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

Appler8

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 14, 2011
40
0
How many of you use an iMac as a main computer and a MacBook Air as a backup? I personally do this and it's amazing :D
 
I'd like to do it too, but i guess i don't have the money for that... right now i operate a custom rig(windows, such a shame...) on my desk and a regular macbook on my backpack :)
 
Yea that is pretty nice.

Personally, I have my macbook pro hooked up to a 24" screen because I wanted more than one screen. I'm basically using it as a desktop.

Then I use my Air in school and whenever I get tired of sitting at my desk and just wanna sit on the couch or whatever.
 
I know this has been done to death but I'm curious what size macbook air you went with and why-

11 or 13?
 
I know this has been done to death but I'm curious what size macbook air you went with and why-

11 or 13?

11 inch, was the opposite end of the spectrum. I just needed a secondary computer mainly for portability, although the 11 inch would probably suffice as a main computer. I've since sold the iMac anyway, so I tend to use the MBA 11 inch with a 23 inch display and it works fine. I just play games on a PC now.
 
I've got a big home-made Windows 7 machine as my home base (media, games, etc), and use the MBA for pretty much everything else.

The allure of AAA gaming has kept me from going Full Mac.
 
That's currently my set up. iMac was my only computer for a while so I figured I'd compliment it with an iPad but quickly realized the iPad wasn't cutting it for me since my iPhone fulfills all of my iOS needs.

I sold the iPad and bought a 64GB 11-inch MBA last year but, ever since, the only times I find myself using my iMac is when I sync my phone. So, now I'm back in the same situation: I didn't need an iPad because of my iPhone and now I feel like I don't really need my iMac because I use my MBA 98% of the time. With that said, my plans are to sell the iMac and MBA and just buy a 13-inch ultimate MBA and pair it up with an old Dell 24" monitor I have, for those rare occasions that 13" won't suffice.

I love my iMac, I think it's a beautiful piece of art but it eats at me that I have such an expensive machine on my desk doing nothing but collecting dust.
 
I have an "old" iMac i3. Does goos enough. Had an iPad and a 15" MBP C2D 2.4. Got rid of the iPad and the MBP for a 13" air. the MBA is a delight compared to the brick the MBP is. I wanted some screen size though and I don't find the 13" that cumbersome. If I need to do some serious stuff, I will use the 27" my i3 iMac has.
 
I have a 2010 Quad Core iMac, with a 2011 13" i5 MBA!
Awesome setup! And I love it!
But I wouldn't consider the MBA as a backup, I use it for internet browsing, email, bringing it to school (which takes up 75% of my computer usage)
On the iMac, video editing, heavy gaming, movies, etc.
 
I have a 2011 21.5" iMac, and a 2010 13" MBA. Its a great set up. I bought the iMac first (my first ever Apple computer), and then was using a small little Windows based netbook for University. However, then my netbook broke, and so I had to buy another. I kept looking around for Windows based laptops, but in the end I knew I didn't want to go back to using a windows machine :)rolleyes:) and decided to buy an "old' 2010 13" Air.

Both are great machines, and I struck gold with the Air as it only cost me £650 for a 13" 2010 Air with 256 GB SSD and the battery only had done 5 cycles! It has no cosmetic damage as well, so I consider it to be pretty much brand new. Considering it cost £1350 last year, I think I got pretty lucky...

Overall, I couldn't give any of them up, even though I've only been using Apple products for about 3 months; they have just made a huge impression on me.
 
11 inch, was the opposite end of the spectrum. I just needed a secondary computer mainly for portability, although the 11 inch would probably suffice as a main computer. I've since sold the iMac anyway, so I tend to use the MBA 11 inch with a 23 inch display and it works fine. I just play games on a PC now.

Do you have any regrets whatsoever about selling the iMac? I am looking into doing the exact same thing. Really don't need the extra firepower of the iMac, so I'm thinking I'll sell the iMac and grab the Thunderbolt Display.

Just worried about 64 GB of storage on my main machine...
 
That's currently my set up. iMac was my only computer for a while so I figured I'd compliment it with an iPad but quickly realized the iPad wasn't cutting it for me since my iPhone fulfills all of my iOS needs.

I sold the iPad and bought a 64GB 11-inch MBA last year but, ever since, the only times I find myself using my iMac is when I sync my phone. So, now I'm back in the same situation: I didn't need an iPad because of my iPhone and now I feel like I don't really need my iMac because I use my MBA 98% of the time. With that said, my plans are to sell the iMac and MBA and just buy a 13-inch ultimate MBA and pair it up with an old Dell 24" monitor I have, for those rare occasions that 13" won't suffice.

I love my iMac, I think it's a beautiful piece of art but it eats at me that I have such an expensive machine on my desk doing nothing but collecting dust.


I concur. I had a Ipad 2 and a imac 27 2.93 with SSD and 16GB of ram. A true beast of a machine. Bought a maxed out Air with Core i7 13.3 and 256 SSD. Never used the iMac or the Ipad. Got rid of both and bought a 27 TBD.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.