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iPad vs. First gen MacBook Air vs. ThinkPad x61

S

sebpayne

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 28, 2005
48
0
I'm a trainee journalist who currently owns a MacBook Pro 15" - it's a fantastic home machine. Great keyboard, great screen and very fast. However, it's awful for portability as it's heavy and rather large. Therefore, I've decided to invest in something portable for on the go.

My immediate reaction was an iPad (£430). Gettign all those apps for newspapers, easy internet browsing is ideal for research, as is the 10 hour battery life and minimal weight. However, the lack-of-keyboard is the big downer and carrying around a portable one is clunky. But, I'm not sure how much I'll have to do lots of writing and how easy it is to get used to. I may have to do a few amount of 500-word pieces, anyone any experience of this?

The alternatives I then looked to. For a similar price (around £550), I can get a first generation used MacBook Air on eBay. No warranty, maybe a bit slow, 4 hour battery life so would need a power adaptor but very light and basically a full laptop that will be great for writing. Not as useful for just browsing quickly like an iPad but the keyboard is the gain.

I can also get a ThinkPad x61 for around £200 used on eBay which can get an amazing battery life (8 hours), run Windows 7, great keyboard but it's Windows and I'd really prefer Apple as I know it in and out. I looked at a used iBook but that's over 2kg and it's goign to be with me all the time so I want it light.

Also, I've owned a Dell Mini 10 and found the trackpad to be horrendous and battery life crap, so am a bit off netbooks.

Any thoughts or ideas welcome asap!
 
sebpayne said:
I'm a trainee journalist who currently owns a MacBook Pro 15" - it's a fantastic home machine. Great keyboard, great screen and very fast. However, it's awful for portability as it's heavy and rather large. Therefore, I've decided to invest in something portable for on the go.

My immediate reaction was an iPad (£430). Gettign all those apps for newspapers, easy internet browsing is ideal for research, as is the 10 hour battery life and minimal weight. However, the lack-of-keyboard is the big downer and carrying around a portable one is clunky. But, I'm not sure how much I'll have to do lots of writing and how easy it is to get used to. I may have to do a few amount of 500-word pieces, anyone any experience of this?

The alternatives I then looked to. For a similar price (around £550), I can get a first generation used MacBook Air on eBay. No warranty, maybe a bit slow, 4 hour battery life so would need a power adaptor but very light and basically a full laptop that will be great for writing. Not as useful for just browsing quickly like an iPad but the keyboard is the gain.

I can also get a ThinkPad x61 for around £200 used on eBay which can get an amazing battery life (8 hours), run Windows 7, great keyboard but it's Windows and I'd really prefer Apple as I know it in and out. I looked at a used iBook but that's over 2kg and it's goign to be with me all the time so I want it light.

Also, I've owned a Dell Mini 10 and found the trackpad to be horrendous and battery life crap, so am a bit off netbooks.

Any thoughts or ideas welcome asap!
Click to expand...

À second hand thingpad is no good idea IMHO: usually the batteries are not top anymore so you get usually 50% maximum, if ti is 2 years or older expect a dead battery.
MacBook air wouldn't be my choice either.
I myself am a consultant and do around 3-5 interviews with management of sme's a week. I either use a MacBook pro 13" but also like to use my iPad with a Bluetooth keyboard. It's much lighter than my MacBook pro, I'm permanent online with either 3G or wifi and it has more than enough power for simple work that you do while interviewing.
If the apple keyboard is to large, there are also foldable keyboards that have decent key sizes. But I like the solid aluminum keyboard because it is stable has excellent feedback and a long, looong batterie life.
 
neither of the three , if you want something really portable that comes with a keyboard then look at this http://crave.cnet.co.uk/laptops/battle-of-the-breeze-msi-wind-versus-macbook-air-49297991/
cost nearly half the price its outperforming the iPad in every aspect ,the screen is small yes but its the same size as the iPad , but can run without much fuss snow leopard 10.6.4 the install is a breeze and nearly as easy as installing snow leopard on a Mac and offers really something for the money you spend , get the 9cell battery for it and ok it lasts then only about 6 hours , but thats ok in my opinion as the batteries cost far less then the one in the MacBook air (Apple decided to make the battery not to be changed by the user and not easy accessible ) and the Macbook air battery needs changing soon , its a couple years old now so that additional costs you have to count in and it might be thinner then your 15 inch MacBook pro , but its not much smaller in size 13.3 " vs 15 " , ok its lighter
 
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