Apple Macbook Air or Macbook Pro

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weelzSA

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Hello everyone,

As the title reads I need to decide between getting the sexier macbook air or the slightly more powerful macbook pro. It would definitely be the 13inch models as I think 11inch mite be too small but if someone is using the 11inch if you could let me know what you think about it that mite change my mind.

The plan is to use it for mainly Drupal websites and some light coding and a little video conversions and browsing ect.

For the time being will use it on it's own but will be getting a monitor in the next month or two for when I need more screen real estate.

So if anyone has any suggestions or recommendations please feel free to let me know.

Thanks.
 
Are you going to be doing the dev at fancy coffee shops?
 
HAHA no... Just need something that is portable for when I need to go out and something that can be connected to an external monitor for when I am at home.
 
My vote would be the Pro, mainly 'cos I love mine... The Air is a really sexy little machine but you can upgrade the RAM and HDD on the Pro when the time comes and it still has a CD drive (if that's important to you), all of which aren't options on the Air.

The rumour mill is already running regarding the next generation of Pro machines and the consensus is that they will all take on the Air form, starting with the 15" sometime mid-year. I'm really not sure what the plans with the 13" Pro are 'tho as it already competes with the Air... I'm guessing it might just fall away like the MacBook did a year or so ago. That said, the current machine will be good to go for three, four, five, six years... They really are good.
 
I have the MacBook Air 13 inch and if I'm honest, the only gripe I have is hard drive space. Otherwise, it's superior in every way to the MacBook Pro. I bought the super drive and have yet to even take the plastic sealer off. The SSD is ridiculously fast and the battery lasts me 8 hours easily. So if you are not worried about graphics power (which you aren't since you looking 13 inch Pro model), then get the Air. The sexiness is worth the extra moola
 
The Air's downside are the limitations when it comes to upgradability - the Pro is more flexible but then obviously comes at a price and additional weight. Just the additional USB ports and interfaces will be something you are going to miss...
 
I will go with the Pro, as others noted mainly for its upgrade ability. The Air is super sexy, i wouldn't mind having one. But unfortunately I must have 8GB of ram!
 
MagicDude4Eva said:
The Air's downside are the limitations when it comes to upgradability - the Pro is more flexible but then obviously comes at a price and additional weight. Just the additional USB ports and interfaces will be something you are going to miss...
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I had a 15 inch pro before my Air. USB ports are too close together to use both at the same time most of the time and the Air has them on opposite sides so works better. There are also two like the pro so not missing anything there. You have the card reader, thunderbolt etc. What are you missing exactly? Ethernet and line in? If you buying an Air it's to move around and not edit audio so clearly those are irrelevant.

Finally, new MacBook Pro are not upgradable by yourself unless you wish to void your warranty and if you go to an Apple store, they will take your left liver and a part of your soul to upgrade your parts.

So my question is, is the 13 inch Pro really better than the Air? I think not. If you going the 15 inch route, Air doesn't compete. 13 inch and Air is better.
 
Remember, the Air does not have an ethernet port, unless you use the usb adapter. You lose one usb port, and it's another thing you need to carry around. Wireless is fine, but sometimes you need wired for those bigger transfers.
 
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IceDreama said:
Finally, new MacBook Pro are not upgradable by yourself unless you wish to void your warranty and if you go to an Apple store, they will take your left liver and a part of your soul to upgrade your parts.
Click to expand...

Nope. My 13" Pro even came with instructions on how to open and upgrade your memory and hard drive. The manual goes so far as to give you the tech specs for the ram so that you can buy any generic part.
 
IceDreama said:
Finally, new MacBook Pro are not upgradable by yourself unless you wish to void your warranty and if you go to an Apple store, they will take your left liver and a part of your soul to upgrade your parts.
Click to expand...
That's incorrect, RAM and HDDs are user serviceable parts and as such you will not void your warranty.

I recently upgraded and considered the air but the sdd are too small for my needs. The MBP has FireWire which also makes my life easier.
 
One enormous flaw of the 13 inch pro which nobody ever tells you about is its horrible resolution (1280 x 800). The air has a superior res, which is frankly a bit of a deal breaker imo. Go for the Air if you can make 128gigs work. Ive got a 2011 13 inch pro in the house, so im speaking from some experience.

The 13 inch Air has the same screen res as the 15 inch pro.
 
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Zyzzyva said:
One enormous flaw of the 13 inch pro which nobody ever tells you about is its horrible resolution (1280 x 800
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Have to agree with this. I have a mid 2010 13" Pro and the resolution is very 90's. If I had to make a choice now it would either be the Air or 15" MBP depending on budget.
 
Yeah I was just gonna say, I have an Air and the resolution is 1440x900, plus the screen has a very nice finish.
 
Another vote for the Air, once you get used to its 1.3 Kgs picking up something else feels like a brick.
 
Zyzzyva said:
One enormous flaw of the 13 inch pro which nobody ever tells you about is its horrible resolution (1280 x 800). The air has a superior res, which is frankly a bit of a deal breaker imo. Go for the Air if you can make 128gigs work. Ive got a 2011 13 inch pro in the house, so im speaking from some experience.

The 13 inch Air has the same screen res as the 15 inch pro.
Click to expand...
It still works for me. i7 cpu, 8gb of RAM, 500gb hdd, firewire, and even the cd/dvd more than makes up for it. Not that I wouldn't want to see the screen res bumped a bit on the 13" MBP! :)
 
I would go for the pro coz soon if they launch the 15 and 17 inch Airs the Current pros will be discontinued and you wont be able to upgrade the airs at all unless its a BTO option if imported so if you want to up the ram and hdd the pro is for never mind the screen resolution i feel its fine.

If you are not in a hurry to purchase you rather wait for the new range which might have a retina display and maybe a few other changes
 
I have the 11" Air (i5 and only 2GB RAM) and it knocks the socks off another MacBook Pro I sometimes work on which is 4GB RAM and i7. The SSD in the Air makes all the difference.
 
South_Bit said:
I have the 11" Air (i5 and only 2GB RAM) and it knocks the socks off another MacBook Pro I sometimes work on which is 4GB RAM and i7. The SSD in the Air makes all the difference.
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Nothing stopping someone putting an SSD in a MBP - in fact, iirc, it's a BTO (up to 512mb) option. You can even get a kit to replace the CD/DVD with a second hdd/sdd.
 
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