mba with c2d or i5

The C2D will suffice for your stated computational needs and the battery time will be about the same, as the i5/7 have the same TDP as the C2D, thus they use the same power doing similar tasks.

 

The C2D has better battery life. Unless you miss the backlit keyboard, for what you do, I'd take the 2010 model.

 

I'll go against the grain here:

If you're doing more than very basic stuff, the core i5 will be faster, and get better battery life (assuming more than an "idle" workload) as it will "race to sleep" faster (it is more efficient in terms of instructions performed per watt).

Also, if you want to run encryption on disk, the Core Is have AES encryption acceleration in hardware (they're almost 30x faster than a Core 2 at this). They're also WAY faster at transcoding/encoding video.

The i5 will be more future proof. You'll also get thunderbolt, which means you can use a thunderbolt display as a dock, down the track (and get gigabit ethernet, multiple USB ports, etc).


I'd take the i5 no question - your expansion options on the c2d are limited to USB2 - no gigabit ethernet, no high speed disk, no external video, etc. Might not need it now, but if the price difference is bearable, get the i5.

 

What ThroAU said. Don't buy backwards in this case because the shift from C2D to i5/7 really was a drastic change - when you factor in things like TB and the backlit keyboard (which for me is invaluable given I'm working both late into the night and early in the morning when I don't want to have room lights on.

A lot of people will say to hold out until the new Air is released - assuming there is a new Air coming shortly. That could be a smart thing, or you could buy the current generation Air once the new one is released and save some money without sacrificing quite so much.

 

What is not clear from your question is if you actually currently have an Air. If you don't, you want to go with the latest so it remains useable longer.

I don't think you will see much improvement unless you go from a 2GB model to a 4GB model.

The next AIr update might offer some feature that you find irresistible, so if you currently have an Air, and and you decide an upgrade is needed, you might want to wait.

 

The C2D may have had better battery new, but once you're buying a used machine, the battery has been used, and in this case, likely a lot.

Refurbished changes this, of course, but at that point you're probably better off with the new one, anyways, for the reasons outlined above.

 

There is only rumors and speculation. The only thing we know for sure is that the IvyBridge processors that would be used for an Air are currently scheduled to be released by Intel in June. Apple could release a new Air anywhere between then and when Mountain Lion gets released.

With what you said you'll be doing, the current generation of Airs will be fine. You could buy a refurbished one from the Apple Store and save some money. The availability changes often, so you may need to check for a while until what you want shows up.

 

I also agree that you should go with a core i. The difference between core i and C2D is pretty substantial. That being said, make sure you get one with 4GB of RAM because the RAM is NOT upgradable. You will want the 4GB for sure because after a while you'll realize 2GB isn't even enough to really run Lion efficiently.

 

Yup, RAM is soldered to the board.

And yeah, the C2D model has only USB for expansion which is 480 megabit (lol, best case, correct phase of the moon, no other cpu activity, etc, etc).

480 megabit is less than half a 1 gigabit network connection, so no gigabit network port; the USB network dongles are only 100 megabit. Which in this day and age is pretty crap.

If you don't need gigabit (and other thunderbolt peripherals) maybe you can live without it, but IMHO its a major advantage of the 2011 models.


Don't get me wrong, the 2010 Air is totally usable for light desktop type stuff (in this sort of thing, the 2010 in my sig below is often faster than my 2011 pro simply due to the SSD). but if you can swing the price difference, the 2011 is a much, much, much more potent (and expandable) machine.

 

SSD drives make paging a lot less noticable.

 

As an owner of a MBA13/C2D: What ThroAU said... buy the i5/7... the C2D is sluggish, when i open 5 tabs at once, the whole system is busy for 15/20 seconds

 

Sorry man, but you gotta have some tech issue with your MBA.

I got a 2010 C2D MBA (with 4gb RAM) and it flies. I often have 10 tabs open, DreamWeaver and PhotoShop, Email, and many other things open at the same time. This machine is MUCH more powerful than what the C2D processor would hint. I'm a web developer and the 2010 is my sole working machine.

 

I too have the c2d 1.4ghz and 10 tabs doesnt slow me down...

 

i think he didn't upgrade the ram, like me

 

Although a bit late.... i do have the full 4GB ram... and even after a clean install and only apple programs and office, it still feels sluggish, my older MBP was faster..

 

i5 for all the reasons above, C2D was a great CPU in it`s day and there is still use in it, however I wouldn't by system with one unless it was very cheap.

My present Mac`s range from 2.4Ghz C2D to Quad Core i7, the i5`s are significantly better performers, the i7`s are staggeringly faster by several magnitudes

 

For what the OP wants a 2gb C2D will do perfectly fine for many years to come and will save some money in the process.

Mine doesn't skip a beat for using it for this kind of work.

 

i5 all the way

you will thank yourself 3 years from now