13in Air or 13in Pro

[westmeadow]

I guess it depends on what you mean by "serious programming."

The Air is definitely the best choice for everyday computing. It's potentially cheaper - about the same price if you go for similar specs to the Pro, and the flash memory and hi-res display are very nice. Most of all, it's more portable - which it sounds like is a high priority for you.

But if you want to do more heavy-duty computing, you should consider the Pro - simply for the faster processer, and the bigger, potentially more graphically-inclined screen. But it sounds like you're trying to limit the screen size.

Essentially anything a basic 13" Pro can do, an Air can do sexier. Only go with the Pro if you'll need it for heavy tasks, in which case a basic 13" probably won't cut it anyway. From the sounds of it, either one is going to be both powerful enough and small enough.

 

[KylePowers]

An Air would be more than enough for programming at the collegiate level. I see people using netbooks... programming really isn't that computationally extensive unless you're doing very complex, enterprise software development (or programming things extremely inefficiently, I suppose).

I'd never get an MBP, but I'm a huge fan of ultraportables... so that's probably why.

 

[iPhysicist]

Go for the base 13"

I always do only buy things I realy need. So if I where you I would go for the MBA. Simply because you did not mention gaming and media. You wont need more than the MBA has to offer. My Collegue has an Air and its a fantastic machine...

Or save money and go for a refurbished 13" MBP. BUT ONLY because they are quite affordable at the moment.

 

[Sa1en]

As for me, I would go for Air 13" but wait for update... Ivy bridge on mobile devices - sounds good!

 

[MacbookiPro]

They say the 13" Pro screen kinda sucks.

 

[szolr]

If the Air could be upgraded to 8 GB RAM and a 512 GB SSD I would seriously have considered shelling out the extra money for it. But it just wasn't big enough to hold my iTunes library and I'd likely want to upgrade the RAM in a year or 2. So I went for a Pro.

The Air with an Ivy Bridge processor should be an awesome machine and if you don't need a new computer urgently I'd hold out for one in mid 2012.

If you need a laptop now, get a Pro. It'll last you longer than an Air in terms of satisfying your computing needs probably.

 

[yourtoys7]

I'll add to the pile.
I had pro and got rid of it, too heavy and I'm not even traveling. Just around the house, in bed etc.
Air is flimsy, you kidding wright?, to me Air felt pretty solid and that's. Ext on my list.
Upgrading sounds good, but how many people actually upgrade and the cost of the parts, I'd rather upgrate the laptop and take a little loss, but gain on everything.

Next purchase for me is 13 or 15 if it comes out Air'

 

[Titanium81]

They say the 13" Pro screen kinda sucks.

What exactly sucks about the 13" MBP Screen?

Is it fact that it has a Better Color Gamut?

The fact that it has a High Quality Glass Display that is very easy to wipe finger prints off?

Not to mention the upgradability of the 13" MBP

 

[David085]

Get the 13" MBA since it will run faster with a ssd

 

[Titanium81]

Get the 13" MBA since it will run faster with a ssd

Get a 13" MBP with an SSD and it will run even faster yet!

 

[David085]

Get a 13" MBP with an SSD and it will run even faster yet!

Disagrees MBA is much more thinner and lighter and it already comes with a ssd so go with the air

 

[Titanium81]

Get a 13" MBP with an SSD and it will run even faster yet!

Disagrees MBA is much more thinner and lighter and it already comes with a ssd so go with the air

Obviously the MBA is Lighter and Thinner but definitely not faster than a 2011 13" MBP with and SSD.

 

[jmpnop]

OK, I made a make mistake of .5 pounds. The argument is still valid.

While it is true that one wieghs 50% more than the other using that stat alone is very misleading. The weight only matters when your are moving around with it or holding it (I'm assuming that people don't stand around holding their Macs when they don't have to). Any time the system is moved any substantial distance, it is probably going to be in a protective bag. A good bag can weigh 2 or 3 pounds empty. The relative difference of 1.5 pounds will make no difference to anyone unless that person is in extremely poor health. If you are only moving around the house or office can you really say that 1.5 pounds makes a difference for the 50 feet that you are moving it? Unless you hold in you hands while you work I can't see how it does.

The MBA certainly FEELS great, I would love to hear from someone that has gone from a MBP 13 to a MBA 13 that can make a reasonable argument as to why the MBA 13 is "50%" more portable than a MBP 13... because they there almost the same size. The .3 inch in height that the MBP 13 gives up to the MBA is not going to make or break anyone, no will the 1.5 pounds.

Off course this is all my opinion and I'm not trying to talk anyone out of it I'm only trying to focus on reality and not hype.

Completely agree with you. I don't see how 1.5lbs makes such a huge difference. Like you said, it'll be in a bag while travelling and relative 1.5lb difference doesn't really add much. And SSD reason isn't valid either. You can get a FASTER OCZ/Intel SSD for $450 (256GB) which is a total of $1650 for MBP 13" whereas MBA 13" costs $1600. The extra $50 is well worth the extra features and expandability that MBP offers. MBA is a fine machine but saying its a lot more portable than MBP simply makes no sense. The best thing for the OP is to go to a local store and check out both the laptops and then decide.

 

[steve2112]

What exactly sucks about the 13" MBP Screen?

Is it fact that it has a Better Color Gamut?

The fact that it has a High Quality Glass Display that is very easy to wipe finger prints off?

Not to mention the upgradability of the 13" MBP

The resolution on the Air is better than the 13" MBP, which makes no sense. Why does the Pro model have a lower resolution? And the glossy display is a negative for some of us. I wish the 13" had a high-res matte option like the 15".

 

[gpat]

The Air is faster and cooler, but it costs more and it can't be upgraded. It's going to be less durable in the long run, and you can't argue with that.

 

[jmpnop]

The resolution on the Air is better than the 13" MBP, which makes no sense. Why does the Pro model have a lower resolution? And the glossy display is a negative for some of us. I wish the 13" had a high-res matte option like the 15".

Apple saved high-res. screen for 2012 model

 

[onelane]

I too, am comparing the MBA 13" vs. the MBP 13" for a purchase before xmas. I have found answers to alot of my questions in this thread but I have a question that I have not seen answered that are specific to my needs:

I am looking at eventually getting a thunderbolt display and set that up as a dock. Which one will produce better screen resolution and display quality on the thunderbolt display? Or will they be equal?

I do have a 24" iMac at home which I use for all my music, photo and document storage and probably for most of any serious graphic work I will be doing. Photoshop, Illustrator etc, possibly AutoCad at some point. I'm mainly looking for something portable to work on Excel and Word files for work and some light graphic work and internet activity. I have owned Macs for 15+ years but this will be my first laptop. Im leaning towards MBA so far unless it will be sub par using with Thunderbolt?

Thanks
Aric

 

[osx11]

I am looking at eventually getting a thunderbolt display and set that up as a dock. Which one will produce better screen resolution and display quality on the thunderbolt display? Or will they be equal?

Both will support the full resolution of the 27 inch apple cinema display.

In terms of screen quality - both will be the same.

In terms of overall performance using the 27 inch external display - a macbook pro would be better equipped because it has more horsepower.

---

Besides the monitor issue - I find that the MBA's 4GB ram limit to be a little bit too low. It is not upgradable so you are stuck with it.
I have a 2010 MBP and after the Lion upgrade, I was maxing out the 4GB ram just from ordinary tasks (no photoshop or anything like that). I upgraded to 8GB and it was totally worth it (cost like $40). With that in mind, I would think think twice about the MBA.

Unless you are going to do A LOT of traveling, it is not worth it. Problems with AIR:

- short(er) battery life
- SSD - although fast, very pricey and reactively small storage space
- 4GB Ram MAX
- Extremely under-clocked CPU
- Less processing power
- Will run quite hot when running a 27 inch display.
- No firewire ports

------

For the price of a thunderbolt display ($999) you might as well get a refurb 27inch iMac from apple.com

You can get last years model for $1269 and this years for $1419.

With this setup, you MBA would make more sense.

 

[onelane]

Thanks for the response.

Is there any chance Apple comes out with a smaller Thunderbolt display? 27" would be nice but a little overkill for my needs. A 20-24" would be plenty.

Im more interested in the peripheral connections as I'd like a fullsize keyboard with numeric pad for excel, probably a superdrive(if i go with MBA) and im sure i'll think of something else in time.

 

[dBeats]

From the list of things you mentioned, unless your "Various other college activities" include 3D rendering, computational fluid dynamics, or massive video editing, trust me on this, get the Air.

I have the i7 13" air and it has absolutely NEVER slowed down. The SSD is fast as bloody hell and only people doing the above three tasks would ever need more than 4 GB of RAM or a faster processor. I won't bore you with my usage details, but I do some real work on this thing and it's awesome.

Trolls can cite numbers, but the reality is the difference in those numbers are small beans in the real world.

There is one point against the Air that is completely valid, disk space. Can you live with a small internal drive. Even 256GB is a tight fit for some people. In my office, I have an external drive to hold large files that I don't access often. Getting the smaller drive makes this even more difficult. I could not live with only 128GB of space. I'm at ~140GB of 256GB utilized right now and I definitely pay attention to things I store locally.

Either way, enjoy yourself.

 

[jdechko]

In terms of overall performance using the 27 inch external display - a macbook pro would be better equipped because it has more horsepower.

Not exactly true. Both the Air and the 13" MBP have the Intel HD3000 as their GPU. In the standard configuration with 4GB RAM, both machines allocate 384MB of the RAM for the GPU. If you upgrade to 8GB RAM (13" Pro only), then you have 512MB of VRAM available. However, because the HD3000 is a low-end card, you'll hit the performance ceiling of the chip before you can really max out the VRAM at 384MB.

In either case, you're not going to be playing 3D games on the TB display at or near native resolution because the GPU can't handle it.

As far as speed, while the numbers are in favor of the 13" Pro, the anecdotal data says that the Air will feel faster in most day to day tasks (i.e.: Web Browsing, word processing, music, etc).

 

[Orlandoech]

I would say air

 

[onelane]

In either case, you're not going to be playing 3D games on the TB display at or near native resolution because the GPU can't handle it.

Thanks, that is helpful.

I dont play games at all. Primarily thinking excel and word documents for work, web browsing and some minimal photo apps, iphoto, aperture, photoshop, illustrator etc. I would use my iMac for anything really complex or large files in most cases.

 

[funkmu]

So update:

I bought the MBP and I'm very happy with it. It's a huge size downgrade compared to my 18.4" 9lb Qosmio laptop. I can work in terminal and do unix commands and easily connect to my school's unix based system without having to use SecureCRT or putty in Windows. (Despite having used Windows for my whole life, I've still never learned how to use Windows cmd, but know Unix terminal commands, lol fail).

I'm debating whether I should install a Windows or Linux virtual machine though. Maybe if I upgrade the RAM, I'll do it.

All my programming software works perfectly and it's nice to have a native emacs installation through the terminal (as well as Aquamacs, a nice GUI for Mac emacs). However, I find that if I'm doing programming in C or C++, I think Xcode sucks massively and have Microsoft Visual Studio as my preferred IDE on my Windows computer.

Thanks for the response.

Is there any chance Apple comes out with a smaller Thunderbolt display? 27" would be nice but a little overkill for my needs. A 20-24" would be plenty.

Im more interested in the peripheral connections as I'd like a fullsize keyboard with numeric pad for excel, probably a superdrive(if i go with MBA) and im sure i'll think of something else in time.

In terms of monitor. Why would you ever fork over an extra 200-500 dollars for the Mac display when you can buy an Asus, Toshiba, or other kind for significantly cheaper. The same argument can be made for buying a Macbook, but I really like Mac OSX so that was worth the money to me. However, you don't need a magical "Thunderbolt optimized Apple cinema awesome" monitor, when a 20-24in 1080p Asus one would suffice and suffice well.

You can just buy an adapter for Thunderbolt to HDMI for 30 bucks from Apple or cheaper from an offbrand. I have a 1080p ViewSonic 24in monitor that I bought for 200 dollars on Amazon and with an offbrand connector, I can use my Mac in full 1080p 1980 x 1080 resolution (although gaming sucks, so I rarely connect it.)

One thing that does annoy the **** out of me on the macbook keyboard is the position of fn and control. It's fine normally since I use command for all my CP stuff, but when I'm gaming it's just super annoying and also on Emacs it's annoying, but I just remapped the keys and everything is K.

I have a mechanical keyboard for my Windows computer that I occasionally use on my mac when it's attached to my monitor, but on a whole, you can use whatever the **** keyboard you want. I personally think Mac accessories are just as needlessly expensive as the Mac itself, but whatever floats your boat.

I just succumbed to the OSX dawg... just succumbed...

 

[palpatine]

here is some kool-aid. welcome to the club! soon, i am sure you will be agreeing with me that the keyboard and other accessories are quite reasonably priced and well made. i am afraid there is no hope for you once you start down the path. drink up!