MBA 11" or MBA 13"???

[gcans]

Hey guys, i'm kinda new to the whole Mac thing, and I need one for school. I was wondering which is the best MBA to get(11" fully loaded or 13" fully loaded), and how well will it run games(Call of Duty), software, ect.
Thanks.

 

[entatlrg]

I just finished making the same decision, I owned both the 11 and 13" MBA's ... the 11" Air went to my wife, I'm loving the 13"

I'd go for the 13" loaded.

More power, speed, better screen, just as portable as the 11" but far more functional.

My 2 cents

 

[bcaslis]

It really depends on what you want to do with it. In the past few months I've had loaded 11", loaded 15" MBP, and now a loaded 13". The 11" is perfect for mostly normal stuff and traveling. I've settled (for now) on the 13" since I want to use it for normal tasks and photo importing and editing. The screen and the storage on the 11" are just a little too small for me for that, and having the SD card slot included in the 13" is a plus. But boy the 11" form factor is really great.

 

[DaveOZ]

I went for the 11" so I could carry it everywhere. I've been so impressed I have now parked my 17" MBP and made the Air my only computer, plugged into a 23"ACDisplay at work.

Now I'm finding I'm drawn towards the 13"........

This really is a tough decision.

 

[Sounds Good]

I took a look at them both today. I absolutely love the overall size of the 11"... but the I'm not sure if I could live with the screen size. It's just a tad too small for MY eyes, unfortunately.

If you could "tap tap" on the MBA like you can on an iPad (to quickly zoom in on a paragraph of text) it would be awesome... but it doesn't work that way.

 

[Moccasin]

This decision is doing my head in now. I like the size/portability of the 11" but am concerned that the extra power of the 13" would be better, not to mention the battery life and disk space.

At the moment, its a show-down between a new 11" ultimate and a refurb 13". I want the option to run a couple of demanding Windows programs but the main use would be surfing, email, possibly app development (tinkering at least) and dealing with photos - I've started shooting in RAW but am not doing much editing.. yet.

I went into the local Apple store earlier and was annoyed to find all their machines were the same - all base models in each size - so couldn't check the relative performance.

 

[scottgroovez]

I really like the "widescreeness" of the 11", however I would just find the screen too small for extended usage.

 

[gcans]

This decision is doing my head in now. I like the size/portability of the 11" but am concerned that the extra power of the 13" would be better, not to mention the battery life and disk space.

At the moment, its a show-down between a new 11" ultimate and a refurb 13". I want the option to run a couple of demanding Windows programs but the main use would be surfing, email, possibly app development (tinkering at least) and dealing with photos - I've started shooting in RAW but am not doing much editing.. yet.

I went into the local Apple store earlier and was annoyed to find all their machines were the same - all base models in each size - so couldn't check the relative performance.

Ya, thats almost the exact same problem that i'm having.

 

[scottgroovez]

Why not use the return period to trial one of the machines?

 

[Moccasin]

Why not use the return period to trial one of the machines?

Yes I'm thinking I might trial the 11" ultimate and see how well it suits me. Might have to take a deep breath and walk into the store tomorrow. £1200 on a laptop is a lot of money but this thing (Sony Vaio) is not going to last much longer

 

[TheXFactor]

I went round and round with this too. But in the end, the screen size and battery life won. Not to mention I was waiting for the 13" 1.86/4/128 refurb to appear again on the apple site. It did, end of story.

Coming from a MB, I wasn't sure I wanted to go down in screen size.

 

[Moccasin]

I went round and round with this too. But in the end, the screen size and battery life won. Not to mention I was waiting for the 13" 1.86/4/128 refurb to appear again on the apple site. It did, end of story.

Coming from a MB, I wasn't sure I wanted to go down in screen size.

Given that my current brick has a battery life measured in milliseconds, 5 hours would be a godsend. That said, the spec you went for is probably my favoured one - for the 13" anyway. An issue with the 13" is that I don't think it would fit in my current lowepro camera backpack.

 

[TheXFactor]

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I went round and round with this too. But in the end, the screen size and battery life won. Not to mention I was waiting for the 13" 1.86/4/128 refurb to appear again on the apple site. It did, end of story.

Coming from a MB, I wasn't sure I wanted to go down in screen size.

Given that my current brick has a battery life measured in milliseconds, 5 hours would be a godsend. That said, the spec you went for is probably my favoured one - for the 13" anyway. An issue with the 13" is that I don't think it would fit in my current lowepro camera backpack.

I went back to the apple store to look at the MBA 11" again. Compared to the 13" of course. Just couldn't pull the trigger on the smaller one. It's cool and all, but for me the 13" screen is the perfect size. Just like my MB was, the air will be my main Mac.

For $1189, I couldn't pass on it. I sold my 2008 MB for $600, so all in all it costs me a little over $600 out of pocket.

 

[Moccasin]

To be honest I'm thinking about forgetting the whole thing for now and waiting until the refresh. That means I'll have a short-term need for portable computing which will probably have to be filled by a netbook - yes that'll be £200 but either the existing MBA will come down in price and I'll be no worse off or I get a more future-proofed MBA with Lion OS which will save cash in the long run.

I'm expecting to go abroad again at the end of next week so could be stuck with whatever I buy if I go for one as a trial now. Job security isn't great either so spending £1000+ is not a very good idea right now.

 

[Maven1975]

I took a look at them both today. I absolutely love the overall size of the 11"... but the I'm not sure if I could live with the screen size. It's just a tad too small for MY eyes, unfortunately.

If you could "tap tap" on the MBA like you can on an iPad (to quickly zoom in on a paragraph of text) it would be awesome... but it doesn't work that way.

It will work that way in Lion. (Just a few months away)

 

[Scottsdale]

I bought both as I couldn't decide when they first came out. The 11" would be great for a really light user or a user who is using it as a secondary device. If you want it to be a primary Mac, the 13" is absolutely the way to go.

With the 13" you don't need to connect to an external display to get a lot of desktop space. It is more powerful, and it has better drive options. At $1189 refurbished, the 13" with 4GB RAM, 1.86, and 128GB SSD, it is the best value of any Mac. If you need more drive space then upgrade the drive.

The 11" isn't that much more mobile, but it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of using it solely as a laptop. I personally wouldn't want to use it as my primary Mac... and since I enjoy one Mac solutions, I don't see the point in wanting multiple Macs for personal use. The 13" MBA is completely capable with hi resolution display, and the capability to do anything an average user would want or need.

I don't know about games though... I would assume the 13" with its faster and more capable CPUs (more L2 Cache) is the way to go there too... although both have the amazing 320m.