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Convince me to get a base 11" MBA! :D

S

SwedishBassist

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 21, 2011
62
0
Stockholm, Sweden
So I have almost (therefor this thread) decided to get a base 11". My laptop is broken, and I really don't wanna buy another PC.

I need it sooner than later as I do a LOT of studying with computer for law school (Stockholm).

It will be mostly basic chat/surf/mail/YT/word processing and music streaming through AirTunes I'll be doing.

I do quite a bit of surfing with the comp on my lap, I really want an UL laptop like the Air.

What is making me hesitate is mostly that I might wanna get an MBP when the new rev is out, but I guess the resale value is good on Macs?

Any tips welcome!
 
I couldn't recommend anyone get a machine with 2gb ram, no matter how light of usage you have. For future resale value alone it is worth going for the base + 4gb ram upgrade.
 
SwedishBassist said:
So I have almost (therefor this thread) decided to get a base 11". My laptop is broken, and I really don't wanna buy another PC.

I need it sooner than later as I do a LOT of studying with computer for law school (Stockholm).

It will be mostly basic chat/surf/mail/YT/word processing and music streaming through AirTunes I'll be doing.

I do quite a bit of surfing with the comp on my lap, I really want an UL laptop like the Air.

What is making me hesitate is mostly that I might wanna get an MBP when the new rev is out, but I guess the resale value is good on Macs?

Any tips welcome!
Click to expand...
I was going to get the base 11" but when I realized that I have thumb drives with the same 64GB I opted for the 128 LOL...(got the 4 GB upgrade and the 1.6GHz as well...I figured I'd get as much out of this little guy as I could as I want to hold on to it for a couple of years before I hand it down to my daughter...(she gets all my hand-me-downs LOL)
 
I have the base 11" Air with just 2GB of ram. If you're surfing, writing in Word, playing music, etc, the 2GB is more than enough.

My Air is a travel laptop and couch surfing gadget, but it feels much faster than my 2.4 Ghz MacBook Pro with 4GB of Ram (which I essentially do the same thing on, albeit more work). I'm guessing the flash storage is the reason for the faster response with the slower processor and lower RAM.
 
I just received my base 11.6" MBA in the mail and have been using it for about an hour. Though I don't have tons of usage clocked on this thing already, I can tell you that you will NOT regret getting it.

One of the main reasons I got the base was this:

If you are worried about the 64 GB SSD, don't be. Paying the extra cash for the 128 GB SSD would definitely give you more space. But let's be realistic, even then you're probably going to want an external hard drive anyway for storage. I got myself an iomega Helium external hard drive that matches the MBA and compliments the design wonderfully. The 64 GB is more than enough for the files that I'll need on a day-to-day basis.

And as for the 2 GB RAM, I can't see why anyone would need 4 GB unless they are into hardcore gaming or very intensive programs of that sort. Even with the 2 GB, this thing is blazing fast!

Get the base model. You know you want to. :D
 
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I have a base model 11" except the 128 GB hard drive. I prefer to have all of my music and photos with me on the computer, and these take up a decent chunk of space. I haven't ran into any issues with the 2GB of ram or the 1.4 GHz processor, and based on your needs doubt you'll have issues.

Compared to a PC, I can't recommend the base 11" more!
 
Go for it!

I have the base 11.6 Air, and I have absolutely no regrets. I am not disappointed in anything. 64gb ssd and 2gb RAM is plenty for me, as I do not do anything truly hardcore on it...although, I do run Fireworks CS5, GIMP, text editors etc. for my web design business, and have never had any lag or performance hit in any of these applications.

Now, I do have all my music on a different computer (and my iPad, which I have with me constantly) so that's the reason the 64gb works for me. On that score, your mileage may vary.
 
hummmm....

SwedishBassist said:
So I have almost (therefor this thread) decided to get a base 11". My laptop is broken, and I really don't wanna buy another PC.

I need it sooner than later as I do a LOT of studying with computer for law school (Stockholm).

It will be mostly basic chat/surf/mail/YT/word processing and music streaming through AirTunes I'll be doing.

I do quite a bit of surfing with the comp on my lap, I really want an UL laptop like the Air.

What is making me hesitate is mostly that I might wanna get an MBP when the new rev is out, but I guess the resale value is good on Macs?

Any tips welcome!
Click to expand...

I have an ultimate MBA 11". I love the portability of the machine and the overall performance. Great choice.

But I also have an older MBP 15".... so if you plan to do a lot of word processing for your homeworks I will think twice if geting the 11" or the 13"...

For my needs (traveling) the MBA 11" is just PERFECT... but for intensive home work (word, excell and intensive docment reading) I think that the 13" screen is more appropriate.
 
MarximusMG said:
One of the main reasons I got the base was this:

If you are worried about the 64 GB SSD, don't be. Paying the extra cash for the 128 GB SSD would definitely give you more space. But let's be realistic, even then you're probably going to want an external hard drive anyway for storage. I got myself an iomega Helium external hard drive that matches the MBA and compliments the design wonderfully. The 64 GB is more than enough for the files that I'll need on a day-to-day basis.

And as for the 2 GB RAM, I can't see why anyone would need 4 GB unless they are into hardcore gaming or very intensive programs of that sort. Even with the 2 GB, this thing is blazing fast!

Get the base model. You know you want to. :D
Click to expand...

I got the base model too, for pretty much the same reasons.
128gb isn't going to be enough anyway, so you are going to be needing an external. Just put your day to day stuff on the internal hard drive, and plug in an external when you need it. I haven't noticed any slowdowns due to the 2gb ram, but I'm not running 3 virtual machines or anything like that. 95% of my usage is internet surfing and mail; and the base 11" excels at it. Save the extra 200 dollars or whatever and put it towards and upgrade in 2-3 years.
 
SwedishBassist said:
So I have almost (therefor this thread) decided to get a base 11". My laptop is broken, and I really don't wanna buy another PC.

I need it sooner than later as I do a LOT of studying with computer for law school (Stockholm).

It will be mostly basic chat/surf/mail/YT/word processing and music streaming through AirTunes I'll be doing.

I do quite a bit of surfing with the comp on my lap, I really want an UL laptop like the Air.

What is making me hesitate is mostly that I might wanna get an MBP when the new rev is out, but I guess the resale value is good on Macs?

Any tips welcome!
Click to expand...

Get the 11.6 inch MacBook Air!

There you're convinced :apple:
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

It's a Mac (OS)
It's not very expensive
Recently updated
SSD
Feels very fast

Cons:
Weak processor ... That's about it
No backlit, maybe
 
I have a base level also, but if it were my only computer, I don't think I would have chosen it. I hardly consider any netbook a workhorse as a lone machine. Plus, if you're doing hours and hours of typing, then you might even find the keys too small. You could buy the netbook and return it within 30 days. I heard that Apple is not charging restocking fee.
 
I went to my local microcenter tonight to check out the 11.6" base model mba and while the screen was sweet (looked very vivid with no line issues like before or the glossy wasnt overly done like the 13" mbp), I couldnt help noticing that the 2GB RAM wasnt user upgradable to 4GB.

I know many people can get by with just 2GB but IMHO 4GB will easily be used up as well. In the long run you'll be really happy to get that extra 2GB especially when some of it is already being used up by the integrated nvidia 320m. If its anything like the 13" mbp, going from 2GB ---> 4GB is HUGE in overall performance/snappiness.

I really want a mba but at that price point I might just save up a bit more and just get a 15" mbp. But then again, I'd want the anti glare base model 15" mbp but it'll end up costing 2x more. Decisions, decisions!
 
If you are going to do a lot of heavy word processing, then I don't know if I can recommend 11" MBA...it does put a lot of strain on eyes....I would say go for 13" MBA.
 
MarximusMG said:
I just received my base 11.6" MBA in the mail and have been using it for about an hour. Though I don't have tons of usage clocked on this thing already, I can tell you that you will NOT regret getting it.

One of the main reasons I got the base was this:

If you are worried about the 64 GB SSD, don't be. Paying the extra cash for the 128 GB SSD would definitely give you more space. But let's be realistic, even then you're probably going to want an external hard drive anyway for storage. I got myself an iomega Helium external hard drive that matches the MBA and compliments the design wonderfully. The 64 GB is more than enough for the files that I'll need on a day-to-day basis.

And as for the 2 GB RAM, I can't see why anyone would need 4 GB unless they are into hardcore gaming or very intensive programs of that sort. Even with the 2 GB, this thing is blazing fast!

Get the base model. You know you want to. :D
Click to expand...

Lets be realistic and practical. Anyone buying an MBA isn't going to want to carry around an external HDD. You make it seem like the difference between 64 and 128 isn't much when in-fact it is a 100% increase in storage capacity which can easily be the difference between carrying an MBA, and carrying an MBA in addition to a HDD and having to hook it up every time you want information from it. As if that weren't inconvenient enough, if you use your laptop in cramped places like an airplane or a small classroom desk, having a HDD dangling from the side is pretty inconvenient.
 
Thanks for all the great advice, guys. I have been using OS X for 5 years in education, so I'm no stranger to Macs.

The problem with getting a RAM or storage upgrade is that the prices in Sweden are quite a bit higher than the US, a RAM or storage upgrade would mean a price increase of 20-40%.
 
Pay the extra $100 for the extra RAM with the 11.6 model. Either you like it or you don't like it.

It's an expensive but sexy little device. But plan on using it for 2 years max before you out grow it.
 
SwedishBassist said:
The thing is; $100 upgrade in the USA means a $300 upgrade in Sweden. I can't justify that with my current financial situation, being a student.
Click to expand...

Well then, enough said. Just go for the base 11" air. Many people are happy with it and I'm sure you would be too as it should do everything you need without problem.
 
Wait a few months for the new MBP. The air is a cool machine if this were 2009. For about the same price you will get more bang for your buck.
 
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