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Student notebook: 11" or 13" Air?

I'm a physician and always prefer having as much real estate as possible available to read with.

13" all the way and I wouldn't look back.
 
I went the other way actually. First I took notes on my MBP and then switched to my iPad using the bluetooth keyboard. Finding myself less distracted since I only had pages in front of me.

But still, I only needed to write notes and didn't have the need to have another pdf open while typing.
I've been in the same situation and because of that I would recommend you getting a 13" screen. It's a higher resolution then the 13" MBP so there's a good way to split your screen in on the one half pages and on the other preview or safari. 11" is a bit too small I think.

Whenever the 15" MBA comes out, that's gonna be a direct bye-bye for my iPad I think :cool:
 
If you full-screen both pages in Lion, you can swipe between then using four-finger swipes on the trackpad. Makes it quite easy to work with multiple programs on one tiny screen.

I do this on my 13" MBA and it works so well I'm going to get an 11" after the next refresh (if I can wait that long :) ).
 
I used a 12" PowerBook g4 though my English degree. It was great because desks are small. I'd get the 11" if I went back today. The upgraded i7 version is 1350 and is just as fast as the much more expensive 13" upgraded.

Don't worry about your iPad. You'll either sell it or use it.
 
After doing some testing in the store today I went for the 128 GB 11" model, because of the fantastic portability compared to the 13" model. Also, if you guys are right, the battery difference is so small it's a non-issue.

Anyways, thanks for the help guys, I'm sure I will be happy with it. :)
 
PalacePlayers said:
After doing some testing in the store today I went for the 128 GB 11" model, because of the fantastic portability compared to the 13" model. Also, if you guys are right, the battery difference is so small it's a non-issue.

Anyways, thanks for the help guys, I'm sure I will be happy with it. :)
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Congrats! You're gonna love it just see.
And you don't have to full screen apps to move between them. Just put them in different desktops and swipe between the desktops
 
OP: I don't know how your lectures are set up, but in my school pretty much everything is ppt. Back when we had daily lectures I had a great system of converting the ppt's (which were available in advance of the lecture), into PDF's. I would then drag & drop to my appropriate Dropbox subfolder on my Air's desktop, and sync to my iPad using iAnnotate. Then during the lecture I could just pull up the lecture on my iPad and take notes by drawing directly on the presentation. Got an Elago stylus ($10 on Amazon) to write more comfortably. Then, syncing back to Dropbox, my annotated lectures were available to me on my iPhone or any computer. It worked great!
 
Lurchdubious said:
OP: I don't know how your lectures are set up, but in my school pretty much everything is ppt. Back when we had daily lectures I had a great system of converting the ppt's (which were available in advance of the lecture), into PDF's. I would then drag & drop to my appropriate Dropbox subfolder on my Air's desktop, and sync to my iPad using iAnnotate. Then during the lecture I could just pull up the lecture on my iPad and take notes by drawing directly on the presentation. Got an Elago stylus ($10 on Amazon) to write more comfortably. Then, syncing back to Dropbox, my annotated lectures were available to me on my iPhone or any computer. It worked great!
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Wow. That's very well organised. I had a different system. I would sleep through most of my lectures. Luckily there was this pretty girl, Megan, in my Maths and Applied Maths courses who would take great notes so I would photocopy them.
 
theSeb said:
Wow. That's very well organised. I had a different system. I would sleep through most of my lectures. Luckily there was this pretty girl, Megan, in my Maths and Applied Maths courses who would take great notes so I would photocopy them.
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Haha! That's fortunate she was hot.
 
I'd go with the 11" MacBook Air 4GB/128GB. It offers similar performance as the 13" base model. But it's ultra ultra iPad like portability is amazing. I actually sold my iMac 27" i7 and my iPad 2 for this.

I use it with a TB display at home. Killer combo.

As for the battery life, I spend a lot of hours at the university and I never felt let down by the battery life. I'd choose this!

EDIT: Good decision!
 
It barely weights anything.Go for the 13.trust me the real estate difference on the screen is worth it. You won't know the difference between both. Even with an iPad on hand.
 
11" for sure. Having carried around both a 13" and an 11", the 11" wins hands down. It feels as about the same size/weight as an iPad (well, it IS a bit bulkier, but not much). Compared to the 13" if feels a lot more agile if you're going to use it at school though. Just make a habit of closing the lid when you don't need it, or do as I did and set a "hot corner" so the screen turns off when you set the mouse cursor in one of the corners. That way I can keep it going all day without charging. The 11" has enough screen realestate and is fast enough for everything you need it for. I'd go with 11" any day of the week.
 
for the price difference

PalacePlayers said:
So I just realized my iPad 2 and iMac 27" isn't the perfect setup for a med student. The plan was to annotate lectures and take notes with my iPad with the wireless keyboard, and switch over to my iMac when at home or when I needed certain OS X apps or more power. It did work OK, I guess, but the lack of proper file management, multi-window-viewing and the fact that I had to connect the keyboard via bluetooth every damn time, made me make the decision - I need a laptop.

As I already have the 27" i5 iMac it's clear that power isn't first priority for my new laptop. As I will be carrying the laptop back and forth to school everyday, what I need is a thin, light and fast computer - of course I'm thinking MacBook Air.

However, my dilemma is - should I go 11" or 13"? I've decided to keep my iPad, so it might seem a bit weird and unecessary to have both 11" Macbook Air and the iPad. However, as I have the iMac, it might seem a little overkill to run the 13" when I already have the power and big screen.

So, what I will be doing with my new Macbook Air:
- Annotate ON lectute notes (=PDFs) with Preview (or any other app, if you guys have any tips)
- Take notes from books with Pages
- Browse the web
- View PDFs (possibly large ones)
- Looking up words

A few closing notes:
- The money difference is so little, it's a non-issue
- I will be carrying the laptop in a backback with a laptop folder
- I think 128 GB is more than enough for my use.
- I can charge the computer wherever I am at school.


Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.
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Go with the 13" for the $100 you will get better battery life and a bigger screen. For that $ it's worth it.

I was all but a 13" convert until I realized the 2011 11" Airs were much easier on my eyes and less stress on my neck/back when carrying. With Lion I am not scrolling as much as with SL and I can use the trackpads now. Sure I wouldn't mind more battery life, but for what I'm using it for (similar to the OP)... I'm good with the 11".
 
As a fellow med student, good choice on the 11".

I went for the 13" as I was worried about the battery not lasting a full day, the lack of screen resolution and the bonus of an SD slot. In retrospect, I wish I'd gone for the 11" like a few of my classmates.

The 11" lasts long enough, as you're not constantly hammering away on the keyboard for the entire day, and the sheer portability is the winner - your bag is full of textbooks! The screen is smaller, but it's fine for writing and browsing, especially with full screen mode.
 
11" is plenty big enough to take notes on. In fact, I use mine as my main machine. Fullscreen apps and multiple desktops in Lion make it easy to do a lot of things at once without feeling cluttered.
 
I had the same dilemma before I chose my 13". The 11" display is too small for school. The people who got 11" were business people who travel a lot, so, it's portable. 13" is the perfect laptop in term of size and resolution. More importantly, you get bigger SSD (at least 128GB).

You get 4GB DDR memory, instead of 2GB, so your computer will be faster. In fact, the standard these days is 4GB, I wouldn't even look at 2GB.

13" all the way.
 
Law student here, with a very similar setup to OP. The 11 is perfect for when you only use it for school. The 13" is a must if it's to be your only computer.
 
I know its not exactly the same, but Im a nursing student and I use the 11' MBA for notes during lectures. Ive never had an issue with the screen size or keyboard. I love the portability of it. Id never go back.
 
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