So, I know like half the posts on here are about basically buying advice, but I figured it could be interesting to have alternate opinions.
I'm graduating from college soon and thinking about picking up a new laptop for grad school. I've got a few options in mind but I'm leaning for the air. As I'm moving cities and not going to be stable for a while, a desktop is out of the question. Therefore, I'm going from two computers to one.
I'm looking at a few things; my main limit there is that I do have a budget not to go over and that my messenger bag can't handle a laptop much larger than 13 inches (I've tried to fit a 15 inch dell already and it was a bad idea). Also I do enjoy playing some games, and so I'm not looking at the i5 MBP13 as a serious option thanks to the intel graphics.
My options, right now, would be
- 2,66ghz C2D MBP13 on clearance, with a third party 128GB SSD
- MBA13 with a 4GB ram upgrade
- MBA11 with fully maxed out specs.
"Future proofing" is not a concern, my last few computers have been anything but future proof and have worked for years like a charm; besides nothing is ever future proof.
The main pros and cons of the 11" MBA seem to be that
- Specs are relatively weak when it comes to CPU, the rest, however, is pretty much equal. It also lacks the internal SD card reader of the others, but I can live with that. It's light and has better screen resolution than the MBP which is a nice boost.
For the 13 inchers
- The MBP is heavier, and I tend to be aggressive at weight shavings, especially as I walk or (sometimes) bike everywhere. I don't think an optical drive is worth the added pound or two. It's more powerful, CPU-wise, that's a given. It can also be expanded more easily. It's the cheapest of the lot. It has the worst resolution of the lot, too.
- The MBA 13 is, again, slightly heavier. In exchange for 1 pound more and a rather larger footprint, I'd get a slight CPU boost, a resolution boost and a SD card reader.
All have reasonable battery life, in that if I get a laptop running 6 hours or more on my settings is already good enough (20% light, bluetooth off, CPU clocked down, flash blocked) for a school day. But, admittedly, the advantage there is to the 13" ones. My biggest school use is as a glorified typewriter, with some database, and a bit of digital darkrooming (but it's just minimal processing
) because my field lends itself to photography.
So basically all the options available cost more or less the same. But I'm more or less unsure which to go with. I know a lot of the time, my main problem in games is overheating, and I play fine with the CPU clocked down to increase the time before it starts getting hot and throttling. Footprint is often a bit of a concern.
Advice? And no, "get both/all three" doesn't count as advice.
I'm graduating from college soon and thinking about picking up a new laptop for grad school. I've got a few options in mind but I'm leaning for the air. As I'm moving cities and not going to be stable for a while, a desktop is out of the question. Therefore, I'm going from two computers to one.
I'm looking at a few things; my main limit there is that I do have a budget not to go over and that my messenger bag can't handle a laptop much larger than 13 inches (I've tried to fit a 15 inch dell already and it was a bad idea). Also I do enjoy playing some games, and so I'm not looking at the i5 MBP13 as a serious option thanks to the intel graphics.
My options, right now, would be
- 2,66ghz C2D MBP13 on clearance, with a third party 128GB SSD
- MBA13 with a 4GB ram upgrade
- MBA11 with fully maxed out specs.
"Future proofing" is not a concern, my last few computers have been anything but future proof and have worked for years like a charm; besides nothing is ever future proof.
The main pros and cons of the 11" MBA seem to be that
- Specs are relatively weak when it comes to CPU, the rest, however, is pretty much equal. It also lacks the internal SD card reader of the others, but I can live with that. It's light and has better screen resolution than the MBP which is a nice boost.
For the 13 inchers
- The MBP is heavier, and I tend to be aggressive at weight shavings, especially as I walk or (sometimes) bike everywhere. I don't think an optical drive is worth the added pound or two. It's more powerful, CPU-wise, that's a given. It can also be expanded more easily. It's the cheapest of the lot. It has the worst resolution of the lot, too.
- The MBA 13 is, again, slightly heavier. In exchange for 1 pound more and a rather larger footprint, I'd get a slight CPU boost, a resolution boost and a SD card reader.
All have reasonable battery life, in that if I get a laptop running 6 hours or more on my settings is already good enough (20% light, bluetooth off, CPU clocked down, flash blocked) for a school day. But, admittedly, the advantage there is to the 13" ones. My biggest school use is as a glorified typewriter, with some database, and a bit of digital darkrooming (but it's just minimal processing
) because my field lends itself to photography.So basically all the options available cost more or less the same. But I'm more or less unsure which to go with. I know a lot of the time, my main problem in games is overheating, and I play fine with the CPU clocked down to increase the time before it starts getting hot and throttling. Footprint is often a bit of a concern.
Advice? And no, "get both/all three" doesn't count as advice.
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