MacBook Pro 15 inch or MBA 13 inch?

[EugenexYew]

So currently, I'm having a dilemma between choosing the MBP low end 15 inch and the MBA high end 13 inch with an external hard drive.
I've already search the forums and read quite a few threads but I'm still undecided.

My current situation:
1) I'm switching from a PC and currently I use about 200+ GB of storage on it. *probably will increase overtime*
2) I don't use it for Photoshop or video editing or hardcore games just browsing the web and playing media and some schoolwork.
3) It will be my main computer and I'd probably be travelling to and from school.
4) Budget would be preferably below S$2500 or USD$2000.

In short, I want a MBA's form factor with a MBP's storage size...

Questions:
1) Can the MBP screen's glossiness be prevented by a screen protector?
2) SSD + external HDD or HDD?
3) Is SSD really worth it?
4) And if so, are the Samsung SSDs in the MBA noticeably better than the Toshiba SSDs?

Thanks for your reply.
Cheers.

 

[mrsir2009]

So currently, I'm having a dilemma between choosing the MBP low end 15 inch and the MBA high end 13 inch with an external hard drive.
I've already search the forums and read quite a few threads but I'm still undecided.

My current situation:
1) I'm switching from a PC and currently I use about 200+ GB of storage on it. *probably will increase overtime*
2) I don't use it for Photoshop or video editing or hardcore games just browsing the web and playing media and some schoolwork.
3) It will be my main computer and I'd probably be travelling to and from school.
4) Budget would be preferably below S$2500 or USD$2000.

Questions:
1) Can the MBP screen's glossiness be prevented by a screen protector?

Yeah, you can get anti-glare screen protectors. Or, even better, buy an anti-glare model.

2) SSD + external HDD or HDD?

Depends... Do you use the majority of the data frequently?

3) Is SSD really worth it?

They are much faster... But you'll live with a HDD.

4) And if so, are the Samsung SSDs in the MBA noticeably better than the Toshiba SSDs?

Dunno about this one, sorry

Thanks for your reply.
Cheers.

Good luck

 

[SDAVE]

15". It's good to be in the middle of 13" and 17".

Go to the store to see which model fits your needs.

Don't get SSD at the moment. The prices are dropping rather quickly, in 8 months, 256GB+ SSD's will be very affordable and you can just replace it on your own.

I am waiting for 512GB SSD's to drop in price. Have an early 2011 MBP 15", the screen is nice (anti-glare hi-res). Some people don't like it, but you should check it yourself.

Also don't forget the 13" does not have a second GPU like the 15" does.

 

[snaky69]

So currently, I'm having a dilemma between choosing the MBP low end 15 inch and the MBA high end 13 inch with an external hard drive.
I've already search the forums and read quite a few threads but I'm still undecided.

My current situation:
1) I'm switching from a PC and currently I use about 200+ GB of storage on it. *probably will increase overtime*
2) I don't use it for Photoshop or video editing or hardcore games just browsing the web and playing media and some schoolwork.
3) It will be my main computer and I'd probably be travelling to and from school.
4) Budget would be preferably below S$2500 or USD$2000.

Questions:
1) Can the MBP screen's glossiness be prevented by a screen protector?
2) SSD + external HDD or HDD?
3) Is SSD really worth it?
4) And if so, are the Samsung SSDs in the MBA noticeably better than the Toshiba SSDs?

Thanks for your reply.
Cheers.

1) Buy the anti-glare model right off the bat, anti-glare films look like crap. It's nothing but a band-aid solution.

2)That depends on you. Do you need your data at all times?

3)Read and writes speeds are 3-5x faster. You'd notice the performance increase when opening programs, when booting the computer, saving large files. Once the programs are open though, there is no difference at all between the two. I never shut down my mac except for updates, so boot up time is irrelevant, and I can live with my programs taking a few seconds to open up. So to me, right now, SSD's are not "worth it" even though they are quite fast.

4) In benchmarks, you'd be able to see a difference between the two, in real life usage, you'd be very hard pressed to know which is which.


You are comparing two VERY different computers, with VERY different capabilities aimed at very different usage.

What do you intend to do with the computer? If it's going to be a general web browsing machine, the 15" is most definitely overkill power-wise.

 

[EugenexYew]

Hmmmm ok thanks for the feedback
Does anyone else have anything to add on?