Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
MacBook Air 11" Screen Big enough (For those of you with the MBA 11")
- Thread starter ShnookOne
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
i own BOTH now, an older 11" , and now a 13"
im 40, so im not an old coot with bad eyes......
honestly, 13" is "nicer", but Id still gladly live with my 11", its perfect.
NEW macbook air 13" is only 100$ more.......with MUCH MORE batt life.....and SD car slot, and bigger screen.
for 100$ more, its a "no frigging duhhh" to get the 13"
im 40, so im not an old coot with bad eyes......
honestly, 13" is "nicer", but Id still gladly live with my 11", its perfect.
NEW macbook air 13" is only 100$ more.......with MUCH MORE batt life.....and SD car slot, and bigger screen.
for 100$ more, its a "no frigging duhhh" to get the 13"
side by side, there really isnt much more than a hairs difference, they BOTH fit fine in my backpack, and BOTH fit in my small leather satchel.
I honestly mistook several times my INCASE 11" bag for my 13" one.
in packing both, i really dont notice barely a hairs difference, theres only half pound diff.
and the thickness is the same, theyre both like packing around an Ipad really.
BUT the new 2013 13" has crazy longer batt life over the 11" 2013 model
I honestly mistook several times my INCASE 11" bag for my 13" one.
in packing both, i really dont notice barely a hairs difference, theres only half pound diff.
and the thickness is the same, theyre both like packing around an Ipad really.
BUT the new 2013 13" has crazy longer batt life over the 11" 2013 model
every use with no hiccup.
come from cMBP 15" hi-res
never look back the font size is a little bit smaller but I can live with that.
a bit too short battery life but can cope with a light-weight charger.
come from cMBP 15" hi-res
never look back the font size is a little bit smaller but I can live with that.
a bit too short battery life but can cope with a light-weight charger.
The only problem I have with the 11" screen is running the iphone/ipad emulators in Xcode as they are at a resolution larger than the 11" screen. But I can work around that with an external screen or debugging the app on an actual iphone/ipad.
For everything-else the screen is much more usable than a 1366x768 screen on a Windows laptop.
For everything-else the screen is much more usable than a 1366x768 screen on a Windows laptop.
I returned my 2013 11" exchanged for a 13" because of the screen.. I couldn't deal with the 16:9 ratio and resolution. Maybe it had more resolution it would have been fine. You can fit a lot more content on the 13" screen because of it's aspect alone.. Even if the resolution is barely higher its more square.
I agree with this. People tend to either love 11" or hate 11". The best advice would be to try it out in store. Most people seem to immediately know if they feel "limited" by the screen real estate.
I wish I could tell if it was going to be good for me while I was in the store but I just couldn't decide.. After sitting behind the 11" for a few hours you start to realize if it's going to work for you or not. I just felt my iPad showed more content than the 11" (Because it does) but the 13" makes up for this with a more square screen.
Thats good advice... If you can't decide, always 13" because it at least not a compromise.
I bought the 11" in August 2011. I had a Dell XPS M1330 - or what ever its name was
Anyhow, I came form a 13" display, and I have had no issues or problems at all going down to 11".
Of course, when I use Photoshop or Indesign, I might find the screen real estate a bit to small, but the pros outbeat the cons - easily. (Normally I do that kind of work on my iMac, but when I'm on the road the MBA is powerful enough.)
Also - I think it's a lot prettier than the 13"
Of course, when I use Photoshop or Indesign, I might find the screen real estate a bit to small, but the pros outbeat the cons - easily. (Normally I do that kind of work on my iMac, but when I'm on the road the MBA is powerful enough.)
Also - I think it's a lot prettier than the 13"
I think the screen on my 11 inch is just about right for me. I keep my dock hidden for apps that require a lot of screen space, and I use full screen a lot... however if I am editing text or audio etc for long enough the screen begins to feel a bit cramped. That's the only time when I ask myself if I should have bought a 13 inch
I absolutely love the size of my 11, though. It's like the perfect size and weight to carry anywhere. I'd say that compensates for the minimum screen space.
I absolutely love the size of my 11, though. It's like the perfect size and weight to carry anywhere. I'd say that compensates for the minimum screen space.
I've tried both 11" and 13" as well as retina 15" (we have all these at work so I "steal" an employee laptop for an evening or 2) and I couldn't stand the 13".
I ride on train about 1:30/day and the 13" was slightly too big for the cramped space. I go to offsite meetings a lot and I could see a difference in weight carying it back and forth. 13" is not back breaking but the difference is obvious if you have a light bag.
Screen I didn't see much difference honestly. I use full screen a lot on 13" too so the difference is slight.
I have a 12 core mac pro w/3 thunderbolt screens and a 11" mba. I love extremes I guess. My point is if you can't comfortably have 2 words documents side by side on a screen (like you can on a 27" screen) then you wil end up having to mess around with full screen or half seen windows anyways.
It's very subjective and depend on your work however.
13" is a standard laptop and 11" is like an iPad, much sexier form factor imho.
I ride on train about 1:30/day and the 13" was slightly too big for the cramped space. I go to offsite meetings a lot and I could see a difference in weight carying it back and forth. 13" is not back breaking but the difference is obvious if you have a light bag.
Screen I didn't see much difference honestly. I use full screen a lot on 13" too so the difference is slight.
I have a 12 core mac pro w/3 thunderbolt screens and a 11" mba. I love extremes I guess. My point is if you can't comfortably have 2 words documents side by side on a screen (like you can on a 27" screen) then you wil end up having to mess around with full screen or half seen windows anyways.
It's very subjective and depend on your work however.
13" is a standard laptop and 11" is like an iPad, much sexier form factor imho.
What also annoys me about the 11" is the huge bezel.. They could have easily fit a 12" display in there and made it one of the best design-wise laptops around.. Imagine a nearly borderless lcd in that 11" body.. sigh. I would have kept it if they would do something like that. The keyboard is edge to edge, there's literally no space wasted on the bottom.. just that screen and bezel, WHY.
I do not have a problem with the 16:9 or more screen real estate on the 13", my question is about resolution, can anybody with the two laptops tell me if the fonts and content in general will look similar on both machines or the 13" will have bigger text even with higher resolution?
The bezel is wide because the laptop is so thin. The bezel on the 13-inch is equally as wide. The 13-inch has a significantly bigger footprint than the 13-inch Pro because of this. A bigger display would not have fit, in either notebook.
As for me, I have no problems with screen real estate on the Air. It's got a higher pixel density than the 13", so things are smaller on the smaller screen. It actually has more screen real estate than a 13" Pro.
The 13-inch has a ppi of 127. The 11-inch has a ppi of 135. Those are pretty close, you but you'll probably be able to discern the difference. Screen elements and text will be physically slightly smaller on the 11".
My 11" only arrived today so I can't give you a full 'review' but I'm going to be using this alongside my iMac 21.5" dual monitor set up so I was a bit concerned the screen might be a bit too much of a jump down but honestly, it's fine. I mostly use my Macs for graphic design along with general use such as safari browsing and uni work and I've found so long as I full screen the app I'm using I don't find it too constraining at all. Went for 11" after having a compare in my local store to the 13" due to it's portability, the 13" was just THAT little bit bigger that made the difference in ultimate portability for me. Can literally chuck it any bag. No regrets so far, hope you enjoy yours
----------
Further to my above post, I guess it really depends what you're going to be using it for. If it's your main computer then go for the 13" definitely. If it's going to be used as an on-the-go machine then go for 11".
----------
Further to my above post, I guess it really depends what you're going to be using it for. If it's your main computer then go for the 13" definitely. If it's going to be used as an on-the-go machine then go for 11".
My 11" only arrived today so I can't give you a full 'review' but I'm going to be using this alongside my iMac 21.5" dual monitor set up so I was a bit concerned the screen might be a bit too much of a jump down but honestly, it's fine. I mostly use my Macs for graphic design along with general use such as safari browsing and uni work and I've found so long as I full screen the app I'm using I don't find it too constraining at all. Went for 11" after having a compare in my local store to the 13" due to it's portability, the 13" was just THAT little bit bigger that made the difference in ultimate portability for me. Can literally chuck it any bag. No regrets so far, hope you enjoy yours
----------
Further to my above post, I guess it really depends what you're going to be using it for. If it's your main computer then go for the 13" definitely. If it's going to be used as an on-the-go machine then go for 11".
Exactly my thoughts and why I've purchased the 11", my main machine display is a 27' Thunderbolt that will be replaced with the 2013 iMac after the new refresh is out.
I'll go to the store to check both today, even with the extra 3 hours of battery on the 13" I'm still in love with the 11" form factor.
I too am intending to use Xcode for iOS development. I am considering the MBA 2013 11" i5/8/256 and wanted to ask if the resolution on the 11" is high enough to comfortably use Xcode? I think the iOS simulator window can be scaled to fit (or scroll vertically if it doesn't fit natively?) so I am more concerned about the Xcode IDE itself.
Any feedback would be appreciated
I find the resolution fine for Xcode development. I generally work in full screen mode and editing code is fine, even in the split screen mode.
Scrolling around storyboards can be a pain, especially large ones, but then I find that on my 27" iMac too, which is my main Xcode machine, and I tend to do most of the storyboard work on there.
I've not found a way to scale the iOS simulator, but it can be scrolled, running the app on a plugged-in iOS device when debugging allows you to step through the code or watch the debug output whilst it's running, and saves switching back and forth between the simulator and Xcode.
I'd recommend an external screen if you're looking at using the MBA as your main development machine, simply for aiding debugging, but for on-the-go fixes and developing on the hoof I don't think the extra screen real-estate of the 13" would make that much of a difference.
YMMV of course!