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Personally, for me, frankly speaking the 2013 MBA's power today for main machine would be barely, but just just enough (if we exclude any gaming) considering that often I'am almost fully utilizing Q6600 @ 3.3Ghz.

Curious what applications you are running that max out your desktop machine that would not run adequately on the MBA?
 
Curious what applications you are running that max out your desktop machine that would not run adequately on the MBA?

Well I'am giving some work for my desktop CPU on daily basis. Let's say I'am watching Ace FHD stream, downloading in utorrent at high speeds (500Mbps total internet bandwidth, so ~10Mbps for Ace and what's left for ut) and browsing a website that has hundreds of gifs.

That would be 20-30% load for browsing
20-30% for Ace
~20% for utorrent
+ background stuff

so we are already on a combined 70%+ load for Q6600@3.3Ghz. The newest Air MIGHT be able to handle that, but it would result in very high temperatures (MBAs very easily climb to 90s C, not to mention the possible throttling), load fan noise and practically no reserve for futher demands, add to that inability to replace the components and it would mean that I would have to replace it with new model each year. Now on top of that, like I said, it's impossible to add any internal PCI devices to it, not to mention million other minor things like more ports, gigabit ethernet port, space for storage etc... so at the end of the day, like many people, there is no way I could use MBA as my main machine. Meaning specs for it aren't very important as long as it can handle basic tasks + 1 virtual machine. :)
 
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Well I'am giving some work for my desktop CPU on daily basis. Let's say I'am watching Ace FHD stream, downloading in utorrent at high speeds (500Mbps total internet bandwidth, so ~10Mbps for Ace and what's left for ut) and browsing a website that has hundreds of gifs.

That would be 20-30% load for browsing
20-30% for Ace
~20% for utorrent
+ background stuff

so we are already on a combined 70%+ load for Q6600@3.3Ghz. The newest Air MIGHT be able to handle that, but it would result in very high temperatures (MBAs very easily climb to 90s C, not to mention the possible throttling), load fan noise and practically no reserve for futher demands, add to that inability to replace the components and it would mean that I would have to replace it with new model each year. Now on top of that, like I said, it's impossible to add any internal PCI devices to it, not to mention million other minor things like more ports, gigabit ethernet port, space for storage etc... so at the end of the day, like many people, there is no way I could use MBA as my main machine. Meaning specs for it aren't very important as long as it can handle basic tasks + 1 virtual machine. :)

Ok, it sounds like you have an interesting job that has some unique hardware requirements. I suppose if I were a professional in your field I might not be adequately equipped with my macbook air + apple 27" monitor (which has a gigabit ethernet port), NAS storage, and ESX cluster for running VMs when I need more than one or two. I can totally see the need for having a dusty 6 year old desktop with a ton of internal drives.
 
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Ok, it sounds like you have an interesting job that has some unique hardware requirements. I suppose if I were a professional in your field I might not be adequately equipped with my macbook air + apple 27" monitor (which has a gigabit ethernet port), NAS storage, and ESX cluster for running VMs when I need more than one or two. I can totally see the need for having a dusty 6 year old desktop with a ton of internal drives.

LOL, chill out dude. You are trying too hard to make a irrelevant point here.

Where do I said that this is my job? the question was whether i could get away with using MBA as my one and only machine, NOT if it's suitable for some kind of isolated scenario you are dealing with. I'am still curious tho as to where would you stick PCI 7.1 sound card and PCI dvb-s card. :D (rhetorical)

Ok there is nothing much more to argue here, so I guess that's it. Don't be so closed-minded next time.
 
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