MBA vs iPad

[GWestphal]

If you have a MBA, is there really much use for an iPad? Both are super portable and the MBA will run all software vs just apps.

I assume quite a few people have both, do you use one over the other? Which one do you use more? What do you use them for?

 

[bearxor]

I think it really depends on your usage case. What do you plan to do with it? Is this a main computer or are the MBA/iPad supplemental?

 

[ControlD]

I think it really depends on your usage case. What do you plan to do with it? Is this a main computer or are the MBA/iPad supplemental?

Pretty much this exactly. I have an iPad and a Macbook Pro and I pretty much never use the Macbook ever (really should just sell it). If you are looking for something to use on the couch for general consumption get an iPad. If you plan on doing any kind of content creation, get the MBA.

 

[GWestphal]

I have hackintosh desktop and the MBA would replace my crappy 4 yr Atom 1 netbook. The MBA would be for mobile productivity. Just not sure I'd ever use a iPad over the MBA since it's so small already.

 

[ControlD]

If you want productivity then get the MBA for sure. That really isn't the iPad's greatest strength.

 

[TheStu]

I had both, I used the iPad more, so I lent the Air to my friend. But, if you are getting it for productivity, then get the MBA.

 

[runawayprisoner]

Open up a 300MB PDF on a MacBook Air -> nightmare.
Open up the same 300MB PDF on an iPad 2/3/4 -> smooth sailing.

There are many things that the iPad does better than the MacBook Air, and vice versa. Personally, I see it this way:

If I read more, browse the web more, type documents occasionally (less than a book but longer than 3 paragraphs), use spreadsheets only to calculate my monthly expenses, then... I'd grab the iPad.

If I need something to move around a lot of data/files, something I can use to compose a whole book, something I can use to analyze monthly suicide and homicide trend data, something to connect to an external projector to show off a 3D nude model of this female character, something to program the next doomsday device, or something I can use as a sign for people to know that "I'm serious about my work", even though all I'm doing is browse Facebook all day, etc... THEN... MacBook Air for sure.

By the way, half of it is sarcasm, the other half really is trying to say: get the MacBook Air if you want to do something serious with it.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Open up a 300MB PDF on a MacBook Air -> nightmare.
Open up the same 300MB PDF on an iPad 2/3/4 -> smooth sailing.

There are many things that the iPad does better than the MacBook Air, and vice versa. Personally, I see it this way:

If I read more, browse the web more, type documents occasionally (less than a book but longer than 3 paragraphs), use spreadsheets only to calculate my monthly expenses, then... I'd grab the iPad.

If I need something to move around a lot of data/files, something I can use to compose a whole book, something I can use to analyze monthly suicide and homicide trend data, something to connect to an external projector to show off a 3D nude model of this female character, something to program the next doomsday device, or something I can use as a sign for people to know that "I'm serious about my work", even though all I'm doing is browse Facebook all day, etc... THEN... MacBook Air for sure.

By the way, half of it is sarcasm, the other half really is trying to say: get the MacBook Air if you want to do something serious with it.

PDF viewers for OSX must be downright terrible if an iPad is delivering better performance with a vastly slower cpu, much less ram and considerably slower storage.

The Macbook Air can be used to do real work while the iPad basically can't.

If you do want a tablet that can still do both one of the new Windows 8 hybrids might be worth considering as well, the Asus VivoTab (not RT) and the Samsung Ativ Smart Pc are two of the best at combining the laptop and tablet form factors.

 

[runawayprisoner]

PDF viewers for OSX must be downright terrible if an iPad is delivering better performance with a vastly slower cpu, much less ram and considerably slower storage.

It's the same for Windows. iOS makes very heavy use of the GPU to render things, so it does a lot of things smoother than conventional OSes.

Same thing for Android, actually... starting from ICS.

 

[TheStu]

It's the same for Windows. iOS makes very heavy use of the GPU to render things, so it does a lot of things smoother than conventional OSes.

Same thing for Android, actually... starting from ICS.

Could you link me to some huge PDFs? I want to test this theory... It's not that I don't believe you. I just want to see it for myself.

 

[ArJuN]

Could you link me to some huge PDFs? I want to test this theory... It's not that I don't believe you. I just want to see it for myself.

Yeah, I never considered that. It makes sense in theory. Though it'd be cool/interesting to see it in practice.

 

[TheeIpad]

i look at the iPad this way... its great for gathering information, not producing it.

i read,check emails, and read news blogs on my iPad, my MBA is the work horse, they're no limitations with the MBA.

 

[runawayprisoner]

Could you link me to some huge PDFs? I want to test this theory... It's not that I don't believe you. I just want to see it for myself.

Here's a direct link to Engadget's latest Distro issue:
http://stadium.weblogsinc.com/engadget/distro/112312_DISTRO_book.pdf

Scrolling should be fine in it with some micro stutter, but zooming... not so much. I have tried it on a 12-core Mac Pro and zooming is still not as smooth as on an iPad.

It's much worse with a big vector technical document... but it's too bad I couldn't find any of those.

 

[Eug]

Both.

iPad mini for surfing and email, and (in my case) MacBook Pro for real work. I don't like the pixel density on the Air for OS X.

 

[v-600]

It's the same for Windows. iOS makes very heavy use of the GPU to render things, so it does a lot of things smoother than conventional OSes.

Same thing for Android, actually... starting from ICS.

FWIW I just wanted to try this. I recently bought an AMD A-10 based laptop. There is a system monitor utility that lets you compare gpu to cpu usage.

When scrolling the pdf with adobe reader I see approx 60% cpu to 40% onboard gpu usage (the discrete graphics core doesn't even power up). There is some slight tearing on screen as the bottom 5% of the document renders mid scroll but its smooth enough.

I don't own an ipad to compare with and my phone is happily running cyanogen7 so no acceleration there either.

Zooming is another matter entirely. The gpu flickers about 3-4% (the same as when you interact with any window or move the mouse) and the cpu usage takes the other 96%. However only one core is doing the work, and it never reaches the point where the cpu has to raise its clock speed from the idle 1.4GHz.

I guess that in this case a recent higher clocked x86 chip still beats an arm one for processing. The advantage that the ipad has is that it doesn't have to deal with 25 years worth of of legacy code. When devs write for the ipad it can be from scratch using APIs designed to make full use of the hardware that all ipads will have. I can't see Adobe wanting to recode Reader just to make use of some GPU acceleration when zooming, especially when there is both openCL and CUDA to account for (at least within the Windows world, though I guess the situation is similar with OS X), and no guarantee that any PC will be able to make use of it.

In response to the OP, I guess I'm saying if you want to scroll smoothly buy and ipad

 

[runawayprisoner]

"GPU acceleration" does not require OpenCL or CUDA... or any of the stuffs you are imagining.

It just needs good use of Direct3D or OpenGL.

A good reference for this on the Mac side is Safari. Zooming in Safari is GPU-accelerated, while zooming in Preview is not.

 

[v-600]

Good point, I'd not really considered Direct3D. I guess in my mind its intrinsically linked to gaming. I just assumed it anything to do with general programming or programs wouldn't be.

Live and learn.

 

[Tweak155]

Here's a direct link to Engadget's latest Distro issue:
http://stadium.weblogsinc.com/engadget/distro/112312_DISTRO_book.pdf

Scrolling should be fine in it with some micro stutter, but zooming... not so much. I have tried it on a 12-core Mac Pro and zooming is still not as smooth as on an iPad.

It's much worse with a big vector technical document... but it's too bad I couldn't find any of those.

I just opened this on my 13" MBA - wasn't that bad but yeah, it isn't "smooth".

Honestly it doesn't give me anything to think about. It isn't unbearably slow or anything, just not smooth.

To be precise - scrolling up and down is smooth. But zooming is like clicking the "+" or "-" on a zoom scale.

Also since it is a 13" screen, at least with this document, no zooming needed. I imagine it is a far and between usage for most people.

 

[amdhunter]

I have an iPad 3 and a 2012 MBA - I carry my MBA around more than my iPad nowadays.

I really don't use the iPad at all anymore except to fall asleep to some music on Pandora on occasion.

 

[crab0]

I have an iPad 3 and a 13 inch MBA (2011). The laptop is for university stuff, photo editing, 10bit mkv playback and managing/transferring files to the iPad. Except when I need to "multitask" properly (i.e.. more than instant messenger and one thing at a time), the iPad is my machine for when I'm not in class and am home.

Short ver: iPad is a casual couch/coffee table computer, the MBA is an ultraportable "real" computer

 

[bigrash]

I'd rather have the MBA. The ipad is fun, but that's where it ends.

 

[joutlaw]

iPad's are good at reviewing data... convential PCs and Macs are better at producing data.

 

[Pia]

I use a Macbook Air as my primary computer. Would not consider the iPad, because it does essentially nothing the Air doesn't do better (and also because I hate iOS and the dumbified computing it stands for). I would however consider tablets with a proper stylus, because being able to draw notes and scribble on documents while reading them would be very useful for me. Either a companion tablet like Galaxy Note 10.1 (though that one would need to get a resolution upgrade before I would consider it), or a full-fledged computer like Surface Pro which could replace the Air while also doing the job of a tablet.

 

[dagamer34]

I see very little reason to won both a MacBook Air and a full-size iPad, especially with the existence of the iPad mini, which would be a much better fit.