New Macbook Air vs Macbook Pro

Scoobydooo

Basically I've had my heart set on getting a macbook pro for a while now but I really like the look of the new macbook air in particular the 13 inch model with the following specs:

13-inch : 128GB
1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
processor
4GB memory
128GB flash storage1
Intel HD Graphics 3000

I'll be mainly using the laptop for college related stuff so I'll be carrying it around with me a lot but am I sacrificing too much for this portability? Which laptop is the better option?

fasty

Unless you're doing heavy 3d graphics or movie editing, a MacBook Air is the way to go.

The power of the 2011 Air is pretty impressive!

I wouldn't want to carry a 15" laptop every day and the 13" Pro's resolution isn't great.

Creamy Goodness

just ordered an air, being honest a laptop for me should compliment my desktop. an air compliments my i7 iMac quite nicely.

i just hope i get a samsung drive instead of a toshiba one though.

fasty

Just return the Air until you do! Not that in real world terms it matters a damn!

I agree though, Air + iMac is a nice combo. I've got a 15" i7 Pro, but would do it your way if I could!

Creamy Goodness

i only wish i had a thunderbolt port on my iMac so if i wanted to work from the air, i could on a big 27" screen, i have a spare 24" monitor from a previous set up here so it's not that much of a biggie but still :pac:

Crackity Jones

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

just ordered an air, being honest a laptop for me should compliment my desktop. an air compliments my i7 iMac quite nicely.

i just hope i get a samsung drive instead of a toshiba one though.

13" I presume? Has anyone seen the 11" irl? How teeny is it? I had totally dismissed the 11" but now I'd really like to see/use one before dismissing it. I use my iphone for surfing a fair bit so my eyesight isnt an issue! I do prefer the spec on the 13" Air tho'.

I agree that the current 13" Air is more appealing than the current 13" Macbook pro.

Creamy Goodness

seen the 11" in the flesh, they are nice, very nice in fact but i just think that no matter how much build quality apple cram into the 11" it still feels like a netbook to me.

Pixelcraft

I've the 11" and it's great. I decided the added portability was worth it, as for any intensive work I'll use my iMac, or hook up an external monitor to it.

Sad Professor

Pixelcraft wrote: »

I've the 11" and it's great. I decided the added portability was worth it, as for any intensive work I'll use my iMac, or hook up an external monitor to it.

How do you find the battery life?

Pixelcraft

Sad Professor wrote: »

How do you find the battery life?

Fine, get about half a day work use

Fatboydim

I can recommend the Air... with most applications now available for download the need for a drive is pretty much redundant. Size of drive is really the only drawback but adequate for work purposes. Plus external HDD drives and or USB flash drives are good enough these days if you want to add storage capabilities. I've upgraded from my MPB to the air and love it.

Bigcheeze

Only thing I don't like about the Air is that in order to make it so light it doesn't have the feel of quality and solidity that the Pro has.

Colonel Panic

It's scary how light the Airs are, but they still feel as rigid and well put together as the Pros.

Armonline

Got a new 13" MacBook air fully specced with i7 processor and 256GB SSD. Was considering the MacBook Pro but the weight of the Pro put me off it and the fact that there is not much performance difference between them. Still think that the Air is a bit heaver than I expected it to be though as was using a 10" Samsung Netbook up till now

Branoic

Got the new 13" inch air today and love it. Can't decide whether to migrate the user accounts and data on iMac over (clogging up most of the HDD on the air) or if there's no need really.

One thing is Ive a couple of apps like Pages etc on the iMac which I want to use on the air and don't know how to get these across without having to redownload from the app store! When looking at the migrate assistant it doesn't seem to let me pick individual apps.

Kavrocks

I have the exact same Macbook Air as the specs you have listed and I love it. I too bought it for the same reasons you are thinking of. I don't see any compromise with it and would recommend it to anybody who needed a laptop for college but did not want to drag around a heavy brick.

Creamy Goodness

Branoic wrote: »

Got the new 13" inch air today and love it. Can't decide whether to migrate the user accounts and data on iMac over (clogging up most of the HDD on the air) or if there's no need really.

One thing is Ive a couple of apps like Pages etc on the iMac which I want to use on the air and don't know how to get these across without having to redownload from the app store! When looking at the migrate assistant it doesn't seem to let me pick individual apps.

if you go to the app store on the air and just redownload pages it will download for free. any paid content on the app store is valid for up to 5 mac's.


my macbook air is sitting in a UPS depot waiting to be delivered to me on monday, can't wait

Creamy Goodness

15 second boot time ftw!*


*includes me entering my password

Stainless_Steel

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

15 second boot time ftw!*


*includes me entering my password

You need a more secure password :P

Creamy Goodness

10 characters long with at least one number and non alphanumeric character involved.

think you're just jealous of me super fast password typing skills.