Macbook Air or Macbook

[fmg]

hi all,

i need a laptop urgently (mine was stolen) and i dont have time to do the "homework" cause i have a algebra test this week and i have no time to waste.
i will use it for programming, viewing 720p/1080p videos, and surfing on the web, and ocasionaly play some games on linux like openarena.
i will use it about 8-9h day.
i have 2 models in mind: new macbook 2.4Ghz and macbook air 1.6Ghz both hdd models (need something portable and lightweight)
and i have some questions about these models:

- can they run a 24 inch motinor (1920*1200) smoothly with a 1080p film

- how hot they can be when put in stress (100% processor)

- real battery life when doing some very light stuff

- problems getting drivers for the 9400M on ubuntu (need graphic acceleration for compiz to work)

- problems getting the wifi to work on ubuntu.

- can the air work for such long periods without any core shutdowns

thx

ps: sorry for any inglish mistakes

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Can't answer all that you ask, but essentially you are looking at a trade-off between power and portability. The MBA is a superb computer for anyone who travels a lot, or needs an extremely portable computer; many users have another computer at home, or in their office, to do more powerful work, such as a MBP, or an iMac.

However, for power, and spec, the MB wins hands down; besides, the MB is far better value for money because it offers a lot more for the price than does the MBA. Given what you've written, my recommendation would be for the MB.

Cheers and good luck

 

[mrcharlie91]

MacBook Airㅇ

Go with MacBook it's much powerful and good price also.

 

[QCassidy352]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5G77 Safari/525.20)

I don't know why people keep saying mba sucks and weak but it is good notebook. you will find yourself very satisfied besides it's beautiful design.
Get MBA

It's not "weak," but it is a lot less powerful than the MacBook. Essentially, you give up 800mhz, 2GB RAM capacity, an optical drive, HD space, and a USB port, and what you get is a higher quality screen and 1.5 lb less weight. IMO it's pretty hard to justify the mba when you look at it like that - unless the mba is supplementing a more powerful desktop, which doesn't seem to be the case here.

 

[fmg]

hi

thx for the opinions
i will go for the macbook since i will spend many hours with it turn on and i want it to run cooler.
but can someone with a macbook answer my questions relative to the 1080p films on a 24 inch monitor and the battery.

 

[194567]

Battery life on the macbook is great. I got the older white model so I assume the new one will be even better. I got it hooked up to a Full HD (running 1080P ofcourse). It plays great no lagg or whatever and the 9400 probably delivers an even better job.

 

[yorkshire]

Macbook the way forward, IMO.

 

[mcavjame]

hi

thx for the opinions
i will go for the macbook since i will spend many hours with it turn on and i want it to run cooler.
but can someone with a macbook answer my questions relative to the 1080p films on a 24 inch monitor and the battery.

When I bring my macbook home from work, I "dock" it to my 24" Samsung and connect my external FW.I have it running 1920x1200 @60Hz and millions of colors as I type. It looks awesome. To get it to do this, you have to make the external display the first display in the display settings of the System Preferences and turn on overscan.

 

[fmg]

hi

thx for the info about the graphics.
i believe the new ones come with lesser battery capacity (correct me if i'm wrong) thats why i asked. i dont believe most of the reviews i see, so i want a real owner who deals with it every day to tell me. and by the way is there any battery upgrade so it can last more hours?