MacBook Air For student

[Dave245]

I'm currently thinking about getting a MacBook Air and passing down my 2011 MacBook Pro to a family member. There are a couple of questions I have.

1. Has anyone upgraded from a MacBook Pro 2011 to the MacBook Air 2014, seen a big difference in speeds?

2. Would I see a difference in the MacBook Air if I upgraded from the standard 1.4ghz to the 1.7ghz i7? Custom spec on Apples website.

Being a student I would get a student discount on the Mackbook Air, I'm considering waiting until Apple also announce their back to school promo. The reason I'm considering a MacBook Air, is because of the 12 hour battery life and the portability.

What have your experiences been like for those of you who have moved from a MacBook Pro to a MacBook Air?

 

[T5BRICK]

2. Would I see a difference in the MacBook Air if I upgraded from the standard 1.4ghz to the 1.7ghz i7? Custom spec on Apples website.

This is really going to depend on how you plan on using the MBA. The 1.7GHz i7 has a much higher turbo frequency, but if you aren't really pushing the computer you may not notice the difference.

Being a student I would get a student discount on the Mackbook Air, I'm considering waiting until Apple also announce their back to school promo. The reason I'm considering a MacBook Air, is because of the 12 hour battery life and the portability.

Just yesterday I was reading about Best Buy having a $150 student discount on their MBAs. There was an additional $100 discount as well. You might want to check that out.

 

[Dave245]

This is really going to depend on how you plan on using the MBA. The 1.7GHz i7 has a much higher turbo frequency, but if you aren't really pushing the computer you may not notice the difference.



Just yesterday I was reading about Best Buy having a $150 student discount on their MBAs. There was an additional $100 discount as well. You might want to check that out.

I plan on using the MacBook Air for writing essays, taking notes in lectures, web browsing, watching TV shows (I have a lot of content from iTunes) I would also be doing a little video and maybe photo editing, because my course is TV/movie making based.

Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to take advantage of the Best Buy offer because I'm in the UK

 

[0983275]

I plan on using the MacBook Air for writing essays, taking notes in lectures, web browsing, watching TV shows (I have a lot of content from iTunes) I would also bed doing a little video and maybe photo editing, because my course is TV/movie making based.

Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to take advantage of the Best Buy offer because I'm in the UK

i5/8GB/256GB 13" MBA would be ideal, I do similar stuff as you and I went with the specs I mentioned.

With education discount, it comes in at £927.60, if you don't need 256GB and you have external storage, you can get away with 128GB, then it's just under £800.

You can probably get away with 4GB and spend a bit less, but I wouldn't recommend it. With 8GB it'll last couple of years longer.

 

[Dave245]

i5/8GB/256GB 13" MBA would be ideal, I do similar stuff as you and I went with the specs I mentioned.

With education discount, it comes in at £927.60, if you don't need 256GB and you have external storage, you can get away with 128GB, then it's just under £800.

You can probably get away with 4GB and spend a bit less, but I wouldn't recommend it. With 8GB it'll last couple of years longer.

Thank you for the spec recommendation, it's really helpful. The reason I'm thinking about upgrading is because of the battery life and the portability, plus the SSD speeds of the MBA will probably be a lot faster than my current 2011 MBP. Someone did say to me about the MacBook Pro with retina display, but I think it may be a bit over kill for what I need it for. I do have an iPad and i have used that for notes in class, buts not the best for essay writing.

With the price drop in the MacBook Air, it is very tempting. I've just never owned a MacBook Air before

 

[T5BRICK]

Someone did say to me about the MacBook Pro with retina display, but I think it may be a bit over kill for what I need it for.

Being that there really isn't a whole lot that can be upgraded in the new Macs, I agree that opting for the upgraded RAM is a good idea.

I also agree that the 1.4GHz model will suit you just fine, and only you can determine how much storage you're going to need.

For me, I'm most likely going to buy a refurbish 13" 1.7GHz/8GB/512GB model.

 

[Dave245]

Being that there really isn't a whole lot that can be upgraded in the new Macs, I agree that opting for the upgraded RAM is a good idea.

I also agree that the 1.4GHz model will suit you just fine, and only you can determine how much storage you're going to need.

For me, I'm most likely going to buy a refurbish 13" 1.7GHz/8GB/512GB model.

I intend to upgrade it to the 8GB of RAM, my 2011 MBP has 8GB and it's plenty. I think i might get either the 256GB or the 512GB SSD, i do a lot of writing and have a few folders on my desktop that are filled with essays, scripts and so on. My TV shows i keep in TV shows in the cloud. And my music i keep on my iMac as well as on my iPhone. I plan to keep the MBA for the same amount of time as i have done with my MBP, 3 years or more depending on the speed increase.

 

[T5BRICK]

I think i might get either the 256GB or the 512GB SSD, i do a lot of writing and have a few folders on my desktop that are filled with essays, scripts and so on. My TV shows i keep in TV shows in the cloud. And my music i keep on my iMac as well as on my iPhone.

I wouldn't think essays and scripts are really going to take up much space, but having room to grow isn't a bad thing(unless you never end up using it).

I plan to keep the MBA for the same amount of time as i have done with my MBP, 3 years or more depending on the speed increase.

I'm in the same boat. My old mid 2009 13" MBP is still running just fine, but I gave it to my parents and started looking at my upgrade options. 3 or more years of use is certainly possible on these computers.

 

[Dave245]

I wouldn't think essays and scripts are really going to take up much space, but having room to grow isn't a bad thing(unless you never end up using it).



I'm in the same boat. My old mid 2009 13" MBP is still running just fine, but I gave it to my parents and started looking at my upgrade options. 3 or more years of use is certainly possible on these computers.

No they don't take up a lot of room, there a few meg if that. I was thinking more about storage for future OSX updates. And yea my 2011 MBP is still running fine, it's just not as fast, not as light and doesn't have that 12 hour battery life that is really tempting at the moment. Depending on when Apple announce their back to school promotion, I may wait and get one then, they usually offer £70 gift card for Apps with any Mac.

 

[0983275]

256GB should be fine.

With couple of games installed, 30GB of RAW photos and couple of VMs, I have about 100GB of space left.

 

[Dave245]

256GB should be fine.

With couple of games installed, 30GB of RAW photos and couple of VMs, I have about 100GB of space left.

I won't be playing games on it, i use my Xbox one for serious games, and my iPad for IOS type games. Mainly my laptop is currently used for, writing, watching TV shows (as well as my iPad) email, photo's but not many, just the ones from my iPhone photo stream that are automatically on. My 2011 MBP has a 750GB SATA Disk hard drive and currently has 464.32GB of space free.

 

[Sturkman]

I'm going with the best buy deal tomorrow but I'm not a student, I'll still get 100$ off but would like the extra 150$. If anyone has a student coupon there not using can I please have it?

 

[gmanist1000]

I'm currently thinking about getting a MacBook Air and passing down my 2011 MacBook Pro to a family member. There are a couple of questions I have.

1. Has anyone upgraded from a MacBook Pro 2011 to the MacBook Air 2014, seen a big difference in speeds?

2. Would I see a difference in the MacBook Air if I upgraded from the standard 1.4ghz to the 1.7ghz i7? Custom spec on Apples website.

Being a student I would get a student discount on the Mackbook Air, I'm considering waiting until Apple also announce their back to school promo. The reason I'm considering a MacBook Air, is because of the 12 hour battery life and the portability.

What have your experiences been like for those of you who have moved from a MacBook Pro to a MacBook Air?

You'll see a huge increase in speed going form a traditional HDD to an SSD. That alone would make me upgrade to a new computer.

The portability is also a killer upgrade. Lighter is better!

The battery life is also a great reason to upgrade. Use that baby all day without worrying about plugging it in.

I say buy it!

 

[Dave245]

You'll see a huge increase in speed going form a traditional HDD to an SSD. That alone would make me upgrade to a new computer.

The portability is also a killer upgrade. Lighter is better!

The battery life is also a great reason to upgrade. Use that baby all day without worrying about plugging it in.

I say buy it!

That's what i was thinking, but i will probably wait until Apple announce their back to school promo, i don't need it until around September anyway. And i may pass down my current 2011 Macbook Pro to a family member, as there is nothing wrong with it and i don't want to just leave it gathering dust.