Macbook Air

A

Acydebyte

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2009
Messages
275
Reaction score
0
Hi guys,

I am in need of a laptop since everything else in my house is apple, the laptop will be as well. I am currently studying and i am in need of a small laptop and have decided on the macbook air, not sure wether the 11" or 13".

My question is, should i wait for the 2012 upgrade or get the 2011 spec now..

What are the rumoured upgrades to the MBA vs the current one and when could we expect to see it ?

Thanks
 
13" offers a bit more practicality in terms of viewing space if you plan on using it as your primary device.

The current MBA with i7 and SSD offers pretty good performance, for what is considered an "ultra-portable" device.
 
Last edited:
Acydebyte said:
Hi guys,

I am in need of a laptop since everything else in my house is apple, the laptop will be as well. I am currently studying and i am in need of a small laptop and have decided on the macbook air, not sure wether the 11" or 13".

My question is, should i wait for the 2012 upgrade or get the 2011 spec now..

What are the rumoured upgrades to the MBA vs the current one and when could we expect to see it ?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Wait for the new MBA 13". That's if you really need a MBA. I personally would go for the MBP :)
 
I for one decided to not play the waiting game and bought the 13" model with the 128GB SSD on 8th April.

Absolutely AWESOME machine!!
64GB is very small, wouldn't have worked out for me.
Especially if you would ever consider installing Windows on with bootcamp :/ haha
And then consider the price difference between the 11" 128GB and the 13" 128GB.
R12999 vs R13699
Such a small difference for the bigger screen, sd card slot, better battery life and little faster CPU.

Yeah, wait if you really don't need it but I for one won't regret buying it :)
 
Centronix said:
Wait for the new MBA 13". That's if you really need a MBA. I personally would go for the MBP :)
Click to expand...

The current 13" MBP has lower screen res than the 13" MBA. Unless you really, really need the optical drive, there's very little difference between the 2 in terms of real world performance, while the MBA is just so much more portable and has better battery life.

Yes, the MBP has a more powerful processor, but the MBA has SSD as standard.
 
Only negative on the current 13" MBA is its max limitation of only 4GB ram.
 
Roman4604 said:
Only negative on the current 13" MBA is its max limitation of only 4GB ram.
Click to expand...

What I really didn't like about it was the screen, yes it super high resolution, but it felt so flimsy, as if it would be break if you shouted in its direction. That's why I opted for the 13" MBP instead. The lack of adequate ports were also a bit of a deal breaker, I still prefer my trusty ethernet.
 
SirMCDeats said:
but it felt so flimsy, as if it would be break if you shouted in its direction.
Click to expand...
Its actually pretty sturdy (one piece aluminium), mine has dropped from the desk onto a tiled floor and the only damage is a slight ding on the edge.

SirMCDeats said:
The lack of adequate ports were also a bit of a deal breaker, I still prefer my trusty ethernet.
Click to expand...
Sure there are some compromises e.g. using USB Ether adapter (wireless-N does near 100Mbps anyway), but ultimately its worth it. Once you've owned an Air, its difficult going back to a std thickness 2Kg+ laptop, it just feels so out of date.
 
Last edited:
Roman4604 said:
Its actually pretty sturdy (one piece aluminium), mine has dropped from the desk onto a tiled floor and the only damage is a slight ding on the edge.

Sure there are some compromises e.g. using USB Ether adapter (wireless-N does near 100Mbps anyway), but ultimately its worth it. Once you've owned an Air, its difficult going back to a std thickness 2Kg+ laptop, it just feels so out of date.
Click to expand...

Cool - thanks for the info, I read somewhere the the new MBPs will most likely have a screen similar to the MPA.

By the way, have you ever experienced the wifi drop issues on your MBA?
 
SirMCDeats said:
have you ever experienced the wifi drop issues on your MBA?
Click to expand...
No drops, but intermittently when coming out of hybrination (not sleep) it can't reconnect to the WLAN. A quick adapter off/on and it does again.

Only happens in OSX Lion, but I spend ~70% of my time in Win7 64, no issue with the WiFi here.
 
I went with the MBP because I needed the extra ram because its a Dev machine.
So I added 8gb and a 256gb Vertex 3 SSD.
It depends on what you gonna be using it for?
 
Roman4604 said:
Sure there are some compromises e.g. using USB Ether adapter (wireless-N does near 100Mbps anyway), but ultimately its worth it. Once you've owned an Air, its difficult going back to a std thickness 2Kg+ laptop, it just feels so out of date.
Click to expand...
You're fortunate - there were too many compromises at this stage for me to opt for the MBA last time I upgraded. Apart from the lack of ethernet I needed more RAM, a large drive - spinning platters on the other hand didn't bother me much, firewire, and yes, even a CD/DVD superdrive since I haven't got to the point in my career that I can afford to give clients USB sticks. :)
 
bwana said:
You're fortunate - there were too many compromises at this stage for me to opt for the MBA last time I upgraded. Apart from the lack of ethernet I needed more RAM, a large drive - spinning platters on the other hand didn't bother me much, firewire, and yes, even a CD/DVD superdrive since I haven't got to the point in my career that I can afford to give clients USB sticks. :)
Click to expand...

True - I must say however, a high-spec 13" MBA + this + a 27" Cinema Display would be awesome. Doesn't solve the RAM issue though.
 
Newby question: To what pressure should the Air be pumped for optimum performance?
 
I wouldn't worry about the pressure. Apple is about to introduce the MacBook Helium. This will be followed by the MacBook Vacuum.

No pressure, dude.
 
Acydebyte said:
Hi guys,

I am in need of a laptop since everything else in my house is apple, the laptop will be as well. I am currently studying and i am in need of a small laptop and have decided on the macbook air, not sure wether the 11" or 13".

My question is, should i wait for the 2012 upgrade or get the 2011 spec now..

What are the rumoured upgrades to the MBA vs the current one and when could we expect to see it ?

Thanks
Click to expand...
If you don't need it now then wait.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X