MacBook Air replacement wanted

[luiz]

Hi,
I bought a late 2010 MacBook Air a while ago. This was the top of the range one; 2.13Ghz, 4GB RAM and 256GB SSD model. I've since started a bit of a collection on my 500GB external hard drive with loads of movies and TV shows, which is now full. I therefore want to sell this laptop, and buy another Mac with a bigger hard drive and a better graphics card (so I can do a bit more gaming on it).

I'd like some suggestions on what could be a good replacement, my current ideal would be a 13" MacBook Pro with an i7, and a Seagate Momentus XT 750GB (a hybrid storage device which comes with I think 4GB of flash storage where it puts the most commonly used files for fast access; hopefully resulting in fast boot times). Does anyone have this configuration at the moment, and how fast is it (possibly compared to a MacBook Air 2010)? Any other plausible ideas? The main thing I don't want to give up is the fast boot time...

Thanks for reading!

 

[bogatyr]

If gaming is a requirement, the iGPU of the MBP 13" isn't going to be a great choice. If you're set on a Macbook, then the MBP 15" would be my suggestion.

You can replace the main drive with an SSD as well and put the original drive in a caddy to replace the optical drive.

 

[Bigredhawkeye]

The only real option if you want to do some decent gaming is a MBP 15". The 13" MBP still has the Intel 3000 integrated graphics so it isn't going to be much different than gaming on the MBA.

The 15" MBP would also give you some different storage options as well. So if you're stuck on a Mac, that's about all you can do.

If you're open to PC ideas, then I could give you a lot more suggestions.

 

[luiz]

What about the older gen MacBook Pros, they had discrete AMD cards didn't they? Were they any good? I'm not a hardcore gamer, but I've just bought GTA IV and it lags like crazy even on the lowest settings. I just want games to run well; I don't need good graphics.

And bogatyr, I have heard of that, have you or anyone you know tried it? Is it a complicated procedure? I'm not too experienced with hardware operations (just the odd hard drive upgrade, optical lens clean etc).

Thanks guys

 

[bogatyr]

I have not done it myself, I scrapped my MBP and switched to a MBA. I play 99% of my games on a console so the GPU on the laptop wasn't important but the size was.

I know there are other guys here who have, seen posts here and there about it. Another place to find people who have would be the Apple forum on Notebookreview.com

 

[throAU]

gaming on a laptop kinda sucks due to heat, fan noise and lack of battery life.

i'd replace with a 13" MBP, the video will be a little better than the MBA due to the higher clock speed, but either way, both should run games from a couple of years ago no problem.

I *can* game on my 15" mbp, but it doesn't like it: fan noise, heat, etc...