Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

how many would replace MBP with new MBA

  • no: MBP

    Votes: 154 60.2%
  • yes: MBA

    Votes: 69 27.0%
  • add: MBA to MBP set up

    Votes: 33 12.9%

  • Total voters
    256
I thought about switching but couldn't be without a 15" screen, 500gb HD and I'm not convinced it could run multiple Adobe software at the same time.
 
TUAW ran a poll best mac of the year. the macbook air won and beat the macbook pro by wide margins. the link is in a previous post. what do you think, if its that popular will macbook pro owners switch to the air when they are ready to upgrade? is the macbook air a replacement for the macbook (plastic) or the entire line of mac notebooks?
 
Had a 13" Air for a while. Then I jumped from 2010 13" Air to 2011 15" Pro. The performance difference was very noticeable for my workload.

In fact, even the 15" Pro is starting to feel a bit constrained. Sadly, there doesn't appear to be a lot faster alternative until Ivy Bridge.

With that said, I can't fathom going back to the Air now. Of all things, at least the fan on the Pro isn't as loud as the Air's while I'm doing my tasks.
 
i tried it with the 11" last week (i got a deal on amazon). the ssd was nice. the size was great. and, the mba is a pretty machine.

but, the mba lacks ram. it feels cheap (flimsy keys). the display is dull. the display has a bezel (i hate bezels).

i could put up with all the negative stuff except for the performance. it couldn't handle pdfs even remotely close to what the mbp does. too bad. maybe someday with the next upgrade.
Pretty much my thoughts as well, even with the aluminum build it just feels flimsy especially the keyboard which is odd for Apple. My gf's netbooks' keyboard feels more solid when typing. Plus my MPB has much better battery life looking at what others have reported for the MBA's, when I'm flying it's nice to be able to watch 2-3 movies. And the display isn't as sharp as the MPB 13, though next one I get will pry be the 15' Pro so I can have high-res antiglare, unless they magically offer it on the next 13" line which I hope.
 
As a few have mentioned already, if it was between the 13's, I'd go Air.

If I thought I might need some more space at any point; 15" (hi-res) or 17" Pro.

I went from an 11" and 13" Air to the 17" Anti Glare Pro. Couldn't be happier!
 
I would have but the edge to edge glass on the Pro has won me over. I love it, despite many here disliking it :).

My MacBook Pro comes with me everywhere just as much as someone would have their Air, but this is also my main computer, so I need a little bit more oomph than the Air would provide. I am not a "pro" by any means when it comes to pushing the limits of my Apple hardware, but I do have a business to run, so the 13" easy to carry form factor is perfect, and external monitor when I am home/office.
 
If they improved the screen quality on the Airs and expanded the ram to 8 GBs, I would seriously consider purchasing it as my next laptop.

Until then, I'm pretty happy with my MBP. If the next revisions of MBPs offer higher resolution for the 13 in and better battery life (mind you I'm on a '08 Alu MB, battery life is not one its stronger points), I think the decision to switch to Air would be a lot harder for me.
 
I don't think I could. I like the size of my 15" It is a mobile powerhouse and I haven't been happier with any other computer. I have the standard res display, and Im very happy with that, although on my next upgrade(2 years away minimum) I may go with hi res, although by that time it may be standard. Anyway, the reason I say that is, that Im sure that will further enhance my experience. MacBook Pro hands down.
 
As a professional engineer I have a distinct reason for owning both. If I was just a home user, my 13" MBA would do quite nicely.
 
Ha! I replaced a Powerbook with an MBA. Just got my second MBA yesterday. Fully loaded 11". LOVE IT. Some portable and benches-out close to an 5 year old Mac Pro that I have. Crazy.
 
It's really power vs. portability. MBP has much more power so that is what I would use, and do use.
 
i have read some articles regarding ultra books. seems live 2012 will be the year of the ultra book with them taking 40% of the market share. I wonder in 3 years what percent the traditional laptop will have in the market.
 
I really like the idea of a MBA to replace my MBP 13, but sadly the lack of an 8GB RAM option in the MBA is a deal-breaker for me.
 
I recently went from a 2011 15" Ultimate MBP (with SSD etc) to a 2011 13" MBA. Last week my new late 2011 15" Ultimate MBP arrived, and I am going to sell the 13" MBA.

After always owning the hi-res MBP screen, I could not accept the the lower quality MBA screen (even though it was calibrated with hardware calibration tool). The screen quality and colour representation on the MBP screen is excellent - it's unfortunate that the MBA cannot compete. Having said that, the resolution of the MBA was great though. I know that the MBA screen will be fine for most users, but it was not for me.
 
I had a 2008 Air w/ SSD and upgraded to the 2010 Air 13". This week I changed to a 11" Air and a 15" Pro. I wanted more power than the 13" (and more RAM) but when I'm in an airplane, wanted to be able to use the computer comfortably (I travel over 100k miles per yr).

I am hopeful this will be a good solution for me.
 
I tried the 13' 2011 Air coming from an Early 2008 15" MacBook pro 2.4 Ghz 4.1, result; Late 2011 MacBook Pro 2.4 i7 8.2. The Air is a fabulous machine, and truly replaces the average notebook in an Ultraportable format.

I was immediately seduced by the speed of the SSD coupled with the reasonable performance of the i5 CPU, however after a month or so I still felt the need to upgrade, my MBP 4.1 has run it`s course and the Air can struggle with some tasks at times. Enter the MBP 2.4 i7 8.2 the whole machine feels to be completely over engineered offering massive performance and rarely gets close to being stressed.

Can you replace a MBP with the Air? Yes however you have to look at your usage in detail, I could get by with only the Air and there are several positives, for me, yet the negatives aspects were overriding. The MBP serves my needs far better and I have the best of both worlds by having both, for the present time. Next upgrade I will see if I still have use for a MBP & Air if not the Pro will likely be the weapon of choice.
 
I really like the idea of a MBA to replace my MBP 13, but sadly the lack of an 8GB RAM option in the MBA is a deal-breaker for me.

This!! And, I'm still not comfortable with a non-optical drive laptop!

However, I really like the portability of the 13" MBA!
 
If the 11" MBA had an SD card slot, an 8GB RAM option, and if >256GB SSDs weren't so darned expensive, I would be typing this post on an MBA rather than a 13" MBP.

The SD card is really the only thing I *need*, but I want the memory and SSD storage for my portable, which has to kinda do it all.

That said, I will have an Air someday, though I may stick with a 13" to get all the features I want.
 
Would swap current 13" MBR to 13" MBA if...
a) Could upgrade to 8gb of RAM
b) Heavy price-tag for a decent size HDD

----------

If the 11" MBA had an SD card slot, an 8GB RAM option, and if >256GB SSDs weren't so darned expensive, I would be typing this post on an MBA rather than a 13" MBP.

The SD card is really the only thing I *need*, but I want the memory and SSD storage for my portable, which has to kinda do it all.

That said, I will have an Air someday, though I may stick with a 13" to get all the features I want.

Exactly my thoughts.
 
I had a 2011 MBA 13, but I was frustrated by the display's washed out look and the 4GB RAM limit. I sold it and bought a 15 HR/AG MBP. I decided I wanted even more screen, so I returned it to Apple and got myself a 17" AG MBP. I couldn't be happier.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.