Owned 2011 13" MBA for 2 Weeks & Still Stuck Between 11 & 13-Inches

[DieterRams]

If it's such a tight choice then you must be looking for reasons to validate getting the 11". If it's that close then you probably should get the 13" because it can do everything the 11" except be as small and light. The best reason to choose an 11" is if you want it with you at all times and want to slip it into backpacks, purses, large jacket pocket, etc. Otherwise you'll likely be much happier with the 13" over time.

Just to keep you thinking about too many choice: Right now is a buyer's market for the 2010 C2D machines; the market has been flooded with them. You can grab a 2010 C2D 13" for $900 and a C2D 11" 2010 for $700. That's $1,600 and no sales tax and that's even less than a 13" 2011 ultimate.

I hear you on the first point. I'm choosing between these two sizes myself, and it's even harder because you can configure both with the exact same highest specs. I almost wish Apple had neutered the 11" somehow to make the decision easier but this time they didn't and it actually works against me. I wanted the 11". I admit I will not travel that much with it but the size/weight is just so cool to pass up. I've always wanted something like this and now these are powerful enough to really use extensively. My main concern is of course screen size but also trackpad size. From my usage in the store, I found that I had to curl up my fingers a bit to type (if I kept my wrists on the laptop so the edge wasn't cutting into my skin) and my thumb was missing the trackpad to click because it was short. But man, this thing is so tiny and awesome :\

Also, the new MBAs are twice as fast as the C2D... isn't that alone worth it if you can afford it? It's not just price but value too, right?

 

[Sounds Good]

And the way you can double-tap with two fingers on a webpage to zoom in on text like you can on iOS make up for that too in terms of browsing on the smaller screen?

Where does the "double-tap-zoom" thing work? Only in web browsers? Only certain web browsers? Some documents? All documents?

I would imagine the double-tap-zoom thing would be VERY helpful (I love it on the iPhone and iPad) so I'm curious as to when and where it can be used on the MBA.

Thanks!

 

[DieterRams]

The things that swayed me towards the 13" is the SD and a misconception of how a bigger screen would be more usable. But after using an 11" a little more then I'm feeling some regret because the 11" is just as usable, cheaper and probably has a better resale value. So ive got to really think this through.

Is it really just as usable? Did you find your fingers had to curl up a bit to type normally and the trackpad was short so that your thumb wouldn't be as comfortable clicking the trackpad while your fingers move the mouse around (in other words, your thumb would even miss the trackpad at the bottom edge)?

 

[thelead]

I went to the Apple Store to use it and I had the same impression. However, with Lion, doesn't the full screen ability make up for some of that? And the way you can double-tap with two fingers on a webpage to zoom in on text like you can on iOS make up for that too in terms of browsing on the smaller screen? It really makes me wonder if it may not be that bad.

I would think that Lion would help but I still doubt I could live with the vertical resolution. I love 16:9 screens but at 11" it starts to be a little too wide.

 

[DieterRams]

Where does the "double-tap-zoom" thing work? Only in web browsers? Only certain web browsers? Some documents? All documents?

I would imagine the double-tap-zoom thing would be VERY helpful (I love it on the iPhone and iPad) so I'm curious as to when and where it can be used on the MBA.

Thanks!

I know it works in Safari and Preview (pdf), didn't try it on other apps or file types though. I would love to know this too.

 

[Young Spade]

I went to the Apple Store to use it and I had the same impression. However, with Lion, doesn't the full screen ability make up for some of that? And the way you can double-tap with two fingers on a webpage to zoom in on text like you can on iOS make up for that too in terms of browsing on the smaller screen? It really makes me wonder if it may not be that bad.

Yes you can do those things and run it in full screen, however you are still looking on a smaller overall space. Having a higher screen resolution is helpful but it is still "cramped" as opposed to looking at a 13 inch laptop.

If you can, head to an Apple store (or best buy, whatever) and play with a screen that size and that resolution (if you can't find an Air).

It's alright for doing one thing at a time, however for me, I regularly shuffle between many browsers and programs and occasionally I have more than one open at a time. The extra real estate is great to have in that situation.

 

[kjid]

i checked both models at a store today after reading up on wether i should pick 11 or 13 inch since the airs got updated and i really loved the 11 inch, its no way near a small screen size its just great for a laptop. I was gonna compare both models but i didnt feel any need to check out the 13 inch longer than a minute.

The only downside of the 11 inch would be the smaller trackpad for me..

 

[thelead]

It's alright for doing one thing at a time, however for me, I regularly shuffle between many browsers and programs and occasionally I have more than one open at a time. The extra real estate is great to have in that situation.

At the end of the day, this is exactly how I felt about my 11".

 

[Young Spade]

From my usage in the store, I found that I had to curl up my fingers a bit to type (if I kept my wrists on the laptop so the edge wasn't cutting into my skin) and my thumb was missing the trackpad to click because it was short. But man, this thing is so tiny and awesome :\

Also, the new MBAs are twice as fast as the C2D... isn't that alone worth it if you can afford it? It's not just price but value too, right?

1: From the top snip, it seems like you have problems with the size but you're just caught up on the quality of the machine and it being "awesome". Don't buy things like that. Buy what works for you. Yes it's great to have a new, awesome, machine, however if you buy something nice that doesn't fit your needs, you 're jut wasting money.

2: That means they're fast, however C2D machines are fast as well, and honestly if you're saying that, that means the C2D machines will be perfect for anything you throw at it.

The reason I say this is, well for one, the mindset you have about the machines themselves. People who will benefit from the SNB processors already know that they'll benefit. Yea they're faster but I'm going to assume you aren't doing anything heavier than the bundled applications that come with the machine. If that's true (no HD rendering, no intense photo editing), the C2D will suit your needs just fine.

Where does the "double-tap-zoom" thing work? Only in web browsers? Only certain web browsers? Some documents? All documents?

I would imagine the double-tap-zoom thing would be VERY helpful (I love it on the iPhone and iPad) so I'm curious as to when and where it can be used on the MBA.

Thanks!

In applications that are designed for it to work in. Web browsing, pdfs, documents, things like that. Oh and for documents, I don't know if it's all, however I'm going to assume it works in Safari at least, maybe not every program.

 

[YEEZY]

I always felt that the 11" machine was too small for me. Even though it's almost a pound lighter, the 13" just feels like the right size for me. The only thing I don't like about the MBA is how easy the screen gets dirty

 

[DieterRams]

It sounds stupid to say the 13" seems "massive", but I got the 13" and just bought an 11" 2010 and the difference is amazing.

So you got a 2011 13" and then bought a 2010 11"? Do I have that right? If so, why? Or you had a 2010 13" and bought a 2010 11" recently? If so, why didn't you get a 2011 version?

The screen resolution is pretty close so my aperture/photoshop/website work looks almost identical, the keyboards are the same size

But don't the floating palettes in a program like Photoshop take up even more space on the 11"? How do you work with your images/graphics there when the palettes take up space? And the trackpad is shorter on the 11" by a decent amount so how do you work with that compared to a 13" that has more breathing room on the trackpad?

 

[DieterRams]

1: From the top snip, it seems like you have problems with the size but you're just caught up on the quality of the machine and it being "awesome". Don't buy things like that. Buy what works for you. Yes it's great to have a new, awesome, machine, however if you buy something nice that doesn't fit your needs, you 're jut wasting money.

2: That means they're fast, however C2D machines are fast as well, and honestly if you're saying that, that means the C2D machines will be perfect for anything you throw at it.

The reason I say this is, well for one, the mindset you have about the machines themselves. People who will benefit from the SNB processors already know that they'll benefit. Yea they're faster but I'm going to assume you aren't doing anything heavier than the bundled applications that come with the machine. If that's true (no HD rendering, no intense photo editing), the C2D will suit your needs just fine.

I will be using it as a primary machine. I will be doing lots and lots of web browsing/tabs. I will also be doing programming/software dev (Xcode, Eclipse), web design (Adobe CS5), and some video and music.

I know the general rule that such a small machine is not good for primary but I can be ok with it because I love the size so much. Both have the same highest spec config so power is not lost on the 11". I have 3 major concerns - screen size, trackpad, and keyboard. With the higher pixel density on the 11", screen size is less of an issue and Lion's full-screen and zooming in modes help but vertical space is lost. Trackpad is shorter and my fingers may curl up on the keyboard some more so these two are possibly more uncomfortable than the screen issue. However, overall, the size of it is so much more intimate and picking it up and using it would feel like a real treat rather than just simply normal with any other size laptop. I've always wanted something this physically tiny in a Mac. I have a 1st gen iPad already but that doesn't factor in at all to my decision of getting a small Mac or not. So those are the reasons.... thoughts?

 

[Young Spade]

I will be using it as a primary machine. I will be doing lots and lots of web browsing/tabs. I will also be doing programming/software dev (Xcode, Eclipse), web design (Adobe CS5), and some video and music.

Well for those uses, either MBA will do the job, just make sure you have the 4 gig model. Honestly with that work and what you want to do, I think 4 gigs won't be enough if you really get serious with all of that running at one time. The browser might not eat up that much but if you try to do all of that at once, you might run into some trouble.

And you can't upgrade the RAM.

Now with what you stated, just ask yourself if you can live with the cramped space. If you can, get the laptop; if not, get the 13 inch.

I think that we have all pretty much said all we can say; aside from performance it's all up to you to decide as it comes down to personal preference then.

As a college student, power user, and geek, I can't see me getting anything smaller than 13 inches as a primary computer. Ever. It's great for doing specific things when you don't want to be bothered with something big, but when you're in the field and you're trying to get something done, I think that, after a while, you're going to get tired of looking at that screen.

If you want to get it, get it; however I highly suggest getting a high quality wide screen monitor for use at home.

Both machines can handle whatever you throw at them. Think about what you like/don't like, and pick one.

 

[law0915]

I've been on the fence between this two for a while but finally ordered the 13" by simply asking myself what is it that I want this Air for? And it was for serious photo processing when I am traveling. I went for the 13 as well because of the SD slot, longer battery life, and bigger (and maybe better?) screen. From a distance the 13 also looks more awesome than the diminutive 11 and I'll get to that shortly.

But I also have the iPad 2 so if I have to drool after the 11" ultraportability, I already have that option in my iPad2 so it became an easy decision for me.

They say that the 11 just looks so "cool" with its size but you know what, I saw a guy at Starbucks enjoying his 11 Air and the darn thing looked like a toy and a glorified netbook specially that the guy is quite heavy and tall!!! Not cool at all in my books, if "coolness" is part of your dilemma.

Go for the 13 and get yourself a refurb iPad in the near future. It's a great combo!

But the iPad 2 does not run a full fledged OS X Lion!

 

[Young Spade]

But the iPad 2 does not run a full fledged OS X Lion!

Why does that matter?

Answer: It does not.

 

[JesseW6889]

I would like to add, the main reason I picked the 13" last minute when I was thinking 11" the whole time was that the battery was 2 hours longer and the resolution is equivalent to a 15". My biggest thing is to be able to work on two documents side-by-side. I'm sure I could adjust to either screen size otherwise. I'm also not traveling with it as much, I like the slimness more because of looks and moving it around the apartment. I will barely be using the battery ever, but its nice to have the extra hours on those rare occasions if I EVER needed it. Yet, despite everything I said I probably would have grabbed the 11" even if it had 1 of those 2 features I originally mentioned (higher resolution to a 15" or two more hours battery) even though I am adjustable to both.

Sounds like you should have gotten the 11" first and 'had fun with it' then returned it after two weeks for the 13

 

[urkel]

After all the teetering back and forth I finally returned the 13" and got an 11". So far here's my praise and regrets:

Praise:
-11" is very comfortable on the lap and when powering my 24" monitor it works great
-11" saved me $400 (over 13" 256GB)
-It fits in my iPad sidebag
-Carrying iPad + 11" Air is still lighter than any notebook I had in the past
-This is my primary Mac. I initially thought I would get a more powerful machine later but even the power in the 11" exceeds that of my last MBP so its making me think twice about buying a Pro when they get refreshed

Regrets:
-I had credit at Best Buy so I couldnt customize
-The 13" 256GB had 80GB free, the 11" 128GB is forcing me to split my Aperture libraries and remove my VM's. Those SSD prices better drop soon because I only have 6GB open after doing monolingual, deleting apps and cleaning out everything.


Right now I'm feeling this was the right choice but I wont know until I start doing work on it tomorrow. But so far so good.

 

[Sounds Good]

How much space is available on these SSDs straight out of the box? How much space does the OS and system stuff take up?

 

[amitdoc2b]

How much space is available on these SSDs straight out of the box? How much space does the OS and system stuff take up?

I have 120gb available out of the box for my 128gb ssd. So I am assuming that up 8gb was used up by the OSX and included apps?

 

[Sounds Good]

I have 120gb available out of the box for my 128gb ssd. So I am assuming that up 8gb was used up by the OSX and included apps?

Wow, only 8GB is taken up to start? That's really good! Is that true across the board for all MBAs?

 

[Young Spade]

Wow, only 8GB is taken up to start? That's really good! Is that true across the board for all MBAs?

I would assume so; all of the computers pretty much come with exactly the same things. If you buy one of every new machine right now it will all look exactly the same when you open it up.

I'd suggest the 128 though as 64 is just ridiculously small. After installing a good amount of apps and whatnot on it, you'll be lucky to get a few good videos, games, or an iTunes library on there.

 

[Sounds Good]

Yeah, I hear ya. Frankly I'm concerned that 128 might not be enough.

 

[Young Spade]

Yeah, I hear ya. Frankly I'm concerned that 128 might not be enough.

No? What all are you going to be doing with your machine? Is a 50 dollar, portable, external HDD out of the question? If you don't have a huge, lossless library, don't keep tens of HD movie rips on your machine, and don't store tons of RAW pictures, you should be fine.

 

[Sounds Good]

No? What all are you going to be doing with your machine? Is a 50 dollar, portable, external HDD out of the question? If you don't have a huge, lossless library, don't keep tens of HD movie rips on your machine, and don't store tons of RAW pictures, you should be fine.

Yeah, I guess I would need to keep most photos (large files) and AVCHD videos (very large files) on an external drive.

I'd rather not HAVE TO do that, but I won't have much choice. Oh well.

 

[DrNelly]

Yeah, I guess I would need to keep most photos (large files) and AVCHD videos (very large files) on an external drive.

I'd rather not HAVE TO do that, but I won't have much choice. Oh well.

Well, you could always go for the 11" i7 1.8GHz/256GB, that's what I did after returning the 11" i5/128GB; I couldn't be happier with the change.