11" MBA + 27" iMac Setup

[gagecloutier]

Good news! As of today, sold my base Mid 2012 15" rMBP to put towards a new 11" Haswell MBA when they're revealed next week (+ AppleCare, a case, and I'll pocket the rest). I sold the 15" rMBP because I also have a Late 2012 maxed-out 27" iMac. I felt like I had two primary machines, in a sense, which was overkill/superfluous for my needs. So, I feel like with an 11" MBA, I'll have more duality in my setup with an ultra-portable laptop and a beast of a desktop. Throughout the year of having my 15" rMBP, I only put 20 cycles on the battery, which pretty much defeated the purpose of it being a laptop. That's going to be drastically different with an 11" MBA, I'll bring that thing with me everywhere (especially since I'm a college student). Anyone else rocking a similar setup? I've heard from others that they love it. I'm thrilled.

[iAppl3Fan]

Originally Posted by gagecloutier

Good news! As of today, sold my base Mid 2012 15" rMBP to put towards a new 11" Haswell MBA when they're revealed next week (+ AppleCare, a case, and I'll pocket the rest). I sold the 15" rMBP because I also have a Late 2012 maxed-out 27" iMac. I felt like I had two primary machines, in a sense, which was overkill/superfluous for my needs. So, I feel like with an 11" MBA, I'll have more duality in my setup with an ultra-portable laptop and a beast of a desktop. Throughout the year of having my 15" rMBP, I only put 20 cycles on the battery, which pretty much defeated the purpose of it being a laptop. That's going to be drastically different with an 11" MBA, I'll bring that thing with me everywhere (especially since I'm a college student). Anyone else rocking a similar setup? I've heard from others that they love it. I'm thrilled.

Congrats on the sale and decision. I'm curious how much you sold your RMBP for and did you do it through craigslist, ebay?

[Nee412]

Good choice. A 27" iMac and a 11" Macbook Air would be my dream configuration.

[flynz4]

Originally Posted by Nee412

Good choice. A 27" iMac and a 11" Macbook Air would be my dream configuration.

A while back (2009)... my wife and I each had a 15" MacBook Pro. We have since moved to iMac/MBA combinations. There is no way we would move back to a MBP.

Interestingly... if someone wants a single machine... I generally will recommend a MBP as the best solution.

However... once we had iMacs... we realized that the MBA is actually THE "premium" laptop available... at least for our needs. The iMac is our "main" computer (meaning it is the home of all of our primary data). The MBA uses a variety of cloud services to give us real time and immediate access to all of the data that we choose to have with us while mobile. With only one minor exception*... we do zero explicit (ie: manual human operations) to sync or move data between the two machines.

/Jim

* the exception is using Aperture's built-in ability to transfer projects between machines... something that I will do after extended (ex: 2 month long) excursions.

[KylePowers]

I used to have an 11in MBA + 27in iMac. I've since moved to a 13in MBA + 27in iMac.

The impetus for moving from the 11in and 13in is because, to me at least, having a 27in iMac at home is irrelevant to my workflow while mobile. I still need screen real estate, I still need windows side-by-side, and I still need to see as much of what I'm working on as possible (preferably, that is).

The 13in just does that so much better than the 11in, but it of course depends entirely on what the user is doing. Don't get me wrong, I loved the chassis size of the 11in and how powerful it was, but it truly came down to screen size for me (oh, and since this was 2011, battery life too!).

I am now selling my 27in iMac *cough check the marketplace cough* and will soon be selling my 13in MBA. I'll be moving to a 13in rMBP, so that I can still rock a 13in laptop, but scale the resolution to 1680x1050 (even though I hear you can rig it to scale to 1920x1200!).

Keeping two computers in sync is annoying too, unless you keep everything in Dropbox for example (I had 25GB, so it sufficed for most of my important documents).

EDIT: Just to elaborate since I have nothing else to do, I'll be moving to a TBD for my 13in rMBP, then perhaps getting a Mac Mini or Mac Pro down the line for my media center (and perhaps gaming, in the case of the Mac Pro).

[toondw]

Can't add much to this other than........this is the setup I plan to have. Got the iMac 27". Just waiting to see the air refresh on Monday.

[gagecloutier]

Originally Posted by iAppl3Fan

Congrats on the sale and decision. I'm curious how much you sold your RMBP for and did you do it through craigslist, ebay?

Thanks! I got $1550 through Craigslist. Not too shabby, considering the Apple Limited Warranty expires in only two weeks. I cut the buyer a break since they have the burden of buying AppleCare so soon if they want it. At any rate, I got it for $1999 originally from my student discount, so I think it worked out pretty well. I took a bit of a loss, but depreciation's just the nature of technology.

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Originally Posted by toondw

Can't add much to this other than........this is the setup I plan to have. Got the iMac 27". Just waiting to see the air refresh on Monday.

I'm in the exact same scenario! WWDC can't come soon enough!

[iAppl3Fan]

Originally Posted by gagecloutier

Thanks! I got $1550 through Craigslist. Not too shabby, considering the Apple Limited Warranty expires in only two weeks. I cut the buyer a break since they have the burden of buying AppleCare so soon if they want it. At any rate, I got it for $1999 originally from my student discount, so I think it worked out pretty well. I took a bit of a loss, but depreciation's just the nature of technology.

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I'm in the exact same scenario! WWDC can't come soon enough!

Oh wow, you did a fine job! You definitely did good on the sale on that price. I'm still on the fence on whether to sell or keep myself.

[gagecloutier]

Originally Posted by iAppl3Fan

Oh wow, you did a fine job! You definitely did good on the sale on that price. I'm still on the fence on whether to sell or keep myself.

Thanks! I think so too, given the circumstances. Good luck with your decision! I'd say if you can compromise some performance for portability on-the-go and rely on your iMac for the heavy lifting most of the time, it's definitely a good way to go. I feel like while it was a bit impulsive, I made the right decision!