11" or 13" - Which is better for couch surfing?

Are you short sighted?

I have the 11", I'm short sighted, and I find myself squinting often.

I'd assume if you are short sighted, you can be bothered to get glasses. I do have glasses, in fact, I have 3 pairs, my first pair were fine, then the optician wanted to give me a slightly 'refined' version...which wasn't better, then a year later they gave me another pair...still wasn't better. I remember checking the first pair and they were fine, but recently I tried the first pair and they felt worse but one of the newer pairs felt better. Since my eyesight isn't too bad, I can't be bothered to get this sorted, and normally just go without glasses. Also...I have never found a pair of glasses (Be it sunglasses, reading glasses, 3D glasses etc.) that I feel good in, I always feel like they either make me look dull or they make me look pretentious.

But, anyway, enough about that, if you're like me, you might find the screen a bit small, but personally I wouldn't want the 13" anyway; the 11" being smaller and lighter makes it easier to carry around, I love it a lot.

I am going to wait until the new 11" Air is released we may get Retina and longer battery life.... perfect


http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=EiON_BOyh2k&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DEiON_BOyh2k


-G

Headtalk said:

I am going to wait until the new 11" Air is released we may get Retina and longer battery life.... perfect


http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=EiON_BOyh2k&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DEiON_BOyh2k


-G

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Longer battery life - proably. Retina - NO.

Ztormie said:

Longer battery life - proably. Retina - NO.

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Why?

I kind of expect it to be the other way around; Retina, same battery life (But removing Retina would bring up the battery).

Siderz said:

Why?

I kind of expect it to be the other way around; Retina, same battery life (But removing Retina would bring up the battery).

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No, that won't be the case.

Haswell gives a laptop much better idl&standby times, true. The main effect will be that standby times go up. But when you're using the MBA, the screen is always active, even when the processor in idle. I very much doubt a mere processor technology upgrade would compensate for the humongous beasts of batteries the rMBPs require.


Peter.

I love my wifes mba 11", such a small computer and yet so capable of doing ordinary computer stuff! (and it can run my computer music studio, too!) I mostly couchsurf with my iPad mini, it works too - but in a different way...

13 is the right answer.

11 inch machine is the perfect form factor, but the screen is a pile of hurt.

racer1441 said:

13 is the right answer.

11 inch machine is the perfect form factor, but the screen is a pile of hurt.

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I sort of agree since I'm short sighted, but glasses is the answer, I'd never buy a 13" MBA tbh (And...dare I say the 11" is cuter? I've completely lost my manlihood...)

Siderz said:

I sort of agree since I'm short sighted, but glasses is the answer, I'd never buy a 13" MBA tbh (And...dare I say the 11" is cuter? I've completely lost my manlihood...)

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I've never had glasses that make the 11 inch a decent long term work machine.

racer1441 said:

I've never had glasses that make the 11 inch a decent long term work machine.

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He said "couch surfing", not "long term work machine".

Headtalk said:

I am going to wait until the new 11" Air is released we may get Retina and longer battery life.... perfect


http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=EiON_BOyh2k&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DEiON_BOyh2k


-G

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retina on a mba? i dont think so mate

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Siderz said:

Why?

I kind of expect it to be the other way around; Retina, same battery life (But removing Retina would bring up the battery).

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i dont think it works that way. retina would be a big drain on the already smaller battery. thats why there is an 80w batt in the rmbp - more than double that of the 11"mba

Siderz said:

He said "couch surfing", not "long term work machine".

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Which is actually a harder eye situation, which is why I made the suggestion. I did read the original post.

Work machines get desks, good lighting, ect. Vs a couch setting where everything isn't set up to be right.

DisplacedMic said:

i dont think it works that way. retina would be a big drain on the already smaller battery. thats why there is an 80w batt in the rmbp - more than double that of the 11"mba

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Yes...Retina would be a drain on the smaller battery...which is why I said they'd add a better battery which would make no difference in battery life but give them the ability to have Retina.

Siderz said:

Yes...Retina would be a drain on the smaller battery...which is why I said they'd add a better battery which would make no difference in battery life but give them the ability to have Retina.

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battery technology has long been the biggest bottleneck in the advancement of the mobile technology industry. the option to put a "better" battery in there at this point in time is more or less limited to putting a bigger battery in there - which means a heavier battery which means a larger, heavier computer.

Considering the target audience for the MBA, the 11" in particular, is people who want an ultralight, they are going to think long and hard before increasing size and weight.

Obviously I'm not an insider so I really couldn't say for sure, but i would be shocked if we saw retina screens on the MBAs this time around and flabbergasted if we saw it on the 11"

DisplacedMic said:

battery technology has long been the biggest bottleneck in the advancement of the mobile technology industry. the option to put a "better" battery in there at this point in time is more or less limited to putting a bigger battery in there - which means a heavier battery which means a larger, heavier computer.

Considering the target audience for the MBA, the 11" in particular, is people who want an ultralight, they are going to think long and hard before increasing size and weight.

Obviously I'm not an insider so I really couldn't say for sure, but i would be shocked if we saw retina screens on the MBAs this time around and flabbergasted if we saw it on the 11"

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They were ok with making the iPad 3 a little thicker and heavier to make it Retina.

I'm not an engineer, so I don't have much say in this, I just expect it would be possible.

And although someone mentioned earlier that the new processors aren't going to save enough power, perhaps, instead of a better battery, the new processors will save enough power to allow for a Retina display. I don't know why that person thinks the new processors aren't going to save much power...I read that they'll be saving 50%, but I'm not sure if that was the processor saving 50%, or the whole thing saving 50%.

Siderz said:

They were ok with making the iPad 3 a little thicker and heavier to make it Retina.

I'm not an engineer, so I don't have much say in this, I just expect it would be possible.

And although someone mentioned earlier that the new processors aren't going to save enough power, perhaps, instead of a better battery, the new processors will save enough power to allow for a Retina display. I don't know why that person thinks the new processors aren't going to save much power...I read that they'll be saving 50%, but I'm not sure if that was the processor saving 50%, or the whole thing saving 50%.

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the ipad is basically a large iphone whereas the mba is a small computer.
just look at the geekbench scores:

5500 for the base model 2012 11" MBA
and about 1800 for the retina ipad.

that right there should tell you everything you need to know.

the battery drain on a laptop is going to much higher than the drain on the iPad or any tablet, retina or not.

the ipad was built from the ground up - it's pretty much a display and a battery with almost no space taken up by the computer part (meaning more room for the battery). the macbook air is a computer conforming more to industry standards. it has to run an intel chip, a motherboard, fans and the more demanding OS -- all on a larger screen.

Retina alone requires a larger battery - there is an almost 20% larger battery in the 13" rMBP relative to the classic and closer to 25% larger battery in the 15" retina. They can afford to increase the battery in the iPad, where are they going to put it in the MBA without increasing size?

it's not just apple - look at the industry as a whole, 5 hours is pretty standard on a laptop and 10 is pretty common on a tablet. The term "retina" is just a meaningless marketing gimmick. they could have used the word 15 years ago on something else and today's highest-def screen would be called something else. the point being everybody is competing for the highest quality screen.

Yes, the upgraded chip will run longer and cooler - decreasing the demand on moving parts and increasing battery life. but i don't think it's going to be a large enough increase to justify sacrificing the things that make the MBA special: weight and size.

Especially considering that Apple likes to compartmentalize their products and the fact that the 13" rMBP is already "confusing" the order of things, i really don't think they would make that sacrifice. Want an ultralight? get a MBA. Want a beautiful display? get a rMBP. Want an ultralight with a beautiful display? get an iPad.

I'm not saying it won't ever happen - if "retina" isn't here to stay, high resolution certainly is, or at least the eternal race towards getting the highest resolution possible - so it's only a matter of time. I just don't think it will be next month.

sofakng said:

I've just taken another look at the two models in the store and as much as I love the extra space on the 13", I can just tell it will be a bit unwieldy on the couch.

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Oh boy. Unwieldy? I can assure you it's not. In fact having a slightly bigger form factor allows you to more easily balance the 13" on your legs without it sliding off to one side or in between your legs. I cannot stand to look at the 11" for any period of time. The 13" displays web pages and apps more like I would expect to see them. The 11" would give me Carpel Scrolling Syndrome. My $.02.

Suggestions for 11" vs 13"

Hello, everyone. I am in the market for a new MacBook Air and I am really looking forward to June 10th! I know you all are aware of the various reviews on YouTube; but, I just watched one by "MirrorLessReviews" http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EiON_BOyh2k that I think is perfect for those who want see the 11" and 13" in a side-by-side review (unusual). FYI....and, no, I am not him (I am "zzipdog"). Just recommending a great side-by-side review.

Zip