Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MarkNY

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 21, 2010
229
104
The combination of the SSD and high DPI monitor make my iMac seem slow and cheap. This is the best computer Apple has ever made and perhaps the first one where there is no Apple Tax. PC makers can't beat Apple on price for this form factor. Also, the Lion UI looks much better at this high DPI than on a traditional monitor. Where are the high resolution monitors? You simply can't find any, although the DPI on the new Thunderbolt monitor looks pretty good.
 
All of my families are trying to take my MBA away. They are willing to give me an iPad and exchange for MBA.
 
I'm so impressed with my Air that it just makes me want to buy more Mac products. Perhaps the 15" later if it goes on a form factor diet. ;)

Using a computer to do so many basic tasks should not be this fun. :)
 
I've gone Air and I'll never go back. Can't predict the future for sure, but at this point it seems all my future computer/laptop purchases will be Airs. No reason to go with anything else IMO.
 
I've gone Air and I'll never go back. Can't predict the future for sure, but at this point it seems all my future computer/laptop purchases will be Airs. No reason to go with anything else IMO.

this exactly. aside from buying a thinkpad to get the full Windows experience, everthing else in appleland should be Airs. everything else is just a joke in compromises. laptop is about mobility. make it as mobile as possible without sacrificing productivity fundamentals like keyboard and screen size. 11 is the bottom line.
 
Mine hasn't ruined my others Macs, it fits fight in. I was already accustomed to the speed since all my others already had SSD's.

It's like anything else, once you become used to having SSD's it becomes normal. Having used them for a few years, there's no longer that wow factor for me.

The aspect of the new MBA's I like best is the styling, light weight, and decent keyboard.
 
My Air is a companion machine. Period. I knew that when I bought it.

It will never replace "The Big Apple", my 2011 i7 17" Pro, with its Samsung SSD and 8GB of RAM. It will never replace "Grand Central Station", my 2010 i7 27" iMac. The Pro is simply too good at applications; the iMac is too good at media creation and storage/network management.

The Air's job is to-
  • Provide in-flight, in-airport computing.
  • Provide evening in-bed computing.

That's it. Everything else is managed by another machine. Used to be the Air would serve the bathroom...but then the Galaxy Tab took that job.
 
Can't say my MBA has ruined my other computers. My primary is a PC which is built for gaming. Big monitor, lots of storage, SSD, a real GPU, great keyboard, comfortable chair. There's really nothing my MBA does better except of course, being portable.

That said, I find it very hard to use any of my other laptops after owning the air since December. While I cannot guarantee that all my future laptops are going to be Macbook Air's, I can comfortably say they'll all be of the "ultra-portable" breed.
 
I have a 2010 MBP 13" that is about the same speed as my 2011 i7 11" MBA. Its just less than half as heavy and it feels like it's a third of the size.
My MBA has become my primary business computer and I'm really waiting until the thunderbolt display comes around.
That will make my 11" also a 2010 iMac. It will have all of a sudden firewire, lots of usb ports, gigabit ethernet, another 256Gb SSD coupled to the firewire, and an enormous amount of display real estate.
The only thing that is less is the GPU, but I'm not into heavy graphics, I just edit and create documents, PDF's, lots of mail, some excels and that sort of things.
 
The combination of the SSD and high DPI monitor make my iMac seem slow and cheap. This is the best computer Apple has ever made and perhaps the first one where there is no Apple Tax. PC makers can't beat Apple on price for this form factor. Also, the Lion UI looks much better at this high DPI than on a traditional monitor. Where are the high resolution monitors? You simply can't find any, although the DPI on the new Thunderbolt monitor looks pretty good.

Its one of the best laptops around but Apple does charge a premium for that. $999 by no means is worth for a laptop with 2GB RAM and 64GB SSD. It still sells because of quality(both hardware and software) that competitors aren't able to offer.
 
The Apple Tax is still relatively low in comparison with other computers. Say you wanted to get a mobile gaming laptop. In the PC environment, you're probably looking at 1200-1500. The premium 15" MBP would be the most comparable is 2100.
 
Its one of the best laptops around but Apple does charge a premium for that. $999 by no means is worth for a laptop with 2GB RAM and 64GB SSD. It still sells because of quality(both hardware and software) that competitors aren't able to offer.

There have been stories right here on MR that competitors cannot meet the $999 price point of the Air in the Ultra Notebook category. The Air is truly "apple tax" free.
 
There have been stories right here on MR that competitors cannot meet the $999 price point of the Air in the Ultra Notebook category. The Air is truly "apple tax" free.

Yeah, where they get you is in the peripherals. Have you seen what a Thunderbolt cable costs? :D
 
LOL. Unless it's a wife who likes to buy you new Apple products.

It's definitely giving my girlfriend a run for her money ;)

Its one of the best laptops around but Apple does charge a premium for that. $999 by no means is worth for a laptop with 2GB RAM and 64GB SSD. It still sells because of quality(both hardware and software) that competitors aren't able to offer.

And this is why I went for the baseline Pro over the upgraded 11 which would be MORE than the Pro. Which is ridiculous.

You're absolutely right though. I thought about getting an upgraded 11 but it would end up costing more than the baseline MBP, which doesn't make any sense to me.

Now don't get me wrong, if you're using it for the portability and you can do everything you want to do with the machine, more power to you; however, for people who are getting only one machine and they want it to last a long period of time, and they don't "need" the extreme portability, I suggest the baseline MBP.

The Apple Tax is still relatively low in comparison with other computers. Say you wanted to get a mobile gaming laptop. In the PC environment, you're probably looking at 1200-1500. The premium 15" MBP would be the most comparable is 2100.

What? You kind of contradicted yourself. Unless you are implying the 15 inch MBP is better than a windows gaming desktop, or laptop, which it is not.
 
It's definitely giving my girlfriend a run for her money ;)



And this is why I went for the baseline Pro over the upgraded 11 which would be MORE than the Pro. Which is ridiculous.

You're absolutely right though. I thought about getting an upgraded 11 but it would end up costing more than the baseline MBP, which doesn't make any sense to me.

Now don't get me wrong, if you're using it for the portability and you can do everything you want to do with the machine, more power to you; however, for people who are getting only one machine and they want it to last a long period of time, and they don't "need" the extreme portability, I suggest the baseline MBP.



What? You kind of contradicted yourself. Unless you are implying the 15 inch MBP is better than a windows gaming desktop, or laptop, which it is not.

I didn't give enough information. The Apple Tax on the Air line of computers isn't too bad on a whole. Getting Sandy Bridge processors, Thunderbolt etc., in this ultra light, ultra-portable package.

Now looking at the Pro line--I feel like the Apple Tax is a lot higher, going back to my previous post as an example.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.