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Have you ever been using your MBA and thought, "I wish I had more power" (ie, MBP)

J

justaregularjoe

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 28, 2008
345
1
Trying to decide as are others I'm sure. MBA is lighter, thinner, and has a higher resolution display.

The MBP is heavier thicker, and doesn't have the better display (for reasons I can't fathom), but it does have far more power and the ability to hold two drives, an SSD for fast booting and an HDD for bulk data storage.
 
justaregularjoe said:
Trying to decide as are others I'm sure. MBA is lighter, thinner, and has a higher resolution display.

The MBP is heavier thicker, and doesn't have the better display (for reasons I can't fathom), but it does have far more power and the ability to hold two drives, an SSD for fast booting and an HDD for bulk data storage.
Click to expand...

:cool:

Yes.....the form factor of the air is amazing. I thought about buying the pro simply for the space. However, I bought this air 2 months ago......and if I'm going to ditch the air now, i might as well get the rmbp.

I have 59 gigs left on my air lol with only 4 albums in iTunes.....SAD
 
Yes sometimes I feel like I wish I had more power but not often enough to make me regret going with my 11" MBA ultimate. I wouldn't mind being able to play games on my laptop without the fans/heat going up.

I just upgraded from a late 2010 model to a mid 2012 model.
 
Only thing I'm ever left wanting is a better GPU. I still need a separate gaming machine. The MBA does everything else.
 
Yes, so I bought a MBP too :)

Right now I use a MBP and MBA

I have a 13" 2011 i5 MBP /w 16g RAM and 256g SSD and 640g HD as my main computer, but on the side of my desk I also have a 2010 MBA /w 4 g of ram.

I use the MBP primarily for work. I don't like to unplug the LAN,USB1&2,HDMI,Power every time I have to fly or need portability, or just to kick back and watch a movie on the couch, for that I use my MBA.

Also, the MBA is a great device to use simultaneously for something like Netflix or to run in Windows 7 / play games.

Both are networked to share drives, but the work files are on my Dropbox so I can pickup the Macbook Air and resume working on Quickbooks or emails when I'm on the road.

If I had to chose today, I would go with the new 2012 MBA's that have upgradable ram and HD? if that's the case I would go with the NEW 2012 i7 MBA /w 8G of ram and upgrade the SSD if possible.

I always use an external monitor if I'm at work or home so I just get the smallest screen possible for portability.
 
I had a 2011 MBA 13 and liked it but I realized I don't use it outside much so light & small factor did not really matter. I got a 2012 MBP with 8GB memory and am very happy with it.

Guess it all depends on your NEEDS & WANTS!
 
There is not much difference in computing power between a MBA and a 13" MBP. You really have to go to a 15" MBP to get better CPU and GPU and even then the air has a snappier feel unless you include an SSD in the MBP.

The further you go back in the AIR evolution the less true that becomes though. The original Airs were pretty pokey with slow ulv processors, meager memory and horrid 1.8" HDs. They got a bit more processing power and small SDDs. Then they got pretty decent processors, more memory and pretty fast SSDs. Now they are at mainstream processors, mainstream memory capacity, really fast SSDs of mainstream capacity.

I'd take my MBA over a 13" Pro any day. But it's not an option for real power users that need a quad core CPU or fast graphics, or large ram and or storage capacity. For that you need a 15" PRO
 
I just brought the latest MBA 13" 8gb ram 128SSD.. Undoubtedly it is my most satisfactory purchase on a laptop ever. Powerful yet portable, almost the same weight as my iPad.
 
The limitation of MBA is the flash drive. Mine has 256 GB, which is fine, except I'll need external storage for my digital photo library... which I should have anyway.

But the flash drive is excellent. Close the lid and it instantly sleeps, staying that way for hours and hours, and it resumes in seconds when you need it again.

The summary is that MBA has plenty of performance for demanding productivity tasks, although it's light on storage capacity. Maybe if you are a heavy duty user of photo or video editing, you'll want more speed. The MBP's are generally faster, although their disc-based storage is slower.
 
with the old 2010 air, i wished i have more power, so i decided to check the mbp in the store, the weight and the thickness of mbp that made me stick with my 2010" air, because if i buy that, take it home, have more power, then i will wish it was thinner and sexier.

now with the 2012 air, it's not an issue anymore. the 2012 air is fast enough to be a primary machine. there never be the time that i will buy a mbp anymore.
 
not really, but in those rare cases that i do i have my iMac for that. which is also why i got the base 11" air. its a secondary computer for me and i just need it for on the go and so it doesn't have to be super powerful for my uses.
 
jimboutilier said:
There is not much difference in computing power between a MBA and a 13" MBP. You really have to go to a 15" MBP to get better CPU and GPU and even then the air has a snappier feel unless you include an SSD in the MBP.

The further you go back in the AIR evolution the less true that becomes though. The original Airs were pretty pokey with slow ulv processors, meager memory and horrid 1.8" HDs. They got a bit more processing power and small SDDs. Then they got pretty decent processors, more memory and pretty fast SSDs. Now they are at mainstream processors, mainstream memory capacity, really fast SSDs of mainstream capacity.

I'd take my MBA over a 13" Pro any day. But it's not an option for real power users that need a quad core CPU or fast graphics, or large ram and or storage capacity. For that you need a 15" PRO
Click to expand...

This. Both use dual core processors. If you feel like the air is not giving you enough power, upgrading to a higher ghz dual core pro won't make a difference. You would need the qaud core 15"
 
I'm still running a C2D 2010 13" MBA and never really wished I had more power, (don't really do anything intensive on it) but more space would be nice.
 
fckualsukrs said:
I just brought the latest MBA 13" 8gb ram 128SSD.. Undoubtedly it is my most satisfactory purchase on a laptop ever. Powerful yet portable, almost the same weight as my iPad.
Click to expand...

I agree.

My current HP laptop works, but it's old and slow. I needed something new. I like my Iphone, so I wanted to go with Apple. I thought about getting an Ipad and just keeping my old laptop, but after test driving the Air a few times (well, more than a few times...lol) I knew it was the one to buy. As nice as the Ipad is, it's just not like having a real computer. The Air's thin, light, fast, powerful and it has that smooth Apple track pad. It's more expensive than an Ipad, of course, but worth the money.
 
No. My MBA has always performed fantastically well. Most people dont realize that the MBA 13" is only 15% less powerful than the MBP 13", so hardly any big difference.
 
Nope. I bought the Air to be a portable computer for work & school in conjunction with my Windows PC at home. My previous laptop was a Latitude E6400 from Dell's business line. I loved it (my favorite laptop keyboard) and upgraded it to 4GB RAM with a SSD to HDD in the optical drive, but it's now 4 years old with a waning battery and it's 4.5 pounds. Can't stand the weight.

Bring an external HDD if storage is a problem.
 
I sometimes wish the speakers had more power - or at least were a bit more impressive, they sound comparable to my iPhone on loudspeaker.

I know this is a drawback of the thin form factor but i do miss the quality of sound i got from my 15" MBP. Love everything else though.
 
never had a second thought of getting a MBP, unless it is a 15" retina :D
i have late air 11.
 
nope I have a sony vaio (6gb ddr2 ram, 2.1 duo core centerino intel, ati radeon 4650 and 500gb HD) and it has a gpu in it, it can play games ok but surprisingly my macbook air 2012 basic 13, scored 3x higher in geekbench. I always thought the air's sucked but with the 2012 model they will be plenty powerful and maybe they will phase out the pro in a few years maybe 4.
 
Just got a 2012 mba.... i had the base($1199)...didnt like it had 100gigs, 4gigs of ram.. so i took it back and got the i7 and love it now....maxed out for later os's.
 
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