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Does anyone here use a 11' air (2012 version) as their only computer? Is it enough?

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waa1futs

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 2, 2012
379
0
I was looking to upgrade my 3.5 year old 10' atom cpu netbook to something with more power since the thing lags a lot even after a complete wipe/restore to factory settings.

I am used to the portability and battery life of a netbook so I would be looking for something similar which brought me to the 11' macbook air.

I was wondering if anyone out there uses the 11' as their ONLY computer? Does it have enough to act as your main and only computing device? Would you recommend it for me over the 13' since I value portability so much?

The only issue I see so far (but I am highly unexperienced at macs) is the fact that the 11' only gets 5 hours of battery life. I guess 5 hours of productivity before charging should be enough? Or does the 11' get even less than this when browsing the web via wifi? On my old atom based netbook it was listed at 7-8 hours of battery life. I know the 13' has 7 hours of battery life but I'm not sure about the portability of it :(

If enough people really advise against the 11' as their only device then I might end up going with the 13' so any advice would be appreciated,
thank you.
 
xraydoc

xraydoc

Contributor
Oct 9, 2005
10,771
5,228
192.168.1.1
While it's not my only computer, I use a 2011 11" Air (1.8GHz i7) and it does nearly everything I need. I don't do BluRay rips on it, but it handles most everything else.

My wife uses a 13" 2011 i7 Air as her only computer and she loves it.
 
M

Mrbobb

macrumors 603
Aug 27, 2012
5,009
209
Sounds like power-wise the 2012 will be more than enuff 4ru. Battery life, only you know. Do u find running your Atom down to single digit battery often and nowhere to charge? then perhaps the 13" Air is for you. Am used to a 12" Wintel so the Air 13" was too wide for me, and I can live with 5 hr battery.

Only computer? Steve Jobs once said: 1 Processe, 1 CPU! OK that's over the top but u have not mentioned any specific requirement so we'll leave it at one snuff power Air 2012 will do.
 
N

Navdakilla

macrumors 65816
Feb 3, 2011
1,100
13
Canada
I have the 11" but I don't use it as my main computer. I have a 27" iMac to handle that. HOWEVER I can very much see me using it as my sole computer if needed. I have the 64gb ssd inside. If I needed to use it as my main computer I would have ordered one with more space (and obviously have an external for storage). Along with that I would probably have a docking solution for when I'm at home. Those 2 things would totally make my 11" my main computer. Love that thing
 
K

kegler

macrumors member
Jul 14, 2011
57
0
dont forget...5hrs or 7hrs is base on no-wifi usage... with wifi....u probably get 60-70% of that :D
 
msjones

msjones

macrumors 6502
Oct 18, 2007
429
4
Nottinghamshire, UK
I use the 2012 base MBA (4GB/64GB) as my main computer. I have external 2.5" USB3 HDD and an external monitor at home and in the office. As a power user this configuration serves me very well.

Away from the mains the 11" MBA is the perfect travel companion. As a penetration tester I will throw a lot at this. I have only had it a week but have so far gotten over 3.5-4 hours out of each charge, thats with running virtual machines and a USB wireless adapter.
 
Fernandez21

Fernandez21

macrumors 601
Jun 16, 2010
4,839
3,177
i use my 2011 11" as my only computer. Only compromise for me is hard drive space, 256gb was the max i could get. Hopefully for my next upgrade 756 will be available.
 
M

m00min

macrumors 6502
Jul 17, 2012
419
90
I use an MBA 11" as my only machine. I bought a second power adapter and a cheap Xbox Vision camera for Skype, (already had a monitor, keyboard and mouse kicking around) for working at my desk. Three cables and it's a desktop machine.

Best of both worlds; really portable, silent desktop :)
 
D

DollaTwentyFive

macrumors 6502a
Nov 11, 2010
747
4
Parts Unknown
I use the 11" air 4GB/128GB as my only machine with no problems. Have the Thunderbolt Display on the desk and I just grab it and go when I need portability. I don't do any hardcore editing, etc. Mostly just everyday stuff and I've never had an issue.

I think you will notice a huge change in portability going from a 10' netbook to an 11" MBA, but hopefully you won't miss that extra 9 feet of screen real estate :D. (Sorry. Couldn't resist)
 
noteple

noteple

macrumors 68000
Aug 30, 2011
1,505
523
13" air as one and only for yrs
Over 11 for extra battery life lasts me my day while 11" was looking for an outlet
Larger SDD at the time
More screen resolution easier to multitask instead of switching views constantly.
SD reader used cheap memory cards for sharing sneaker net.

Just had more utility than my dell net book.

Either size is amazing over an atom
 
I

inselstudent

macrumors 6502a
Jul 27, 2012
617
4
I have the late 2010 11" MBA and it's more than enough. I suppose you don't do video editing on your machine seeing that you are coming from another netbook, and since the MBA could even handle a bit of that I think you'd be okay with one.
 
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