Is 11' Suitable for everyday use?

For what you want to use the Macbook Air for, it will be great, the SSD will launch your applications fast. If you begin to feel that the screen is too small, like when watching a movie, you can always buy an external monitor.

It will be ideal for your needs. Regarding the screen, if possible, you can visit your nearest Apple store and compare 13' and 11'. It will give you a better idea of the form factor before you make the purchase.

I use my 11" MBA as my daily work computer. Sure, there are times where I wish that I had a bigger screen but you really can't beat the portability of the 11" so it's a fair trade off. If I only had one computer, that I was going to use for every daily task, I'd look hard and close at the 13" MBA as well. Hit up your local Apple store (or even some Best Buy's) and see the 11" side by side w/the 13" and go with whichever fits the bill better. Personally, I love my 11" MBA and won't be parting with it anytime soon.

I have a 13" MBP. Needed to get something for work, and at the time the updates were a little ways out. For me, I'd definitely consider the 11" The increased resolution, portability, etc. is awesome. And I agree with the others here; the SSD flies! I messed around with one at the Apple store, and couldn't believe it!

I wouldn't miss the backlit keys either. I rarely work in low-light conditions, and hardly ever use the optical drive. So I may sell this one, and move to the MBA after the next refresh to SB.

My 11inch air is my only machine with one exception. It remains connected when I am in my office to a 27inch ACD. I surf, code, and generally waste time on miscellaneous apps on it in between. I have a Mac Mini that stores my media empire and use iTunes home sharing to access that data.

Very often when connected to the ACD, I have half the screen with a browser up and the other half has a video podcast or some type of media running. Things tend to lag slightly depending on the resolution of what I am watching but honestly that's to be expected considering the pixels this little machine is pushing.

On the go or around the house I found the 11inch screen took some getting used to but I wouldn't trade the size or portability for the 13inch (I owned both 13 and 11in Air's for a while). The 11 inch is a great little machine. I really look forward to what the future holds with the next update.

The 11' might be hard to take anywhere with you.....you might need a pickup truck.

That being said, for your purposes, it will serve you well.

We have 3 in the house, all with 360GB OWC SSD's in them, I run my business with mine, my Wife light games and surfs with her's, and my Daughter is using her's for School and getting her Masters Degree, so yes they are our main go to machines. Our TWO 2007/2008 BMB's went to our Grandaughters for High School use

Cheffy Dave said:

We have 3 in the house, all with 360GB OWC SSD's in them, I run my business with mine, my Wife light games and surfs with her's, and my Daughter is using her's for School and getting her Masters Degree, so yes they are our main go to machines. Our TWO 2007/2008 BMB's went to our Grandaughters for High School use

Click to expand...

Did you get a third recently? I remember you saying that you had two.

I just got a 13" (upgraded from a 13" plastic Macbook) and it feels huge, so I'm sure that the 11" would be fine for everyday tasks. The higher resolution screen really gives you a lot of extra space to work around with.

I really only got the 13" for the extra processor power and battery life, I bet the 11" would work for most non-professional tasks.

Patrick946 said:

Did you get a third recently? I remember you saying that you had two.

I just got a 13" (upgraded from a 13" plastic Macbook) and it feels huge, so I'm sure that the 11" would be fine for everyday tasks. The higher resolution screen really gives you a lot of extra space to work around with.

I really only got the 13" for the extra processor power and battery life, I bet the 11" would work for most non-professional tasks.

Click to expand...

Yes Patrick, I did, that went out via UPS to my Son in PA, who is a on-line College Physics Professor for The California University System, sigh, I used to have a memory like that
Everyone who see's mine wants one, in fact I'll be ordering 3 more for friends, who want the 480 GB OWC SSD in each. I think there is a small market to needy users who want such higher volumes of storage, which is the niche OWC has found. It probably isn't big enough for Apple (yet)
The OWC's are much faster than the SSD. I am truly smitten with this baby!

As in the current MBA is fine for the OP's needs, I'm sure the revision will be great!

The 11" is fine - you might find the screen small at first if you are used to a bigger screen but I love it.

I love the portability of the 11" - I'm travelling a lot at the moment and need to carry work laptop as well as this - hardly notice the weight increase and it fits pretty well on an aircraft tray table

The only thing I'd be worried about with the OP's usage scenario would be iMovie.

If you want to do iMovie on the go, I could see the 11" screen getting pretty cramped, pretty quickly. Plus, with HD video, you won't get the full resolution of the video on the screen (just a shrunken version).

As one who's edited video in a past career, seeing the video as big as possible, to check for focus, etc... is always a plus. And that would be less possible on the 11" MBA than on any other machine.

That plus rendering time (as the 11" MBA has the slowest processor in the mac lineup - and presumably still will after the SB refresh) will be increased with the 11" over any other MacBook.

Just a thought...

I've used my 11" MBA as my only work (& personal) machine for about 5 weeks now - intensive writing, email and a lot of travel. The screen is small, but I like it; a nice monitor would be a good addition, but I've been happy with using the 11" exclusively. Prior to this, I used various Dell 15" PC laptops for ~10 years (Mac was only at home). Moving from 15" screen to 11" screen was not as bad as I thought it would be. I keep my dock hidden (and on the side, not the btm) to maximize screen space, and use Divvy to help manage window placement.

fyrefly said:

The only thing I'd be worried about with the OP's usage scenario would be iMovie.

If you want to do iMovie on the go, I could see the 11" screen getting pretty cramped, pretty quickly. Plus, with HD video, you won't get the full resolution of the video on the screen (just a shrunken version).

As one who's edited video in a past career, seeing the video as big as possible, to check for focus, etc... is always a plus. And that would be less possible on the 11" MBA than on any other machine.

That plus rendering time (as the 11" MBA has the slowest processor in the mac lineup - and presumably still will after the SB refresh) will be increased with the 11" over any other MacBook.

Just a thought...

Click to expand...

Agreed, I have both and use iMovie. I much prefer to use the 13" Air over the 11" for any kind of editing.

We've had both in our house since the refresh, the 11" has that wow factor for sure, but when it's time to get work done, or even just surf around, read long documents, even searching mls home listing yes the 13" is for sure noticeably better suited with the larger screen.

Doesn't mean I love the 11" any less. Just be ready to do much more scrolling and not seeing as much on the screen at once.

For these reasons I do use my 13" more but if I'm traveling / flying I take the 11".

Yes

I have been focusing on a 13", but I may need to reconsider and check out the 11".