Refreshed Mac Mini vs Refreshed Macbook Air?

[Young Grasshopper]

im thinking of replacing my desktop pc with a mac and was originally going to get both a refreshed MBA(for portable use) AND mini mac(desktop) BUT its too much $$$ for me atm. im sick of windows and want to try out mac os as i love both my ipad and ipod touch. as for which is more of a priority, id rather have a new mac mini but would love to have the portable capabilities of the macbook air. can the macbook air be used as a desktop? it would be nice if i could just plug a monitor into that thing and never even have tp open it up, just leave it on my desk and take it with me whenever i really need it.


assuming they're both released around the same time, which would be better? specs on both existing mac mini and MBA look the same.

 

[rugby]

Yes, you can use the macbook air as a desktop. I would go with the air depending upon the specs of both revised products.

 

[TheStu]

The Air can be either used in closed lid mode, or with the screen open allowing you to have dual displays.

I would recommend the Air, even though it will be a little more expensive and here is why... At some point you are going to want to unplug your Mini and take it with you some where. At some point you are going to say... man, I really wish I could watch Flash on the couch (which the iPad cannot do), or do some writing on the back porch. You said you had wanted both. Getting just the Air better accomplishes that over just having the Mini.

 

[Pardus]

The Air can be either used in closed lid mode, or with the screen open allowing you to have dual displays.

I would recommend the Air, even though it will be a little more expensive and here is why... At some point you are going to want to unplug your Mini and take it with you some where. At some point you are going to say... man, I really wish I could watch Flash on the couch (which the iPad cannot do), or do some writing on the back porch. You said you had wanted both. Getting just the Air better accomplishes that over just having the Mini.

Currently:
13" MacBook Air, 1.8ghz Core 2 Duo, 2GB Ram, 128GB SSD. Nvidia GPU, $1300
13" MacBook Pro, 2.3ghz Core i5, 4GB Ram, 320GB HD Int. Video. $1200

I go with the macbook pro unless the "revised" 2011 macbook air is much improved.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Or score a refurb with a full warranty

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC...co=MjIwMTAxNTY

 

[TheStu]

Currently:
13" MacBook Air, 1.8ghz Core 2 Duo, 2GB Ram, 128GB SSD. Nvidia GPU, $1300
13" MacBook Pro, 2.3ghz Core i5, 4GB Ram, 320GB HD Int. Video. $1200

I go with the macbook pro unless the "revised" 2011 macbook air is much improved.

The Air is lighter and has an SSD standard. The revised Air will almost certainly get Sandy Bridge and at that point it will probably just be a matter of clock speed between the two.

And you are neglecting the $999 11" Air.

 

[rugby]

Currently:
13" MacBook Air, 1.8ghz Core 2 Duo, 2GB Ram, 128GB SSD. Nvidia GPU, $1300
13" MacBook Pro, 2.3ghz Core i5, 4GB Ram, 320GB HD Int. Video. $1200

I go with the macbook pro unless the "revised" 2011 macbook air is much improved.

The macbook air 13" has a higher resolution than the 13" macbook pro. 1280x800 vs 1440x900.

If you don't need the capacity of the bigger HD and the extra power of the CPU, I'd say go with the air.

 

[wantedSpidy]

Air is awesome if you don't mind storing the bulk of your multimedia on a standard external spindle drive.

I would definitely go with the laptop, instead of the mini + monitor.

The air vs. pro is mostly:
AIR:
SSD + thinner casing + slower processor (which is irrelevant for most people) + higher resolution screen + more expensive

vs.

PRO:
standard HDD with higher capacity + faster proc + more ports + cheaper

 

[KeithP]

Or score a refurb with a full warranty

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC...co=MjIwMTAxNTY

I would go with that refurb and replace its HD with an SSD.

Of course, I would wait until the refreshed machines are actually announced just in case something unexpected happens.

-KeithP