Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacBook Air Owners who have a MBP

entatlrg

entatlrg

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 2, 2009
3,385
6
Waterloo & Georgian Bay, Canada
Since you got your Macbook Air do you use your MBP less?

If so, how much less?

I've read over in the MBP forums occasionally how some 15 and 17" owners rarely use their bigger notebooks anymore since getting the Air.
 
entatlrg said:
Since you got your Macbook Air do you use your MBP less?

If so, how much less?

I've read over in the MBP forums occasionally how some 15 and 17" owners rarely use their bigger notebooks anymore since getting the Air.
Click to expand...


Makes sense. I've a MBA and my girl has a MBP, both 13". When you are in your house, going room to room, or just want to grab your laptop and head to the couch, you're going to go with the really light one every time. Her MBP feels like a brick to me.

I have zero doubt that if I owned an iPad, even my MBA would be sitting, powered off, 90% of the time, since I use it mainly for surfing, videos, and email, -not spreadsheets and other more robust applications. Anything that you can do on the much lighter device with a better form factor, you will generally do on that device if it's just easier to hold and navigate.
 
MacDawg said:
I have a 17" MBP and got the 13" Air
I have officially switched
Love my Air
Click to expand...

Do you find you're less productive with the smaller screen?

That's where I think I may be fooling myself ... I have the desire to buy a laptop with a larger screen to be more productive, ie two pages side by side, less vertical scrolling...

But, on the other hand having a larger / heavier notebook may result in using it less often in less places. I use my Air everywhere therefore work gets done even though the screen is smaller.

I don't require more power than what the Air offers and I have a desktop in my office, just don't enjoy working from a desk.

Money burning a hole in my pocket maybe, I've had MBP's before and wanted the Air so bad, now I'm thinking a larger mobile screen would be nice ... but worth the trade off's maybe not.
 
I tend to use them about equally. Taking the Air when I am out and about having coffee, using the Pro at home more. Hard to beat the Pro's hi Res screen
 
MBP is surely heavy :)

entatlrg said:
Since you got your Macbook Air do you use your MBP less?

If so, how much less?

I've read over in the MBP forums occasionally how some 15 and 17" owners rarely use their bigger notebooks anymore since getting the Air.
Click to expand...
I have 13" MBA and 13" MBP, I use MBP as the desktop -- all the videos, photos, backups etc. After getting used to MBA, it does feel like a brick :), maybe someday we will get an MBA with 500GB + storage at a lower $$$

I feel MBP has better display (compared to mid 2011 MBA v/s late 2011 MBP) but I might be wrong.
 
teerexx52 said:
I tend to use them about equally. Taking the Air when I am out and about having coffee, using the Pro at home more. Hard to beat the Pro's hi Res screen
Click to expand...

The Macbook Pro has a lower resolution screen than the Macbook Air.
 
I have a 13" air and a 15" hi-res MBP. I use both for different things. Part of the time the 15" is parked with my 24" cinema display (which is lower res than either laptop) and acts as a desktop at work. The Air is then my "at home" computer and works just fine on business trips etc. as well. However, when it comes down to serious work at home or away for more than a week or two then the 15" hi-res is definitely preferred while sitting, just not walking ;). It helps out that it's an i7 with 8GB of RAM too though. I justify having both because of the security in laptop redundancy and the different uses of them.

It sounds like you need portability. If you are flexible on this then I would just use that cash that's burning in your pocket to get an :apple: cinema display.
 
entatlrg said:
Do you find you're less productive with the smaller screen?

That's where I think I may be fooling myself ... I have the desire to buy a laptop with a larger screen to be more productive, ie two pages side by side, less vertical scrolling...

But, on the other hand having a larger / heavier notebook may result in using it less often in less places. I use my Air everywhere therefore work gets done even though the screen is smaller.

I don't require more power than what the Air offers and I have a desktop in my office, just don't enjoy working from a desk.

Money burning a hole in my pocket maybe, I've had MBP's before and wanted the Air so bad, now I'm thinking a larger mobile screen would be nice ... but worth the trade off's maybe not.
Click to expand...

Q1 2012 should see a slim Hi-Res 15" MBPro - best of both worlds
 
szolr said:
Doesn't a MBA 13 inch have the same resolution as a MBP 15 inch? :cool: (I guess you're talking about the 11 inch Air above, right?)
Click to expand...


11" MBA - 1366x768
13" MBA - 1440x900
13" MBP - 1280x800
15" MBP - 1440x900 or 1,680-by-1,050 - this is the model I was referring to so I am not sure what you mean
17" MBP - 1920x1200
 
FuNGi said:
I have a 13" air and a 15" hi-res MBP. I use both for different things. Part of the time the 15" is parked with my 24" cinema display (which is lower res than either laptop) and acts as a desktop at work.
Click to expand...

How does your 24" ACD have a lower resolution than your laptops?
 
entatlrg said:
That's where I think I may be fooling myself ... I have the desire to buy a laptop with a larger screen to be more productive, ie two pages side by side, less vertical scrolling...

But, on the other hand having a larger / heavier notebook may result in using it less often in less places. I use my Air everywhere therefore work gets done even though the screen is smaller.
Click to expand...

Have 15" MBP and have had both 11" and now 13" MBA. Since I have had the MBA, I use the MBP as a desktop and that is very very rarely. If you want productivity, pair your MBA with a 23" Dell HD display for $150 and you are done. I can't imagine taking my MBP out of the house ever again. As someone else said though, a combination of iPad and MBP may be better for 99% of YOUR specific needs than an MBA.
 
entatlrg said:
Yes, that will be the answer! In the meantime it's hard to go back to using a bigger heavier laptop, especially a 17" from a 13" Air.

Cinema display is a good idea, only problem is I'm not too found of working at a desk.
Click to expand...

I live on the south west coast of England, but in order to make a living I need to be in London for 3 to 4 days a week. I have a MBP and I was getting tired of lugging it around with me (I have a windows laptop in the bag as well). So I figured that the MBA would be a fine choice. The plan was to leave the MBA in London and use it there and use the MBP in my other home. Unfortunately I love my MBA too much to not be without it so I take it with me back and forth. The MBP sits sulking in a drawer and hasn't been used for a while.

There are many things I miss about my MBP, like the higher quality and more vivid display, 8 GBs of RAM, firewire and ethernet. However, my MBP is a 13" 2009 model so perhaps my situation is not the same as yours. If I had 2011 15" or bigger, I would probably use it more and wouldn't need to bring the MBA home with me.

If I could have 8 GBs of RAM (I would have gladly paid Apple tax if they offered), then I would be in heaven. A thunderbolt port with more connection options would put me over the edge. I already have a 24" ACD and connect the MBA to it so buying an ATD (i.e. another monitor that I can't use my windows machines with) is pointless.
 
My first Mac was a MPB which I bought in April 2008, and which I loved. In September 2010, I added a Rev C SSD MBA to the MBP, since I travel a lot.

In common with a number of other posters on this thread, the MBP essentially became a desktop, and since I was still travelling a lot (and now bringing my MBA), I found myself using the MBP less and less as time went by. Earlier this year, I sold it (it still had around two months of Applecare left) and now my MBA is my sole computer, and I use it for everything.
 
I feel if you connect the MBA to an external monitor, it pretty much negates the need for having a MBP as a desktop.
 
I've got a 15" MBP connected to a 27" LED Cinema Display as a primary and a 13" MBA, and I don't know why I've got this weird setup.
 
I use my MBP 17" at my desk and I carry my MBA around the house such as when I;m watching TV. But nothing beats that 17" hi-res screen on the MBP.
 
in my opinion the powerbook/macbook pro were always better than the ibook/macbook. the macbook air seems to be different, a evolution of notebooks. is the macbook air apples consumer line or the future of apple notebooks?
 
Planned on using my 11" MBA 10% and my MBP 15" 90%. Reality is it's flipped (if not even more skewed to the Air)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back