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montblanc1

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 18, 2009
95
0
I am planning to purchase a mac, and I am in a dilemma between macbook pro(2.53 GHZ 1399 dollars) and macbook air (1.86 GHZ 1399 dollars), since I draw my line to approximately 1400~~~

The problem is, will the 1.86 GHZ macbook air be powerful enough to fulfill my daily and regular needs???( Actually, I do not play computer games, and all I will do with this new macbook air is surfing the Internet, watching a lot of movies, listening to some music, and occasionally chat online with my friends, and run MATLAB software )

Will the 1.86 GHZ macbook air suits me well? Some people told me that after long time of web surfing and playing movies, it got extremely hot!!! So that it stuck now and then. Is that true?

So taking all that into consideration, what do you recommend? MBP or MBA?Thx
 

jcarmich

macrumors newbie
Jun 23, 2009
3
0
Will this be your primary computer? If so, I highly advise against the Macbook Air. However, if you have another computer (iMac, or a PC), then the Macbook Air might be your best choice as a secondary traveling notebook.

You mentioned that you are considering running MATLAB. For that purpose I always recommend to my customers to go for the 13 or 15" Macbook Pros simply because you get so much more power for a similar (or cheaper) price.
 

entatlrg

macrumors 68040
Mar 2, 2009
3,385
6
Waterloo & Georgian Bay, Canada
I would also recommend a 13" or 15" MBP for your needs, you're max'ing out the air's purpose with what you're expecting your machine to do I think.

The MBA could not doubt do the tasks, but you'll hear the fan, it'll get fairly warm and you'll know the machine is working hard .... whereas doing the same tasks with the MBP's you'll like never hear the fan and it will "fly" through ALL tasks.
 

montblanc1

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 18, 2009
95
0
Will this be your primary computer? If so, I highly advise against the Macbook Air. However, if you have another computer (iMac, or a PC), then the Macbook Air might be your best choice as a secondary traveling notebook.

You mentioned that you are considering running MATLAB. For that purpose I always recommend to my customers to go for the 13 or 15" Macbook Pros simply because you get so much more power for a similar (or cheaper) price.

So you imply that it will be a bit difficult for the 1.86 GHZ air to run MATLAB?

Sigh~~~I just can not resist the temptation (thin and portability) of the stunning macbook air!!!

Actually, the 2.53 GHZ macbook pro is also a great product, except from the 2.04 KG weight!!!
 

montblanc1

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 18, 2009
95
0
I would also recommend a 13" or 15" MBP for your needs, you're max'ing out the air's purpose with what you're expecting your machine to do I think.

The MBA could not doubt do the tasks, but you'll hear the fan, it'll get fairly warm and you'll know the machine is working hard .... whereas doing the same tasks with the MBP's you'll like never hear the fan and it will "fly" through ALL tasks.

Yeah, there exists lots of problems( getting hot, fan noise,etc) with MBA!!!

Maybe I will just wait for the next 2 years until these "tiny" problems are solved by Apple Company~~ I will wait until a "mature MBA" appears!!!
 
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