help me convince my dad a MBA is the best uprade

For opening a web page? Probably not that much faster at all.

It depends on what you are doing. For CPU-intensive tasks, the 1.7GHz i5 will be about twice as fast as the 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo. The SSD will be about 20 times faster than the old hard drive, which will make booting and loading applications significantly faster. As the other poster mentioned, for basic tasks like web browsing, it won't be much faster, though with more RAM and the SSD you won't notice as much of a slowdown if you keep lots of tabs open.

Is he in the market for a new computer? If so, then the Air would be a significant upgrade. On the other hand, if he's happy with his current setup, then he probably doesn't need much power. A RAM upgrade and swapping the HD for an inexpensive 64GB SSD would boost the speed of the old Thinkpad for a fraction of the cost of a new PC.

These people are right that once inside the browser the internet won't be much faster - but everything else will. A MBA will be much faster for daily use (yes, even just email) and less frustrating than any computer over 3 years old.

Your dad's not stupid. I'm sure he understands the basics, if not a whole lot more, depending on what he does.

Being the last platform to embrace SSD's the Mac community is still in the honeymoon phase with SSD's. People are falling all over themselves in awe.

Don't get me wrong, they are certainly fast, I have SSD's in every Mac and Windows laptop I own. However due to the fact I've been using them in my ThinkPads for a lot longer, it's become routine for me. Like anything else I became used to them and now it's just normal. The "wow" factor is gone.

SSD's speed up boot times, shut down times, app launch times, and the times when the drive is accessed. However while working within apps, the difference is far less dramatic. In some cases there is no speed difference at all.

Finally, now that SSD's are optional on nearly every laptop made, there's little advantage across the board.

ixodes said:

Your dad's not stupid. I'm sure he understands the basics, if not a whole lot more, depending on what he does.

Being the last platform to embrace SSD's the Mac community is still in the honeymoon phase with SSD's. People are falling all over themselves in awe.

Finally, now that SSD's are optional on nearly every laptop made, there's little advantage across the board.

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Apple was one of the first to introduce a line of mainstream notebooks that used SSDs exclusively (in October 2010). Before then, sure they were available, but they were optional on models from just about every manufacturer. I had an SSD in my late 2008 MacBook Air, and Apple also offered SSDs in late 2008 in the MacBook Pro. The first Mac that offered an SSD was the original MacBook Air, but it was a $1000 option that didn't have much uptake.

KPOM said:

Apple was one of the first to introduce a line of mainstream notebooks that used SSDs exclusively (in October 2010). Before then, sure they were available, but they were optional on models from just about every manufacturer. I had an SSD in my late 2008 MacBook Air, and Apple also offered SSDs in late 2008 in the MacBook Pro. The first Mac that offered an SSD was the original MacBook Air, but it was a $1000 option that didn't have much uptake.

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I believe you've misunderstood my post.

You'll notice I said: "Being the last platform to embrace SSD's the Mac community is still in the honeymoon phase with SSD's."A "platform" is the OS. In this case I was referring to OS X and Windows. I was not talking about hardware at all, nor did I mention any laptops.

The first OS that was specifically designed for SSD's was Windows 7, released in July of 2009.

Apple's OS X Lion was the first Mac OS designed to support SSD's arriving a full two years later... in July of 2011.

If you go into the archives for this forum, you'll notice there was only a very small group that spoke about SSD's prior to Lion, as compared to the various Windows forums that were chock full of users installing SSD's much earlier than the Mac community.

I know this because I have used both Macs & Windows PC's concurrently for the last 20 years. When one stays current, year after year with both platforms, you notice these types of things. It was nothing more than a talking point anyway. Certainly nothing to be concerned about. It's OK that Apple was behind the curve. It doesn't make them any less important.

Since 1991 running System 7, until today, I've used and preferred Macs

ixodes said:

I believe you've misunderstood my post.

You'll notice I said: "Being the last platform to embrace SSD's the Mac community is still in the honeymoon phase with SSD's."A "platform" is the OS. In this case I was referring to OS X and Windows. I was not talking about hardware at all, nor did I mention any laptops.

The first OS that was specifically designed for SSD's was Windows 7, released in July of 2009.

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That's true, and to this day Windows 7 does have better support for 3rd party SSDs than OS X. However, it's a stretch to say that the "Windows community" embraced SSDs before the "Mac community." Microsoft may have supported SSDs sooner, but that's not the same as the Windows community.

KPOM said:

That's true, and to this day Windows 7 does have better support for 3rd party SSDs than OS X. However, it's a stretch to say that the "Windows community" embraced SSDs before the "Mac community." Microsoft may have supported SSDs sooner, but that's not the same as the Windows community.

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It's not a stretch from my perspective. I've been deeply immersed in both communities for well over 18 years. As a research & design engineer within the multi-national company I'm with, their are nearly 800 of my counterparts worldwide. That's a lot of enthusiasts & a lot of computers to draw experiences from. While we all have our individual preferences, work demands we be thoroughly skilled in each discipline. It's never boring

You hafta get him to try one. Stuff like the feel of the trackpad and how thin and sleek it actually is might be more persuasive than 3x faster.

I'm guessing that when you ask your dad about getting a macbook, he's saying, why? You can get a PC laptop with better specs for cheaper.

PC users are so hung up on specs. That's only one part of it.

You get a mac if you prefer OSX over Windows. If you want to use mac exclusive software (Garageband, iMovie, Facetime, Pro Logic). And because of other features (macbooks have arguable the best trackpads and keyboards), boot up time, Apps, or because you just like the styles/designs more.