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Poll for 2010 MBA owners who upgraded to 2011 MBA.
- Thread starter Damian.
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
13 would have been the only option for me with the 7 hour battery life. This is all hypothetical of course; just got a 13 inch MBP (way cheaper than the baseline 13 Air with student discount).
Went from a:
2010 11.6 1.6 (Core2 duo) 128gig 4g RAM
to a
2011 11.6 1.6 (i5) 128gig 4g RAM
Passed the 2010 down to the wife. The i5 came out to about $500 after a gift card that i had - so i wanted to try it out.
I really wanted to use the i5 for video editing - which it works (whereas the 2010 didn't do a great job).
While i can do my video editing, i really don't see a noticeable difference in performance.
Battery life is slightly less and the backlit keys are nice..
2010 11.6 1.6 (Core2 duo) 128gig 4g RAM
to a
2011 11.6 1.6 (i5) 128gig 4g RAM
Passed the 2010 down to the wife. The i5 came out to about $500 after a gift card that i had - so i wanted to try it out.
I really wanted to use the i5 for video editing - which it works (whereas the 2010 didn't do a great job).
While i can do my video editing, i really don't see a noticeable difference in performance.
Battery life is slightly less and the backlit keys are nice..
That's good to hear; what are you getting (on average) for the battery life?
I have backlit keys now as well (thank God lol) and I haven't even had to use them yet; I'm sure they'll come in handy sometime later in the year. My friend has his on all the time though; for some reason I just keep it off and forget about it.
Honestly, when i first got it i had bluetooth on, the backlit keys rocking on high and the display on nearly full brightness. It really took the battery down quickly. I killed bluetooth and use the backlit keys (only when needed when on battery) and adjusted the brightness. It really made a difference. All in all i'd say the battery is approximately 15 mins shorter on the i5..
That's good. I initially wanted to get the MBA but feared that 5 hours wouldn't last me throughout the day (college student). Yea I'd only use it "sometimes" during lectures and I'd also be able to charge it in between classes, however the performancehit and the high price swayed me.
If I had the extra money though, I would have definitely went for the 13 inch
But yea, I never turn the keys on and the bluetooth stays off. If you haven't yet, get a program (I'd say use Expose but they don't have that) to turn off the screen when you're away from the computer.
I have graphs and stats running in the menubar constantly along with geek tools so I'm going to be taking a battery hit regardless of my machine.
You should be fine for that usage.. I use mine daily @ work and really have no issues.That's good. I initially wanted to get the MBA but feared that 5 hours wouldn't last me throughout the day (college student). Yea I'd only use it "sometimes" during lectures and I'd also be able to charge it in between classes, however the performancehit and the high price swayed me.
If I had the extra money though, I would have definitely went for the 13 inch
But yea, I never turn the keys on and the bluetooth stays off. If you haven't yet, get a program (I'd say use Expose but they don't have that) to turn off the screen when you're away from the computer.
I have graphs and stats running in the menubar constantly along with geek tools so I'm going to be taking a battery hit regardless of my machine.
If using it for general office tasks (spreadsheets, word-processing or web browsing) it'll last you about 4.5 to 5 hours.
Honestly, if you didn't need the extra processing power for encoding / rendering - the 2010 might have been a better buy for your use (but you'd loose the back lit keys - which IMO is just cool
)..cheers!
You should be fine for that usage.. I use mine daily @ work and really have no issues.
If using it for general office tasks (spreadsheets, word-processing or web browsing) it'll last you about 4.5 to 5 hours.
Honestly, if you didn't need the extra processing power for encoding / rendering - the 2010 might have been a better buy for your use (but you'd loose the back lit keys - which IMO is just cool
cheers!
I picked up a 2011 MBP yesterday; it's really a no-brainer at the total price after the 100 dollar card and 100 off with education discount: they're obviously pushing these for college students lol.
I had a 13" 2010 "Ultimate," and then went with a 2010 11" "Ultimate," which I liked for the form factor, though I preferred more space. Now I have a 2011 11" Ultimate and have the same processor and SSD space that's in the 13" Ultimate, so I'm happy.
I went from an 11-inch with 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD, to a 13-inch i5 with 256GB SSD. The 2011 MBA replaces both my 2007 MBP and 2010 MBA. The 11-inch was great for its size, but I decided to go big this time especially since it's now my primary Mac. It's great the screen resolution is the same as the MBP.
I currently have a 2011 13 Pro i7. Just ordered a 13 Air i5 256. Really wanted the i7 but went with the amazon deal so figured I could not go wrong. I use vmware, upload pics, web browsing, Facebook, word, mail, etc. I think if I replace the pro with Air I should be ok.