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Do you have any regrets?

lowendlinux

lowendlinux

macrumors 603
Original poster
Sep 24, 2014
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6,842
Germany
I've not been a mac owner since the PowerPC to Intel switch. I just stole a Mac Pro on ebay that will replace my Linux/hackintosh Z600 and since I'm kind of an all in guy I'm pondering replacing my Latitude with a MBA. Those that are out of the honeymoon phase is there anything you regret about your MBA purchase? If so what?
 
For me, storage is the first shortage. 128 is way too small for day to day use, even without loading a super large iTunes library (300GB+, and it will only increase, maybe over 1TB).

Second is the performance. Air performance is decent, but sometimes not so enough. I mean, if possible, I would trade my current air for a Pro.

Battery life should be fine, but not so awesome, to be honest.
 
lowendlinux said:
I've not been a mac owner since the PowerPC to Intel switch. I just stole a Mac Pro on ebay that will replace my Linux/hackintosh Z600 and since I'm kind of an all in guy I'm pondering replacing my Latitude with a MBA. Those that are out of the honeymoon phase is there anything you regret about your MBA purchase? If so what?
Click to expand...

I bought the first 11" MBA the day it became available at the Apple Store back in 2010 and haven't looked back since. Last year I upgraded to the 2014 model (bought a new one, sold the old one) for only a few hundred dollars.

I would not consider buying any other laptop. The size and weight are excellent. Keyboard and trackpad are excellent. Aluminum unibody build is excellent. The 2014 model has excellent performance and battery life. It's extremely quiet. The screen is not the best but it's not bad--if you look at it straight on, nothing is washed out, as it is sometimes with TN panels.

EDIT: I would not get a 13" MBA. I don't like that form factor and it's significantly heavier. I would probably sooner get a rMBP if I wanted a bigger screen.
 
Shirasaki said:
For me, storage is the first shortage. 128 is way too small for day to day use, even without loading a super large iTunes library (300GB+, and it will only increase, maybe over 1TB).

Second is the performance. Air performance is decent, but sometimes not so enough. I mean, if possible, I would trade my current air for a Pro.

Battery life should be fine, but not so awesome, to be honest.
Click to expand...

The rMBP is not significantly faster than the MBA.

I don't know what you expect from a laptop battery... the MBA has the best battery life of (almost?) any laptop, as measured by all the professional review sites. So if you aren't happy with it, I don't know what you would be happy with.
 
Am still completely satisfied with my 2013 11" i7/8gb/512gb MBA. No plans to upgrade for the next couple years, it does all I need including applications like Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro and I love the size/weight for travel.
 
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the biggest regret is not getting the Macbook Air 11".
Instead I went for the Macbook Air 13", 2 and a half years later, I wish I had gotten the 11"
 
Should have finished high school, should have took that entry level security position, should have not married my ex-wife, should have left society by now and lived in the forests.

Oh, not that kind of thread?

I owned an 11'' MacBook Air for a small amount of time, but enough time in order to form an opinion on it. I was glad that I went with the 11'' - as the 13'' seems somewhat redundant when compared to the already portable rMBP. However, the screen resolution was just too low for what it was. I have a 2010 13'' MacBook Pro that had a 1280x800 resolution, so I was used to it, but it just wasn't a great experience to have such a low resolution on such a small screen. If I were to move up to the 13'' Air, at that point I would just go for a Pro. I'm not saying that there are absolutely no differences between the 13'' Air and 13'' rMBP/MBP, but I'm sort of an all or nothing kind of person and in my opinion it's the 11'' or nothing, otherwise its niche almost wears off.

It is usable, but the resolution of the small screen kind of cripples it in a way. It's a wonderful laptop but just something to be aware of if you want to get the 11''. If it were to be updated with at least FHD, it would become much more of a versatile machine.

If you are used to what a Latitude provides (business/"pro" grade) then you may want to go with a MacBook Pro.
 
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Very happy with the 11" Air (i5 1.4GHz). I bought it because I gave my wife my 13" Air when her white MacBook died, and prefer mine for it's portability.
I have no problems with the screen size despite my poor eyesight; in fact when I pick up the 13" for maintenance etc. I find it rather cumbersome by comparison.

Cheers :)

Hugh
 
2013 13" MBA is working great for school.

A little underpowered tho but I guess that's the trade off.
 
Dark Void said:
... I owned an 11'' MacBook Air for a small amount of time, but enough time in order to form an opinion on it. I was glad that I went with the 11'' - as the 13'' seems somewhat redundant when compared to the already portable rMBP. However, the screen resolution was just too low for what it was. I have a 2010 13'' MacBook Pro that had a 1280x800 resolution, so I was used to it, but it just wasn't a great experience to have such a low resolution on such a small screen. ...
Click to expand...

The 11" resolution is 1366x768, so it's within 3% of the screen real estate of your old MacBook Pro.

The only difference is that it's wider vs. taller.

If you leave the dock at the bottom on the Pro and put the dock at the side on the Air, then they essentially have the same resolution.
 
motrek said:
The 11" resolution is 1366x768, so it's within 3% of the screen real estate of your old MacBook Pro.

The only difference is that it's wider vs. taller.

If you leave the dock at the bottom on the Pro and put the dock at the side on the Air, then they essentially have the same resolution.
Click to expand...

I wasn't suggesting that I was happy with the resolution of the 13'' Pro or that it was better. I dealt with it because in 2010 when it was purchased there wasn't much more to be had out of Apple laptops. I only brought it up to explain that even though I was used to lower resolutions, the regular HD resolution on an 11'' screen is somewhat poor, but usable.
 
My only regret is not getting the 11 Air sooner! I'm in the process of selling my 13 rMBP as the Air is just as powerful for my needs and is a LOT more portable, especially weight wise.
 
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Still in love with my 11" Air. Size wise (almost) an iPad but a proper PC.
Only regret: the missing SD card reader, always have to find an external card reader or USB cable when I want to download pictures from my camera.
 
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Shirasaki said:
For me, storage is the first shortage. 128 is way too small for day to day use, even without loading a super large iTunes library (300GB+, and it will only increase, maybe over 1TB).
Click to expand...

I wish Apple had a solution for large iTunes that worked well. My is over spanned over 2 4 TB drives and I wish I had a cloud option. I know that Apple allows you to cloud some stuff but they have a nasty habit of just deleting movies and TV shows randomly and audio books can not be downloaded again.
 
My 13" mid-2011 i7/256/4 is still awesome. I can't find a good reason to upgrade yet. 13" screen size is perfect for me, but that's pretty subjective. The SD card reader only comes on the 13". Looking at the current laptop lineup, the missing retina display is something to consider. I wish the Air had an HDMI port (you can use the TB to HDMI adapter) and I wish the headphone jack did both digital and analog sound like the MBPs.
 
MarvinHC said:
Still in love with my 11" Air. Size wise (almost) an iPad but a proper PC.
Only regret: the missing SD card reader, always have to find an external card reader or USB cable when I want to download pictures from my camera.
Click to expand...
I've owned my 2014 11" MBA for a little over a year now. Still absolutely love it. Although not a "regret", I agree with your lamenting the fact that there's no SD Card slot. I bought a flush-fitting microSD card adapter for my daughter's MBA 13" and I'd love to have that for my 11.

In the end, I bought a 64GB Sandisk Nano Cruzer thumb drive that I leave permanently installed on my MBA. It is the lowest profile reliable USB drive.

edit: Another thing that I appreciate is the speed in which Windows apps running under WINEskin Winery perform.
 
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lowendlinux said:
I was thinking 13" 1.6 256 I don't need processing power I just want a portable computer
Click to expand...

Too bad if you don't need processing power because the 2015 MBA will turbo up to 2.7GHz. I don't think Intel even sells a processor that's faster than 4GHz.
 
Go for the 11'' Air if your main concern is portability. The 13'' Air is thinner and lighter than the Pro of course, but it's the same size footprint. Footprint is a large part of portability and if it truly is your main concern then I'd go with the 11''. The 13'' Air is a nice machine but any time it is sitting on a surface it's redundant compared to the 13'' rMBP with an equivalent footprint, apart from maybe an hour of battery life in its favor.
 
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motrek said:
Too bad if you don't need processing power because the 2015 MBA will turbo up to 2.7GHz. I don't think Intel even sells a processor that's faster than 4GHz.
Click to expand...

You know, just today, I was second-guessing myself about having gotten the i7 over the i5. Not enough to return anything, but just considering the cost savings.
 
Work is giving me a new 13" MBA....giving mt Surface Pro 3 to my son for school.

Since 99% of my day is email, web, iTunes and MS Office, I'm thinking I will be fine.
 
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