Macbook air or macbook pro ???

ant043

Well Guys

I'm Heading to the states next week and probably going to buy either the macbook air or pro over there. Now i know they are vastly different and the pro is way more powerful. I have a black macbook at the minute and just do not like the build of it. I really want an aluminium case laptop and i dont really like the screen on the macbook. Basicly I will only be using the laptop for college stuff and surfing the internet. I am by no means a heavy user. Exchange rate is good at the minute so i figure what the hell. Ill probably sell the macbook when i get back. So What do you think ??? Macbook Air or the pro

Any opinions greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

440Hz

What is it you dont like about the MacBook screen? You know the screen on the Air only comes in a glossy option, so it will be almost the same as what you have. That is one factor in decision making if you really hate the MB screen.

I personally would find it difficult to justify an MBP for 'college stuff and internet', even if it is a bargain, but that is because I believe that the spec should meet the needs/requirements of the user.

In your case, I would be more inclined to go for the Air, if you can get over the screen issue.

ant043

Thanks for the reply. I have used both the air and the latest MacBook pro. The. Pros screen was glossy and both were led. Just thought they looked alot better than the MacBooks screen. The viewing angle particularly was much better.

440Hz

LED makes a marginal difference to the glossy screen alright. Personally I cannot stand them, antiglare matte for me everytime, but that is mostly because I do alot of graphics work and could not work on a glossy screen for that. Honest opinion in that case would be the Air, portable and will be fit for your intended purposes, it has its drawbacks though, check out any of the threads here on it. Based on your needs I would have recommended a Macbook as I think the Air may lack some things you will need, but I do think the MBP is overkill for what you want to do with it.

ant043

yeah good advice there. I'm leaning that way myself. I'd love to wait until June for the anticipated MacBook update. I heard rumours here that it could change its casing to aluminium and get multitouch and led screen. Pity I'm going next week and not in a few weeks time.

440Hz

Sure if the update turns out to be just what you wanted you could always buy a "new" Macbook with an edu discount and the sell the Air! If it was really an amazing update that is

ant043

yeah good idea there. Would probably not make a loss either on it. So its looking like the air but i'm still open minded at the minute. I will still probably change my mind before next week. I only got my first mac before christmas, now i'm addicted

su_dios

I went from a matte Powerbook to a glossy MBP and love it. The glossy screen is nicer than the macbook's and I find it is actually better in bright conditions than the matte. If looking from a side then maybe it wouldn't be that great.

ant043

Is the macbook pro 15 much heavier than the macbook ? Is it portable cause i move around with my laptop alot ?

K.O.Kiki

I love my matte MBP

Of course, it's the newer LED screen that is the source of the brightness (especially when I compare it to my 2.5yr old iBook...)

luckat

The Air is sexy - but you can't do things like burning DVDs and CDs, should you want to do such a thing, without connecting up an external burner. It's also more delicate, so if you're horsing it around a lot, you'd need to be careful - and you are, ahem, a student.

The MacBook Pro is a brute of a thing; the great advantage is that its spec is so high that - unless you want to change your machine very often - it can last you four or five years.

My Pro, bought, oh, about 2002, I think, has now gone off to a newbie family member who thinks he's in heaven with it, and the spec in terms of hard drive and memory is similar to the Macbook I have just bought.

One problem with buying abroad is the cables - they'll all have those damn foreign connections. And the keyboard will be American, but that's not so very different.

Why don't you talk to the salespeople in the Apple shop where you're buying and see what they advise? I always find them honest and savvy.

Oh, and the Blackbook - I feel the same. I was dying to buy one, expecting something glossy and cool, but it looked like my old G3 Powerbook (beloved but, er, old), and I went for the white one, which I love.

ant043

great reply there luckat. Yeah the lack of an optical drive in the air is probably going to be the dealbreaker for me. its looking like the pro but i might not be able to resist the air when i get it in my hands.

ant043

oh yeah and the machine will probably take a fair bit of abuse knowing me.

JuncoPartner

I'm a HUGE believer in the MacBook Air. But of course it depends on the use you are buying for. From what you say the Air certainly sounds much more like the machine for you.
I have an Air but I am also going to be buying a pro when the next real (form factor) update comes along.
In terms of portability the Air is pure awesome, its incredibly light and so compact considering its footprint is not that far off the regular MacBook.
As Ive posted here before the Air is actually a lot more powerful than you expect it to be. My main reason for buying was I wanted a machine to just flute around on at home as my monster of a Dell laptop is a pain to lug around... but I find myself using the Air more and more for work related and cpu intensive tasks, even sometimes bringing it to the office aswell as my primary work machine. Im a windows developer by trade by the way though I am starting to dabble in OS X coding lately especially the iPhone SDK.
As far as the external DVD drive goes, again Ive posted about this before.. I wouldnt actually have paid for one but there was a problem with my order and apple gave me one for free as compensation. Its still in its box and Ive never taken it out, nor do I see myself ever taking it out.
That said I do run an iMac at home as a media server so I have a machine on 24/7 at home if I need to rip/burn, but I actually havent even done that in months. I download all my music/tv off the web anyway. And with software I can pretty much download everything off the web too.
Like I say I am going to be buying a Pro in the hopefully not too distant future but that is no way a bad reflection on my Air, probably more a reflection of my inability to not buy all the new apple toys when they come out!

ant043

yeah if only i could have both, that would be the perfect match

Eric Cartman

my glossy macbook pro is a dream. Im an amauer photographer and also di a lot of video editing and colours look great on the glossy screen, also the 1440x900 really helps over the air's 1280x800 , youd think its not that much of a difference, but it is

ant043

just to let people know, i have that blackbook available for sale over in adverts if anyone in the mac forum is interested.

ant043

well guys

Thought i would give an update. I bought the macbook air over there and so far so good. Video playback is great and i have had none of the overheating problems yet touchwood. The thing i find surprising about this mac is the build quality. It really is sturdy and solid. if they incorporated this design into the macbooks obviously not with the thinness, it would be nearly the perfect laptop