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Good idea to trade my MBP 13 for MBA 11

T

troy14

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 25, 2008
773
130
Las Vegas (Summerlin), NV
Hey everyone,

I am a college student who lives at home. I currently use a mid 2010 13 inch macbook pro with 8GB ram and a 750gb 7200pm WD HD. This has the 2.4 ghz intel core 2 duo with the NVIDIA GeForce 320M 256 MB. I have a very nice Dell 24" monitor with a set of speakers, mouse, and keyboard I have been using as a desktop / unplugging everything to take with me to school. I don't play any games, just internet / video watching, and type notes on Microsoft Word during class. Battery life is pretty important too because in one of my lecture halls all the tables do not have plugs.

I just bought a mac mini as a desktop so I don't have to keep unplugging/replugging everything in and can just leave my laptop in my backpack, so I always have it with me when I need it.

I am looking into trading or selling my MBP to get a MBA. I am hoping the 11 inch would be satisfactory for my purposes, either an older or current gen. If I had to I would get the 13 inch as well.

I think I would be okay with the 64gb, the only thing that bothers me is the ram. Coming from 8GB to either 4gb or 2gb would seem like a huge hit. I have a NAS system as home so I don't need to worry about storage space, I won't be storing anything on my Air either.

Will the performance be better, the same, or worse with an Air?
 
xShane

xShane

macrumors 6502a
Nov 2, 2012
814
37
United States
troy14 said:
Hey everyone,

I am a college student who lives at home. I currently use a mid 2010 13 inch macbook pro with 8GB ram and a 750gb 7200pm WD HD. This has the 2.4 ghz intel core 2 duo with the NVIDIA GeForce 320M 256 MB. I have a very nice Dell 24" monitor with a set of speakers, mouse, and keyboard I have been using as a desktop / unplugging everything to take with me to school. I don't play any games, just internet / video watching, and type notes on Microsoft Word during class. Battery life is pretty important too because in one of my lecture halls all the tables do not have plugs.

I just bought a mac mini as a desktop so I don't have to keep unplugging/replugging everything in and can just leave my laptop in my backpack, so I always have it with me when I need it.

I am looking into trading or selling my MBP to get a MBA. I am hoping the 11 inch would be satisfactory for my purposes, either an older or current gen. If I had to I would get the 13 inch as well.

I think I would be okay with the 64gb, the only thing that bothers me is the ram. Coming from 8GB to either 4gb or 2gb would seem like a huge hit. I have a NAS system as home so I don't need to worry about storage space, I won't be storing anything on my Air either.

Will the performance be better, the same, or worse with an Air?
Click to expand...

The performance will be worse with the Air. However, based on your needs, you'll probably only really notice the performance decrease during multitasking. If you multitask a lot (i.e. web browsers with multiple tabs, Microsoft Word, and other apps open, etc), then I wouldn't recommend switching.

On a side note, you should try Evernote for notes instead of using Microsoft Word for notes.
 
S

shoulin333

macrumors 6502a
Jun 26, 2007
700
21
California
xShane said:
The performance will be worse with the Air. However, based on your needs, you'll probably only really notice the performance decrease during multitasking. If you multitask a lot (i.e. web browsers with multiple tabs, Microsoft Word, and other apps open, etc), then I wouldn't recommend switching.

On a side note, you should try Evernote for notes instead of using Microsoft Word for notes.
Click to expand...

Doh! After what happened yesterday I would steer clear of Evernote.
 
xShane

xShane

macrumors 6502a
Nov 2, 2012
814
37
United States
shoulin333 said:
Doh! After what happened yesterday I would steer clear of Evernote.
Click to expand...

No website or data are 100% safe. Evernote is still a great product and you should never use the same password across multiple accounts anyhow.

Another alternative is to run a virtual machine and use Microsoft Onenote (which is in my opinion, the best note-taking software out there).
 
T

troy14

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 25, 2008
773
130
Las Vegas (Summerlin), NV
xShane said:
No website or data are 100% safe. Evernote is still a great product and you should never use the same password across multiple accounts anyhow.

Another alternative is to run a virtual machine and use Microsoft Onenote (which is in my opinion, the best note-taking software out there).
Click to expand...

A little off track here but I have a program (Synk for Mac) that automatically recognizes any changes I make (in my case a folder named "School") and syncs them to my NAS that has 2 2tb drives in it for backup purposes in a raid 1 config. I also may make it back up to my Mac mini as well, so I am perfectly content with MS Word.

Back to the original topic, I had an offer today for an 11" MacBook Air 2011 with the 2gb/64gb + an extra charger and SuperDrive for my MBP. The 64gb doesn't bother me just the 2GB ram does, I feel like it may not be enough.
 
xShane

xShane

macrumors 6502a
Nov 2, 2012
814
37
United States
troy14 said:
A little off track here but I have a program (Synk for Mac) that automatically recognizes any changes I make (in my case a folder named "School") and syncs them to my NAS that has 2 2tb drives in it for backup purposes in a raid 1 config. I also may make it back up to my Mac mini as well, so I am perfectly content with MS Word.

Back to the original topic, I had an offer today for an 11" MacBook Air 2011 with the 2gb/64gb + an extra charger and SuperDrive for my MBP. The 64gb doesn't bother me just the 2GB ram does, I feel like it may not be enough.
Click to expand...

2GB will likely not be enough.

Anyhow, that sounds like a great syncing/back-up set-up you got running there. But other applications specifically meant for note taking allow you to quickly browse through notes organized into units with the click of a button. You won't need to manually go through your folders and start opening up Word files when you need to review notes. Ultimately it's your decision, but I'm just trying to help :)
 
T

troy14

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 25, 2008
773
130
Las Vegas (Summerlin), NV
xShane said:
2GB will likely not be enough.

Anyhow, that sounds like a great syncing/back-up set-up you got running there. But other applications specifically meant for note taking allow you to quickly browse through notes organized into units with the click of a button. You won't need to manually go through your folders and start opening up Word files when you need to review notes. Ultimately it's your decision, but I'm just trying to help :)
Click to expand...

I really do appreciate it! Hopefully he will let me play and browse around on the machine.

I also have a Livescribe Pen that syncs audio with my notes in my notebook should I not be allowed / don't want to use a computer.

I will definitely check out these alternatives though, I always love when technology can simplify or enhance something
 
B

bili.d.kid

macrumors member
Mar 2, 2013
58
0
beside the ram, you should consider about the shorter mba 64gb battery life than your previous macbook. apple claim 5 hours long for browsing via wifi. havier task than that will be 3 hours max i guess.
 
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