Capacity of MBA

[425]

I am a high school student in search of my first computer of my own. I use both Windows and Mac at my mom's and dad's houses, but I would like my notebook to be a Mac (or else I wouldn't be here).

This computer needs to be the lowest price, so I'm look at the $999 MacBooks.

I am attracted to the MacBook Air 11-inch because of its size, and of the fact that I won't be disappointed by a new model coming out soon.

My only issue is this: I tend to tax computers heavily. My dad's poor Windows XP machine will probably never be the same.

I make machinima, which is movies where the animation is done using video games. For the past 5 months, I have been using my dad's XP machine and Video Capturing into Windows Movie Maker, which is not much, but gets the job done. I also have Pinnacle Studio for Windows.

With any Mac I buy, a purchase of Paralells will of course be in order.

The things I need my Mac to do efficiently:
1. Run Paralells or VMWare with at least fair speed.
2. Be able to capture video and do a low to moderate capacity of video editing within Paralells.
3. Be able to use MS Office and iWeb
4. Run a moderate to high amount of programs at once.
5. Be able to manipulate files from an SD card in my virtual machine. A good question from this is: I am aware that the 11-inch Air has no SD slot. Would it be possible to buy an adaptor for SD to USB and be able to manipulate files from SD on at least my virtual desktop if not my Mac?
6. I also need to run small homebrew programs for Windows, but that won't be an issue, I trust.

Storage is not a problem since I throw most of my clips out after making them, and I also have a 5 GB family iDisk on MobileMe.

My main concern is that my normal usage will tax a MacBook Air. If so, I might get a basic MacBook (I know it has a larger screen, but I really don't care about screen size), or the dreaded PC.

 

[InsanelyApple]

I say you get the 13" MacBook. The entry-model of MacBook Air would have to small of storage for your needs. Plus for movie editing the bigger the screen the better.

 

[iSpoody 1243]

if your actually gonna push the computer get a mb or 13mbp. faster, bigger hard drive better value for money

 

[425]

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I won't be able to afford the MBP, but how do you think performance will compare on the 13 MB vs. the 11 MBA.

I don't really care about hard drive, I don't really cling to things, I operate fine on a 64 GB family PC, so the 11 MBA has the same memory. I only really care about how well the machine can handle the tasks I want to use it for without significant slowdown or crashing (I would rather get the MBA, but if people honestly think it can't handle what I want to do, then I wouldn't turn down the MB)

 

[coochiekuta]

check this out

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0334909

its the 13" mbp for a good price. downside is instore only pickup. if you dont have a micro center near you, try to see if bestbuy or some other dealer will price match.

 

[425]

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That is a good price, and I appreciate the find, but there is no Micro Center near me, and BestBuy's website says they won't price match competitors, and BestBuy is (as far as I know) the only electronics chain in my area.

 

[coochiekuta]

they should price match with any store that has an actual "physical" store. most companies wont price match online stores but will match stores with online components, such as walmart online or bestbuy online.

it wouldnt hurt to try.

anyway, to answer your question, the mb will be better for you than the mba. namely because you can expand it down the road. the processor on the mba is quick but not as quick as what the mb will give you for your editing.

 

[425]

One further question for anyone who wants to answer:

Would it be easier for a Mac to handle if I were to use Boot Camp instead of Paralells/VMWare? I won't ever really need to used MSW7 and OS X at the same time.

 

[coochiekuta]

One further question for anyone who wants to answer:

Would it be easier for a Mac to handle if I were to use Boot Camp instead of Paralells/VMWare? I won't ever really need to used MSW7 and OS X at the same time.

running any program outside of a vm is always more beneficial, including OSes. so yes, running windows in bootcamp is better and it also gives windows full access to full system resources. for all intents and purposes it is a windows machine.

 

[425]

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This may make me seem very argumentative, but how well would an Air perform with mild to moderate video editing in Windows opened straight put of Boot Camp?

 

[coochiekuta]

it ought to work fine. i hear good things about its processor, altho its not clocked very high it does have a huge cache making it snappier than you think.

infact its the size of its cache and ssd combine that make the mba an effective rival to the mb performance wise. it beats it in some things, it gets beat in others. very small margins. you wont be disappoint in performance of neither. might wish you had the expandability but you wont miss any performance.

 

[InsanelyApple]

Though if you want to Dual-Boot Windows that will take a fair amount of space of the already limited 64GB hard drive. Unless you are planning to also purchase an external hard drive, I suggest the MacBook Plastic (AKA Regular MacBook).

 

[425]

Okay, thanks to everyone for your help!

I'll take all of the information you have given me into account and make a decision based off of it, I really want the Air, but I'll take capacity into accound and maybe go with the MB.

 

[Eclipse278]

if price is your biggest concern you could look for an older, used computer on ebay or craigslist or the like. Something like a unibody macbook or the first macbook pro would work well for you and those are getting pretty cheap these days.

 

[425]

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You know, today I was thinking about that, I think I might go 2007/2008 MBP.