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Should I get the MacBook Pro or Air?

J

Jb07

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 31, 2011
433
1
Dallas
So I decided to get a new computer for myself for my birthday and am trying to decide between the MacBook Pro or Air. I like the Pro’s body style better (I know, I’m the only one..) and I also like the 15” over the 13”, but I really want the Air’s SSD. I don’t really want to spend extra on buying an SSD for a later time, so which should I buy? My birthday is in March, so should I wait for a refresh? Is it worth getting the Air just for the SSD?

(I don’t do anything really CPU taxing, and I don’t have much of a need for the DVD drive.)
 
if when you purchase your laptop, would you be taking it around with you constantly? i, personally, love my 13" air. i've been lugging around a 13" macbook for almost 6 years and it's a night and day difference in terms of portability when compared to the air. if choosing between a 13" pro and a 13" air, i would without a doubt, take the macbook air. i never had the pleasure to work with a SSD before, but i dont think i can ever live without it from here on out.
 
jb07 said:
so i decided to get a new computer for myself for my birthday and am trying to decide between the macbook pro or air. I like the pro’s body style better (i know, i’m the only one..) and i also like the 15” over the 13”, but i really want the air’s ssd. I don’t really want to spend extra on buying an ssd for a later time, so which should i buy? My birthday is in march, so should i wait for a refresh? Is it worth getting the air just for the ssd?

(i don’t do anything really cpu taxing, and i don’t have much of a need for the dvd drive.)
Click to expand...

mba.
 
I prefer the MBA to the current MBP offering. Both are great machines. I pretty much only use my laptop on my lap and my usage is internet, email, Xcode, and iTunes. Everything runs extremely snappy on the SSD and I have found Xcode to be more than fine on the 13". a 15" screen would be better though obviously for development. That's a trade off though you have to be wiling to make for the added weight.
 
Jb07 said:
So I decided to get a new computer for myself for my birthday and am trying to decide between the MacBook Pro or Air. I like the Pro’s body style better (I know, I’m the only one..) and I also like the 15” over the 13”, but I really want the Air’s SSD. I don’t really want to spend extra on buying an SSD for a later time, so which should I buy? My birthday is in March, so should I wait for a refresh? Is it worth getting the Air just for the SSD?

(I don’t do anything really CPU taxing, and I don’t have much of a need for the DVD drive.)
Click to expand...

I've used a 15" MBP since 2006 and love it. However, it's time to upgrade to something faster. It will be a MBA for me this time around. (1) The MBP is really just too heavy to tote around like I do. (2) The new MBA is faster then my old MBP. The only downside is that I love the 15" screen of my MBP and can't get that big of screen on a MBA.

All that said, there is a good possibility that Apple may be making the MBP more like a MBA in 2012...no one can guess what differences may then exist.
 
We have both a 2011 MBA 1.7ghz i5 and 2011 2.2ghz i7 MBP in our house. I usually use the air on the couch and it's awesome. When I do use the pro, I'm like, man this thing is huge and heavy. Speed-wise, the air's SSD makes up for the processor difference and in real life, feels a bit faster that the "more powerful" pro.

If your timeline is March, be hopeful for updated model(s) and resist an "early" birthday present. You have a perfect excuse to be patient!
 
Mba

This past October I bought a new MBA 11' to be a secondary travel laptop to my 2008 MBP 15" for when I need to travel extra light. In my 13 years as a Mac owner I've never been so pleasantly surprised and impressed with the speed and power of such a machine as the MBA. It is now my main computer for home and travel and my MBP is now my office workhorse with a stationary Apple display. For home and on the road it is now the MBA. It's absolutely astounding.
 
In my windows desktop, I have 2 SSDs. I count boot times from when I press the power button to where I can move the mouse. Other computer review sites measure boot times as when the Windows taskbar loads.

My loading times decreased from 3 minutes to 30 seconds.

Are you going to take this laptop with you to college? If so, I would highly suggest the air. I'm actually picking up the 13" air tomorrow.

When I was an undergrad last spring, I hauled my Toshiba laptop around. Even though it's only 5.4 pounds it killed my shoulder because I would walk for periods on end.

I went into Best Buy to get a feel for laptop weights. All of them were too heavy and would kill my shoulder. It wasn't until I got a chance to look at a returned Macbook Air where I was very impressed with it.

TL;DR Version: If you're gonna carry it around with you a lot, get the MacBook air. If you're gonna have it sit at a desk a lot, get the MacBook pro.
 
Mba

^^
I Disagree..if you're gonna carry it around get the MBA. If you're gonna have it at a desk, get the MBA and a Thunderbolt display.
Click to expand...

True. The deal breaker for using it at home is to definitely get a Thunderbolt display. That is what makes all the difference in the world for using the MBA at home as your main computer.
 
Given that you prefer the 15", and the form factor of the MBP (and no, you're not alone), get the base 15" Pro.

It's MUCH faster than any Air, is expandable, has dedicated graphics, and uses a much higher quality screen - the Air looks awfully gray and washed out in comparison.

The Air is a sealed system, and as the Mac OS and applications use more and more RAM, the the Air, stuck forever at 4 GB, is going to struggle and make you replace it sooner.
 
Naimfan said:
Given that you prefer the 15", and the form factor of the MBP (and no, you're not alone), get the base 15" Pro.

It's MUCH faster than any Air, is expandable, has dedicated graphics, and uses a much higher quality screen - the Air looks awfully gray and washed out in comparison.

The Air is a sealed system, and as the Mac OS and applications use more and more RAM, the the Air, stuck forever at 4 GB, is going to struggle and make you replace it sooner.
Click to expand...

I don't agree, the OP said "(I don’t do anything really CPU taxing, and I don’t have much of a need for the DVD drive.)"

I am writing this on a Mid 2007 20" iMac with a 2Ghz Core2 Duo CPU and 2GB RAM, running OSX Lion 10.7.2. It runs great, I use Safari, iPhoto (a lot) Skype, Mail, MS Office 2008, mostly Excel, a few casual games. I never run out of memory and I use CPULED to monitor CPU usage. When launching an application CPU usage is heavy but after that it's hardly troubled.

I will probably upgrade to 4GB RAM, the max in this model after a release or to more of OSX and it will be OK for another year or two at least taking it up to 6 years old. I expect my 13" base model MBA will last as long based on my current usage which I don't see changing.

Stewart
 
i'd wait for the new mbp's to come out.
i so hope apple will come up with some really cool mbp's...

i woudn't trade for a mba, cause i simply need the firewire...

cheers
 
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