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The new Macbook Air, is it suitible for me?

sondress

sondress

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 15, 2010
6
0
I was thinking about buying the new 13" macbook air (maybe uping to 4 gigs of ram). It's primarily going to be used in a small business. So, Basic tasks: office for mac, internetbrowsing, some movies (how does it handle 1080p?), pictures and light photoshop.

The reason I'm considering it in the first place is because of portability.

Is it worth the money? I'm afraid it's not going to be "futureproof" enough...

Thanks in advance!
 
Look into the Refurbished MacBook Air's on Apple.com

They are offering 13 inch MBA rev C's for $899 1.86 GHz 2 GB ram 120 GB SATA HD and $1149 2.13 GHz 2 GB ram 128 GB SSD (Canadian dollars will be cheaper in USD).

I'm waiting on the arrival of mine today!

I figure the new generation doesn't have a backlit keyboard, and the first generation of new products always have flaws.
 
We were playing around with the base model 11" Air yesterday. We loaded Photoshop, Illustrator, iWork, and a couple of Final Cut Studio programs. It handled all of them like a champ. I was extremely impressed. I feels like it has the same power as the 13" Core 2 Duo equipped 15" MacBook Pro.
 
Do not get the old macbook air refurbished. It doesn't have that great of a lifespan. The new 13" is a good laptop. It has more than enough to do what you need as well as the capability to be useful in the future. its graphics can run opencl as well as open gl applications pretty well. the processor is as capable as the 13" macbook pro's. It will be fast for many years to come, and if you use it more than you'd use a pro, it'd be more worth it as well.

Since you're gonna use photoshop, get the 4gb ram option. If you think you might be using it more heavily, the upgraded cpu would be a good investment as well. The few seconds it shaves off each function or filter would add up over the years..

It handles 1080p h264 well. It can also do 1080p flash well (with 10.1).
 
MBAc said:
Look into the Refurbished MacBook Air's on Apple.com

They are offering 13 inch MBA rev C's for $899 1.86 GHz 2 GB ram 120 GB SATA HD and $1149 2.13 GHz 2 GB ram 128 GB SSD (Canadian dollars will be cheaper in USD).

I'm waiting on the arrival of mine today!

I figure the new generation doesn't have a backlit keyboard, and the first generation of new products always have flaws.
Click to expand...

I would nt listen to this persons advice... The new macbook air has the best battery life , flash memory as fast as an expensive ssd, option for 4 gb of ram... The 11 or 13 inch is a very good buy for your money. I would get the 13 1.86 4gb ram 256. The cpu upgrade for the 13 inch is negligible and the macbook air 11 is too small for me, however it may fit your needs failry well. is portability a big key in your decision
?

coming from a 13 yr old highschool student on a mbp 13 inch
 
njsa04playa said:
I would nt listen to this persons advice... The new macbook air has the best battery life , flash memory as fast as an expensive ssd, option for 4 gb of ram... The 11 or 13 inch is a very good buy for your money. I would get the 13 1.86 4gb ram 256. The cpu upgrade for the 13 inch is negligible and the macbook air 11 is too small for me, however it may fit your needs failry well. is portability a big key in your decision
?

coming from a 13 yr old highschool student on a mbp 13 inch
Click to expand...


A 13 year old HS student is saying don't listen to me?

Base model refurbished $899, base model new air $1349. Both have 1.86 ghz and 2 GB memory.

If he is looking for portability, it would be up to him to decide whether or not the extra $450 dollars is worth a flash hard-drive. Because the new air weighs 2.9 lbs and the old air weighs 3 lbs.

If he wants to pay a premium that's his choice, but which offer do you think Apple is making the most amount of money off of? Therefore, the best deal for you (the consumer) is the refurb, unless you are desperately trying to keep up with the Jones'.
 
Even for a refurb price, you've paid too much.


You said people are paying a premium for the new 13" MBA unless they need portability?

Firstly, why else would you buy an MBA unless you wanted portability? What do you think the target market is of an MBA?

Secondly, the $450 "premium" you're talking about pays for the extra performance of the SSD. It's not just a different way to store data. It makes the entire computer faster --- day in, day out.

Thirdly, there's the better screen resolution. Sorry, but I waited 3 years for Apple to come out with either a 13" MBP with a 1440 x 900 screen resolution, or 15" with 1650 x 1080 screen. The screen resolution itself is worth the premium. People multitask. Plus, in terms of quality, the new screen is far superior.

I got the 15" MBP with the screen I wanted, and I'm very happy with it. However, the new 13" MBA is sort of what I really wanted.
 
Abstract said:
Even for a refurb price, you've paid too much.


You said people are paying a premium for the new 13" MBA unless they need portability?

Firstly, why else would you buy an MBA unless you wanted portability? What do you think the target market is of an MBA?

Secondly, the $450 "premium" you're talking about pays for the extra performance of the SSD. It's not just a different way to store data. It makes the entire computer faster --- day in, day out.

Thirdly, there's the better screen resolution. Sorry, but I waited 3 years for Apple to come out with either a 13" MBP with a 1440 x 900 screen resolution, or 15" with 1650 x 1080 screen. The screen resolution itself is worth the premium. People multitask. Plus, in terms of quality, the new screen is far superior.

I got the 15" MBP with the screen I wanted, and I'm very happy with it. However, the new 13" MBA is sort of what I really wanted.
Click to expand...

I'm saying the portability is the same with the old and new.

If he is a PC user thinking of coming to mac, the rev C will have a resolution good enough to blow the socks off of what he is used to.

And, also he doesn't necessarily need to spend the extra $450 dollars because the rev C is capable of doing what he requires.



Last,

He's asking if the cost is worth it, therefore he likely doesn't have a million dollars sitting around to waste on the newest gadgets. I'm being a realest and telling him to search other options.
 
Definitely don't get the old one. It has a terrible lifespan, and heats up really fast. From all reports though, the new one has some major improvements, including the cpu, and gpu, which would help out a lot if you're planning on using photoshop a lot, so by all means go for it!
 
Do not purchase the old Macbook Air. The new ones blow it out of the water.

Old Macbook Air had terrible heat problems -- and the processors were throttled down to help with the heat. The fans sound like a jet engine. It was new tech when introduced, but it left a lot to be desired.

New Macbook Airs cure those problems, with blazing SSDs and superior temperature control. The new Airs would be fine for you. Again, do not purchase an old, refurbished Macbook Air.
 
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