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MBA 13 inch 2011 as your Main Computer ?

J

Jonas89

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 8, 2011
24
1
Belgium
Simple question :p ->

Can you use the Macbook air 13 inch 2011 (base model, i5) as your Main Computer ?

Not for professional use, only "home-work" (internet, mail, ical, itunes, iphoto, pages & small games).

Greetings,

PS: sorry for my bad english, i'm new here...
 
I just purchased a 13 inch Air and intend on using it as my main computer. In fact, it will be the only computer I will have as I will be selling my 2007 15" MBP.
 
why not? my 11inch is now my Main Computer ( better than my C2D desktop PC with ATi 3870 )

when on home, i plug it into my 24inch Dell Monitor, works like a charm

of course, there is a downside, i am an EvE player, playing it on my MBA tends to get hot and i usually don't play more than 4 hours because the fan kicks like crazy

but other than that, the 2011 MBA just works perfectly

13 inch definitely works better
 
i cant use my mba as my main (11 inch) :eek:

too small and it cant play the games that i want to play :eek:
 
Twe Foju said:
why not? my 11inch is now my Main Computer ( better than my C2D desktop PC with ATi 3870 )

when on home, i plug it into my 24inch Dell Monitor, works like a charm

of course, there is a downside, i am an EvE player, playing it on my MBA tends to get hot and i usually don't play more than 4 hours because the fan kicks like crazy

but other than that, the 2011 MBA just works perfectly

13 inch definitely works better
Click to expand...

Why'd you get the 11" if the 13" is better to you? Just asking, no troll here
 
Jonas89 said:
Simple question :p ->

Can you use the Macbook air 13 inch 2011 (base model, i5) as your Main Computer ?

Not for professional use, only "home-work" (internet, mail, ical, itunes, iphoto, pages & small games).

Greetings,

PS: sorry for my bad english, i'm new here...
Click to expand...

Yes, an I5 or I7 makes a perfectly usable main computer.
 
I've used both the Air and also the MBP 15 and can say for sure that the Air can be used as your main computer. What shocked me is the performance of the new Air - in every day use (which is what you've mentioned) it was just as snappy as the MBP 15 althought I cannot say what it would be like when lots of Apps are churning away but imagine it will still perform well.. The SSD makes it faster in many respect than any stock machine with a hard drive.

The downside is the screen - 13" in my opinion is too small for constant use but this is very subjective. Lots of people I'm sure will say that it's fine and as you say you've an external display you're going to be fine.. The MPB high res screen is great to work on - lots of space..

Gaming wise the Air is great at low settings - I tried Civ5 and watched a few Youtube video's and the content looked pretty good. Even on low settings today's games look pretty good.. It's a tiny wafer thin device that can do all I've just mentioned.. Think it'll be fine for every day..!
 
If I can use my 2010 13" for professional work as my main computer (no graphic or video, just the regular office stuff and parallels with XP) why couldn't you use the 2011 for personal stuff?
It's a perfect machine for that. Even the 11" would be nice enough, if you could live with an 11" screen.
 
hooneyrob said:
I've used both the Air and also the MBP 15 and can say for sure that the Air can be used as your main computer. What shocked me is the performance of the new Air - in every day use (which is what you've mentioned) it was just as snappy as the MBP 15 althought I cannot say what it would be like when lots of Apps are churning away but imagine it will still perform well.. The SSD makes it faster in many respect than any stock machine with a hard drive.

The downside is the screen - 13" in my opinion is too small for constant use but this is very subjective. Lots of people I'm sure will say that it's fine and as you say you've an external display you're going to be fine.. The MPB high res screen is great to work on - lots of space..

Gaming wise the Air is great at low settings - I tried Civ5 and watched a few Youtube video's and the content looked pretty good. Even on low settings today's games look pretty good.. It's a tiny wafer thin device that can do all I've just mentioned.. Think it'll be fine for every day..!
Click to expand...

How tall are you? I'm 5'5 and I couldn't imagine using a screen bigger than 13" on a laptop. I do however have a 27" cinema display for the desktop but any laptop bigger than 13" on my lap feels overkill.

This is why I was disappointed that the 13" Pro wasn't quad nor Radeon -_-
 
MisterPark said:
I use the 11 inch model as my main workhorse. No problems so far. So I think the 13 inch is going to work just fine as a main computer.
Click to expand...

What do you use the 11" for? Are you doing any development or graphic design work?

Are you ok with typing on it and using the trackpad? I'm typing on one in the store right now and I find that I need to curl my fingers a bit to type properly while keeping my wrists right at the edge so that it doesn't cut into them. And the trackpad is shorter than even the 13" - I kind of find that I need to narrow the gap between my finger and thumb to use it than I normally would. What about you?
 
hereyago said:
i mean at the settings that i want to play them in.

currently playing wow at highest settings. waiting for bf3 to come out
Click to expand...

The settings that you want to play them in -_- Lol

WoW? Barely looks better on highest settings anyways.
 
DieterRams said:
What do you use the 11" for? Are you doing any development or graphic design work?

Are you ok with typing on it and using the trackpad? I'm typing on one in the store right now and I find that I need to curl my fingers a bit to type properly while keeping my wrists right at the edge so that it doesn't cut into them. And the trackpad is shorter than even the 13" - I kind of find that I need to narrow the gap between my finger and thumb to use it than I normally would. What about you?
Click to expand...

Then you should get a 13" ;). If you don't fall in love with the 11" it isn't for you.
 
Jonas89 said:
Simple question :p ->

Can you use the Macbook air 13 inch 2011 (base model, i5) as your Main Computer ?

Not for professional use, only "home-work" (internet, mail, ical, itunes, iphoto, pages & small games).

Greetings,

PS: sorry for my bad english, i'm new here...
Click to expand...

Absolutely! I mean the previous generation was capable of handling basic email, iLife, and web surfing. But with the more powerful processors the Airs are now as powerful as some of the Pro models that have come out in the last few years. Quite an amazing feat if you ask me.
 
I am using my MBA 2011 13 inch as my main computer. I used it for home and for work. I work in IT and I love being able to take my computer with me to work. I do everything from web browsing, email, web design, remote desktop into windows servers, ssh into unix servers, etc. I haven't found anything the MBA can't do except play games. I have a desktop to play games with and I am rarely on it.
 
LeakedDave said:
How tall are you? I'm 5'5 and I couldn't imagine using a screen bigger than 13" on a laptop. I do however have a 27" cinema display for the desktop but any laptop bigger than 13" on my lap feels overkill.

This is why I was disappointed that the 13" Pro wasn't quad nor Radeon -_-
Click to expand...

6ft3"
 
I've just ordered a 13" MacBook Air i7 and Thunderbolt display for use as my main computer. Looking at geekbench results it should be plenty fast enough as I'm a light user.
 
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