I just bought a 2013 Air

I'd like to start this topic by saying that I already ordered this machine this afternoon, so I can't really justify this post other than saying it's out of pure geekery.

So, I'm a musician by day, a writer by night (speaking of which, I don't feel like proofing this post so I apologize in advance for any typos), and soon to be a student at college somewhere in between that. Two years ago, I bought a specced-out Mac mini (2011) for my studio, did an entire album on that, and it's been and still is an incredible machine. The mini is underrated. I love it. I've also been using an iPad 2 as my portable for the past two years and that's been excellent, too.

But I've faced a new problem. I'm going to be away from my studio (and Mac mini) for most of next year while I'm at school. I'm close by (only 35 minutes away), so I will be back and forth, but I need a MacBook for working with Logic Pro, ProTools, Max MSP, and all of that stuff while I'm at school. I'm also working on a project now that involves more electronic music, which means I'll be incorporating a MacBook into my live performances as well.

So while I loved the Mac desktop/iPad combo, I need to add a notebook to the workflow.

So I decided to buy a new 2013 MacBook Air 11-inch, 1.7GHz Core i7, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, and some nice AppleCare.

I figured this would be more than powerful enough to take care of Logic Pro projects on the go, some Pixelmator work, and simple PlainText writing work. I didn't need anything more than 128GB of internal storage because I keep all of the heavy files (Logic Pro, iTunes library, iPhoto library) on an external hard drive, but I decided to future-proof and go with 256GB internal anyway. I actually plan to pick up a cheap WD 1TB hard drive for the new machine soon, too. I also plan to get a Dell monitor for when I need the screen real-estate when I have it docked in the dorm.

It seemed like the best possible portable for me. I'll be keeping the Mac mini in the studio for my serious studio work, but I needed something with me for when I'm away and doing live shows.

I worked all of this out in my head already, but I'm posting just to share and see if it sounds like a good setup.

Update: I just got a little crazy (it must be the warm weather) and I bumped my order up to an 256GB SSD. No second thoughts. Can't wait.

sick z33 said:

A great setup indeed! I am debating on selling my MBP for a loaded 13'' Air. Post some pics!

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Will do!

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robertpetry said:

Sounds good. Take some advice from an old pro, back up that external drive often. Seriously. All the time or you will regret it.

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I use Time Machine and I have a subscription to BackBlaze which has been incredible.

mopppish said:

You just listed almost the exact things I've been using my 2011 11" 1.6ghz i5 4GB RAM Macbook Air for: MaxMSP, Logic Pro, Pro Tools...
I've been getting by just fine with this computer, but will be buying the 13" i7 8GB with a 256GB SSD soon. I'm entering graduate school in the fall, and I'm preemptively upgrading because a) I won't have enough money to buy a new laptop over the next 2 years, so I'd better do it now and b) this 11" has had enough power, but I could see exceeding that with the work I'll be doing over the next 2 years and c) as much as I've loved the 11" form factor, mixing and editing in Logic on an 11" screen was kind of a bear, and Reason looks almost unusable at this size.
If you look at Geekbench scores, the new 1.7ghz i7 is about 50% faster than the 1.6ghz i5 in my current machine. I have no doubt it will be plenty for at least the next couple of years. And if not, the music department at U-MI has plenty of Mac Pro's for me to do serious work on.

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Sounds good! The 11-inch isn't my only machine, but I plan on buying a cheap external monitor if mixing ever pisses me off enough.

On another note, how do you like Max MSP? I'm currently getting over the learning hump. But I bought Max 6 + Gen back in March.

sick z33 said:

Still waitng for pics! jk haha

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It's gonna be a long week!

Another thing to add is I've got a business discount because I sell content on the iTunes Store (thanks Apple!). So I got $100 off of the computer.

I also realized that while Apple gives no business discount on AppleCare, they do give an educational discount on it (about $70 off).

So I bought the computer with my business discount and the AppleCare with my educational discount. Lucky me.

PDFierro said:

Nice post, thanks for sharing your setup. I love the 11-inch Air, but I'm a writer and do a lot of that so I was hoping for an updated rMBP. Still deciding what to do.

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I've always been interested in the really small notebooks. I had a 12-inch iBook G4 in 2005 and, even though I know this isn't true, I feel like it's the best computer I ever had.

I considered the rMBP but no Haswell/Airport update at WWDC made me want the Air even more (which was my original choice). Right now, I still feel like the retina machines are a bit underpowered and I'd much rather have portability, reliability, and battery life over a higher DPI any day.

Just received the AppleCare for my Air. Still have to wait until next week for the actually computer.

PDFierro said:

I can definitely see the trade-offs, you get more of the basics with the Air and less to worry about. Like better battery life.

I briefly considered buying the new MBA, but I can't deal with the screen. Some people can look past that, and some can't.

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Yeah – surprisingly, I really don't mind the screen. But hey, I've been using an iPad 2 for two years, I can totally manage!

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revisionA said:

All aboard to mobility train! toot!

It is quite cool to not hear a damn thing or feel any heat coming off this slick slice of silver. I say get the ultimate if you can, I did. The idea is that you can't add these extras later, and if you create any content outside of text, you might find some limitation - some day.

Make sure you get a sick backpack or laptop case to protect your investment!

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I love that train.

Yeah, I am a little worried about that actually. I'd love to have a totally cool (temp-wise) and battery-efficient notebook, and after reading all of the posts on the forums, I'm afraid of how a maxed-out machine might affect that.

I went almost completely ultimate, besides the SSD. I use a surprisingly little amount of space on my internal drives, I always have. All Logic projects stay on an external, no exceptions. That way I can easily move them if I need to and it's just how I like to keep it. Otherwise, I did go ultimate with the i7 and 8GB of RAM.

I really hope the higher specs don't affect the overall experience negatively.

I see you've got one. How is battery life and heat with the i7 and all?

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NewbieCanada said:

I have a 2012 similarly specced except for a 128 GB. I use it exclusively for portable use - travel or in bed. It's totally the funnest computer I have. It's SO small - barely bigger or heavier than an iPad, but capable of so much more

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Besides the instrument apps I use on iPad (Animoog, Samplr, etc.), I'm actually kind of wondering how the new Air will affect my usage of the iPad. Worse comes to worse, I don't use it and I can sell it. Depending on how much I love the Air, maybe when the time comes to buy another iPad I'll go for a mini and use it more as a sketchpad/journal, which is a very big change from how I use my iPad now (basically as a "laptop").

It's gonna be a weird change, but hopefully good! I've always wanted an 11-inch Air.