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Resolved Size of the MBA 11

E

egy195

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 28, 2014
113
1
guys i'm currently using a 15inch laptop but it's really heavy and i'm looking to buy a mac in the next year or so once i'm finished with college.
i asked here alot about the mac pro and the macbook pro since i've never used any apple computer for longer than a day and i was set to buy the mini but i would have to get the screen and keyboard and mouse myself and that's just too much for a "mini" desktop.
i'm kinda leaning towards getting the 11inch air but i'm worried about the screen size, is reading web pages on it comfortable or will i have to get so close to it to see the words ?
i don't want the 13inch as it's not that much smaller from my current toshiba:cool:
 
Last edited:
egy195 said:
guys i'm currently using a 15inch laptop but it's really heavy and i'm looking to buy a mac in the next year or so once i'm finished with college.
i asked here alot about the mac pro and the macbook pro since i've never used any apple computer for longer than a day and i was set to buy the mini but i would have to get the screen and keyboard and mouse myself and that's just too much for a "mini" desktop.
i'm kinda leaning towards getting the 11inch air but i'm worried about the screen size, is reading web pages on it comfortable or will i have to get so close to it to see the words ?
i don't want the 13inch as it's not that much smaller from my current toshiba:cool:
Click to expand...

What are your hobbies/needs of a computer? Those will help us narrow down what would be best for you.
 
egy195 said:
thank you for replying, just reading on the web and watching youtube videos
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I personally have a 13" for my personal reason/needs in a computer. However, lots of my buddies have 11" and do light gaming, light video editing ext. on it. This said, I think that the 11" would be a good fit for doing what you said you'd be doing.

Also, keep in mind the specifications you want on your computer. If you need any sort of RAM boost or Processor boost or hard drive boost make sure you get it, because you can't change it once purchased.

Lastly, keep in mind that coming from a 15" computer that probably has a quad-core processor lots of hhd space, and RAM, and then going to an 11" computer with a dual-core processor, and then 4gb RAM and i5 Base stats is a HUGE jump. Make sure that you get what you will need, and don't skimp out on you internals because you will regret it!!
 
Dsteller said:
I personally have a 13" for my personal reason/needs in a computer. However, lots of my buddies have 11" and do light gaming, light video editing ext. on it. This said, I think that the 11" would be a good fit for doing what you said you'd be doing.

Also, keep in mind the specifications you want on your computer. If you need any sort of RAM boost or Processor boost or hard drive boost make sure you get it, because you can't change it once purchased.

Lastly, keep in mind that coming from a 15" computer that probably has a quad-core processor lots of hhd space, and RAM, and then going to an 11" computer with a dual-core processor, and then 4gb RAM and i5 Base stats is a HUGE jump. Make sure that you get what you will need, and don't skimp out on you internals because you will regret it!!
Click to expand...

i don't think i'll game on it that much, maybe the odd games here and there from the app store and that's it, won't do any video editing also as it's not my jo or hobby :)
my current toshiba has 4 gigs of ram with 640 hdd core i5, i'm used to low powered computers now as i don't do much with them, this macbook air will be an introduction for me to the mac world, after that when i know the os well enough like i know windows right know then i'll think about much stronger desktops from apple:) thank you for replying, really appreciate it:)
 
Dsteller said:
Lastly, keep in mind that coming from a 15" computer that probably has a quad-core processor lots of hhd space, and RAM
Click to expand...

I don't see anything in the OP that justifies such an assumption. I have an 11" 2013 i7/8gb/512gb MBA and also a 2008 15" c2d/4gb/16gb MBP. The MBA is exponentially more powerful with about 3x the CPU, 2x the RAM, over 3x the disk space and maybe 10x high disk throughput.

The OP says that he is "just reading on the web and watching youtube videos". If he is using a quad core computer with lots of hd space and RAM, then it is probably way beyond overkill. :)

Before getting my 11" 2013 MBA, I had a 13" 2011 MBA. I upgraded to the smaller machine and just love it. So cool to have such a powerful tiny computer that can go everywhere I do. I run software like Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro with no problem. Have been ripping my DVD collection and have about 140 full length movies on the 512gb SSD.

Will you like the 11" MBA? I don't see how anyone can answer that but you. I use mine with a big screen and external keyboard for "serious" work. The 11" screen is a bit small for the web, but I find it acceptable. I really like the little screen for watching movies though, especially the 16:9 aspect ratio.

You should probably spend awhile playing with one in the store. That will be more helpful than the subjective opinions of others.
 
Boyd01 said:
I don't see anything in the OP that justifies such an assumption. I have an 11" 2013 i7/8gb/512gb MBA and also a 2008 15" c2d/4gb/16gb MBP. The MBA is exponentially more powerful with about 3x the CPU, 2x the RAM, over 3x the disk space and maybe 10x high disk throughput.

The OP says that he is "just reading on the web and watching youtube videos". If he is using a quad core computer with lots of hd space and RAM, then it is probably way beyond overkill. :)

Before getting my 11" 2013 MBA, I had a 13" 2011 MBA. I upgraded to the smaller machine and just love it. So cool to have such a powerful tiny computer that can go everywhere I do. I run software like Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro with no problem. Have been ripping my DVD collection and have about 140 full length movies on the 512gb SSD.

Will you like the 11" MBA? I don't see how anyone can answer that but you. I use mine with a big screen and external keyboard for "serious" work. The 11" screen is a bit small for the web, but I find it acceptable. I really like the little screen for watching movies though, especially the 16:9 aspect ratio.

You should probably spend awhile playing with one in the store. That will be more helpful than the subjective opinions of others.
Click to expand...

as i said in the post before you i have 4gigs of ram core i5 and 640 hdd which i'm not filling :)
i got my current laptop for college and it ends with me when hopefully i graduate next year, general stuff with word and powerpoint and adobe reader, not much.
my only concern is reading on the smaller screen, my sister has a galaxy tablet with 10inch screen and i see everything just fine, of course using it near my face
 
Sorry, I guess I was still typing my post when you made yours so I didn't see it.

But really - nobody else can answer this for you. Go to a store and play with the 11" machine and you will quickly form your own opinion.
 
Here's something you can do - go to a store, measure the dimensions of the MBA 11's screen - resize your browser window to that size, and use it for a few days.

I have both the 11" and 15".

With the 11", I use it specifically for portability when I need to carry around a Mac all day. I find it ok for browsing the web, and emails. For those tasks, I never feel cramped with the 11".

However, for serious office work where I have to work fast, with multiple windows open, the 11" is just too small for rapid, under-pressure office work. Imagine having a web browser open, many PDF's, email, VMWare/Parallels, several Finder windows, and needing space to see several documents at once. For that sort of work, the 11" is just a bit too cramped.

So I use both - the 11" and 15" - and tailor their uses for their specific strengths.

In summary, if you're just browsing the web for fun, and seeing youtube, then the 11" should be fine. But if you need to get some work done fast -- specifically with many windows open at the same time, then consider getting the 13" at least.
 
Like the previous poster said, I'd say the key question is whether you need to work with multiple windows open. 11" is fine for note taking, writing without the need to reference any other materials in other windows, web browsing, email etc. 11" can get annoying if you've got serious work to do like sitting down for a few hours and writing a complex paper.
 
it's not easy here to just go to the store and try, we don't have apple stores here in egypt, i could find them in virgin stores maybe i don't know :confused:, thank you guys for replying and i'll definitely try to find them and try them out
 
The 11" works great as my only computer, the one weakness is if I need multiple windows open for some reason, it is hard to make them fit.
 
MarkII1968 said:
I have been using the 11 inch, for over year now and find it Just ideal. I use it for the same things you mention, web browsing and watching youtube
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do you have to get really close to the lid to be able to read ?

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mrkramer said:
The 11" works great as my only computer, the one weakness is if I need multiple windows open for some reason, it is hard to make them fit.
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i feel for you man as i was just dealing with this problem right now with some assignments :D but the MBA i'll just open one window most of the time
 
egy195 said:
i feel for you man as i was just dealing with this problem right now with some assignments :D but the MBA i'll just open one window most of the time
Click to expand...

Yeah, it hasn't been a huge issue as most of the time I don't need to be looking at two windows at once. And I can deal with two small windows for a little bit if I have to.
 
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