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Bought MacBook Air without Researching, Right for Me?

appleguy123

appleguy123

macrumors 604
Original poster
Apr 1, 2009
6,873
2,589
15 minutes in the future
I bought the $1599 model of the MacBook Air from Amazon with the 20% off coupon. At $1240, I feel it was too good of an offer to pass up.

My problem is that I always research purchases before buying them. Before I bought my 17" MacBook Pro, I researched it's capabilities and limitations for at least 6 months to determine if it was the right computer for me.

I am in an all digital high school, where everyone is required to have either a laptop or a tablet. I really enjoy using my 17" MacBook Pro(from 2009), so this computer will probably be only for school.

I will use it for:

-A lot of typing for English(I am taking a college English Class while in high school) papers that are each about 10-20 pages long. I heard the MacBook Air keyboard doesn't have as much travel as the MacBook Pro. How noticeable has this been for you? Should I carry an external keyboard around?

-Taking notes.

-Holding my iTunes Audiobook Library, as my teacher's often want to borrow these from me.

-Reading PDF textbooks. This one is new. What is the best app for this function? I know about Preview for Mac, and will probably use it. But is there a better application for PDF textbooks?

-Giving Keynote presentations. Only two questions here. Is the graphics card good enough for the effects on a projector(my 9400m card sometimes has trouble with this), and will my Mini DisplayPort to VGA adaptor work, or do I need to buy a separate ThunderBolt one?

I'm pretty sure the MacBook Air will be able to hold its own on all of these tasks, but I just want to make sure.

Another concern is screen real estate and quality. Has anyone gone from a 17" MacBook Pro to a 13" MacBook Air and regretted it? Also, I really love the quality of my 17" display; will the MacBook Air match it as far as clarity and color reproduction go?

Any tips on keeping my two computers in sync?

Thanks for answering these questions!

PS: In what sleeve do you carry your MacBook Air?
 
The MBA is more than capable of dealing with any of the uses you noted.

My understanding is that the keyboard on the MBA and MBP are the same with the exception on the function keys on the 11"

The best PDF editor for OSX is PDFpen
http://www.smilesoftware.com/PDFpen/

Your the only one who can answer the question of whether or not the MBA is right for you. If I had to guess from the tone of your post your going to be second guessing yourself for sometime to come. The MBA is a great laptop, hopefully you'll enjoy it.
 
appleguy123 said:
I bought the $1599 model of the MacBook Air from Amazon with the 20% off coupon. At $1240, I feel it was too good of an offer to pass up.

My problem is that I always research purchases before buying them. Before I bought my 17" MacBook Pro, I researched it's capabilities and limitations for at least 6 months to determine if it was the right computer for me.

I am in an all digital high school, where everyone is required to have either a laptop or a tablet. I really enjoy using my 17" MacBook Pro(from 2009), so this computer will probably be only for school.

I will use it for:

-A lot of typing for English(I am taking a college English Class while in high school) papers that are each about 10-20 pages long. I heard the MacBook Air keyboard doesn't have as much travel as the MacBook Pro. How noticeable has this been for you? Should I carry an external keyboard around?

-Taking notes.

-Holding my iTunes Audiobook Library, as my teacher's often want to borrow these from me.

-Reading PDF textbooks. This one is new. What is the best app for this function? I know about Preview for Mac, and will probably use it. But is there a better application for PDF textbooks?

-Giving Keynote presentations. Only two questions here. Is the graphics card good enough for the effects on a projector(my 9400m card sometimes has trouble with this), and will my Mini DisplayPort to VGA adaptor work, or do I need to buy a separate ThunderBolt one?

I'm pretty sure the MacBook Air will be able to hold its own on all of these tasks, but I just want to make sure.

Another concern is screen real estate and quality. Has anyone gone from a 17" MacBook Pro to a 13" MacBook Air and regretted it? Also, I really love the quality of my 17" display; will the MacBook Air match it as far as clarity and color reproduction go?

Any tips on keeping my two computers in sync?

Thanks for answering these questions!

PS: In what sleeve do you carry your MacBook Air?
Click to expand...

Well you have a lot of questions and i dont know the answers to all of them. to keep the computers in the sync you can use drop box which gives u 2 gb free to have a folder in the cloud.

The color reproduction wont be as good as the 17 inch mbp because that has the glossy display that shows a larger color gamut.


If you dont keep the macbook air sell it on ebay for a profit instead of returning it. An 11' macbook air might be more up your alley and the exact thing you need. Because your only in highschool like me i would give you a tip and save money now because in college we will be doggin it, so if you dont need it save the money to get 1200 dollars worth of apple goodness in 2014
 
I just went from a 2009 17" MBP to a 13" MBA. I am more than happy with the screen real estate. My main concern was to be able to open two word documents side by side, and it has not been an issue. Also please note that the 13" MBA actually has the screen real estate of a 15" MBP due to the higher screen resolution. So you will be much closer to the 17" MBP resolution than you think. In fact, I adjusted so seamlessly to the 13" MBA that I wonder if I could adjust to the 11"? But of course, that one has an inferior battery life that is not yet up to par with the rest of the Macbook Airs/Pros. But as far as the 17" MBP.. I don't miss it at all.. and just made this transition two weeks ago.
 
You'll be fine. You bought more computer than you need (but that's what I like to do too ;)). Honestly it would be a smart move to sell it for a small profit and buy an 11," if you can handle the smaller screen and less memory.

I LOVE my 13" Air.
 
Lurchdubious said:
You'll be fine. You bought more computer than you need (but that's what I like to do too ;)). Honestly it would be a smart move to sell it for a small profit and buy an 11," if you can handle the smaller screen and less memory.

I LOVE my 13" Air.
Click to expand...

I'm going to sell it at the end of the school year, probably still for profit. I'm a senior now, so I'll decide if I want the 13" MBA or my MacBook Pro and sell the other to buy a thunderbolt display.
You guys are reassuring me, but I've seen an 11" MacBook air. I prefer not to use a 16:9 computer.
 
appleguy123 said:
I'm going to sell it at the end of the school year, probably still for profit. I'm a senior now, so I'll decide if I want the 13" MBA or my MacBook Pro and sell the other to buy a thunderbolt display.
You guys are reassuring me, but I've seen an 11" MacBook air. I prefer not to use a 16:9 computer.
Click to expand...

Good plan. And yeah, I can't do an 11" either. I use my computer too much to have a screen that small.
 
amitdoc2b said:
I just went from a 2009 17" MBP to a 13" MBA. I am more than happy with the screen real estate. My main concern was to be able to open two word documents side by side, and it has not been an issue. Also please note that the 13" MBA actually has the screen real estate of a 15" MBP due to the higher screen resolution. So you will be much closer to the 17" MBP resolution than you think. In fact, I adjusted so seamlessly to the 13" MBA that I wonder if I could adjust to the 11"? But of course, that one has an inferior battery life that is not yet up to par with the rest of the Macbook Airs/Pros. But as far as the 17" MBP.. I don't miss it at all.. and just made this transition two weeks ago.
Click to expand...
Mine is a 2009 model too. How does the performance compare? My 17" is feeling a little sluggish on Lion, and it has 6gb of ram.

Also, why does the MacBook air benchmark higher than the MacBook Pro when it has a slower clock speed and less ram?
 
appleguy123 said:
Mine is a 2009 model too. How does the performance compare? My 17" is feeling a little sluggish on Lion, and it has 6gb of ram.

Also, why does the MacBook air benchmark higher than the MacBook Pro when it has a slower clock speed and less ram?
Click to expand...

The MacBook Air has a Core i processor, which will turn even the fastest the Core or Core 2 processor even if it's at a lower speed. The architecture is just that superior. I wouldn't be surprised if you just used the MacBook Air only and decided on keeping it as your main computer hooked up to a Thunderbolt Display just for sheer power reasons alone.
 
BigB82 said:
OP how did you get it at 1240? I got mine for $1279.... Did I miss something? you will love it and I can't do the 11 either dude
Click to expand...

When did you order? For a short time it was at $1549 instead of $1594.

Edit: others were able to get Amazon to process match, so you might want to try that.
 
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