life is somewhat concerning.

I have the 13" MBP for my every day secondary machine, but I have a tertiary 11" Windows machine too for when I want to travel light. It's got a very long battery life. They advertise 10 hours, but I'd say 7 hours is realistic for light real world usage.

Interestingly though, I do prefer 1280x800 on my 13" MacBook Pro over the 11.6" 1366x768. The 11.6" feels like a turbocharged netbook with a decent keyboard, but the 13" MacBook Pro feels like a "real" computer. I dunno, maybe it's just my aging eyes these days.
Click to expand...

I don't know, the new core i7 MBA is pretty darn quick. But my use is 99% of the time the consumption of data. So even an iPad would cover me. Dying to get a Mac desktop though for actual computing.
 
Bateluer said:
So far, its damn nice. Played with the MBP and the larger Air, and they both feel gigantic compared to the 11in Air. Even the 13in MBP feels like the Hulk.

There were updates to iTunes, and a couple of the iLife apps, which I probably won't use at all. There was also the 10.7.1 update too. I must have missed the change log when it downloaded, if it displayed it at all.

Still putting in through its paces, but I definitely like how smooth the entire OS feels. My AMD Fusion HP notebook is nice, for a 500 dollar machine, and I'm pretty sure it can play more games than the Air is capable of playing. But Win7 on it can chug most of the time. Lion on the Air only has a hint of stutter when I forget to close iCal/Mail/etc. Haven't done anything with Facetime yet, but I don't know anyone that has a Mac.

Definitely like the Mac App Store too, digital distribution has been entirely too slow in coming, IMO, even if Apple is a control freak with their store. I don't like that it prompts me to enter my AppleID creds twice for every install and update in there though.

I got the 4GB and 128GB model, fyi.
Click to expand...


Having the 13" Pro and the 11.6" Air I wholeheartedly agree. For me 4.5lbs is unacceptable coming from X series Thinkpads. My 13" Pro was bought as a music server never for use as an actual laptop. Nothing more than 2.5lbs for me.
 
sxr7171 said:
Having the 13" Pro and the 11.6" Air I wholeheartedly agree. For me 4.5lbs is unacceptable coming from X series Thinkpads. My 13" Pro was bought as a music server never for use as an actual laptop. Nothing more than 2.5lbs for me.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't a Mac Mini have been cheaper?
 
Bateluer said:
Wouldn't a Mac Mini have been cheaper?
Click to expand...

Yes it would have been. I use one for my HTPC (running Win 7) so when I was at Microcenter and I saw the deal they had for the 13.3" I got it thinking about resale value and the deal. It was a mistake in hindsight. The Mac Mini has a WAY better IR sensor. I'm going to sell the 13" and get a new Mac Mini.
 
Any threads for free apps I should look at in the Mac App Store? Seems to be fewer free apps than I'm used to in the Android Market, most seem to want a couple bucks at minimum for even simple stuff. Or perhaps that just how iTunes is displaying them.
 
Bateluer said:
Thread was created on Friday, in an open forum. 😛

You can still offer your opinion, but I think I'll be keeping the Air. 🙂
Click to expand...

Congras with your Air...but next time if you are up for next new Mac..ask me first! 🙂 j/k anyway enjoy your Air.
 
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