The new iPad or the Macbook Air?!

[Tigerman82]

That's simply not true. As I mentioned above, the MBA costs a student $949. The base model iPad costs $499 (no student discount). That's not even double. So your quote of "three times more" is simply a lie.

And the fact of the matter is that the $949 MBA is many levels above the base model iPad. If you want to try and have a fair comparison, you would compare the $829 iPad, which still isn't nearly as good as the MBA, and costs only $120 less.

$120

$120

Please read it.

First of all, calm down. 🙂 Second of all, I meant "in the worst case scenario" and exaggerated a bit. Here in Finland the smallest basic MBA costs 1033 euros with the student discount. You can get the new iPad for as low as 449 euros in some stores. So that makes MBA over two times more expensive than the iPad in that case.

My main point was to highlight the price difference. It is easy for people just to say "buy MBA instead of iPad" in these forums. However, I rarely see anyone taking the price difference into account.

 

[Uofmtiger]

Yes, but the MBA has many, many extra features, abilities, or just plain old better specs. so when comparing the two, it's only fait to compare the closest models.

There is no reason to include LTE if you don't need it. It won't make up for any perceived differences.

I personally would rather have the 16gb iPad and an inexpensive Dell desktop as a combo for the same money.

 

[Elec]

There is no reason to include LTE if you don't need it. It won't make up for any perceived differences.

I personally would rather have the 16gb iPad and an inexpensive Dell desktop as a combo for the same money.

There are a lot of things on the MBA that you may not need. Again, if you want to make a fair comparison, you should spec them out as closely as possible. That would be the $829 iPad vs. the $949 MBA.

----------

First of all, calm down. 🙂 Second of all, I meant "in the worst case scenario" and exaggerated a bit.

First, don't tell me to calm down. Second, you didn't exaggerate, you outright lied. A MBA is not, in any way, shape, or form, three times as much as the iPad.

Here in Finland the smallest basic MBA costs 1033 euros with the student discount. You can get the new iPad for as low as 449 euros in some stores. So that makes MBA over two times more expensive than the iPad in that case.

Again, that is silly and ignorant- and you know it.

My main point was to highlight the price difference. It is easy for people just to say "buy MBA instead of iPad" in these forums. However, I rarely see anyone taking the price difference into account.

You brought nothing but misinformation into this thread.

 

[Uofmtiger]

The maxed out iPad only has more memory and LTE over the cheapest iPad. The other specs are the same. There is no reason to compare the most expensive iPad if you don't need those things.

The cheapest MBA is much more expensive than the cheapest iPad. The cost of entry is a lot higher.

The MBA the OP refers to is more than $600 more than the iPad he refers to (assuming he doesn't want LTE). He could buy a PC for the difference.

 

[Night Spring]

My main point was to highlight the price difference. It is easy for people just to say "buy MBA instead of iPad" in these forums. However, I rarely see anyone taking the price difference into account.

You are right about the importance of the price difference (even though you initially exaggerated the difference when you said "three times as much"), but even if the iPad were a tenth the price of a MBA, it's still a bad choice as an only computer for a student, as there will inevitably be some task that a student needs to do that cannot be done on an iPad. If price is a concern, then as other posters have said, a cheap Windows laptop is, unfortunately, a more appropriate option for a student than an iPad. In fact, a $500 laptop plus a base model iPad might give a cost-conscious student the best device combo for his money.

Having said that, the MacBook Air is the bast laptop I've ever used, and I'd hate it if I had to use anything else... 🙄

 

[Tigerman82]

Again, that is silly and ignorant- and you know it.

You brought nothing but misinformation into this thread.

I see you're "one of those" forum members. I get your point but why do you have to be so aggressive. I also know from experience that your kind never gives up arguing and gets only more aggressive so I will stop my commenting on this thread after this comment. Sorry for the OT.

There are ton of threads where students are asking if the iPad is a good note-taking device. In these threads there are always people who suggest they buy MBA without acknowledging the price difference -- which for a student is often a deal-breaker. For example, as a student looking for a note-taking device from Apple, my options are the cheapest iPad or the cheapest MBA. In Finland the cheapest MBA costs over two times as much as the cheapest iPad. The choice becomes a no-brainer. If the student doesn't have a computer at home (or doesn't care about the price difference), MBA might tempt more -- I'm certainly not saying that one should buy the iPad as the only computer one has.

I apologize for any bad feelings or missinformation but the fact of it is that my point was only to highlight the price difference and that it is a significant factor.

 

[inselstudent]

I second the MBA too. I own both an MBA and an iPad and am now selling the latter. The iPad is perfect for reading, the Retina display is just awesome for that. But then there are those darn restraints, you can't print with all printers, you can't compile, preparing presentations is rather a hassle, you have to buy even more connectors etc etc.

 

[Paddict]

Allow me to clarify though, it's of my opinion that everyone who's serious about ANYTHING should own a powerful DESKTOP PC, However if you have crippled yourself by not owning a desktop PC then the MB would be your best option as you will probably want to multi-task things at some point. I speak from the standpoint of a Desktop PC being ones main go-to device for any serious tasks. (gaming, downloading, creating, research, etc..)

 

[Infinitewisdom]

Allow me to clarify though, it's of my opinion that everyone who's serious about ANYTHING should own a powerful DESKTOP PC, However if you have crippled yourself by not owning a desktop PC then the MB would be your best option as you will probably want to multi-task things at some point. I speak from the standpoint of a Desktop PC being ones main go-to device for any serious tasks. (gaming, downloading, creating, research, etc..)

Nonsense. Loads of people these days who use a MacBook as their primary computer for work purposes. You can find a lot of them on here.

As for the OP, go with a real computer. It'll save a lot of headaches later on down the road. The iPad isn't ready for usage as your primary computer.

 

[Medic311]

i am in high school, and need something to get a fair amount of school work done on, lots of surfing the web, check my emails, play games, watch movies, and take it with me where ever i go. I've narrowed down my choices to the 64gb ipad 3, and the 256gb macbook air. What would be better for me? I know that there is quite a bit of a price difference between the 2, but i'm willing to pay it.

mba

 

[knucklehead]

I am in high school, and need something to get a fair amount of school work done on, lots of surfing the web, check my emails, play games, watch movies, and take it with me where ever I go. I've narrowed down my choices to the 64gb iPad 3, and the 256gb MacBook Air. What would be better for me? I know that there is quite a bit of a price difference between the 2, but I'm willing to pay it.

The key point is where you say "take it with me wherever I go".

If where you go has electrical outlets, internet connection, and you don't have a need for a GPS in getting there, you can live without some of the advantages of the iPad.

I have both a current iPad and 11" Air. I use them both about equally overall, but favor either in different circumstances.

Considering you mentioned high school, I'd say the Air would be better for you.

 

[Bokes]

If you can afford only one:
Macbook Air hands down.

then if you want a carry around ereader/media device- get a KindleHD for $199

good luck.

 

[irDigital0l]

Allow me to clarify though, it's of my opinion that everyone who's serious about ANYTHING should own a powerful DESKTOP PC, However if you have crippled yourself by not owning a desktop PC then the MB would be your best option as you will probably want to multi-task things at some point. I speak from the standpoint of a Desktop PC being ones main go-to device for any serious tasks. (gaming, downloading, creating, research, etc..)

Well yea but laptops have their advantages as well...

I mean you cant bring your pc when you need to do a powerpoint in class can you?

----------

First of all, calm down. 🙂 Second of all, I meant "in the worst case scenario" and exaggerated a bit. Here in Finland the smallest basic MBA costs 1033 euros with the student discount. You can get the new iPad for as low as 449 euros in some stores. So that makes MBA over two times more expensive than the iPad in that case.

My main point was to highlight the price difference. It is easy for people just to say "buy MBA instead of iPad" in these forums. However, I rarely see anyone taking the price difference into account.

Ummm maybe because we're referring to US prices.

At a price perspective...you get what you pay for.

You expect someone to buy a MBA and use it for years and not replace it every 1-3 years.

The iPad on the other hand gets updated rather quickly. Most people that had iPad 1, now have iPad 3.

Most normal people don't upgrade laptops every year.

Its all about investment.

The iPad cheaper yes...but its no where near as capable as a laptop. We are talking about the difference between a tablet and macbook. While I do believe in all this post PC revolution thing...tablets still just aren't capable enough to overtake laptops.

 

[GrandPhrase]

I am in high school, and need something to get a fair amount of school work done on, lots of surfing the web, check my emails, play games, watch movies, and take it with me where ever I go. I've narrowed down my choices to the 64gb iPad 3, and the 256gb MacBook Air. What would be better for me? I know that there is quite a bit of a price difference between the 2, but I'm willing to pay it.

Macbook Air - whilst the iPad is a better media consumption device, the MBA is both a better media consumer and producer. The iPad would be better in situations like movies, music, email (not to say the MBA is bad - it's good just a tiny bit less friendly for quick and simple access), but the MBA is much more powerful as it can handle all that the iPad can plus word processing, presentation, flash content for some school videos you may have, etc. Not to mention the extra real estate - when you type in Pages on an iPad the keyboard and top menu bar take up about 3/4 of the screen leaving you with 1/4 to see what you are actually typing.

Edit: Forgot to mention pricing - iPad is about half the price of a MBA, but the productivity and speed at you will get things done (may not be 2x initially), but over time the amount of work done on the MBA as opposed to the iPad will probably be greater than twice as much.

Macbook Air isn't as light as the iPad, but its one of the lightest notebooks and you cant deny that its light. Isnt even hard to carry - *feels like feather* anyone can carry it easily

It's basically an all-in-one.

--> Macbook Air

Wow, my longest post ever on MR lol.
Lmao editing this about 5 times now from errors, additions.

 

[Aluminum213]

My girl friend is in medical school and she was in the market for a new laptop, I let her use my iPad to see if she would like getting one.... I haven't seen it back in 4 months.

 

[palpatine]

There is a widespread misconception that the iPad is only for content consumption, but depending on what you do, it could also work wonderfully as a content creation device.

Get the device that best suits your needs. In my case 90%+ of my work gets done on the iPad. I bought an MBA for the rest. If that sounds like an expensive proposition, you could buy a netbook for less than $300 to cover the occasional tasks that the iPad cannot handle (uploading files to websites, running OCR on a PDF, etc.).

 

[Medic311]

My girl friend is in medical school and she was in the market for a new laptop, I let her use my iPad to see if she would like getting one.... I haven't seen it back in 4 months.

you probably don't want it back after it being in a hospital for just a day

 

[Camchops]

You should go with the MBA simply because, and a few other guys have also said it, it is a computer opposed to tablet. I love my ipad2 and use it 80% of the time but where it is limited is for actual spreadsheets, word processing for my sons schoolwork(15), anything more than basic function and of course you have a better hard drive.

Sorry for the gibberish explanation but I am currently tearing my own hair out wondering just what to buy. I went to buy an iMac (base model) in August only to get rapped up in the update debate(still waiting), my current thinking is 13 MBA £1249 ,13 MBP £1249 hd 4000 graphics or at the minute the front runner is the 15 MBP (£1499)with the nvidia graphics. Before anyone points it out the 11 MBA will do me.

What are your views on refurbished cause I have realised you can basically buy refurbished with apple care or a new item for the same price

ipad2iPhone 4/4sapple TV

I would go with a new item, not refurbished.

 

[Camchops]

Student = iPad, Business = iPad, Entertainment = iPad, Laptop nerd = Macbook

Haha!

 

[flyguy206]

Get the air

 

[Aluminum213]

you probably don't want it back after it being in a hospital for just a day

Lol, but I do miss it 🙁

I'm not saying I don't like my MacBook Pro but for just quick consumption like Internet browser which is what I mostly do the iPad is a lot more convenient and it's a lot lighter and easier to carry

 

[underblu]

The problem with using the iPad as a computer is the file system. It's poorly done if you looking for computer like functionality.

It's too bad too because the iPad's high resolution touch screen is a fantastic interface and with an attached keypad even typing a breeze but IOS6 is a poor substitute for a proper computer OS like Mountain Lion.

I'm surprised Apple didn't do an OSXm version for the iPad. I really think that would have significantly expanded its functionality.