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All iPads iPad Mini and MBA or just iPad Air?

R

roop27

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 22, 2011
82
51
London, UK
Uses are:

movie watching in bed, at work during lunch breaks, on the sofa, and when travelling to university where i some times stay the night. Also abroad. Netflix too.

Work related items such as designing information sheets and patient exercise prescription and maintaining database for patient auditing.

General browsing, emailing, some gaming, reading the news etc.

So for these uses, which would you recommend. iPad Mini with a 13" MBA or the iPad Air?
 
The iPad is great for most things, but it is nice to have an actual computer sometimes. I'd say get the mini iPad and the MBA.
 
Mini and MBA, if cost is no issue.

If you're on the sofa, you should watch your movies on the TV. :D
 
Altis said:
Mini and MBA, if cost is no issue.

If you're on the sofa, you should watch your movies on the TV. :D
Click to expand...

lol touché. i am planning on buying an iMac too at some point so having an on the go full computer would be better too i guess!
 
If you already have a full blown computer and don't need another, then just the Air. Otherwise either the mini or the MBA is going to become awfully redundant.
 
Infinitewisdom said:
If you already have a full blown computer and don't need another, then just the Air. Otherwise either the mini or the MBA is going to become awfully redundant.
Click to expand...


i dont have a full blown computer YET.

My planned set up is:

21" imac
13" macbook air
ipad mini w retina

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ohenriquez said:
Why not an iPad Air and a MBA, I am happy with both as they complement each other
Click to expand...

i've considered this. but feel the overlap is too much that one will suffer in favour of the other.
 
I used to have a 13in MBA and 3rd gen iPad. Granted, there was no Mini at the time, but I had entirely different uses for them (the iPad was essentially for taking hand-written notes in lectures, annotating PDFs, reading e-book versions of textbooks, and the occasional silly game).

Any actual work I did was on my MBA, as frankly, the keyboard, the larger screen, and the ability to have multiple windows of various information or interest side-by-side were necessary.

Now that I've graduated (and still have my 13in MBA), I'm thinking iPad Mini this time around. It fits right in the middle of my 5S and 13in MBA screen-wise, and is great for one handed use (though the Air has most certainly gotten a whole hell of a lot better at that).

But speaking of uses, since I'm no longer needing to take notes, annotate PDFs, read textbooks with large diagrams, etc. I don't mind sacrificing the screen real estate for more portability. It'll essentially be the perfect couch/bed surfing machine, a great little device to play games on, and the perfect car entertainment system for my [often long] drives.

So in the end, yes, it depends on your uses and what'd you like to accomplish, but I personally feel that unless you specify and require various uses between an Air and MBA (like I did via digital note-taking and annotating on the iPad, etc.), there's just too much cross-over between the two.

EDIT: I used to have a 27in iMac too. That was awesome for big design projects that were annoying to do on my 13in MBA (and obviously impossible to do on an iPad as it did not have the necessary software). It also served as a sweet media server. But now I'm poor and jobless, so really everything I just said about which Mini I'm getting was strictly hypothetical.
 
comatose81 said:
I say get a used iPhone 3GS and be done with it.
Click to expand...

That would avoid iOS 7 altogether. Good thinking, Comatose81! :D

OP, something you may want to consider is just getting an external monitor for your Macbook Air, as well as a permanent keyboard/mouse sort of dock. That way, you only need to manage (and buy) one computer, but you can effectively dock it and use a more ergonomic and productive setup.
 
roop27 said:
i've considered this. but feel the overlap is too much that one will suffer in favour of the other.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't worry about overlap too much. Especially between iOS and OS X. It would be one thing to buy a 13" MacBook Air and 13" MacBook Pro, but this isn't what you're talking about.

What I'd be more mindful of is the iPad itself: is it the specific one you'd prefer? If you're prefer the mini, then problem solved, but if you'd prefer the Air, I wouldn't worry too much about 10" being close to 13".

Otherwise, it sounds like getting a less appealing iPad just to avoid a scenario where your iPad would possibly be better than your MacBook Air for some specific task.
 
roop27 said:
i dont have a full blown computer YET.

My planned set up is:

21" imac
13" macbook air
ipad mini w retina

----------



i've considered this. but feel the overlap is too much that one will suffer in favour of the other.
Click to expand...

What about not getting the MacBook, and just getting the 21" or 27" iMac to keep at home; then getting the iPad Mini for using out and about, and when/if you need to do anything more serious, using Parallels Access to have access to your iMac from away from home? With a half-decent internet connection at both ends, and perhaps a decent keyboard for the mini like the Logitech Ultrathin, it actually works really well even on the Mini's smaller screen, after having all 3 and recently selling my MBA 11", I've been using the setup for a few weeks now and I really like it. Just an idea so you have something really usable with a big screen at home where it doesn't need to move, then something ultra-portable to take everywhere with you...
 
I have the small tablet MBA combination and I like it better than the 10" iPad with 13" MBA. I am getting a mini when it comes out to replace the Droid tablet I bought in the interim.

Cannot go wrong with that combination.
 
I have a MBA and a iPad Air. I don't see an issue with having either iPad in conjunction with the MBA. Both to me serve different purposes. I know people are using their iPads for content creation but I just don't have the patience when I can do creation orientated tasks so much more efficiently on the MacBook. The iPad I don't take mobile, my phone suits that need just fine. So having the full size iPad for consumption and gaming at home is perfect for me.

Previous to the Air even for web surfing I would use my MacBook because even for browsing the web it just was faster. The Air seems a ton faster for surfing than my iPad 3 so I can see myself using it for browsing now.
 
(on iPad Air & MBA)
roop27 said:
i've considered this. but feel the overlap is too much that one will suffer in favour of the other.
Click to expand...

For your work purposes you'd be better off with the MBA. I just replaced a 1st gen iPad with the non-retina iPad Mini and I can't put the thing down (I have iPhone 5 also), I don't miss the larger screen at all, plus I have iOS 7 on it, the mini is so thin, light and smaller size makes it very portable.

I say go for a Mini (either one) and MBA. But, if you plan to put a lot of games, magazines or comics, interactive or textbooks, videos or photos on the iPad, or plan to use it for your music collection, get the largest capacity you can, even if it means you get the non-retina so you can get more GB's. ...my 2 cents.
 
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