Can't go back to my 13" MBP after using 11" MBA...

[ermir4444]

OK recently my girlfriend got a 11.6" MBA and i got a chance to use it for about a week. I was a very happy owner of a 13" MBP till the day i started using the Air. Now i cant go back to the 13".

The main reason is the size/weight.
I thought my 13" was very portable but it feels like a giant compared to the tiny Air. I think Apple should work really hard and innovate in the next generation of MBP to shave some weight and make it a bit thinner (even if it requires removing the optical drive)

Another reason is the screen.
Going from a 133 ppi to a 113 ppi screen makes a lot of difference. My MBP screen feels "pixelated" compared to the pixel dense 11.6. Another thing that i noticed was that the 16:9 screen works much better for what i do than a 16:10.
Having another 86 vertical pixels does add to the experience. It made it easier for me to write a thesis on word while doing research on safari side by side. I wish Apple moves to 1600:900 in the next gen MBP.

The MBA performed the same if not faster in the tasks i do everyday. Opening applications was snappier and the system felt snappier overall.

I think Apple takes some cues from the MBA in the next revision of the MBP.

 

[aimbdd]

No. I don't want a lighter less capable mbp.. things don't always need to be lighter. That is what the air is for. the screen i am sure we will see though. Also prob see ssd for startup disk.

 

[fabian9]

I have no doubt that Apple is going to re-use technology developed for the Air on the next MB and MBP generations. I don't think they'll scrap the optical drive anytime soon though on the MBP, too many people are still using them.

I'm fairly sure we'll see the flash memory modules in MBPs soon though!

 

[Stetrain]

What I would like to see is maybe a slightly thinner, slightly lighter (of course, it's Apple ) 13" MBP with the same screen as the 13" Air (no-glass option would be nice like on the 15").

Instead of an optical drive, put in a real processor and real GPU, an i5 + Geforce 400M or something (whatever the bigger MBPs go to at the time).

Then the Pro would have a clear step up over the Air. Right now, they're almost neck and neck in performance, with the SSD Airs beating the traditional HD MBP in a lot of real-world usage.

The Pro would have more battery life, a big step up in processor, a real dedicated GPU, firewire, and ethernet to differentiate it from the Air.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Having another 86 vertical pixels does add to the experience.

Except of course that the Macbook air has less vertical pixels than the Macbook Pro. Its horizontal pixels where the Macbook Air has 86 more.

 

[AAPLGeek]

What I would like to see is maybe a slightly thinner, slightly lighter (of course, it's Apple ) 13" MBP with the same screen as the 13" Air (no-glass option would be nice like on the 15").

Instead of an optical drive, put in a real processor and real GPU, an i5 + Geforce 400M or something (whatever the bigger MBPs go to at the time).

Then the Pro would have a clear step up over the Air. Right now, they're almost neck and neck in performance, with the SSD Airs beating the traditional HD MBP in a lot of real-world usage.

The Pro would have more battery life, a big step up in processor, a real dedicated GPU, firewire, and ethernet to differentiate it from the Air.

All that is great but i seriously doubt Apple is going to go that way without bumping the price on the base 13" MBP.

Of course i'd be ecstatic in case the price remains the same.

 

[George Knighton]

No. I don't want a lighter less capable mbp.. things don't always need to be lighter.

They could make the next generation MBP lighter without making it less capable. If you still want a 15" or bigger screen, you'd still be able to do it.

But having the memory chips on the mainboard forming the hard drive will make the MBP smaller and lighter without compromising your performance in any way.

The only real compromise is that you wouldn't be able to upgrade the hard drive, and we'd all have to decide if we really want to be limited to, say 128 GB or at the most 240 GB, because anything more would be very expensive. At least, it'd be very expensive at today's chip prices.

 

[Demosthenes X]

They could make the next generation MBP lighter without making it less capable. If you still want a 15" or bigger screen, you'd still be able to do it.

But having the memory chips on the mainboard forming the hard drive will make the MBP smaller and lighter without compromising your performance in any way.

The only real compromise is that you wouldn't be able to upgrade the hard drive, and we'd all have to decide if we really want to be limited to, say 128 GB or at the most 240 GB, because anything more would be very expensive. At least, it'd be very expensive at today's chip prices.

Apple's not going to ditch traditional HDDs in the MBP until flash prices come down a whole bunch. 128GB and 256GB might be OK in an ultraportable, but I think they'd have trouble selling MBPs with those configurations.

I'd love to see flash memory for the boot drive + a traditional HDD for storage, though. There's room for that and a better processor and GPU if they ditch the optical drive...

 

[tigress666]

The only real compromise is that you wouldn't be able to upgrade the hard drive, and we'd all have to decide if we really want to be limited to, say 128 GB or at the most 240 GB, because anything more would be very expensive. At least, it'd be very expensive at today's chip prices.

You do realize that is a *huge* compromise. I don't even do video editing or anything else people consider all that hard drive space needing on my computer and I think eventually I'm going to want more than 240GB that my computer comes with. I wouldn't even consider less than that period (it's why even though now I have been convinced an SSD would be a worthwhile upgrade I'm not planning on it anytime soon cause I can't afford any that are even that much in capacity).

It's fine for the air that is made for people who do want ultra portability and are willing to make the compromises for that. But the MBP's are supposed to be fully capable laptops, and to be constrained to that little, especially without really being able to upgrade it, is a big flaw for the purposes they are sold for.

 

[Rob.G]

I love the 11.6" MBA, but need more than 128 gig of space. I wish they had offered the 256 gig option.

I read on Engadget that some company is going to release a 256 gig upgrade for it, along with a "usb enclosure" to stick the 128 gig stick in. That'll be cool once it comes out. I just hope it's not terribly expensive.

It'd also be nice to get 8 gig in the MBA, but I know they only have so much space. Might happen by the NEXT MBA update.

Rob

 

[macnerd123]

Can you post the specs of the 13 inch pro and 11 inch air to compare?

 

[onlnagent]

But having the memory chips on the mainboard forming the hard drive will make the MBP smaller and lighter without compromising your performance in any way.

The only real compromise is that you wouldn't be able to upgrade the hard drive, and we'd all have to decide if we really want to be limited to, say 128 GB or at the most 240 GB, because anything more would be very expensive. At least, it'd be very expensive at today's chip prices.

The MacBook Air flash storage is infact upgradeable. This was on the MacRumors front page. I would expect the cost to be at or above that of SSD.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1038688/

 

[tekjunke]

No. I don't want a lighter less capable mbp.. things don't always need to be lighter. That is what the air is for. the screen i am sure we will see though. Also prob see ssd for startup disk.

I agree with you 1,000,000%

I cant stand the thought of carrying around an optical drive. It completely defeats the purpose of making a laptop ridiculously small. <insert gross generalization> I think most people that say "get rid of the optical" dont actually USE their MB/MBP for ACTUAL work.

Buy an iPad to surf the web and get your email if your want something small

Leave the MBP functionality ALONE!

/end rant

 

[Wattser93]

OK recently my girlfriend got a 11.6" MBA and i got a chance to use it for about a week. I was a very happy owner of a 13" MBP till the day i started using the Air. Now i cant go back to the 13".

The main reason is the size/weight.
I thought my 13" was very portable but it feels like a giant compared to the tiny Air. I think Apple should work really hard and innovate in the next generation of MBP to shave some weight and make it a bit thinner (even if it requires removing the optical drive)

Another reason is the screen.
Going from a 133 ppi to a 113 ppi screen makes a lot of difference. My MBP screen feels "pixelated" compared to the pixel dense 11.6. Another thing that i noticed was that the 16:9 screen works much better for what i do than a 16:10.
Having another 86 vertical pixels does add to the experience. It made it easier for me to write a thesis on word while doing research on safari side by side. I wish Apple moves to 1600:900 in the next gen MBP.

The MBA performed the same if not faster in the tasks i do everyday. Opening applications was snappier and the system felt snappier overall.

I think Apple takes some cues from the MBA in the next revision of the MBP.

Toss your MBP 13" on eBay and buy an Air if that's what makes you happy.
If you think a 13" MBP is heavy and cumbersome, it might be time to hit the gym.

 

[ermir4444]

Toss your MBP 13" on eBay and buy an Air if that's what makes you happy.
If you think a 13" MBP is heavy and cumbersome, it might be time to hit the gym.

Lol funny. I am actually pretty young and fit. The idea is that most people who bought a 13" MBP used it more for day to day tasks and school work rather than photo or video editing. Most of the students in my university use a 13" MBP. I have rarely seen anyone use a 15 ( I think once) and defenetly noone using a 17". I think the new 11" is more than capable of doing what a 13" MBP can do at even faster speeds (flash storage) and in a much more smaller and lighter package.

 

[Tshapi]

Apple probably is going to shift completely to flash. hence the tagline for the MBA stating the future of the macbook. apple has been stressing the following:

Apple noted in several locations within the report pertaining to risk factors that could impact the company's performance going forward that it expects lower gross margins in the future due to increasing sales of new products with higher production costs.

https://www.macrumors.com/2010/10/2...ad-budget-increase-lower-gross-margins-ahead/

 

[Wattser93]

Lol funny. I am actually pretty young and fit. The idea is that most people who bought a 13" MBP used it more for day to day tasks and school work rather than photo or video editing. Most of the students in my university use a 13" MBP. I have rarely seen anyone use a 15 ( I think once) and defenetly noone using a 17". I think the new 11" is more than capable of doing what a 13" MBP can do at even faster speeds (flash storage) and in a much more smaller and lighter package.

And I'll gladly buy 8gbs of RAM and an SSD, and have a more capable, faster, better machine, for close to the same price as a maxed out 13" or 11". For the price, you're paying for the form factor. You loose the optical drive, various ports, and expandability. Not a good trade off in my opinion. I'd rather have a machine that be expanded as the future comes along, and then transfer that RAM and SSD to my new machine, than be tied to parts that are soldered to the motherboard.

 

[aimbdd]

Lol funny. I am actually pretty young and fit. The idea is that most people who bought a 13" MBP used it more for day to day tasks and school work rather than photo or video editing. Most of the students in my university use a 13" MBP. I have rarely seen anyone use a 15 ( I think once) and defenetly noone using a 17". I think the new 11" is more than capable of doing what a 13" MBP can do at even faster speeds (flash storage) and in a much more smaller and lighter package.

Thats odd. I saw a lot of 15" and few 17" and 13" but then... i guess thats an art school for you..
I agree though.

 

[tigress666]

The MacBook Air flash storage is infact upgradeable. This was on the MacRumors front page. I would expect the cost to be at or above that of SSD.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1038688/

Ooh, you can upgrade it to a whole 256 GB. And you're stuck with very few options to do so.

Hrm... for cheaper I can upgrade my 13" MBP to 500 GB (and it already has 256 GB).

Oh, and mine already came with 4GB of RAM, standard. And if I need more I can upgrade it to 8GB, and easily too. Shoot, I think if I really wanted to I could remove the DVD drive and install something there (anywyas I'm pretty sure I've read of people doing custom mods to do that). Not that I want, I actually like having a DVD drive, it's worth the little extra weight/thickness in my opinion.

Not to mention having three input/output ports (two USB and a firewire, and yes, I do use all three. Firewire = external backup hard drive, one USB = external keyboard as I do use my laptop as a desktop when I am home, one USB for iphone/ipod). I could do with two if I had to but unless there was a really good advantage to having to compromise like htat, I wouldn't.

Point is there is far more upgradeability in my MBP. I like the MBA's, don't get me wrong. I don't think they are the product for me. ANd that is the point... the MBPs do serve a market the MBAs don't. I don't think it's redundant to have both. And honestly, I think if I were considering 13" computers, I would easily pick the MBP with its advantages and cheaper price over the 13" MBA which I honestly don't see as having enough advantages to make up for being more expensive (now the 11" I think does have enough of a difference that depending on what you need I could see picking it over the 13" MBP).

 

[onlnagent]

Tigress666, I was just pointing out that the buyer is not locked into a set amount of the flash memory and that this is in fact upgradeable. The 11 inch to me is a Netbook but much better than the pc equivalent as both have made sacrifices to fit in their small form factor.

As for a laptop I personally would not go with a MacBook Air. I got a 15 inch i7 2.8 which I did upgrade to 8 GB. I need the best video processing available in the MacBook Pro line of portable computers.

 

[jamesryanbell]

My pixelation problem went away when I got my 27" ACD for my late '08 MBP.

 

[tigress666]

Tigress666, I was just pointing out that the buyer is not locked into a set amount of the flash memory and that this is in fact upgradeable. The 11 inch to me is a Netbook but much better than the pc equivalent as both have made sacrifices to fit in their small form factor.

As for a laptop I personally would not go with a MacBook Air. I got a 15 inch i7 2.8 which I did upgrade to 8 GB. I need the best video processing available in the MacBook Pro line of portable computers.

Ah.

I have to say I think the MBA is great and pretty impressive and I love the MBA 11". But I don't need two laptops (nor have hte money for that) and since I use my laptop as a desktop as well, the MBP much more fits my needs (and it's portable enough). And honestly, I'd hate to have to choose between an MBA 11" or even a MBA 13" and a MBP 15" if I wanted the stuff the MBA didn't offer (because honestly, I don't want a computer as big as the 15" but I want more functionality/upgradeability than the MBA 13". Which is why I love my MBP 13" ).