Anyone use the 11" Air as their primary machine at home?

[JerTheGeek]

I have had my 11" Air for over 5 months now, and I love it! But I am wondering if anyone else uses their Air 11 for home use without an external monitor? I have good eyesight so a small screen isn't a problem, and I have never had a laptop larger than 11", so it doesn't feel too small. In fact, I am loving the form factor, because it fits so easily anywhere, on a desk, in bed, on my lap; it just feels soooo easy to use and so comfortable no matter where or how I use it.
I am just curious if anyone else uses their 11" Air as a primary machine for home use without an external monitor.
Thanks in advance,
JerTheGeek

 

[SusanK]

Yes. I love it!

 

[Mac.User]

I do not, but I have an 11in. I do not see why it could not be an only machine.

For extra storage I have a 2TB USB HDD plugged into my AirPort Extreme.

 

[Boyd01]

I use mine with and without an external screen at home. For Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro and other sofware, I need a bigger monitor and also like to have the extended keyboard and mouse. I connect to a USB audio interface and also have a USB 3.0 gigabit ethernet interface and Thunderbolt dock for hard drives.

But I also use it without any external connections for watching iTunes movies that I have ripped from DVD. Just moved my 400gb iTunes library to a Time Capsule and connect wirelessly all around the house. With about 30 MB/s on 802.11ac wifi, it is comparable to the speed of the USB 2.0 disks that I have.

All around, the 11" MBA is my all time favorite computer.

 

[yosemit]

It's my main computer at home and at work, 90% time with an external display and 10% time without. So fast for such a small machine.

 

[flowrider]

I have my MBA as my mobile machine. My main machine is a Mac Pro. Frankly, I could conceive using my 11" machine as my main computer. Although, during the month of March I stayed at a friend's house for a month, and was happy I had my trusty MBA. But for all I do at home, NO WAY!

Lou

 

[Mrbobb]

The only time I feel like a bigger screen is when am watching a video and I go, this should look better on my big screen, then I fire up AirPlay and BAM the video is on my 55 incher.

 

[bradl]

I have had my 11" Air for over 5 months now, and I love it! But I am wondering if anyone else uses their Air 11 for home use without an external monitor? I have good eyesight so a small screen isn't a problem, and I have never had a laptop larger than 11", so it doesn't feel too small. In fact, I am loving the form factor, because it fits so easily anywhere, on a desk, in bed, on my lap; it just feels soooo easy to use and so comfortable no matter where or how I use it.
I am just curious if anyone else uses their 11" Air as a primary machine for home use without an external monitor.

Close for me.

I'm in the middle of moving everything off my Hackintosh mini to a Synology Diskstation, and going solely to my 13" MBA. Everything will run off the NAS, which leaves me with just the MBA and the option of connecting it to an external monitor. Since it works as a personal cloud, I won't need to be attached to a desk to have more space than what I can put into an MBA.

BL.

 

[fedecape]

I do. It's my main (and only) computer since it came out last june. When at home (not always, but most of the time) is on my desk connected to my 24 inch full hd display + apple keyboard and wireless mouse.

I can do everything I want (even some light-moderate gaming), and when I leave home I still have all my files and programs!

 

[alphaod]

For a month while my 15" rMBP was in repair I use my 11" MBA as my main computer.

It was doable, but the bigger issue for me was the low resolution display which is pretty difficult for photo and video editing. It didn't help that off angle the screen didn't look very good.

The other issue was if I did anything CPU intensive, the computer would slow down quite a bit and get very loud and hot.

Luckily at home I have an external display.

 

[abta1]

I have had my 11" MBA 2013 for around 2-3 months now as my main computer at home and I couldn't be happier. I mainly use it as it is but on occasion connect it to an external monitor but given that I can use Airplay with my Apple TV, I seldom need to do that either.

This laptop replaced a 2010 15" MBP which was my previous main computer but I got tired of having to carry that around with me when I traveled. The 11" MBA is perfect for me due to it's form factor and all heavy processing I need to do is done on my workstation at work or the servers there. In addition, I can use teamviewer to connect to my workstation from home.

 

[JerTheGeek]

I have had my 11" MBA 2013 for around 2-3 months now as my main computer at home and I couldn't be happier. I mainly use it as it is but on occasion connect it to an external monitor but given that I can use Airplay with my Apple TV, I seldom need to do that either.

This laptop replaced a 2010 15" MBP which was my previous main computer but I got tired of having to carry that around with me when I traveled. The 11" MBA is perfect for me due to it's form factor and all heavy processing I need to do is done on my workstation at work or the servers there. In addition, I can use teamviewer to connect to my workstation from home.

That is cool, yeah isn't the form factor amazing on this thing? I love using it in bed, in a beanbag, etc. It is just so easy to place on my lap or put next to my school books and work at me desk. Im homeschooled and do school at a desk, so I need it to fit next to my books, and the 11 incher does this beautifully; i think if i had a 13 inch, it wouldn't do this as well. Plus, 13inch would feel like overkill to me, since Ive never owned anything larger than 11"

----------

Ok; now my next question is----
How can I be absolutely sure the 11" size is right for me? It sounds silly, I know, but since Ive never owned larger than 13", 11" of course feels great to me. SO i always wonder if id enjoy more screen size. Should I just trust that I love the 11" size, even though its the only size I've ever owned?

 

[supermoix]

I do, not only at home but at work. i purposedly "downgraded"myself from a MBP 13" to a MBA 11" and i am not looking back. If you do not need raw processing power (heavy audio and video work), bigger screen and want maximum portability this is the way to go.

My MBA 11" goes from a portable movie player in an airplane to a practical web browser and social tool at home to a excellent office integration tool at work.

 

[JerTheGeek]

I do, not only at home but at work. i purposedly "downgraded"myself from a MBP 13" to a MBA 11" and i am not looking back. If you do not need raw processing power (heavy audio and video work), bigger screen and want maximum portability this is the way to go.

My MBA 11" goes from a portable movie player in an airplane to a practical web browser and social tool at home to a excellent office integration tool at work.

Yeah I certainly do not need raw processing power, I just need enough for some iMovie editing for YouTube like once a week or less, and occasional casual gaming. And the air works great for this!
Though I am curious; do you ever miss the 13 inch screen of your old Pro, or can you say that the 11 inch is better?

 

[supermoix]

I rarely miss the 13" screen, only while doing some specific work, like long excel or word documents that you have to vertical scroll a little more on the 11"but that's it.

I need high mobility and the small area and weight of the 11"air makes the cut where the bigger laptop didn't... Better? I am not sure for everyone, but for me it does.

 

[JerTheGeek]

I rarely miss the 13" screen, only while doing some specific work, like long excel or word documents that you have to vertical scroll a little more on the 11"but that's it.

I need high mobility and the small area and weight of the 11"air makes the cut where the bigger laptop didn't... Better? I am not sure for everyone, but for me it does.

Awesome. I agree that it is better for my usage. The form factor just fits easily anywhere....on my lap, in bed, on my desk, it doesnt matter where; the 11" Air just fits and is so easy to use. Thanks for the input!

 

[thesituation]

sold my mbp 13" when i got the 11" mba .. i initially regretted not buying the bigger screen, but now i don't think i can live without my 11" MBA.

use it for EVERYTHING. it is my main computer. i do have a 24" monitor at home that i occasionally plug my MBA on. But that monitor is mainly for my desktop.

such a great computer for its size.

 

[JerTheGeek]

sold my mbp 13" when i got the 11" mba .. i initially regretted not buying the bigger screen, but now i don't think i can live without my 11" MBA.

use it for EVERYTHING. it is my main computer. i do have a 24" monitor at home that i occasionally plug my MBA on. But that monitor is mainly for my desktop.

such a great computer for its size.

that's awesome, I use mine for just about everything too. Mine is also my main machine, it works absolutely great as a home computer, cause you can use it anywhere around the house: in bed, in a beanbag chair, on the couch, etc. Overall it just fits easily anywhere and feels so comfortable no matter where you use it. Thanks for the input, i'm so glad I chose the 11". Im sure if i had the 13" id be wondering what it is like to have the amazing form factor of the 11".

 

[Charadis]

I've been using a 13.3" MacBook Pro as my main for a few years already, but prior to that, I've had a 10.6" Sony Vaio TR3A and an 11.1" Vaio TZ150n as my main computers while in college. At the time, the Vaios had the best screen quality in the smallest package, and that's what I appreciated.

I did try a Surface Pro recently, but it just didn't feel right. The screen was great, but it just didn't feel like a "main machine" kind of computer. I recently bought the 13" MacBook Air over the 11" simply due to the lack of the SD card slot on the 11" model, and because it seemed too much like a netbook nowadays. Sent from my MacBook Air.

 

[DisplacedMic]

i use mine exclusively and have for almost a year now.
i have a TBD but i hardly ever use it.

 

[JerTheGeek]

i use mine exclusively and have for almost a year now.
i have a TBD but i hardly ever use it.

That's great; do you ever find yourself wanting the 13", or do you just love the 11"?

 

[Boyd01]

I love it, especially for travel. But we are covering the same ground here, I already responded to your other thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/19111701/

 

[Bodie CI5]

I've had my MBA 11" for only around a month or so. It is FAST becoming my primary computer (aside from my OC'd gaming rig in my bedroom). I had bought a white MacBook 13" (I forget the year and make) secondhand from a computer trade show at the beginning of this year.

Honestly, I don't know what I've been doing all these years (apart from PC and console gaming)! Mucking around on this new MBA is almost a revelation!

There are times when I think a 13" *may* have been better in some instances (such as Civ5), but I am 10000% happy with my MBA and spend waaaay more time on this than on my PC's. The build quality alone, makes for a highly pleasant user experience. I regret selling off my 'new iPad' way back when...

Once I bought a few monitor connectors (such as for hdmi ports etc), I'll probably have to use this for work, too during conferences etc. One week ago I had to lug my Sony VAIO to a conference - I was wishing I had my MBA with me instead!

*Prepares to pay off credit card debts to invest in an iMac*