Pro 2010, 2011 or Air 2011??

[heisenberg123]

I think you'll find that the 2011 MBP is similarly afflicted. Try streaming 720p video using a flash-based delivery method (e.g. YouTube); the fans will be roaring at high speed in no time (granted, the consensus seems to be that Macs don't play well with Flash for some unknown reason). Spinning up a VM, doing work in Photoshop, or playing most games will elicit the same response. Don't get me wrong, I love my MBP but you don't have to work it too hard before it needs to aggressively cool itself.

Try using a stand mine never gets hot or never has the fans roaring regardless if I'm using handbrake or other video converters

 

[Danindub]

I think you'll find that the 2011 MBP is similarly afflicted. Try streaming 720p video using a flash-based delivery method (e.g. YouTube); the fans will be roaring at high speed in no time (granted, the consensus seems to be that Macs don't play well with Flash for some unknown reason). Spinning up a VM, doing work in Photoshop, or playing most games will elicit the same response. Don't get me wrong, I love my MBP but you don't have to work it too hard before it needs to aggressively cool itself.

I can already say that it's no where as bad as Air. I can easily watch 720p HD , which I actually did last night, and couldn't get fan to speed up to audible level. Similarly playing flash game did nothing to it (which made air sound like a jet plane...)

 

[seattlecard]

I traded my base model 2011 11 inch Air for a 2010 base Pro 13. Both are great machines, but I needed a bigger machine to use for day to day tasks, and the bigger screen size too.

 

[Iphone3gs]

MacBook air 13"

The solid state drives on their are nice

30 day stand by

 

[Abstract]

To be honest, I can't believe there were so many people who suggested opting for the 13" MBP over the 13" MBA!!

The price of the MBA needs to be considered if you don't need the portability, but since the OP wasn't paying for it, I definitely would have opted for the MBA. It's more portable, and would feel faster for the tasks the OP does with a computer..

And while it's too late now, my 11" MBA's fans rarely ever go on. I tried using Handbrake once to convert a video, and that's the only time it has turned on since the beginning of August (when I first got this laptop).


Whatever. The OP made a choice that was good for him.

 

[Danindub]

MacBook air 13"

The solid state drives on their are nice

30 day stand by

I dare to say, if anyone can benefit from 30 day standby, they probably don't need a laptop at all

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To be honest, I can't believe there were so many people who suggested opting for the 13" MBP over the 13" MBA!!

The price of the MBA needs to be considered if you don't need the portability, but since the OP wasn't paying for it, I definitely would have opted for the MBA. It's more portable, and would feel faster for the tasks the OP does with a computer..

I was back and forth A LOT. I used both for a while. I love Air and Pro. But display of Air is really awful. True, I don't work with graphics, but even Facebook (the dark blue bar on top) or MacRumors red apple icon, look very "flat" on the air comparing to pro. The same with skin tones in my holiday pictures. To top it up, the vertical viewing angles are really bad as well, it's practically impossible to have consistent color from the top to bottom of the display.