Macbook Air or.......?

[Carrotty]

Okay i know the macbook pro vs macbook air topic has been asked thousands of times but please make me feel more decisive before i get one of those 2 (13 inch for either).. besides i have other questions too..

Alright so this is the first notebook i'm going to own, and i have decided to go for OSX over windows (or i would have gotten the ASUS) and now i'm leaning towards the macbook air mainly because of its 'sexy' look, and also because i don't play computer games. I need it for mainly work, music, movies, some photos, chatting and not much video edititing.. I also like how it is so portable compared to the MBP. My only concern is whether the 128gb will be enough for me in the long run. I somehow feel i'd be fine since i've been using my Dell desktop for 5 years and have used only around 80-90gb. And please can anyone answer some of my questions?

- Is the base MBA is good enough for me cause i want to spend as little as possible.
- How long will the battery actually last after a year or two (someone who used the 2011MBA answer please? thanks)
- List me the accessories i would most likely need for MBA?
- Major disadvantages of a macbook air? (i'm concerned about its performance.. especially after a couple of years)
- Will the MBA last me for at least 4 years? I don't intend to get a new one that soon..

And if any of you guys think that i really should get the macbook pro instead, feel free to voice your opinions, it's welcomed Sorry if it's really long, but i want to get what's best for me! You don't have to answer some of the questions you might not know the answer to but still, thanks in advance!

 

[Carrotty]

Ding dong....

Anyone there to help me out please...? =(

 

[currahee2100]

I know how you feel, especially given that for me I have 6TB of total space on my Windows desktop.

I went with a Macbook Air 2012, thinking 128GB will be enough. Later on I bought a DVD drive and was thinking about buying an external... so I was like this is stupid I'll get a Pro instead.. which I did.

It's hard to shoot how much drive space you will actually need... what do you have on your desktop? 90GB though, leaves around 20-30GB on the SSD. So either go with a 256GB MBA (Which I think is the worst value for the money) or a 500GB Base 13" Pro.

I got the i7 13" Pro, mainly because for $300 you get a little better CPU, double RAM, and 50% more hard drive space. Definitely a better use of $300 than just doubling the SSD.

My advice is to just go ahead and buy the air, and see if you have a feeling of wanting to buy an external as well as a DVD burner. If you do, then you should probably just get a pro. Remember Apple has a 2 week return period!

I know there are resolution differences, but honestly you won't notice it that much. Things don't look "pixelated" on the pro than the air, like some reviews point out- you only notice it when you have your nose in front of the screen. You will notice that there's less usable space though, but for me I don't think it's a big deal.

The air is a fine machine, but I notice heat less on my Pro. The keys don't burn my fingers. Also the keys are little more "sturdy" on the pro- it definitely feels different. I feel that the i5 is sufficient enough for web browsing. When it turbos, it can achieve a maximum of 2.6GHz for dual cores and 2.8GHz for single core. If you want a little more oomph, the i5 in the Pro offers a base clock speed of 2.5GHz and turbos to like 3.1Ghz single and 2.9GHz turbo or something like that. And the i7 13" has a baseline of 2.9GHz and turbos to 3.4Ghz dual/3.6Ghz single.

The battery should be okay for many years. At the end of the day it's still a lot longer lasting than most laptops on the market.

 

[Carrotty]

@currahee2100

Thanks for the advice. I do already have a 500gb external HDD so i don't need to buy one, 90gb on my desktop consist mainly of useless things I hardly ever use so I should be able to free much more space ...as for the SuperDrive (DVD drive), I will consider whether i would need it frequently cause i can get a non-apple cheap one if I have to use it occasionally..

As for the heating part, does the MBA cause serious heating that it feels really hot on the keyboard? If that is so, I might reconsider getting an air.. And when you say that the battery life will be fine for a couple of years you mean for the mbp, or also the MBA? Thanks