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MBA or iPad2?

262Runnr

262Runnr

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 21, 2008
282
89
NC
trying to decide between a macbook air or an iPad2? Need some thoughts and opinions...Although the iPad2 is pretty cool it's really just a big 10" iPhone which I already have so I'm leaning toward the MBA at this point.
 
They are really two different animals.

If you primarily digest content (watch movies / read emails / read books / magazines) the Ipad2 is great. If you have to create content (edit video / edit documents / do Word or Excel documents) the MBA is better.

Really depends on what you need the machine for...
 
These are two totally different products.

One is for consuming media and the other is used for productivity. I'll let you guess which one is which.
 
Operating under the assumption that your budget is limited, I would go for an Air. If you can stretch your budget, get both.

I swapped my iPad 1 out a while ago in expectation that the iPad 3 would be here Januaryish 2012.

My 2011 MBA feels like a brick in comparison :)

Tom
 
I don't read magazines or books on any device but I do watch movies a lot. I'm thinking that the MBA would do just as good a job for movies as the iPad..no?
I use Quickbooks Pro, Outlook & Photoshop a lot so that would be a big plus. Especially on such a small portable device.

I like the touch screen, too bad the MBA doesn't come with that....then it would be perfect....but I do have an iPhone with the exact same OS as the iPad.
 
262Runnr said:
I don't read magazines or books on any device but I do watch movies a lot. I'm thinking that the MBA would do just as good a job for movies as the iPad..no?
I use Quickbooks Pro, Outlook & Photoshop a lot so that would be a big plus. Especially on such a small portable device.

I like the touch screen, too bad the MBA doesn't come with that....then it would be perfect....but I do have an iPhone with the exact same OS as the iPad.
Click to expand...

Ignoring portability, than I would think the movie watching experience would be better on an MBA (bigger screen, better sound).You can also use your iPhone as a remote control for VLC running on your MBA.

Tom
 
Thomas Davie said:
Ignoring portability, than I would think the movie watching experience would be better on an MBA (bigger screen, better sound).You can also use your iPhone as a remote control for VLC running on your MBA.

Tom
Click to expand...

I think we need more context. Does OP have another full-fledged computer. I'm assuming the answer is yes? What does OP plan on doing with this second device and where does he/she plan on using it?

If all you want to do is have something to watch movies, surf the web, email, chat, etc., then get the iPad. I've got both and an iMac and I never use my Macbook Air unless I'm traveling and I need to do serious work. Most of my time I'm on my iPad. Movies are great on the iPad - battery life is twice as long, no need to worry about fans overheating and you can hold a tablet in whatever position suits you. Much easier to "curl up with a movie" using an iPad than a Macbook Air.
 
Macbook Air definitely.

There shouldn't even be any double-guessing.

Now if you didn't have an iPhone, I would have said iPad, but if you already have an iPhone, then the next logical gadget to get is a Macbook Air.
 
Since you already have an iPhone it's a no brainer in my book - 11" Air hands down. For twice the price you get four times the capability of the ipad.

I too have an iphone, but also an ipad. I almost never touch the ipad. And if I do it's mostly just to screw around and play games or read. Which I also do more of on my iPhone than the ipad.
 
MBA hands down. Especially considering you already have an iphone. iPad is just a big ipod.
 
EJ8 said:
MBA hands down. Especially considering you already have an iphone. iPad is just a big ipod.
Click to expand...

I used to feel this way. But I think you are wrong here. There are lots of things you can do on an Ipad that you would never do on an ipod or iphone. It's THIS CLOSE to being a real productivity machine. But it's not quite there yet.
 
TheRealDamager said:
I used to feel this way. But I think you are wrong here. There are lots of things you can do on an Ipad that you would never do on an ipod or iphone. It's THIS CLOSE to being a real productivity machine. But it's not quite there yet.
Click to expand...

Agreed. And that's why I said the answer to the OP's question really depends on what he plans on doing with it. If it's just a lot of movie watching, the iPad makes more sense. More comfortable to hold, longer battery life.

Ask this on the iPad forum, too, and I bet you get different answers.
 
I chose the Macbook Air because for a few hundred more you can have twice the memory and a machine that you can type quickly on. The Air can clearly do anything the iPad can do. I use my iPhone for some internet stuff and checking e-mails but open up the Air for replying or doing anything "real."

I wasn't too impressed with the iPad 2 update and hated carrying a heavy computer around (2007 15" MBP). The Air slips into my backpack and I'm up and running in a matter of seconds.
 
MBA will be the perfect device for any job, and 13" is the perfect size. so light and fast you will never want to use anything else again.
 
I love my 13" base model. I did have to dump some info from my mbp's hd so I had enough room on the 128gb ssd, but I should have done that anyway.

I love the form, the size, the fact that I can both consume info easily (it's even easy to hold in bed) and do work. I thought the smaller screen size would be an issue, but the 13" now seems normal and my 15" seems extraordinarily large. I can't imagine going down to an iPad size at this point and have my iP4 for extreme portability.
 
I have an MBA 11" and an ipad 2 and find that one doesn't cancel out the other for my uses. It would be a really tough choice if I had to choose one or the other. In the end I'd probably go with the ipad but only if I had a spare laptop around.
 
I have both (iPad2 since launch day and MBA since 1 week) and I really like the MBA. It'll do mostly anything the iPad can do and is not much bigger. So good I think I'll sell my iPad and use MBA alone.

I think, for the price, the MBA is better since you could do a lot more with it.
 
Last edited:
262Runnr said:
I don't read magazines or books on any device but I do watch movies a lot. I'm thinking that the MBA would do just as good a job for movies as the iPad..no?
I use Quickbooks Pro, Outlook & Photoshop a lot so that would be a big plus. Especially on such a small portable device.

I like the touch screen, too bad the MBA doesn't come with that....then it would be perfect....but I do have an iPhone with the exact same OS as the iPad.
Click to expand...

If you're going to be using more involved applications with lots of fine interaction/data entry, then the MBA is the one to go for. You can certainly work on projects and such on the iPad but when it comes to Photoshop and other full applications, you'll still need a desktop-class OS. Now, if you already have a computer for that then iPad would be fine for other things.
 
Good advice

In my opinion, this is as good advice as one could hear. You will have it all with the MBA.
 
It really comes down to what you already have and how you get your movies / tv shows that you want to watch.

Personally I have an iPhone, iPad and MBA 11". My wife the same, but a MBA 13"...

iPhone = phone calls, SMS, email on the go as well as some games when I'm just hanging about.
iPad = books, games, some movies, music when reading books and more games.
MBA = Everything else, surfing, programming, music, movies, administration, photo editing, storage etc.

But in saying that I do need a computer to re-encode the movies that go into iTunes and end up on the iPad and I don't use the MBA for those duties generally.

An example is a recent OS trip we took. On the plane I used the iPad for games, movies and reading (10hr flight), I hate trying to read on the iPhone or watch movies on it. When on holidays waiting for trolleys, shuttles, I (or more my Son) used the iPhone to play games. When in the hotel room I would download photos, edit them, store them and also browse the inter-webs on the MBA...

So it comes down to if you already have a PC / Mac that you can use at home to get the movies etc into iTunes and onto the iPad, can put up without flash enabled websites for surfing, go the iPad2, if not go the MBA. Just my thoughts on the matter, each device is for something different in my books.
 
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