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Questions about the MBA

F

F.Breezy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 23, 2010
13
0
Hey, I'm not sure were this should be posted, so if Mods feel the need to move this somewhere I understand.

I haven't posted here since last getting my MBP 15", I love it.
But I'm going into Uni, and I don't really want to bring around my 15" and I'm looking into purchasing the 11" MBA just for school, and I was wondering if the MBA would make a good laptop, I won't be downloading huge files on the mac, so 64 gigs is enough. I'll just be using it for school work, and a couple hundred songs.
 
I carry my 13" MBA at school and it's great. 11" is even smaller so it's probably even better if you just use it for taking notes and other stuff (I also work on my MBA sometimes so hence the extra screen estate is welcome).
 
Is the battery life a big difference between the 11" and 13", because if it's huge, I might just go with the 13".
 
F.Breezy said:
Hey, I'm not sure were this should be posted, so if Mods feel the need to move this somewhere I understand.

I haven't posted here since last getting my MBP 15", I love it.
But I'm going into Uni, and I don't really want to bring around my 15" and I'm looking into purchasing the 11" MBA just for school, and I was wondering if the MBA would make a good laptop, I won't be downloading huge files on the mac, so 64 gigs is enough. I'll just be using it for school work, and a couple hundred songs.
Click to expand...

I would wait until you get there so you can see what your habits will be. I didn't take my laptop to my university campus for 2 years straight. Seeing as how you already have the 15" MBP why not stick with it for a bit longer? If I was you I wouldn't deem it worth the extra money but each to their own I suppose.

----------

...And this is coming from a (very happy) MBA 13" owner.
 
You may want a desktop and an 11 inch air. Just something to consider. Then you can sell your MBP and put some of that money towards the others. I have a MBA and iMac combo. I love it!
 
When I was in school I wish they had it in 2007 ;)
I highly recommend the 13" MBA, because of the screen estate. I personally would go insane trying to use the 11" MBA. It's really small.

Also, 64GB is very small for a hard drive. You will probably regret getting such a small SSD. I even think 128GB is small for my MBA, so I suggest you buy an external drive to store photos and stuff.

The difference is only $100. If you're going to invest in a $1199 MBA, might as well cough up the extra $100 for the extra screen space.

I would highly suggest that you avoid the $999 model. You do really get a lot more for your money with the Macbook Air.
 
I think the 11" base model is an ideal laptop for uni stuff like taking notes, web browsing, any light stuff really. Unless you are taking a course where you need to do 3d stuff you don't need anything any more powerful and it's nice and light. I've got a 15" MBP and a hackintosh with dual 27" 1920x1280 screens and I only use the base 2011 air now, it's just really comfortable and light, I can have it on my lap quite comfortably all day and not notice it.
 
Thanks to all the replies, I'm not really a fan of desktop computers, but my dad's currently looking into an iMac. I don't have any intentions of selling my MBP just yet. I use my MBP as my home computer, I just need something more lightweight and portable.

I'll look more into the 13" model, but Hard drive size isn't really an issue. I'm not gonna be saving much to the MBA other than notes, and other school related stuff. Thanks again though.
 
I use my MBA in school, and I think screen resolution is a very important consideration. Not size in inches, but quantity of pixels: how much you can see at one glance.

My best advice is to go into an Apple Store or Best Buy or anywhere you can see the 11" and 13" MBA side by side (usually there will be a 13" MBP there too which you can throw into the comparison).

Open Safari on them and maximize the app so it takes up the entire screen. Go to large website. I usually go to ebay.com and cnn.com to compare this sort of thing.

Notice how much you can see right after the page loads (without scrolling). Notice where the 11" cuts off on the bottom, and notice how much further down you can see on the 13" without scrolling. I know this sounds obvious, but it's important to see it in person in my opinion.

On text-heavy sites, notice how you can to scroll more often on the 11" to get to the bottom of an article, than on a 13". Take this into account because as a student you will probably be working with Word documents, Evernote outlines, or something similar. More "at a glance" information on a screen equals less scrolling and less losing you place.

On the flip side, notice how much more portable and lighter the 11" is. Is that worth it to you for the pixel sacrifices? For some, it very well might be.
 
I use my 13" for uni, I wouldn't want a bag smaller than what would fit a 13", just go 13"! :p
 
oneMadRssn said:
I use my MBA in school, and I think screen resolution is a very important consideration. Not size in inches, but quantity of pixels: how much you can see at one glance.

My best advice is to go into an Apple Store or Best Buy or anywhere you can see the 11" and 13" MBA side by side (usually there will be a 13" MBP there too which you can throw into the comparison).

Open Safari on them and maximize the app so it takes up the entire screen. Go to large website. I usually go to ebay.com and cnn.com to compare this sort of thing.

Notice how much you can see right after the page loads (without scrolling). Notice where the 11" cuts off on the bottom, and notice how much further down you can see on the 13" without scrolling. I know this sounds obvious, but it's important to see it in person in my opinion.

On text-heavy sites, notice how you can to scroll more often on the 11" to get to the bottom of an article, than on a 13". Take this into account because as a student you will probably be working with Word documents, Evernote outlines, or something similar. More "at a glance" information on a screen equals less scrolling and less losing you place.

On the flip side, notice how much more portable and lighter the 11" is. Is that worth it to you for the pixel sacrifices? For some, it very well might be.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll try that when I get the chance to visit Best Buy or the Apple Store.
 
Hellhammer said:
Not much, less than an hour.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4528/the-2011-macbook-air-11-13inch-review/13
Click to expand...

My 2010 and 2011 13-inch Pros would go 7+ hours of light use. My 2011 13" Air will do almost 6 hours, and my 2010 11" Air will do almost 5 hours.

I was going to get a new 11" Air instead of a new 13" Air, but I was scared the battery would only last 4 hours (which my 2010 only lasts that long, sometimes)

The 13" Air isn't close to my old Pro in battery length. :(
 
I have owned both , and for College(School,Uni whatever you want to call it) I think the 13" is more beneficial than the 11", especially the base 11" with 64gb storage, which really isn't enough for more than checking email and web browsing, I thought I could get away with it but I learnt the hard way, if you don't need such a big screen the higher end 11" would probably be nice but for 100 more you are getting a bigger screen and longer battery life, pick your poison well!
 
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