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New to Apple stuff - advice please

A

Andrewlore

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 27, 2012
2
0
have an old acer desktop pc at home. Use it to do web surfing, skype, music, some work, photos - regular family stuff

Looking to change now...

wife wants an ipad as her friends say that is all they need to do everything.

i am not convinced - think a 13" macbook pro would be much better???

What would you choose to get for family use and why?

1) Ipad 2
2) macbook air
3) macbook pro

thanks for your help
 
Andrewlore said:
have an old acer desktop pc at home. Use it to do web surfing, skype, music, some work, photos - regular family stuff

Looking to change now...

wife wants an ipad as her friends say that is all they need to do everything.

i am not convinced - think a 13" macbook pro would be much better???

What would you choose to get for family use and why?

1) Ipad 2
2) macbook air
3) macbook pro

thanks for your help
Click to expand...

do you need it to be portable?

an iMac would be great for a family to share

Ipad to be is not anywhere near good enough for all computer needs for me

I have a pro and love it, people with Airs love them, since your on the MBP section your likely to get pro suggestions and if you were on the Air section you would likely get Air suggestions

either would really do your needs just fine
 
If you only have one device I would recommend either the MBP or MBA. While the iPad is very capable it does have some limitations and I personally would want to have at least one device that is capable of handling anything.

An iPad is a great second device and complements a computer very well. Great for using on the couch, in bed, on the go or in the kitchen (my wife has her recipes on it).

Good luck :)
 
Andrewlore said:
have an old acer desktop pc at home. Use it to do web surfing, skype, music, some work, photos - regular family stuff

What would you choose to get for family use and why?

1) Ipad 2
2) macbook air
3) macbook pro
Click to expand...

According to what you will do with it, I'd definitely say get a macbook air. iPad 2 can do whatever you want but typing on it isn't like typing on a real keyboard. Also, for file storing and stuff like that, it's really not the best.
MBP could be a good choice, though it'll be more expensive for what you'll do with it. Get the basic macbook air and you will have way enough power to do what you want to do. Plus, the macbook air is really sexy lol.
 
More information is needed. For the uses you are stating, with the exception of work stuff, you could probably get by with an iPad, although I would hate to rely on it as my only device. The limitations that I see are in where are you going to store your archives (music and photos, and anything personal that you don't want to have floating around in the cloud)? If you have a NAS or say either time capsule or AEBS with an external drive connected to store things then you should be fine. With an iPad you are limited in what you can store on it, so your music and photos will be relegated to the cloud, and i don't know if I would want to trust my personal data to it. With the MBP or MBA you could archive and backup in case of failure, not so easy with the iPad. Just food for thought.
 
I'm just going based on your post what your uses will be, but I think if you only have to pick one, then a MacBook Air suits you best. It's still super portable, but it provides the flexibility that only a proper computer can do. As stated above by someone else, the iPad isn't a laptop/computer replacement yet. I find the iPad to be a great device. It compliments my MBP very well, but I couldn't live off the iPad alone (as I tried to do this summer). Typing any long posts or comments gets annoying on the iPad. But then there's also the fact that sometimes you just need more storage and power options from time to time. So my vote for only one device goes to the MBA. I'd suggest adding a poll just to make it easier to see how many people vote for which device.
 
Last edited:
Many thanks for all the advice, i will definitely push toward the MBA if not the MBP!
 
If you don't need portability, get an iMac.

If you do need something portable, yes, the 13" Pro is that much better. Faster, expandable, better battery life, more connectivity, etc.
 
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