Macbook pro 2.66 15" vs. new Macbook Air 13"

[rileyb76]

Guys,
Found a used 2.66 MBP 15" (not the i7) for sale. He's asking 1199 right now or best offer. My 2 choices are the 128gb Macbook Air and a used MBP 15"er. Budget is around the 1200 range.

Which one do you guys think would hold up better? The new Air's benchmarks look really nice but I'm not sure how they would compare with the 2.66 MBP.

My main uses would be surfing, email, editing photos (no 100MB raw files or anything that big though), installing VMWare and running ubuntu, etc.

What would you guys do?
TIA!

 

[Hellhammer]

MBA would be fine for you as long as you can live with 128GB. I would get the 4GB RAM upgrade though. Of course if you prefer the 15" screen and other features, then MBP is better

 

[rileyb76]

MBA would be fine for you as long as you can live with 128GB. I would get the 4GB RAM upgrade though. Of course if you prefer the 15" screen and other features, then MBP is better

Thanks! Do you think the new MBA's would handle VMWare (with ubuntu) and editing photos etc with no real hiccups?

 

[Hellhammer]

VMWare is fine if you get the 4GB RAM upgrade as running two OSs simultaneously is quite RAM hungry. Since you said your photo editing isn't anything heavy, MBA should be fine for that too.

 

[Branskins]

I thought the MBP still had better performance than all the MBAs and the prices aren't that different?

Part of me thinks it is just better to wait for this technology to come to the MBP in a few years.

 

[NickZac]

For what you do the MacBook Air will be quicker time-wise.

 

[miata]

The base MBA 13" is already over this guys $1200 budget and only has 2 GB RAM and 128 GB SSD. That would be tight for VMware.

 

[KPOM]

The base MBA 13" is already over this guys $1200 budget and only has 2 GB RAM and 128 GB SSD. That would be tight for VMware.

He said budget is "around" $1200. With MacMall and some other retailers, you can get the 13" MacBook with 4GB for about $1330, or an 11" 4GB model for just over $1200. Either would handle VMWare Fusion with Ubuntu just fine. Heck, even a 2GB model might be enough, since the SSD is pretty quick, though it would definitely page out a lot.

 

[marshallbedsaul]

get the 2.66 mode i have it and love the system