Can the 13" Air replace my old MBP?

[diehldun]

In Raw processor performance, the T7500 (2.2Ghz SR) will smoke the SU9600 (1.6Ghz).

Geekbench scores are almost 1000 pts apart.

The Graphics card on your SR MBP is also gonna be more powerful (the 8600M beats the 320M - discrete vs. integrated).

But depending on what you use the laptop for... it may not "feel" that different. Does your 2.2Ghz SR MBP have 2gb of RAM? Or 4GB? Do you do much more than surfing/youtube/email?

The 11" Ultimate is only $1399 USD vs. the 13" Ultimate being $1799 so that's a consideration I'm sure.

Again, I'll ask whether you need the smaller size, or are just looking for an upgrade? Is your 2.2Ghs SR MBP feeling sluggish? 'Cause an SSD and a RAM upgrade will probably breathe *years* of new life into it. And cost ~$300 instead of ~$1400+

fyrefly thanks for your reply. My 2.2GHz SR MBP has the standard-issue 2GB of RAM, but with an upgraded 160GB hard drive. It feels a little sluggish these days here and there, but it's also showing early signs of a possible graphics card failure (surprise).

Honestly, I just use this for Safari, iChat, Word, iTunes, iCal, Apple Mail, and occasional iPhoto, PowerPoint, and Excel. While I do appreciate the 1440x900 15" screen (prior to this, I came from a 17" PB), it's becoming really tiresome lugging this in my backpack to classes everyday.

The pricing difference between the 11" Ultimate and the 13" Ultimate is not a factor here; I'm willing to pay for whatever will be the better machine in the long run. I'm absolutely smitten with the portability and looks of the 11", but again I'm concerned that performance-wise it will be a step down from this soon-to-be 4 year old MBP- which I already consider past its performance prime.

And whatever replaces this machine will be my primary (and only) computer. Hence my slight wariness towards the 11".

 

[gwsat]

fyrefly thanks for your reply. My 2.2GHz SR MBP has the standard-issue 2GB of RAM, but with an upgraded 160GB hard drive. It feels a little sluggish these days here and there, but it's also showing early signs of a possible graphics card failure (surprise).

Honestly, I just use this for Safari, iChat, Word, iTunes, iCal, Apple Mail, and occasional iPhoto, PowerPoint, and Excel. While I do appreciate the 1440x900 15" screen (prior to this, I came from a 17" PB), it's becoming really tiresome lugging this in my backpack to classes everyday.

The pricing difference between the 11" Ultimate and the 13" Ultimate is not a factor here; I'm willing to pay for whatever will be the better machine in the long run. I'm absolutely smitten with the portability and looks of the 11", but again I'm concerned that performance-wise it will be a step down from this soon-to-be 4 year old MBP- which I already consider past its performance prime.

And whatever replaces this machine will be my primary (and only) computer. Hence my slight wariness towards the 11".

I followed the same upgrade path as you did. I replaced my then 5 year old 17 inch Powerbook G4 with a 17 inch 2.4GHz Santa Rosa MBP. Later, I upgraded the MBP's RAM from 2GB to 6GB. It has 1680 X 1050 resolution and a 160GB hard drrive.

Very shortly after the new MBAs came out, I bought a 13 inch Ultimate, hoping that it could handle the very significant demands I would be making on it. As I explained in my post to this thread last night, The 13 inch Ultimate MBA handles all of my demands just as well as the MBP does.

 

[Ach111es]

I am pretty sure the MBA could replace my desktop that I have at home. I swear it would feel like I hopped into a ferrari after driving around a golf cart thanks to the SSD and solid cpu (compared to my current one)

10 years of windows xp with maybe a 1.4 celeron and 40gb hard drive. That thing is quite the old faithful. With a flickering box set.

unfortunately, an imac on craigslist called me, 600$ for the 3.2 i3 and a beautiful 21.5 inch flat screen cannot be passed up.

 

[ClassicBean]

I opted for an 11" MBA as a travel computer and I'm pleased with it. It feels much faster than my 2.4Ghz MBP, despite the 1Ghz decrease in processor speed and half the ram (2Gb instead of 4GB).

Honestly, if the 13" MBA came with a 500GB SSD, I'd sell the MBP and get one in a heartbeat.