The Verge: 2013 MBA best laptop ever

[aristobrat]

I don't know how you can say something like that with a straight face . Frankly 2GB hasn't been used for anything much since 2005 and the minimum memory requirements of Mavericks will undoubtedly be 4gb.

My guess is that he'd be able to say that with a straight face if the speed of the SSD in his 2010 Air makes the effects of page swapping not noticeable.

My daily driver at work is a mini with 8GB of RAM + a Fusion drive, and it regularly pages in/out when I have multiple VMs open. I don't notice when the paging is happening - no beach balls, the Mac doesn't feel slower, etc.

 

[sk3tch]

I haven't decided between the i7/8/512 or the i5/8/512. You say your'e both power users, but say his is a base model. Does he by chance try to run VMs? I'm going with 8GB Ram regardless, but am on the fence between the i5 & i7. I love the thought of the cooler & possibly longer running i5, but dread the thought of the CPU convulsing when running Win 8 & Win Server 2012 in separate VMs simultaneously.

I wouldn't worry about it, too much. They both have the same features (save for some LAN management stuff intended for Corporations on the i7), just less speed and cache on the i5:

http://ark.intel.com/compare/75114,75028

The perfect MBA 2013 config, to me, is an i5/8GB/256 one - best bang/buck.

We're power users in a different way. He's a developer and I'm an architect...he runs no VMs but I run them (although I have not yet set mine up). The stuff that killed my battery was doing the FileVault whole disk encryption setup, installs, etc. - since then I've done more light profile stuff (surfing, writing docs) and my battery has been good. Although now at 71% it says 2 hours left. Time Machine kills it, too! Ha.

 

[Lone Deranger]

New MBAs are good but there are better laptops. For example, Sony Vaio Pro is much lighter (or the same wight when used with extra battery), has same battery life (with extra battery), has the same fast PCIe SSD. But it has one huge advantage - Full HD TRILUMINOS IPS touchscreen (1920 x 1080).

So essentially it's got a few more pixels and one huge disadvantage - Windows.

(Not to mention it's lacking the vastly superior Apple trackpad).

No thanks.

 

[curtoise]

The perfect MBA 2013 config, to me, is an i5/8GB/256 one - best bang/buck.

Thinking the same way here.

 

[sk3tch]

New MBAs are good but there are better laptops. For example, Sony Vaio Pro is much lighter (or the same wight when used with extra battery), has same battery life (with extra battery), has the same fast PCIe SSD. But it has one huge advantage - Full HD TRILUMINOS IPS touchscreen (1920 x 1080).

Sony:

• HD 4400 graphics - not HD 5000 like Air - HALF THE CORES
• Max 4GB RAM on 11" - no 8GB option on 11" like MBA
• Max 256GB SSD on 11" - no 512GB option on 11" like MBA
• Slower CPUs - i5 4200 versus i5 4250, i7 4500 versus i7 4650

The Vaios are nice, nice machines... Although yeah - I'd love a 1080p IPS screen on my MBA! Touch I could do without.

 

[Jefe's MacAir]

I did have several Vaios, Hps, etc untli I got my first Mac 6 years ago and never looked back.


Good luck with Windows 8, I would not touch that monster even if you pay me.

x2. No more 3rd party virus protection. No more slowing of the machine as they age. Laptops actually last more than a year or two before they need a major overhaul usually for virus issue. And a track pad that I actually use. I hated track pads when I ran a PC. NEVER used it. I use the Mac track pad ALL the time. I even catch myself using it when I'm using my Magic Mouse.

Best of all is no brick of an AC charger that doubles the weight of you laptop when traveling.

 

[techn0lady]

My guess is that he'd be able to say that with a straight face if the speed of the SSD in his 2010 Air makes the effects of page swapping not noticeable..

Your guess would be wrong. The speed of the memory buss is orders of magnitude greater than the speed of a 2010 era SSD.

Since windows 7 needs a realistic 2 Gb of memory in which to operate.... you do the math.

Also ... I had a 2011 macbook air with 4 GB memory and one with 8gb memory - the speed of a Win 7 virtual machine with the 4gb was barely tolerable - barely and annoying - the speed of the VM at 8GB was essential flawless. I can not even imagine trying to run a realistic VM (of windows - linux is another matter) in a 2 Gb Air as the original poster claims.

 

[Miat]

and the touchpad on the MBA is untouchable this far.

Apple's touchpads are in a class of their own. Easily the best I have tried.

 

[mj1108]

and the touchpad on the MBA is untouchable this far.

Apple's touchpads are in a class of their own. Easily the best I have tried.

No doubt. No other touchpad comes close (that I've tried).

 

[jetlagged]

i have a 2012 mba i5/8 ram/256 ssd

should i upgrade to the 2013 i5/8/256? the biggest selling point for me is the battery life. i use it for lightroom, imovie video editing of my travel videos for upload to my youtube channel. watching youtube a lot and streaming movies and shows on other websites. and lastly for traveling. i plan to travel the world for a year or two, so a computer that's lightweight and portable is a must. i can either go 11 inch, which would be the best or stick with 13 inch, which is just the right size for home, and maybe travel, basically the better all around computer.

i read that 2012 is just as fast or maybe almost comparable to the 2013.

 

[Brandon263]

Don't forget the craptastic trackpad and the fact it runs Windows

...And that it's using crappy Intel 4400 graphics while the Airs have the Intel 5000.

 

[technowar]

Good luck with Windows 8, I would not touch that monster even if you pay me.

Even if I'll pay you for another MBA of your own configuration? Hahaha

 

[luffytubby]

I wish they would reduce the massive bezel on the air!

 

[aristobrat]

I can not even imagine trying to run a realistic VM (of windows - linux is another matter) in a 2 Gb Air as the original poster claims.

mattopotamus statement was "I can still use the 2gb Airs just fine. I had a base 2012 Air and ran VM's without a hiccup." (emphasis mine)

IIRC, you're the only person in this thread talking about running VMs on an Air with 2GB of RAM.

 

[Faux Carnival]

The merits of a 2013 MBA aside, the way The Verge vacillates on its Apple coverage strikes me as rather hilarious.

Patronizing to the Nth degree on most articles, it's a site I enjoy avoiding.

Totally agree. I don't open that site anymore.

 

[Livewings]

I wish they would reduce the massive bezel on the air!

I'm hoping for a redesign next year. It's four years since the release of the redesign of the Air. But I have no idea how Apple could make it even thinner.

 

[Steve121178]

I'm sure that for emailing your granny and surfing myspace in a 2010 MBA 2GB is just fine running Apple Basic or some crap like that. But for real world usage, where one might want to create a powerpoint presentation while having photoshop open at the same time - where one might like to airplay over a 1080p movie in VLC to their ATV or maybe run dreamweaver Lightroom at he same time ... 2 GB is a nonsense number.

I don't know how you can say something like that with a straight face . Frankly 2GB hasn't been used for anything much since 2005 and the minimum memory requirements of Mavericks will undoubtedly be 4gb.

Advice like yours is worth everything we paid for it on the internet.

2GB is fine for his usage, what part of that didn't you get?

 

[OnlyGerman]

I'm hoping for a redesign next year. It's four years since the release of the redesign of the Air. But I have no idea how Apple could make it even thinner.

i agree, i was hoping it for this year.. hopefully next year redesign.

 

[ugahairydawgs]

I'm hoping for a redesign next year. It's four years since the release of the redesign of the Air. But I have no idea how Apple could make it even thinner.

How exactly can they really re-design it? Its already ridiculously thin. You could shave a few centimeters off the shell (maybe), but anything noticeable will force them to move away from the full size keyboard on the 13" model.

Change for the sake of change isn't a good thing and I don't see anything obvious that needs to be done to the form factor in order to improve the product.

 

[n1tut]

mattopotamus statement was "I can still use the 2gb Airs just fine. I had a base 2012 Air and ran VM's without a hiccup." (emphasis mine)

IIRC, you're the only person in this thread talking about running VMs on an Air with 2GB of RAM.

Nope, I have a 2010 11" 2GB running Parallels with no problem at all.

There really is a load of bull talked about memory, if you are running intensive tasks then more memory is better, if like a large percentage of us you are mainly using the Internet, then running a VM in 2GB works fine.

tut