I have both a Pro and Air. I use the Air more these days but they both have their uses. The Pro is good for more high end stuff like gaming, watching DVDs, Photoshop and in the future iMovie/Final Cut. It's also good for writing because of the bigger screen and of course the net 'cause of the screen space. The big hard drive is also handy for storing a lot of data. My Air is good for carrying around with me and I use it for web browsing, Youtube, sneaky games of Angry Birds in boring lectures, iTunes and a bit of writing. It's also a backup in case my Pro (my main laptop) breaks down.
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I went from MBP to MBA
- Thread starter SnowLeopard2008
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Yep, love my 2011 13" MBA!! Its a great little machine and i don't miss having a superdrive, firewire or Ethernet on it at all.
I bought an external SuperDrive for my Air. If I need to use Firewire or Ethernet I'll use my Pro.
noobinator
macrumors 604
I've had it since Friday now and I can say I don't miss my 13" MBP. The 11" does feel a BIT smaller but nothing that would cause me to want to go back. The form factor of the 11" feels great and this thing is very portable. It's lightning quick compared to my 2.5 year old MBP. I'm a happy customer.
whoknows87
macrumors 6502a
I'm thinking about going from a Pro to 13 Air, I have a mid 2009 Model 2.53ghz 8GB ram ( upgraded myself ), storage is not an issue for me I can always use an external HD, I do nothing hardcore at all just casual browsing/studying
CD/DVD drive a thing of the past, i didn't want to lose screen size that much going to an 11 just too small for me, so with the 13 out I might just go for it, thing is i would want an 8GB RAM just in case, I plan on keeping it for a few years to come and dont want to lost that much money when selling, if i get the base model I will probably lose more $ comes time to sell
also is there any huge difference between the 1.7 vs 1.8? besides $
CD/DVD drive a thing of the past, i didn't want to lose screen size that much going to an 11 just too small for me, so with the 13 out I might just go for it, thing is i would want an 8GB RAM just in case, I plan on keeping it for a few years to come and dont want to lost that much money when selling, if i get the base model I will probably lose more $ comes time to sell
also is there any huge difference between the 1.7 vs 1.8? besides $
I really wanted the MBA 13" but I had to have at least 512GB SSD and that upgrade was just too much. I also like having the Ethernet port though, much faster for DLs. If I would of had the extra cash to get the MBA 13" with the 512 I probably would have, but I am quite happy with my MBP 13".
I went from a 27" iMac to a 13" MBA + 27" Apple Display combo (see my signature). I couldnt be happier.
throAU
macrumors G4
Unless you need the form factor, given an SSD and the same RAM, the 13" pro is superior in all respects other than pixel density. Faster CPU, more expansion capability (16gb ram, 2 drive bays that can take standard drives), bigger battery, etc.
If you must have the form factor, or 1440x900 res (which imho is still not enough anyway), then go the MBA. but those things I can live without for the expansion ability.
dixido
macrumors regular
Today I went from 2010 15" MBP (with SSD) to a fully specced 13" MBA... This machine beats my old Pro in every single aspect! To my surprise, even the HD4000 beats the 330M in benchmarks, and with pretty good margin. Amazing!
Looking forward to many happy years of usage with my new MBA. 😉
Looking forward to many happy years of usage with my new MBA. 😉
CPU performance isn't significantly better. Expansion ability isn't that much since it's just RAM and HD. HD are mechanical and wear out faster anyway. Not to mention slower. RAM can be expanded to 8GB and beyond but the controller handles 16GB (I think?). 16GB is overkill and you will be bottlenecked by other components before RAM becomes a factor in performance. For most people (maybe not you) 4GB of RAM is plenty. I routinely run Calendar, Mail, Safari (with multiple fullscreen windows with 10+ tabs EACH) and iTunes with zero slowdown due to RAM limitations or CPU performance. If I really need to, I can also run FCPX along with all of the above and it maybe gets a hiccup occasionally. That's more than enough for the average user (again, maybe not you). The MBP? The bottleneck there is the HD. Sure you can upgrade but most people don't upgrade their laptops (this is a sad but true fact), know how to upgrade components, don't care about it, don't want to care about it or some combination of the aforementioned.
A bigger battery doesn't directly translate to better battery life. MBP has a higher TDP CPU among other components that the MBA doesn't have. Battery performance will be the same between 13" MBA and 13" MBP. The 11" MBA will offer shorter battery life than the 13" MBP obviously.
The part in bold is simply your opinion (and mine for awhile) because some people don't need FireWire, Ethernet and DVD drives. For those people, having it doesn't simply mean it's a superior product. Superior is a highly subjective term. But for people who care about those ports and DVD drives (aka you) , then the MBP is superior no doubt.
I suppose you could argue that the MBP can have up to 2 HDs (or SSDs) but the number of people who need, want or use this is very few and arguing this as the reason why the MBP is superior is pretty weak since superiority is a generalized and broad argument.
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Yeah, the MBP performance is not that much higher than the Air, surprisingly. I wrote a blog post about the differences-- it has some benchmark numbers in it, as well as differences between the two machines in the real world as well.
Really, I have a hard time recommending the 13 inch Pro now that the Air has caught up so much, except for those few people needing the two hard drive bays or CD drive...
I went from PC to mba. Mainly to use logic. Ironically mountain lion and usb 3.0 makes my mba incompatible with my mbox 2 mini second generation sound card (i can rant on this a looong time) but this is another story.
I'm happy with it so far. It's light and fast.
I went for the i7 and 8gb ram, i figured another 5% of the price would make my laptop last longer.
The salesperson i spoke to at apple guaranteed me 100% that i could upgrade the ram at a later point, same as a guy at media markt. Luckily i KNOW that you can't since the components are soldered onto the MB and went with the factory upgraded version. Embarrassing that not the apple salesperson knew this 😕
Choosing between mba and the 'old' mbp is a no brainer. All my friends have the 13 mbp and it's considerably heavier and the screen is just horrid in comparison, sure it may display colors back more accurately but the resolution is 1280 x 800, same as my old hp pc from 2007.
If you compare benchmarks the mba is faster than the mbp due to the ssd hard drive.
Key word must be portability. I haul my computer with me every day to university, it weighs more or less than a book. so yeah. happy with it.
only thing is the logic thingy. if anyone have a soloution pm me! 😀
edit: the reason i posted in the first place was i was going to give a tip about sdXC cards, you can get a whole lot more storage space for a small buck. A 64gb sdxc card goes for 40euro or $50~ for you americans. Sadly the sd card sticks out from the side compared to my pc (they must have thougt of this so people would buy the extra hdd) so you can't have it in there the whole time if you move the computer and so on. There's even 128gb sdxc cards but for x2.5 the price of a 64gb one. And yes the mba is compatible with them i checked
I'm happy with it so far. It's light and fast.
I went for the i7 and 8gb ram, i figured another 5% of the price would make my laptop last longer.
The salesperson i spoke to at apple guaranteed me 100% that i could upgrade the ram at a later point, same as a guy at media markt. Luckily i KNOW that you can't since the components are soldered onto the MB and went with the factory upgraded version. Embarrassing that not the apple salesperson knew this 😕
Choosing between mba and the 'old' mbp is a no brainer. All my friends have the 13 mbp and it's considerably heavier and the screen is just horrid in comparison, sure it may display colors back more accurately but the resolution is 1280 x 800, same as my old hp pc from 2007.
If you compare benchmarks the mba is faster than the mbp due to the ssd hard drive.
Key word must be portability. I haul my computer with me every day to university, it weighs more or less than a book. so yeah. happy with it.
only thing is the logic thingy. if anyone have a soloution pm me! 😀
edit: the reason i posted in the first place was i was going to give a tip about sdXC cards, you can get a whole lot more storage space for a small buck. A 64gb sdxc card goes for 40euro or $50~ for you americans. Sadly the sd card sticks out from the side compared to my pc (they must have thougt of this so people would buy the extra hdd) so you can't have it in there the whole time if you move the computer and so on. There's even 128gb sdxc cards but for x2.5 the price of a 64gb one. And yes the mba is compatible with them i checked
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Mike in Kansas
macrumors 6502a
The guy from Apple was at an official Apple store? And that person tried to convince you that you could upgrade the RAM?? That is unbelievable that an Apple employee would not know this basic fact about the MBA. 😡
Having been to the store a few times this sounds quite believable. They're salespeople, not certified technicians (the ones you talk to anyway).
Whether you go into an Apple store or PC World, never ask a question that you don't already know the answer to. Just the other week I had a "computer expert" in PC World tell me that MBAs are fully upgradable. Needless to say I schooled him 🙂
I went from a PC to the MBA and I love it. When I see people with a MBP I think:' hé, thats a big laptop' 😀. I have an external display and an external HD on my desk, thats all I need. If I wanna sit downstairs? I just unplug my MBA and take it downstairs. Do I want to watch a movie? I plugin the display. I can't see any reason for buying a MBP. Like somebody else said, this MBA is faster then the 2011 MBP. If you need a MBP, what were you doing last year??
Frankied22
macrumors 68000
I just ordered the 13" MBA i7/8GB/256SSD to replace my 2011 13" MBP. I am really looking forward to switching.
stockscalper
macrumors 6502a
I went from a MBP to a MBA as well. Now when I pick up the MBP I can't believe how heavy and bulky it feels. Not to mention how slow it is to boot up and load programs. Owning and using a MBA will spoil you.
Yup. it was a she over the phone on their sales department based in barcelona. Quite embarassing.
I've had this discussion to several salespersons in different stores. When i have asked for the maxed out mba (before i knew you could only order them custom built from apple) they tell me 'you can always upgrade the ram AND the hdd later on if you like'. My generic response is yeah if you're good at soldering... Then they go like this 😕 an awkward silence emerges and i walk away...
Scepticalscribe
macrumors Haswell
I'm also one of those who went from a MBP (which I loved), and bought in 2008, to a 13" MBA which I bought in 2010 (and sold the MBP, which still had Applecare, a few months later).
I have Applecare on my MBA, and also bought an external Superdrive for it, which is handy for ripping CDs (yes, I still buy CDs) and watching DVDs occasionally (such as boxed sets of Downton Abbey, old Ealing Brothers movies, and so on).
I travel a lot, and thus, carrying weight is an issue. So, I love the wonderful portability, sheer speed of the SSD, and excellent screen of the MBA. While I can see the point of the MBP (especially the new retina models), for now, I'm more than happy with the MBA, which is now my main, and only, personal computer.
I have Applecare on my MBA, and also bought an external Superdrive for it, which is handy for ripping CDs (yes, I still buy CDs) and watching DVDs occasionally (such as boxed sets of Downton Abbey, old Ealing Brothers movies, and so on).
I travel a lot, and thus, carrying weight is an issue. So, I love the wonderful portability, sheer speed of the SSD, and excellent screen of the MBA. While I can see the point of the MBP (especially the new retina models), for now, I'm more than happy with the MBA, which is now my main, and only, personal computer.
2012 refresh?
Guys, happy 2010 11" MBA user but have use for a bigger screen so am thinking the 2012 13". Just wondering whether when the current line was released and whether there is any rumor that it may be refreshed pre christmas?
Not one to hang out for the latest but if its just around the corner then perhaps
thanks
Guys, happy 2010 11" MBA user but have use for a bigger screen so am thinking the 2012 13". Just wondering whether when the current line was released and whether there is any rumor that it may be refreshed pre christmas?
Not one to hang out for the latest but if its just around the corner then perhaps
thanks
No. It was just refreshed in June/July. It's not around the corner for at least a good half year+.
I use mine for web dev along with other development purposes. No problems.
I'm not sure I understand your post?
aimango
macrumors newbie
I had a MBP '10 when I was interning this past winter. Got an MBA last month (i5/8/256), don't regret a thing. The only time I used the hard drive on that MBP was to watch episodes of Community. 😎 Also, my MBA heats up a bit when using flash on Chrome, but that's about it. Screen size - I don't mind.
I was actually close to getting a MBP again because I remember the weight not being -that- bad. Then I considered the other notebooks I would be carrying around during school. 🙄
I was actually close to getting a MBP again because I remember the weight not being -that- bad. Then I considered the other notebooks I would be carrying around during school. 🙄