Apple Macbook Air or Macbook Pro

I'd hold out a little longer. The consensus is that the Pro line will be refreshed this year and then there will be a lot of good-as-new Pros and Airs for good prices on bidorbuy.
 
Air. Seriously, it's so powerful now, with the SSD and latest Intel processors, it's amazing. It outperforms all the other previous Macbook Pro's handily. Even last year's Core i7 Macbook Pro is slower. So it's got enough horsepower. The screen, the build, the way it works, everything is just so perfect.
 
Thanks for all the replies. Yeah looking into it I think it will be a waste to go for the 13inch Macbook Pro. I am now very torn between the 11 and 13 inch Air. Like I mentioned I will be getting a big 27inch external monitor in the next month or two and the have the Air connected to that for the times I need to work longer hours so the 11inch mite be perfect for when moving around ect. Can anyone tell me how the use of the 11inch is - is it really just too small? There is quite a price difference between the 11inch and 13inch. Let me know, I will be going down to look at the two again (for the 100th time) but in the meantime anyone with real-time usage will be appreciated.
 
weelzSA said:
Thanks for all the replies. Yeah looking into it I think it will be a waste to go for the 13inch Macbook Pro. I am now very torn between the 11 and 13 inch Air. Like I mentioned I will be getting a big 27inch external monitor in the next month or two and the have the Air connected to that for the times I need to work longer hours so the 11inch mite be perfect for when moving around ect. Can anyone tell me how the use of the 11inch is - is it really just too small? There is quite a price difference between the 11inch and 13inch. Let me know, I will be going down to look at the two again (for the 100th time) but in the meantime anyone with real-time usage will be appreciated.
Click to expand...
The problem with the cheapest air is it only has 64gigs of storage. That imo is just too little, while 128 can be quite comfortable if you organise your stuff properly.

On the screen size issue, i've never used the 11 so i cant say for sure. But personally after owning a 10 inch netbook i've banned myself from ever buying a very small screened laptop again. They just feel overly cramped, although it must be said the 11 inch does have a fairly decent screen res for its size.

The 13 is amazingly light, so portability shouldn't be a problem.
 
Last edited:
Eish, the 27" thunderbolt display + Macbook Air is an amazing combo. Pity it costs so much in this country.
 
Zyzzyva said:
The problem with the cheapest air is it only has 64gigs of storage. That imo is just too little, while 128 can be quite comfortable if you organise your stuff properly.

On the screen size issue, i've never used the 11 so i cant say for sure. But personally after owning a 10 inch netbook i've banned myself from ever buying a very small screened laptop again. They just feel overly cramped, although it must be said the 11 inch does have a fairly decent screen res for its size.

The 13 is amazingly light, so portability shouldn't be a problem.
Click to expand...


Yeah I will definitely not get the cheapest version. If I had to go for the 11inch it would be the one with 128gb SSD and 4gig Ram. I am just confused by is the extra cash worth the upgrade of 2inches in the screen and o.1ghz processor. With the extra cash I can then buy the External monitor that I will use when wanting t work long hours. So basically is the 11inch too small for light browsing and video watching while laying around ect.
 
weelzSA said:
Yeah I will definitely not get the cheapest version. If I had to go for the 11inch it would be the one with 128gb SSD and 4gig Ram. I am just confused by is the extra cash worth the upgrade of 2inches in the screen and o.1ghz processor. With the extra cash I can then buy the External monitor that I will use when wanting t work long hours. So basically is the 11inch too small for light browsing and video watching while laying around ect.
Click to expand...

Using it with a 27 inch when doing proper work does change things quite a bit. Normally the clear answer would be the 13" since those two inches do make a very big difference when trying to do real work. I can't honest give you a definitive answer because i've never owned the 11, so who knows really, it might be the perfect size for you. What i will say is: if you are drawn to the idea that the 11" might be nice for use in bed, an ipad would be better. Also, don't get fully suckered into the dream that you will blissfully walk into the room and plug it into the 27 inch screen all the time. Because in practice, you will likely find that you can't be bothered to gain the extra space, because while plugging it in might be very quick, it is a minor annoyance you will try avoid unless you know you will be sitting at the desk for a few hours. Buy the laptop which you know will be the perfect size 99% of the time, because in practice thats how it will most likely be used.

But ja, hopefully others here who have actually owned an 11" can give their opinion on the size.

Also, the price difference is only R700, so dont let that be a deciding factor when you are investing around R25 000 in the combo.
 
Last edited:
Synaesthesia said:
I've owned the 11", and it's great for surfing and watching videos etc. So compact and the screen is very good quality. The 13" is better for working on though. As for the 0.1ghz improvement, that's isn't the whole story, it also turbos to a higher frequency which gives a bigger boost.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4528/the-2011-macbook-air-11-13inch-review/10
Click to expand...


Thanks Synaesthesia. Yeah I have been reading up on the processors and I saw the 1.7ghz has a much higher turbo boost ect.

Decisions decisions...
 
Zyzzyva said:
Using it with a 27 inch when doing proper work does change things quite a bit. Normally the clear answer would be the 13" since those two inches do make a very big difference when trying to do real work. I can't honest give you a definitive answer because i've never owned the 11, so who knows really, it might be the perfect size for you. What i will say is: if you are drawn to the idea that the 11" might be nice for use in bed, an ipad would be better. Also, don't get fully suckered into the dream that you will blissfully walk into the room and plug it into the 27 inch screen all the time. Because in practice, you will likely find that you can't be bothered to gain the extra space, because while plugging it in might be very quick, it is a minor annoyance you will try avoid unless you know you will be sitting at the desk for a few hours. Buy the laptop which you know will be the perfect size 99% of the time, because in practice thats how it will most likely be used.

But ja, hopefully others here who have actually owned an 11" can give their opinion on the size.

Also, the price difference is only R700, so dont let that be a deciding factor when you are investing around R25 000 in the combo.
Click to expand...

Thanks Zyzzyva.

What are the prices on the 13inch macbook air, I tried looking online but couldn't really find anything. If it is only R700 then its a no brainer and will go for the 13inch model. I already have a desk setup where my old iMac use to sit so the space isn't a problem. A friend of mine uses the 13inch and says it the one to go for. So yeah if the price difference is so small then will go for 13inch.
 
weelzSA said:
Thanks Zyzzyva.

What are the prices on the 13inch macbook air, I tried looking online but couldn't really find anything. If it is only R700 then its a no brainer and will go for the 13inch model. I already have a desk setup where my old iMac use to sit so the space isn't a problem. A friend of mine uses the 13inch and says it the one to go for. So yeah if the price difference is so small then will go for 13inch.
Click to expand...
Official SA importers.

www.zastore.co.za
 
So I ended up getting the 13inch Air and was great but within 20 minutes the fans were blowing full blast and loud, the bottom right corner was really hot and the batter life showed it was 100% charged but only had 2h45min charge left and then would jumps to over 8 hours.

So I am taking it back today as all my friends who have the Air have never experienced those problems before. The problem I face now is they don't have any stock of the 13inch so I mite just go with the 13inch macbook pro. The macbook air is great but the 128gig SSD is really small especially once I realized how much data I actually have. Does anyone have any objections to this? I am aware that the new macbook pro line up is rumoured to be coming but that will only be in the next 6 months or so and they might even discontinue the 13inch as the 13inch air will take its place.

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks
 
weelzSA said:
So I ended up getting the 13inch Air and was great but within 20 minutes the fans were blowing full blast and loud, the bottom right corner was really hot and the batter life showed it was 100% charged but only had 2h45min charge left and then would jumps to over 8 hours.

So I am taking it back today as all my friends who have the Air have never experienced those problems before. The problem I face now is they don't have any stock of the 13inch so I mite just go with the 13inch macbook pro. The macbook air is great but the 128gig SSD is really small especially once I realized how much data I actually have. Does anyone have any objections to this? I am aware that the new macbook pro line up is rumoured to be coming but that will only be in the next 6 months or so and they might even discontinue the 13inch as the 13inch air will take its place.

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks
Click to expand...

If the fans were blowing full blast AFTER you moved a lot of your data onto it - its normal, as Spotlight is busy indexing your mac and it will cause your fans to go wild.
If no data added, then glad you returned it:)
 
Start up Activity Monitor to see whether any process has high CPU usage. If anything does then that would be why the fans are on high.

It's also quite normal for the estimated remaining battery time to fluctuate.
 
HDD size is a very big factor to consider. And definitely the reason I'd recommend a MBP over an Air.

I guess it comes down to "SPACE vs SPEED+higherRes"

(Altough, I've had a look and 13"MBP isn't as small as people make it out to be.)
 
I have honestly had the worst luck in getting a new mac. So I returned the Air last night and swapped it out for Macbook Pro 13inch. I get home eagerly wanting to open it up and start playing with it. I take the plastic off and open the lid and what do I see... A scratch / hole on the top left corner just above the track pad, almost as if someone dinged it with a screw driver or something. It is really small but still the second I open it I see it. Didn't turn on the Pro at all and called up the manager of the store and told him and he said I can bring it back and exchange it.

I know I am probably being really anal as I mentioned it is a really small marking but it is still there and if I am paying 13k for something brand new, I want it to be brand new. Do you agree?
 
@goga I only transferred about MB of data from my time machine back (mostly settings and preferences ect). The fan came on after I opened up a browser (I don't have internet access but wanted to make sure the browser installed correctly) and then it would blow loud even when there was absolutely nothing open. I am sure I had a defected model as friends of mine who have over 20 13inch airs in their offices haven't heard of the problems I was facing at all.
 
macboer said:
HDD size is a very big factor to consider. And definitely the reason I'd recommend a MBP over an Air.

I guess it comes down to "SPACE vs SPEED+higherRes"

(Altough, I've had a look and 13"MBP isn't as small as people make it out to be.)
Click to expand...


@macboer - what do you mean by "Altough, I've had a look and 13"MBP isn't as small as people make it out to be."???
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X