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Baseline 2011 MBA vs. 2010 13-inch MBP

V

valdikor

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 21, 2012
389
215
Slovakia
TL;DR version: which is a better everyday laptop?
a baseline 2011 11″ MBA
vs
a maxed-out 2010 13″ MBP


Hi everyone. I have owned a 13-inch 2010 MBP for just under two years. I maxed it out to 8 GB RAM and 1 TB internal storage and have never had any problems with the machine. A couple of months ago I purchased a Mac Mini to replace the MBP as my main computer, leaving the MBP just for my more moderst mobility needs.

Having tasted the lightness and convenience of the 11-inch MacBook Air, I sterted contemplating the idea of replacing my MBP with a MBA, now that I really need a laptop only for the basic mobile computing tasks. I put it up for sale for 749 euros and got a few offers already - it looks I might be able to sell the machine at this price. The problem is, at this point I really can't afford to pay much more for a computer. I found a good sale for the 11-inch MBA (around 730 euros, comfortably within my budget if I sell the MBP), but it's the older 2011 model and only in the baseline configuration - 2GB RAM and 64GB SSD. I have no problems with carrying an external drive when I need some extra storage for movies and stuff and I'm an iTunes Match subscriber so I won't need too much storage for music either.

So my question is - is the baseline 2011 MBA a better and faster everyday mobile computer than a maxed-out 2010 MBP? Should I go through with the sale and purchase the MBA?

Thanks a lot for your ideas.
 
Well, my MBP does have four times as much RAM (and my Mini even has 16GB RAM), so it would be a huge step down. But I thought the SSD would pretty much make up for the lack of RAM. Or it doesn't work that way? (the 2011 MBA also has a slower SSD than this year's model) Am I better off sticking with my MBP for now?
 
Thanks for the advice guys. Unless something dramatically sways my opinion, I'll almost definitely stick with my good ol' MBP. I'll get an SSD, probably at a later time, it's nothing urgent and I might even get a better bang for the buck, say, before Christmas.

I got the RAM upgrades for both of my Macs from Crucial and I couldn't be happier - they have great prices, ship really fast and it all works flawlessly. Makes sense to get one of their SSDs too.

The MBA form factor is still really tempting, though. Maybe next year then. :)
 
Last edited:
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