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13" vs 13"

filmbuff

filmbuff

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 5, 2011
969
369
So, the endless debate: 13" MBP or 13" MBA? I think it has gotten even harder to decide with this later update since the Air has a backlit keyboard now and USB 3.0 (no need for ethernet/firewire/esata). In fact, the only real advantages of the MBP are that it has a faster processor and some upgradability of the components. The MBP is also $100 less, although I would spend that much to get it with an SSD. So...

Why are there two 13" laptops? One is heavy and only slightly more powerful, the other is light and thin. Does anybody here have a compelling reason to buy one or the other?
 
filmbuff said:
So, the endless debate: 13" MBP or 13" MBA? I think it has gotten even harder to decide with this later update since the Air has a backlit keyboard now and USB 3.0 (no need for ethernet/firewire/esata). In fact, the only real advantages of the MBP are that it has a faster processor and some upgradability of the components. The MBP is also $100 less, although I would spend that much to get it with an SSD. So...

Why are there two 13" laptops? One is heavy and only slightly more powerful, the other is light and thin. Does anybody here have a compelling reason to buy one or the other?
Click to expand...

I think the reason to buy the Air is pretty obvious: not much less horse-power, and it's a hell of a lot lighter.
 
Out of every notebook Apple sells, I would take everyone over the 13" Macbook Air (screen res, wtf, etc.).

However...I'm obviously not in the norm as it's supposedly Apple's best selling laptop. Gotta have that "pro" label. LOL

13" Macbook Air all the way...coming from a guy who has had the 13" Pro, 15" Pro, 17" Pro, and three 13" airs (yeah...I like testing them out).

Which one did I end up keeping? The 13" Air. If you're a true "pro" user the Macbook Hi-res would be my choice.
 
If you regularly max out your cpu/gpu load for sustained periods of time, or when doing work, from what I've read, the MBP is the no brainer.

Since most computer users don't do this, generally speaking, this generation, the MBA 13" is the no-brainer for these users, although, that also depends on how reliant you are on the additional ports that the pro offers, as well as the optical drive.

With edu pricing, and using newegg, getting a baseline 13" pro up to similar specs as a 13" Air with 128 GB SSD and 8 GBs of ram actually puts the Air at marginally cheaper.

All that being said, I still plan on getting the MBP since I do max out cpu/gpu load occasionally (not all the time though) for sustained periods, and would not want that reduced performance. If it weren't for that, I would pick up the Air this generation. In other words, Apple, please increase the resolution on the Pros...or at least give us BTO options for removing the optical drive and replacing it with a discrete gpu/2nd storage drive/more battery life...
 
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