Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Anybody using an MBA as their main rig?
- Thread starter dontwalkhand
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
MBA to Mini
Been using the latest 13.3 MBA for about 4-5 months now. Main daily office computer. No issues whatsoever.
I've put it aside now for a week as I've realized how much I missed a 30" display, so I'm back on the mac mini.
The MBA was WAY faster as it was a flash drive, but screen real estate was a preference.
17" MBA? That would be dope.
Been using the latest 13.3 MBA for about 4-5 months now. Main daily office computer. No issues whatsoever.
I've put it aside now for a week as I've realized how much I missed a 30" display, so I'm back on the mac mini.
The MBA was WAY faster as it was a flash drive, but screen real estate was a preference.
17" MBA? That would be dope.
I bought a 2010 13" Air about 10 months ago, and use it more now than my main PC. At home I plug in a 21.5" Dell monitor using display port. Now prefer OSX to Windows for everything but Excel, where the only limitation is Excel shortcuts, which are different than on the PC. Don't know if there's a workaround for that, but I use a Dell laptop for Excel modeling.
I work as a software developer and use the 11" as my main computer. I have a 24" display and external mouse and keyboard connected to it at work but bring the computer home every night. I would like 8 gbs of ram, but that's the only complaint I have, and the portability is worth more to me than the extra ram.
Yes, I do use MBA as my only computer, and have done so with my 13" SB i5 1.7 4GB and 11" C2D 1.4 2GB. I found the C2D a bit anemic but it didn't stop me
For comparison I play games (d3!), run a small business (that does real business), do real App development, did a ton of work with building cross-compilers over and over, do schematic capture work in Altium, analog circuit analysis in SPICE, and just completed my entire MS Computer Engineering thesis experimentation (crypto FPGA development) using it and have been able to run all the tools I need to get through my PhD in CpE as well. So, I run VM's of Windows/FreeBSD/Linux
The only limitation I've run in to is needing an external disk for the VMs
Computers today are ridiculous. They can do so much. Who cares about some esoteric video benchmarkings, throw real-world problems at anything made in the past few years and it all runs great right?
Also I don't get what there is to take a picture of. It's a macbook air. And why do people call computers "rigs" .. I think of some huge sprawling supercomputer with wires and patch panels and stuff. A MBA is a minimalist designed complete product that is even sealed up with pentalobe screws meant specifically to keep the enduser out of the enclosure....
For comparison I play games (d3!), run a small business (that does real business), do real App development, did a ton of work with building cross-compilers over and over, do schematic capture work in Altium, analog circuit analysis in SPICE, and just completed my entire MS Computer Engineering thesis experimentation (crypto FPGA development) using it and have been able to run all the tools I need to get through my PhD in CpE as well. So, I run VM's of Windows/FreeBSD/Linux
The only limitation I've run in to is needing an external disk for the VMs
Computers today are ridiculous. They can do so much. Who cares about some esoteric video benchmarkings, throw real-world problems at anything made in the past few years and it all runs great right?
Also I don't get what there is to take a picture of. It's a macbook air. And why do people call computers "rigs" .. I think of some huge sprawling supercomputer with wires and patch panels and stuff. A MBA is a minimalist designed complete product that is even sealed up with pentalobe screws meant specifically to keep the enduser out of the enclosure....
Zytec... this I believe is the one I have - http://www.amazon.com/Zalman-NC1000...2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1324567692&sr=1-2
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
nope.
The air itself while one of the best laptops and really has decent numbers doesn't quite output the power I want and need.
My desktop machine is a quadcore machine, with butloads of ram and a "higher" end (though not top fo the line) graphics chip.
there are times where I have multiple server environments open in VM's. the more cores help a lot, as well as memory. you'd be amazed how fast your RAM disapears when you have 2 or 3 VM's open that are allocated 1 or 2gb of ram each.
There are times i want to play a modern shooter game at a nice 40+ fps. if i'm going to play a game, I might as well try and enjoy it as close to how it was designe dto be played at. No integrated solution quite fits the need. They're decent, they can play (WoW plays fine on the Air for example), but if i want to play BF3, th Air is completely out of the question
I frequently re-encode video for different devices. My father doesn't know how to convert DIVX / DVD's to watch on his ipad. i do it for him. if it takes me 2-3 hours for a movie encode, i might as well be on my old single core again. CUDA, Quad core and fast drive access on a desktop, that the AIR cannot come close to shortening that rip and encode to 10 minutes is a blessing.
However, What the AIR does, it does excellently. it is a very competent computer. if I had none of those above requirements from my computer, the AIR could easily be my sole computer. the average computer user would be more pleased with it.
The air itself while one of the best laptops and really has decent numbers doesn't quite output the power I want and need.
My desktop machine is a quadcore machine, with butloads of ram and a "higher" end (though not top fo the line) graphics chip.
there are times where I have multiple server environments open in VM's. the more cores help a lot, as well as memory. you'd be amazed how fast your RAM disapears when you have 2 or 3 VM's open that are allocated 1 or 2gb of ram each.
There are times i want to play a modern shooter game at a nice 40+ fps. if i'm going to play a game, I might as well try and enjoy it as close to how it was designe dto be played at. No integrated solution quite fits the need. They're decent, they can play (WoW plays fine on the Air for example), but if i want to play BF3, th Air is completely out of the question
I frequently re-encode video for different devices. My father doesn't know how to convert DIVX / DVD's to watch on his ipad. i do it for him. if it takes me 2-3 hours for a movie encode, i might as well be on my old single core again. CUDA, Quad core and fast drive access on a desktop, that the AIR cannot come close to shortening that rip and encode to 10 minutes is a blessing.
However, What the AIR does, it does excellently. it is a very competent computer. if I had none of those above requirements from my computer, the AIR could easily be my sole computer. the average computer user would be more pleased with it.
Yep. I work in the internet industry from home, so my computer is my only real tool for doing business/communicating with my team. My 13" Air handles everything I throw at it, and then some, 8-5 every day.
The only thing I don't do that is fairly common for other users is process a ton of photos and videos.
As an overall package, the Air is the best machine I have ever owned, hands down.
The only thing I don't do that is fairly common for other users is process a ton of photos and videos.
As an overall package, the Air is the best machine I have ever owned, hands down.
I travel a lot so jumped on the original MBA 1.6/2/80 when it was first released. I've been using MBAs as my primary computer but not my only computer ever since.
That first MBA was only well suited to the most routine of use with its speed, ram, and disk limits but for that routine stuff it was great. My next was a 1.8/2/128ssd was snappy - faster than my MacBook at the time but still pretty strict on ram and SSD space. My current 1.6/4/240. Is really sweet and suitable for 95% of what I need to do. It travels everywhere and when at my desk is augmented with a 27" ACD, keyboard, trackpad, and a host of USB devices for full desktop convenience. It runs everything great.
I still have another Mac with more ram and space for the few things my MBA can't handle but if the MBA had an 8gb ram option I think it would be my only machine.
That first MBA was only well suited to the most routine of use with its speed, ram, and disk limits but for that routine stuff it was great. My next was a 1.8/2/128ssd was snappy - faster than my MacBook at the time but still pretty strict on ram and SSD space. My current 1.6/4/240. Is really sweet and suitable for 95% of what I need to do. It travels everywhere and when at my desk is augmented with a 27" ACD, keyboard, trackpad, and a host of USB devices for full desktop convenience. It runs everything great.
I still have another Mac with more ram and space for the few things my MBA can't handle but if the MBA had an 8gb ram option I think it would be my only machine.
MBA (2011) is my only computer. I do plan on getting a MBPro 15" when it gets released Spring 2012 as a secondary computer or a MBA 15" if it's rumored to hold true.
I was a PC "power user" for many years and my last set up was a 32" TV hooked up to my desktop PC.
I've switched over to the 2011 13.3 base as my only computer. Sold my tv, sold my desktop, sold a couple of other things and bought the MBA, put pretty much nothing out of pocket.
I'm never going back.
In fact, I think the 13.3" is a tad too big. I want the 11.6" for next year, but only if they upgrade the base configuration significantly (128/4).
I think my 13.3" has a big enough screen to be your only computer, forever, without any bother from the screen size. The 11.6 might be a bit small, I fully admit but I'll try it for a few months and if it's impossible to adjust I'll just buy a TBD.
I think the 13.3 is way more than enough screen, though. I'm happier than ever.
BTW: I have no TV, no console, no home stereo, no DVD, no nothing. When I say only machine I mean it. My MBA is everything I own and everything I use.
I do have an ipad2 but it doesn't get much use now with the MBA (I used to use it like 4-5 hours a day).
I've switched over to the 2011 13.3 base as my only computer. Sold my tv, sold my desktop, sold a couple of other things and bought the MBA, put pretty much nothing out of pocket.
I'm never going back.
In fact, I think the 13.3" is a tad too big. I want the 11.6" for next year, but only if they upgrade the base configuration significantly (128/4).
I think my 13.3" has a big enough screen to be your only computer, forever, without any bother from the screen size. The 11.6 might be a bit small, I fully admit but I'll try it for a few months and if it's impossible to adjust I'll just buy a TBD.
I think the 13.3 is way more than enough screen, though. I'm happier than ever.
BTW: I have no TV, no console, no home stereo, no DVD, no nothing. When I say only machine I mean it. My MBA is everything I own and everything I use.
I do have an ipad2 but it doesn't get much use now with the MBA (I used to use it like 4-5 hours a day).
Why I wouldn't sell my TV & Console etc, I pretty much did the same thing, just with Macs instead of PCs.
I used to own a PowerMac G5, an iMac, iPad, and a MacBook, and now I went down to a 13" MacBook Pro, and my iPhone. That is all I need. I posted this thread because I was considering going MBA.
What are you waiting for? Personally I think the MBP is outdated machinery.
It's an entire generation behind something like the Macbook Air. It looks like a Windows laptop. Bulky, heavy, fat, antiquated.
The Air is the future, no doubt about it. I absolutely love it.
Thanks. Think you've helped make my decision allot easier..... I'll buy a MBA next week and play with one.....
I should of done this last year
I was really contemplating that, but I use firewire hard drives extensively, and that is something the Air doesn't have when it was time to purchase. I really DO love the portability of it though, and I really would love to only have to carry that everywhere I go.
I use my MacBook Air as my main computer and love it. I've got the 11inch and it handles everything I can throw at. Xcode, games (with the help of SMCfancontrol to keep the temps down), and video editing. Movie watching and iPhoto has absolutely no issues at all. What the MacBook Air lacks in processor speed, it makes up for with its lightning fast SSD. I never have any hiccups doing anything on this computer. When I really have to do some video editing for 2+ hours, I just hop on my family's ASUS with a quad core i5. Albeit that I don't enjoy using the Winblows machine, it's only a last resort since I can do anything on my MacBook Air anyway.
And whenever I need the extra screen real estate, I hook it up to my 27" external display.
And whenever I need the extra screen real estate, I hook it up to my 27" external display.