Anyone holding out for the rumored 15" Air?

JS77 said:

I finally decided to replace my 2007 (yes, 2007!) c2d 17" MBP with a 13" MBA - truth be told I spend more time on my 27" iMac and would prefer a slightly smaller laptop for travel (although I'm still one of the few that doesn't mind lugging a 17" MBP around!)

Anyway, I was just about to pull the trigger but then these 15" MBA rumors re-surfaced, and if I'm honest, the thought of a 15" Air sounds like the perfect dream ultrabook combo to me.

So, is anyone else actually holding out until there's something concrete about the 15" Air? And if so, do you think that the 15" Air will offer a higher resolution than the 13" Air (Considering the 13" already matches the standard MBP 15" resolution).

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Not holding out but saving up my cash anyway. My mba is new but I have a daughter going to head off off to college next fall so depending on what happens she may have a really nice late 2011 13 and I might have the new 15.

I think many people are guessing new 15 might go 1600 x 900 but until it ships or is outed hard to guess exactly. It would not make much sense to duplicate the 13 inch resolution on a 15 ...

Hoping but not expecting USB 3.0 on it ...

also coming from a 17 inch, I have realised that they really are just too big, for me anyway, I'd imagine 15 inch wouldn't be too much better, I just bought a 13 inch MBA because I wanted something I can take with me, so far it's perfect.
Personally, 13" is the sweet spot for me when it comes to notebooks. All preference though, plus, we can't guarantee that a 15" air will come out.

What happens if the 15" MacBook Air is actually just a thinner MacBook Pro and you decide that you don't want that model? Then you just wasted a few months and will most likely wait more if you convince yourself that the new MacBook Air refresh is just around the corner.

I think the 13" is the perfect balance between size and portability. A 15" footprint would be huge in my opinion for something as thin as the MacBook Air and the 11" is too small for my needs.

If you don't mind lugging around a 17" then you should think about going with a 13" MBP since it's going to give you a lot more bang for your buck at basically the expense of more weight (and screen resolution, but that's somewhat down in the weeds)

Also holding out for the 15" air is IMO silly but I also think a 15" air itself is somewhat silly

Nope, I'm happy with my 13".

My 2009 15" MBP still gets the job done, so I wouldn't say I am holding out.. but I am intrigued and would probably switch if Apple releases this rumored 15" MBA.... I was very impressed with the specs on the new MBA's but just can't see myself going from a 15" screen to a 13".... I know its only 2 inches but I really notice the difference when I am doing something on my girlfriend's 13" MBP.

Another point not mentioned is that, coming down from a 17" notebook to a 13" notebook hasn't been painful at all, I don't miss the real estate ,can't say I have noticed too much. Just really enjoying my Air.
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I'm holding out for the new MBP lineup, will probably get a new MBP 15" if it has the Ivy chip. I'll probably keep my 2010 MBA until Haswell or ARM.

Wouldn't be that hard for apple to make. Just take out there poor quality dvd drives and then simply make it slimmer maybe even slimmer then the 13.

I bought the early 2011 13" MBP out of emergency. I only have two criticisms; screen resolution and I covet a dedicated GPU.
I intend to upgrade and almost did this year to a 17" MBP. I actually bought it but then returned it and got a 13" MBA which my wife now uses.

I think 13" is the ideal portable size for people who truly move about between home and office, but I do like the 15" and 17" screen better. Because of the rumored 15" Air (which I think will really be a thin Pro), and also Ivy Bridge updates on all models I am holding off.

Once a 15" Ivy Bridge Pro and Air or Air/Pro is released - whatever they decide to call it, AND the new 13" Air then I'll choose between the new 13" and 15" models.
But it's more than just how Air-like it is. Comes down to screen res, how powerful the Ivy Bridge GPU is, cost is a minor factor, and battery life too. I would really like to be able to go a full day at work on battery if needed. If next year's models do not give me significant boost on res and GPU I'll likely just keep my current MBP and wait for Haswell.

Why does so many people buy the 13" MBP? I can see only 3 reasons:
1. Superdrive
2. Need to be able to ugprade to >4gb RAM
3. Need >256gb harddisk

And I really doubt that the majority of people actually has these requirements. The base MBA is only slightly more expensive than the MBP, and gives you better screen resolution, better form factor and faster in daily use (due to SSD)

Invisible Elf said:

Why does so many people buy the 13" MBP? I can see only 3 reasons:

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You don't really need more than one reason.

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TheJing said:

Invisible Elf said:

Why does so many people buy the 13" MBP? I can see only 3 reasons:

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You don't really need more than one reason.

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Reason number 2 for me - need to run VM's so more than 4gb would turn me away from MBA.

Invisible Elf said:

Why does so many people buy the 13" MBP? I can see only 3 reasons:
1. Superdrive
2. Need to be able to ugprade to >4gb RAM
3. Need >256gb harddisk

And I really doubt that the majority of people actually has these requirements. The base MBA is only slightly more expensive than the MBP, and gives you better screen resolution, better form factor and faster in daily use (due to SSD)

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Reason 4; Timing. There wasn't a sandy bridge MBA out when I needed a new computer. I was coming off of a failing 2.4Ghz Dell XPS M1530 and wasn't going to go sideways to a C2D Air with no backlit keyboard.

Risasi said:

I bought the early 2011 13" MBP out of emergency. I only have two criticisms; screen resolution and I covet a dedicated GPU.

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Just pointing out, that the 13" MBA actually has a higher resolution than the 13" MBP. In fact the 13" MBA has the same resolution as the 15" MBP. I went to a 15" MBP only for a higher resolution display (the 1280 x 800 was very limiting of my old 13" MBP). If the Sandy Bridge MBA's allowed me to order it with more than 4GB of RAM, I would buy a 13" in a heartbeat. Damn VM's taking up all my available RAM!

I am waiting on next mba (13 inch) UNLESS next 15 rumored mba will have smaller bezel and shrink it's size a bit.(then I will get the 15)

jvmxtra said:

I am waiting on next mba (13 inch) UNLESS next 15 rumored mba will have smaller bezel and shrink it's size a bit.(then I will get the 15)

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Good point. The 13" MacBook Air does have a relatively large bezel, compared to something like the Dell XPS 14z. If they can shrink the bezel so that the 15" screen only increases the Air's footprint by a half an inch (which I think is possible as long as the bezel is slim), I would highly consider the rumored 15" model.

paulrbeers said:

Just pointing out, that the 13" MBA actually has a higher resolution than the 13" MBP. In fact the 13" MBA has the same resolution as the 15" MBP. I went to a 15" MBP only for a higher resolution display (the 1280 x 800 was very limiting of my old 13" MBP). If the Sandy Bridge MBA's allowed me to order it with more than 4GB of RAM, I would buy a 13" in a heartbeat. Damn VM's taking up all my available RAM!

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he said he had a problem with the 13" MBPPPPPPPPPP resolution, not the MBA.

boy-better-know said:

he said he had a problem with the 13" MBPPPPPPPPPP resolution, not the MBA.

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Exactly and this thread is about whether you should hold out for the 15" Air over the 13" Air. So stating that the 13" MBP does not have a high enough resolution is not even worth noting since the 13" MBP and the Base 15" have the same resolution therefore you are getting the same Resolution on the 13" MBA and the 15".

boy-better-know said:

he said he had a problem with the 13" MBPPPPPPPPPP resolution, not the MBA.

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I think he's just pointing out that I could have got a better resolution if I'd gone with the MBA, but the one I wanted didn't exist for another five months. I actually do have a 13" MBA and it's pretty sweet, what little I get to use it. My wife... :rollseyes:

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And ditto on the bezel, jvmxtra.

Kendo said:

Good point. The 13" MacBook Air does have a relatively large bezel, compared to something like the Dell XPS 14z. If they can shrink the bezel so that the 15" screen only increases the Air's footprint by a half an inch (which I think is possible as long as the bezel is slim), I would highly consider the rumored 15" model.

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I didn't even know such thing already exist. Good point bro!!!

Kendo said:

I think the 13" is the perfect balance between size and portability. A 15" footprint would be huge in my opinion for something as thin as the MacBook Air and the 11" is too small for my needs.

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Ruefully concur; the 15" is too large, and unfortunately the 11" a tad too small.

You're waiting for a non existent product? Really? I mean waiting for the next iPhone/iPad/MBA refresh is something. Because refreshes do happen; the only thing no one knows for sure is what the new features will be. But you're almost waiting for a new product line-a 15 inch Air would really help drive even more sales away from the Pro probably and not be serving the same market as current Air users. It's a whole new market.