13" MBP or 13" MBA?

[entatlrg]

I'm in the market for a laptop that I can toss in a backpack and carry with me. Primary purpose would be web surfing, email, and a portable photography studio running Aperture, iPhoto, and maybe CS5. I want to be able to get the photos off my camera, do some light editing, and upload them from anywhere. I work with raw files from the camera.
I'm looking at the 13" MBP with the 2.7 core i7, then adding 8gb ram and a 256 ssd myself. Total ~$2050
Or the 13" MBA maxed out direct from Apple, 2.13, 4gb ram, 256 ssd. Total ~$1965 (or refurbed for ~$1650)
The MBA obviously has the size/weight advantage, and a higher screen resolution. But is the horsepower of the MBP that much more? I really love the illuminated keyboard of my current MBP, so that feature alone has me leaning towards the MBP.
So with $2000 as the budget, what would you get and why?

Thanks

Definitely the 13" MacBook Air.

I've owned all sizes of MBP's, I have a 17" now for extra mobile screen real estate.

My choice computer to use by FAR is the MacBook Air. There's a 2011 13" MBP here on my filing cabinet that I could grab and use any time, I never do ... it's been here a while now collecting dust, it will get used when my new employee starts with us on Monday.

EVERYONE in my office prefers the 13" MacBook Air over the 13" Pro, they're used here by industrial designers, engineers, office staff on the go, CS5 is used extensively DAILY on these machines ... plus they all run Win7 with no problems.

Anyone who's saying the MBA is choking under these uses is not telling the truth, period.

It's a very capable machine, the 13" MBP is much much faster for processing tasks, but I'd think you'd do that kind of work on your 17" or a desktop, right?

I should do those tasks on my more powerful machines but I'm lazy ... my 13" MBA gets pushed often, video editing, huge design drawings, vector files, cad etc with the MacBook Air being so thin, light, fun to use, easy to carry it's always by my side, therefore it gets used the most.

The MacBook Pro forum is a tough place to get any love for the MacBook Air's ... I know I used to be one of the haters until I bought my RevB Air a few years ago .... now in my opinion it's the best mac portable made ... if I had to choose only one computer the 13" Air would be it.

Hope that helps.

ps-please get over that backlit keyboard thing ... that can be learned and overcome in a day or two. My 17" has a backlit keyboard ... I turn it off, lol .... not something to base a computer buying decision on ...

 

[gwsat]

Sandy Bridge for the MacBook Air could just as well be June 2012 as June 2011 ... there's one good reason.

We'll see, but be aware that by June 2012 the current MBA will be severly lagging behind in specs to other competitors. The old MBA didn't get a yearly refresh because there was nothing as thin and as powerful at the time, not so now.

You may well be right about that. By the summer of 2012, the current MBA will have been around for nearly two years and its C2D processor will be getting long in the tooth, indeed. I will be interested to see what the refreshed MBA looks like then. I hope that a refreshed MBA turns out to be as eminently satisfactory for me as my current MBA has been.

 

[DarwinOSX]

The base 13" MBP is already better than last generation's i7, and even though it is a two core machine, hyperthreading means it performs like a quad core. Yeah!

Hyper-threading is virtual and does not perform anything like physical cores.

 

[gullySn0wCat]

My MBP13" benchmarks better than my Mac Pro which has 4 "real" cores. HT is pretty good.

 

[Wicked4u2c]

Forget both and get this instead - http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/laptops/NP900X3A-A03US

Thinner, lighter than Air and uses a Core i5 Sandy Bridge processor similar to MBP. Whatever you do, DO NOT GET 2011 13.3" Core i7 Macbook Pro. I'm not the only one having these problems but you can learn from my mistakes. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_azMBStJnY

The Air should be getting Sandy Bridge processors by Summer time so buying one now would not be a good idea. But if you really must by a Mac, I would get the Core i5 Macbook Pro as someone else said, the performance difference is about 10% less compared to the i7 model and it doesn't overheat either.

 

[thunng8]

Forget both and get this instead - http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/laptops/NP900X3A-A03US

- More expensive
- Doesn't run OS X

Thinner, lighter than Air

Thinner is debate-able
Very marginally lighter

and uses a Core i5 Sandy Bridge processor similar to MBP.

Not that similar. For one, the base clock is 1.4Ghz compared to 2.3Ghz and it seems the GPU is massively underclocked as well, so much so that it produces only about 50% of the 3dMark 06 score compared to the macbook air (compared to the macbook pro which is only marginally slower than the macbook air in gpu)

Whatever you do, DO NOT GET 2011 13.3" Core i7 Macbook Pro. I'm not the only one having these problems but you can learn from my mistakes. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_azMBStJnY

Then again .. some people are not having those issues from the i7.

 

[smelly cat]

just to put this out there guys: the new pros have a reduced battery life rating simply because apple has moved to more demanding battery life tests. The actual battery life hasn't decreased. in particular you can see this being the case with the plastic macbook. the 10 hour battery rating is now down to 7 despite the fact that the hardware hasn't changed.

with this knowledge in hand one can reasonably conclude that the move to SB shouldn't reduce the air's battery life as a previous poster suggested.

 

[Wicked4u2c]

- More expensive
- Doesn't run OS X

Expensive depends on how you look at it. Samsung features the latest processor, Apple is using a 5 year old Core2Duo. Samsung has 4GB of RAM, you would need to upgrade the Air which will put you way over $1,800. So definitely not more expensive. Samsung can be upgraded to 8GB of RAM Apple can't. Samsung features a wider resolution and much better display, Apple is @1280x800. Samsung has Bluetooth 3.0, HDMI, 3 Year Warranty, etc..

As for not running OS X that can easily be configured to run as a Hackintosh. Sure, it's not out of the box but very easy to do and would take me 30 minutes from start to finish to make it happen.

Not that similar. For one, the base clock is 1.4Ghz compared to 2.3Ghz and it seems the GPU is massively underclocked as well, so much so that it produces only about 50% of the 3dMark 06 score compared to the macbook air (compared to the macbook pro which is only marginally slower than the macbook air in gpu)

Base clock on different CPU architectures is like comparing a Ferrari 500WHP Engine with a Viper 500WHP. RPM, Torque, etc... will render different results. Here is a prime example... - https://www.macrumors.com/2011/02/25/new-macbook-pro-benchmarks-show-massive-improvement/

"The performance of the new MacBook Pros is amazing. The slowest MacBook Pro performs on par with the fastest previous-generation MacBook Pro, and the fastest MacBook Pro is 80% faster than the fastest previous-generation MacBook Pro."

Your 3D Mark comparison is pointless as both scores are useless. Meaning 3D Mark is a benchmark to measure graphics card performance for gaming. For one, Samsung doesn't have a graphics card like the air. Second, 3D Mark is a synthetic benchmark for gamers not day to day stuff that people would use and clearly people don't buy MBA or Samsung for Gaming. Anything below 10,000 3D Marks is really not that good and in some cases unplayable.

Then again .. some people are not having those issues from the i7.

Depends who you ask... Some people believe running your chip at 95c is perfectly normal. Just like some people drive at wide open throttle every opportunity they get. Bottom line, Intel says the maximum threshold the Core i7 can run is @105c at 100c it starts to throttle down and adjusts the clock speed to get cooler. The CPU may be operating below shut-down temperature, however, for a laptop to get so hot, whilst you perform fairly normal tasks is pretty ridiculous and poor design.

 

[thunng8]

Expensive depends on how you look at it. Samsung features the latest processor, Apple is using a 5 year old Core2Duo. Samsung has 4GB of RAM, you would need to upgrade the Air which will put you way over $1,800.

What the heck are you talking about? upgrading to 4Gb on the air is only $100 extra, bring it to $1399, still way less than the Samsung.

So definitely not more expensive. Samsung can be upgraded to 8GB of RAM Apple can't. Samsung features a wider resolution and much better display, Apple is @1280x800. Samsung has Bluetooth 3.0, HDMI, 3 Year Warranty, etc..

Funny you mention the resolution since the macbook air has HIGHER resolution at 1440x900 (not 1280x800). You have a point about the warranty. You cannot buy a series 9 with 8GB RAM, although you might be able to upgrade it yourself.

Seris 9 does not have HDMI, it is a mini-HDMI. MacBook air has minidisplay port, which can easily converted to HDMI or DVI, like the mini-HDMI.

Base clock on different CPU architectures is like comparing a Ferrari 500WHP Engine with a Viper 500WHP. RPM, Torque, etc... will render different results. Here is a prime example... - https://www.macrumors.com/2011/02/25/new-macbook-pro-benchmarks-show-massive-improvement/

"The performance of the new MacBook Pros is amazing. The slowest MacBook Pro performs on par with the fastest previous-generation MacBook Pro, and the fastest MacBook Pro is 80% faster than the fastest previous-generation MacBook Pro."

I wasn't comparing the macbook air with Samsung. It was your remark comparing the macbook pro i5 vs the Samsung's i5 and saying that they are "similar". They are similar in architecture, but I was pointing out that it has a much lower clock speed .. 2.3Ghz vs 1.4Ghz.

Also, check out the effect of the low frequency in this review:

http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/samsung-series-9-np900x3a/4505-3121_7-34510063-2.html?tag=rvwBody

Samsung series 9 is actually slower than the Macbook air with the "aging" core 2 duo in some tests.

Your 3D Mark comparison is pointless as both scores are useless. Meaning 3D Mark is a benchmark to measure graphics card performance for gaming. For one, Samsung doesn't have a graphics card like the air. Second, 3D Mark is a synthetic benchmark for gamers not day to day stuff that people would use and clearly people don't buy MBA or Samsung for Gaming. Anything below 10,000 3D Marks is really not that good and in some cases unplayable.

Quite a lot people do buy the air for light gaming. They won't be able to use the Samsung for the same purpose. 3dMark is a fairly good indicator of 3d game performance. i.e. 3dMark of the Intel HD3000 in the macbook pro is almost as good as the macbook air, while in the Samsung series 9, its performance gets halved.

 

[iMackPro]

Hyper-threading is virtual and does not perform anything like physical cores.

thats not true, Hyperthreading is a pretty big deal and greatly increases the speed of the PC, assuming the app or program is written for it

 

[Wicked4u2c]

What the heck are you talking about? upgrading to 4Gb on the air is only $100 extra, bring it to $1399, still way less than the Samsung.

What are you talking about? This is what you said - "Not that similar. For one, the base clock is 1.4Ghz compared to 2.3Ghz" The 2.3GHz model cost $1,699. Add $100.00 more for RAM and your at $1,799 again, more expensive.

Funny you mention the resolution since the macbook air has HIGHER resolution at 1440x900 (not 1280x800). You have a point about the warranty. You cannot buy a series 9 with 8GB RAM, although you might be able to upgrade it yourself.

Seris 9 does not have HDMI, it is a mini-HDMI. MacBook air has minidisplay port, which can easily converted to HDMI or DVI, like the mini-HDMI.

Sorry, I was thinking of the MBP on resolution I stand corrected. RAM for Samsung is $70.00 to upgrade it to 8GB. mini-HDMI just means that is uses a smaller port, a $5.00 mini-hdmi to HDMI plug is all you need. You would have to spent something like $40.00 to convert the AIR.

I wasn't comparing the macbook air with Samsung. It was your remark comparing the macbook pro i5 vs the Samsung's i5 and saying that they are "similar". They are similar in architecture, but I was pointing out that it has a much lower clock speed .. 2.3Ghz vs 1.4Ghz.

Also, check out the effect of the low frequency in this review:

http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/sams...ml?tag=rvwBody

Samsung series 9 is actually slower than the Macbook air with the "aging" core 2 duo in some tests.

Thank you for proving my point that even with a much lower clock speed 1.4GHz vs 2.3GHz the Samsung is on par with the MBA. Actually if you look at the article you provided you will see that Samsung won what I believe the more important test like Adobe Photoshop CS3 image-processing test and Video playback battery drain test (in minutes) while the MBA won Multimedia multitasking test (in seconds) and Apple iTunes encoding test (in seconds).

Quite a lot people do buy the air for light gaming. They won't be able to use the Samsung for the same purpose. 3dMark is a fairly good indicator of 3d game performance. i.e. 3dMark of the Intel HD3000 in the macbook pro is almost as good as the macbook air, while in the Samsung series 9, its performance gets halved.

Sorry to burst your bubble but you cannot play 3D games on a MBA. My buddy has one and I will gladly record a 3D Mark benchmark test so you can see that the whole test shows rendering at under 15FPS and is extremely choppy. Like I said before, anything under 10,000 3D Marks is pointless. The MBA is a turd for 3D games, the Samsung is just a bigger one.

 

[iMackPro]

buy the air, use it as much as you can before the 14 day mark. run CS 5 and photoshop. seriously use it as you think you'll be using it for the next year or so and see if you like it. You'd be surprised how fast it is, i know about the whole C2D but apple only did it because its still blazingly fast and saves so much power, trust me Apple is the Know it all in computer industry, and they do everything for a reason. If it was too slow they wouldn't have used that chip again.


give it a try and if its not enough take it back, but i guarantee you right now that it will be.

 

[iMackPro]

Sorry, I was thinking of the MBP on resolution I stand corrected. RAM for Samsung is $70.00 to upgrade it to 8GB. mini-HDMI just means that is uses a smaller port, a $5.00 mini-hdmi to HDMI plug is all you need. You would have to spent something like $40.00 to convert the AIR.

you can eBay that adapter for your MBA, maybe not 5 dollars, but maybe 10..

 

[thunng8]

What are you talking about? This is what you said - "Not that similar. For one, the base clock is 1.4Ghz compared to 2.3Ghz" The 2.3GHz model cost $1,699. Add $100.00 more for RAM and your at $1,799 again, more expensive.

I think you are very confused. There is no 2.3Ghz macbook air model. There is a 2.13Ghz model that has 256GB flash storage, so not directly comparable as flash storage is very expensive . The original comparison of 1.4Ghz vs 2.3Ghz was when you brought up that the i5 in the Samsung was similar to the i5 in the macbook pro, and I countered that it wasn't that similar because the i5 in the macbook pro runs at 2.3Ghz.

Sorry, I was thinking of the MBP on resolution I stand corrected. RAM for Samsung is $70.00 to upgrade it to 8GB. mini-HDMI just means that is uses a smaller port, a $5.00 mini-hdmi to HDMI plug is all you need. You would have to spent something like $40.00 to convert the AIR.

You can get third party minidisplay port to HDMI/DVI for under $10 as well.

Thank you for proving my point that even with a much lower clock speed 1.4GHz vs 2.3GHz the Samsung is on par with the MBA. Actually if you look at the article you provided you will see that Samsung won what I believe the more important test like Adobe Photoshop CS3 image-processing test and Video playback battery drain test (in minutes) while the MBA won Multimedia multitasking test (in seconds) and Apple iTunes encoding test (in seconds).

So .. from your reckoning, having the latest i5 Sandy Bridge processor does not even comprehensively beat a "5 year old" core 2 duo chip? How is that a major victory?

Sorry to burst your bubble but you cannot play 3D games on a MBA. My buddy has one and I will gladly record a 3D Mark benchmark test so you can see that the whole test shows rendering at under 15FPS and is extremely choppy. Like I said before, anything under 10,000 3D Marks is pointless. The MBA is a turd for 3D games, the Samsung is just a bigger one.

Yes you can, as many people in this forum does. It can run acceptably on low/medium details for real games, while the Samsung would likely not even get decent frame rates on low details.

http://www.barefeats.com/mbpp30.html

 

[AuroraProject]

Forget both and get this instead - http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/laptops/NP900X3A-A03US

Thinner, lighter than Air and uses a Core i5 Sandy Bridge processor similar to MBP. Whatever you do, DO NOT GET 2011 13.3" Core i7 Macbook Pro. I'm not the only one having these problems but you can learn from my mistakes. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_azMBStJnY

The Air should be getting Sandy Bridge processors by Summer time so buying one now would not be a good idea. But if you really must by a Mac, I would get the Core i5 Macbook Pro as someone else said, the performance difference is about 10% less compared to the i7 model and it doesn't overheat either.

No, I wont be buying the Samsung. And yes, I will be buying a Mac.

 

[Wicked4u2c]

No, I wont be buying the Samsung. And yes, I will be buying a Mac.

If that's the case wait for June when the new Airs come out with Sandy Bridge, otherwise you will regret you bought one now.

 

[FOX160]

I was in a similar situation and went for the base model 13 inch MBP
The AIR is good but slow whilst working between other programs and for me
performance is where it counts and not start up times.

Regarding screens I could not notice much difference between the two
only screen finish.
If you want the Air il wait for the updated version that must be coming soon.

Myself I bought the 13inch i5 MBP base model and bought an 1TB rugged external drive and a Samsung syncMaster 2333HD TV/Monitor for the editing when I return home.

 

[theSeb]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)

I was in a similar situation and went for the base model 13 inch MBP
The AIR is good but slow whilst working between other programs and for me
performance is where it counts and not start up times.

Regarding screens I could not notice much difference between the two
only screen finish.
If you want the Air il wait for the updated version that must be coming soon.

Myself I bought the 13inch i5 MBP base model and bought an 1TB rugged external drive and a Samsung syncMaster 2333HD TV/Monitor for the editing when I return home.

So you didn't notice the different resolutions?

 

[adztaylor]

I was in this situation and chose the 13" MBP. This is my main computer and I chose it because I dabble in HandBrake so thats where the beast of the processor comes in, I occasionally still use the optical drive (shocker I know!) I love the backlit keyboard and this is just opinion I think the colours on the MBP display look better.

Don't get me wrong both machines are fantastic, just giving my own personal reasons why I chose my MBP. Don't regret it at all.

 

[FOX160]

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So you didn't notice the different resolutions?

Nope has I mainly use the Samsung monitor, but also had the two laptops side
by side in the shop and the only thing noticeable to me was the difference in screen finishes