Own more than one laptop/notebook?

[entatlrg]

To those who own more than one laptop .... interesting to hear how you use them together. Why do you have more than one?

For me, I use my 15" MBP in my home office, den, living room.

When I travel I like the size of the 13" MBP so that's what I'm using now, it used to be a MacBook Air but it's no longer enough to handle my work.

 

[ano0oj]

Just bought the 15", but keeping my T61 for out of city trips

 

[murdercitydevil]

I've always wanted to have 2 or 3 notebooks and like 2 desktops with a huge array of monitors like some people's setups, but honestly I do nothing that would warrant that. I've always wondered why people would have more than one laptop. Is the portability of a 13" over a 15" really worth the cost of an entirely new machine?

 

[Scottsdale]

Just wondering why you cannot just use a 13" or 15" MBP then use an external display when at the desk? Wondering why you need two MBPs? It seems that they're very similar in terms of performance capabilities? Both drive up to a 30" ACD at a desk.

I used to have three laptops (2 yrs ago). I had a Mac and two PCs.

Mac - Writing, email, Internet, and misc apps.
PC #1 - Exclusive work for client. CS 3, Office, Project, Visio.
PC #2 - At university for Word, Excel, PowerPoint.

Now I have ONE MBA and it does everything! I absolutely love my setup. I have a v 2,1 MBA with an SSD. When at any of my offices, I connect to a 24" LED ACD and have an instant desktop. When on the go, it's the perfect ultraportable. I use MobileMe and an AEBS w/drive attached for remote access to files. I have Windows 7 setup via BootCamp. I boot into Windows a few days per week for work stuff.

I absolutely love this system. It doesn't get any better, but I don't do a lot of intensive stuff.

Is it just your display size that you need two different MBPs for? Or is it the capabilities of the 15" over the 13"? What couldn't the MBA do that you needed it to do? Will you consider buying another MBA once it gets updated?

 

[entatlrg]

Will you consider buying another MBA once it gets updated?

Holy moly Scottsdale I'll be first in line when/if there is a MBA update. Actually second in line, I'm sure you'll be first.

That's at the top of my electronics wish list, even give it 4gb ram and I can go back to using it as my main computer again.

I went to the 13" MBP from the Air only because the Air was sluggish doing some of my work, fans run often, if I use fan control then the trade off is it just gets warmer on the lap ... it just needs an update even a little one.

Money isn't a concern when buying computers, I own the business and everything ends up being used by (anxiously awaiting) staff. I get to pick, choose and test a lot.

The iPad would of rocked my world more if I only owned and used a 17" or 15" MBP then it would of been a real cool light device that would allow me to leave my heavier / clunkier laptop at home ... at the cost of lost productivity.

Having owned MacBook Air(s) if you're going to grab the iPad and go, why not grab the Air, (unless you need the battery life), the Air is no harder to carry than the iPad and does much much more, I can get work done many times faster on the MacBook Air versus the iPad, for that reason cost can't be a concern, it pays for itself.

When the MBA started to seem sluggish I opted for the 50% heavier 13" MBP, I love it, no difference from the Air except it's thicker, foot print is the same and the weight is greater but that's okay I need the excercise.

Using the 13" as a portable is just nicer than the 15" MBP, I'm on a computer a LOT, it's a business expense and well worth it to me. The 13" sits better on a small table, your lap, reclining on the couch etc ... a 15" just isn't a fun/comfortable to use. I have the 15" for mobile power, for when I'm doing tasks were I'll appreciate the 2" extra screen real estate - that part I like.

Give me a 15" MBA with 4bg ram and I'd be ecstatic, a 13" would suit be fine too, either would serve me well as my one and only computer, especially a 15" MBA - wow.

Will Apple ever do it? I doubt it, would cut back on MBP sales, maybe iPad sales, the only thing we can hope for is over (long) time the MBP series gets lighter and thinner more like the MacBook Air is now.

 

[Tankfantry]

early last year purchased the 21.5" iMac (my first Mac apple) followed by a new MacBook as a mothers day present from our 2 year old daughter for my wife (gave it to her back in April). I was so jealous that she had one I purchased a 13" MacBook Pro a few weeks ago. We use the iMac as the hub for everything as with the internal & external hard-drives we have 1.5T worth of space. My wife mainly uses hers for work (teleconferencing, contract work & work projects) and I use mine on business trips and personal use at home like most people. We have had no issues connecting all three computers to share files. When we go on vacation or business trips we load up our Macs with movies from the iMac, etc. I think I explained everything.

 

[flynz4]

My wife and I share a 27" i7 iMac with a 2TB internal drive. 100% of all of our data primarily lives on that computer. It is backed up every hour to two different places: a) inside the house using Time Machine, and b) Outside the house to the cloud using a 3rd party cloud backup service.

Beyond that... we keep zero "primary data" on our laptops. Instead, all data that we would possibly want to have with us remote is synced to the cloud using either Mobile Me, Dropbox, Evernote, or other cloud based programs. Because it is synced... all data syncs to all of our machines whenever it changes anywhere. Because there are local copies on each machine, we have access to our data regardless if we have an internet connection or not (ex: on a flight). If we change the data on any computer... within seconds it is synced up to the cloud, and hence sycned back to our home iMac... and within the hour, the data is backed up twice, locally and to the cloud. In other words... our data is always safe.

It is the best of all possible worlds as far as I am concerned. i can sit down at:

1) My 27" iMac
2) My 15" MBP (which I hardly use anymore since I bought the MBA)
3) My login on my wife's 15" MBP
4) My MBA
5) My iPad
6) My iPhone

... and I am fully capable of doing anything "task appropriate" on any of the machines, and changes are reflected and backed up everywhere.

My wife wants to inherit my MBA when I buy a new MBA when it is refreshed. Then we will retire both of our 15" MBPs. Hence we will each have:

1) 27" i7 iMac (shared)
2) MBA
3) iPad
4) iPhone

I think that will be perfect.

/Jim

 

[macgeek18]

Just have my MacBook. Don't need much more that this till school. i'm always on the go anyways, I also like having all my files and music and stuff in one place,so I don't have to transfer a ton of music and stuff between computers.