MBA against MBP for development student?

[mrs1986]

Well, here i'm again, a month ago i asked about the mbp, and i'm convinced on getting a mac, i think they are a better value for the money, just best service i think.

The problem is that i'm still waiting for my friend to travel to usa and be ready to send te mac to him at the hotel... So.... now, the MBA just appear and now i can't decide wich one to get, the ssd on the mba is really tempting me, but the chances on upgrade (ram and hdd) on the mbp also stop me from getting the air...

My main concern is that this laptop, MUST last me trough my college (just finished first year almost, 3.5 more to go ) and i'm afraid if the max ram on the air will be enogh for my development work trough this years, the cpu i think will be enogh, is not too cpu intensive the development work i think and the large of the ssd is just right, i can buy a backup hard disk later....

but my concerns remain the same.... what would you do? wich one would be an overall better value? wich one would have the best resale value?

thanks all

mauricio

P/S: sorry, both 13 inch cause it will be my main and only computer for these years :S

 

[miles01110]

Anyone that "must" have a laptop last more than 2 or 3 years should not even be considering the Macbook Air.

 

[ZBoater]

Anyone that "must" have a laptop last more than 2 or 3 years should not even be considering the Macbook Air.

I would agree with that. The lack of upgradability is a big risk.

But you will get more chicks with the Air, so go for it!

You can always sell the Air on eBay in two years to buy the latest model.

 

[mrs1986]

Anyone that "must" have a laptop last more than 2 or 3 years should not even be considering the Macbook Air.

Interesting, and do you think the base mbp 13 neither

 

[mrs1986]

I would agree with that. The lack of upgradability is a big risk.

But you will get more chicks with the Air, so go for it!

You can always sell the Air on eBay in two years to buy the latest model.

Ha ha, thats funny (hope my girlfriend never read this)

Selling the MBA is an option, but is not an option buy another mac, just for your information where i live (uruguay) a base mbp 13 will cost 2600 dolars yeah, just as you guys read it, more than double the price, thats why i need it to last long, cause i cant sell it and buy one again, i probably can sell it a LOT more expensive than here in the usa, but CANT buy anything whit that money

 

[seong]

Ha ha, thats funny (hope my girlfriend never read this)

Selling the MBA is an option, but is not an option buy another mac, just for your information where i live (uruguay) a base mbp 13 will cost 2600 dolars yeah, just as you guys read it, more than double the price, thats why i need it to last long, cause i cant sell it and buy one again, i probably can sell it a LOT more expensive than here in the usa, but CANT buy anything whit that money

Hm, didn't know it would cost THAT much in Uruguay. I'm not sure if the price came down when Apple recently updated their currency on their products. Yea, I get what your situation is like.
I would say get a Macbook Pro, then upgrade the RAM to 8GB in 2012, and get the 256 or 512GB SSD in 2013 (hopefully the price will go down to 0.75$ per GB.) Then, by the time when you sell your MBP, you can get some money out of it.
If I were you, I would get the most out of my money first, since it seems as if ordering something overseas, or even buying computer/components in your country, will cost a lot of money for you. I'm currently using the base model Macbook Pro 13" from 2009, and it's working without a single problem (just recently upgraded to 8GB of RAM and it's pretty speedy.)

 

[mrs1986]

Hm, didn't know it would cost THAT much in Uruguay. I hope the price came down when Apple recently updated their currency on their products. Yea, I get what your situation is like.....
I would say get a Macbook Pro, then upgrade the RAM to 8GB in 2012, and get the 256 or 512GB SSD in 2013 (hopefully the price will go down to 0.75$ per GB.

Yes is kind of funny how much do they cost here... For the same money, i could travell to miami or whatever place, buy the macbook and go back in the day AND it should be a little cheaper.

I think i will hold and just buy the pro, upgrade the memory right now or just wait for the warranty to finish maybe, and an ssd later...
BTW, is something special in the air to make it that fast or it is just the ssd? If i put an ssd in the pro will be just as fast isnt it??

 

[Obscurelight]

Yes is kind of funny how much do they cost here... For the same money, i could travell to miami or whatever place, buy the macbook and go back in the day AND it should be a little cheaper.

I think i will hold and just buy the pro, upgrade the memory right now or just wait for the warranty to finish maybe, and an ssd later...
BTW, is something special in the air to make it that fast or it is just the ssd? If i put an ssd in the pro will be just as fast isnt it??

Just the SSD. You can be even faster on the pro if you pull all the upgrades

 

[mrs1986]

Just the SSD. You can be even faster on the pro if you pull all the upgrades

Thanks a lot, i'm still going for the mbp with 8gb and an SSD for the year coming

Just another question....
A feature i like of the air is the sleep time it can reach, just to know, the mbp, can do trough the day if i just put it to sleep? or is more likely to kill the battery?

 

[Kyllle]

Thanks a lot, i'm still going for the mbp with 8gb and an SSD for the year coming

Just another question....
A feature i like of the air is the sleep time it can reach, just to know, the mbp, can do trough the day if i just put it to sleep? or is more likely to kill the battery?

With the pro's standard hdd, it will drain slightly more battery during sleep mode, but it should still last a long time. if you put an ssd in the pro, it would be the same as the air's sleep time.

 

[retrorichie]

Anyone that "must" have a laptop last more than 2 or 3 years should not even be considering the Macbook Air.

I disagree with this so much. The MBA I just purchased will be in service for 4-5 years, so help me God. Our 2008 MBP is running like a top, and my wife demands the hell out of it with her graphic design business. The only thing I have done is replace the battery, and frankly the full service MBA battery replacement is not much more expensive.

Give up on the idea of gaming on your laptop and your machine will serve every other function you can throw at it just fine for a long time. Don't be afraid of the MBA as your primary machine. It is a fantastic little bastard.

 

[mrs1986]

I disagree with this so much. The MBA I just purchased will be in service for 4-5 years, so help me God. Our 2008 MBP is running like a top, and my wife demands the hell out of it with her graphic design business. The only thing I have done is replace the battery, and frankly the full service MBA battery replacement is not much more expensive.

Give up on the idea of gaming on your laptop and your machine will serve every other function you can throw at it just fine for a long time. Don't be afraid of the MBA as your primary machine. It is a fantastic little bastard.

Today, i think i would like to game a little, just game, at minimun and even low res, dont care, but in a year or so, maybe not playing anymore, studies get heavy