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Pro or Air? Help me choose!

Red Storm

Red Storm

Lifer
I can't decide between the 13" MBPro or the 13" MBAir. I actually prefer the physical build of the Pro over the extremely thin Air, but the 1280x800 resolution on the Pro has me longing for the Air's 1440x900. There is a noticeable processor speed difference between the two, but do you guys think the 1.7GHz i5 on the Air is good enough for general/media consumption use? The Air is also a little cheaper (as I would want an SSD in the Pro).

Which would you go with?
 
Yes. The processor will be good enough for general/media consumption. Seeing as how their GPUs are the same, I would go for the 13" MBAir and see what you can do about the SSD (maybe spring for the 256GB SSD).
 
Bear in mind that with the Pro, you can get your own SSD for it, and I think that it is SATA 6Gb/s, meaning you can get a really fast one to put in there.
 
If all you're doing is media consumption seems like the MBA would be the right choice. Heck; you could probably get away with an iPad.
 
Red Storm said:
I can't decide between the 13" MBPro or the 13" MBAir. I actually prefer the physical build of the Pro over the extremely thin Air, but the 1280x800 resolution on the Pro has me longing for the Air's 1440x900. There is a noticeable processor speed difference between the two, but do you guys think the 1.7GHz i5 on the Air is good enough for general/media consumption use? The Air is also a little cheaper (as I would want an SSD in the Pro).

Which would you go with?
Click to expand...

I actually like the physical build of the MBP over the MBA too but yeah that resolution is such a downer. I was trying to sell my 2010 13" MBA and thinking about replacing it with the 2011 13" MBP + SSD + Optibay with secondary HD but figured the hassle and cost wasn't worth it anymore so now I'm holding onto my MBA.
 
dpodblood said:
If all you're doing is media consumption seems like the MBA would be the right choice. Heck; you could probably get away with an iPad.
Click to expand...

Seeing as how I will be needing DisplayPort and the SD reader, I just don't think an iPad would cut it for me. 😉

Well I guess I'll have to go to a Best Buy or Apple store and spend some more time with both, though as of now I'm leaning towards the Air.

Edit: Of course, I start leaning Air and then an article like this gets posted. I'll have to do some investigating myself.
 
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mmntech said:
Pro. I would never buy a laptop that has that Intel integrated graphics BS.
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You do know that for day to day use that it is much better than what they have put out in the past. It isn't the greatest gaming card sure, but it gets the job done otherwise. In Anand's review you can see that it isn't giving a whole lot worse performance than the 320m that was in the old ones, which isn't too bad considering it is Intel integrated BS.
 
Red Storm said:
Except you can't upgrade the ram, I like having the Firewire port, I prefer the physical build of the Pro, and I'm just not yet ready to give up the optical drive.
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Yeah, Apple's upgrade prices for RAM is not user friendly. I also like the Firewire port and use it for my backup drive. Aren't the physical builds comparable? Unibody design?

The last time I used my optical drive was to burn a disc. Just wondering, but couldn't you get the SuperDrive and just plug it in when needed, or you can use Remote Disc to use discs.
 
ChAoTiCpInOy said:
Yeah, Apple's upgrade prices for RAM is not user friendly. I also like the Firewire port and use it for my backup drive. Aren't the physical builds comparable? Unibody design?

The last time I used my optical drive was to burn a disc. Just wondering, but couldn't you get the SuperDrive and just plug it in when needed, or you can use Remote Disc to use discs.
Click to expand...

They are both unibody, but to me the Air is too thin. It's super cool how they managed to fit all that into such a slim body, but I just prefer the Pro's more solid feel.

Yeah, I like the Firewire port for backups, already have a 2TB external drive with FW 800. As for the optical drive, I am getting rid of my Windows desktop, so the Pro will be the only computer in my apartment. I often have friends come over and we either watch streamed movies or DVDs, so I would miss it if I didn't have one. If I were keeping my desktop it wouldn't be an issue, but I need at least one CD drive on hand.
 
Air Bezel = fugly. But then again the keyboard sides on the Pro 15 and 17 are ugly too.
MBP 13" is where it's at. 🙂
 
Red Storm said:
They are both unibody, but to me the Air is too thin. It's super cool how they managed to fit all that into such a slim body, but I just prefer the Pro's more solid feel.
Click to expand...

II can understand this. For me, I think it's the lip part underneath that makes the Air seem more fragile, though it allows it to be easily picked up from there. It's great how light it is when I do hold it with one hand with the laptop open, but at the same time, it doesn't feel as solid or rather I feel like I'd break it more easily than the Pro.
 
disports said:
II can understand this. For me, I think it's the lip part underneath that makes the Air seem more fragile, though it allows it to be easily picked up from there. It's great how light it is when I do hold it with one hand with the laptop open, but at the same time, it doesn't feel as solid or rather I feel like I'd break it more easily than the Pro.
Click to expand...

Does it feel more fragile than plastic laptops? Just wondering.
 
ChAoTiCpInOy said:
Does it feel more fragile than plastic laptops? Just wondering.
Click to expand...

Hmm, well for plastic laptops (i.e. had a Dell E1505 that died so quickly), I'm more prone to not care about how I handle it as much. As for my MBA, I find myself being super, super careful with it even though I'm sure it can handle more abuse.
 
dude i dented my macbook air by walking into a door frame (running to take a dump and reading reddit lol). macbook pro would not dent so easy. don't worry the 15/17 will be air thin by Xmas time - Optical drives are game over on all mac products.
 
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