Trade in for a MBA or new MBP?

[nooaah]

Well, my early/mid-2009 MBP is starting to show a little bit of age (specs in sig). I love this laptop, but I'm thinking about resale value at this point. I travel every week on business and, as of now, I take my iPad with me. I took my MBP for about a year but it's just too heavy for that much running around in airports and train stations when you factor in that I need to also drag along my corporate PC (a POS HP from 2007...soon to be a POS Lenovo from 2011 that has awesome specs but still weighs 10 lbs).

I'm on the fence with my iPad when it comes to functionality and I am intrigued by the portability of the MBA; coupled with the rumored specs of the soon to be released models and I'm considering trading in my MBP/selling on Craigslist and ditching the iPad 2, as well.

My question is, considering that my use of the MBP doesn't come anywhere close to "Pro" use, is it really worth buying another MBP? I only use it for iTunes, photo editing, web browsing, and some media hosting for Roku and AppleTV boxes.

I'd post this in the MBA forum but I'm more interested in hearing about why I should stick with the MBP rather than why I should go with the Air. I already know why that's a nice option.

Thanks!

 

[ECUpirate44]

The only reason I see the need to stick with the MBP is the OD if you never use it or need it. Another thing to remember about the Air is it's lack of ports. No SD card slot ect. The new Air that is coming out any day now is rumored to have a backlit keyboard so you wouldn't be missing out on that.

 

[0007776]

Stick with the MBP if you want or need an optical drive, or want to be able to upgrade the RAM in the future. Otherwise the air is a good choice.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I used to have a MBP - which was an excellent computer - and last September, I bought a MBA (Rev C SSD). Since then, as I found that I was using the MBA all of the time, I have sold my MBP.

For my part, I travel a lot, so portability is a major issue for me; in the trade-off between power and portability, I found that portability mattered more.

Your post sounds as though this might be the case for you, too. Essentially, to address your question, you will stick with the MBP if you need the added features and greater power more than you like the convenience of the uber-portability of the MBA. The plusses of the latter you already know; portability, excellent battery and screen resolution, plus, the SSD is miles better than the old HDD.

Cheers

 

[nooaah]

Thanks for the responses, everyone. My dad told me last night he's going to buy me a 13" MBA whenever the refresh is released for my birthday. He's insisting on ponying up for the entire cost but I'll probably, at the very least, try to give him whatever I sell the MBP for.

Just to give some background so I don't come off as a spoiled little kid, my dad missed my last birthday and ended up not giving me anything because we were caught up with my mom being in the hospital. Unfortunately, she passed away a few months later and he's been pretty lonely ever since. Both of his dogs died recently, too. He's completely alone. This sort of makes him feel like he's still a provider. I argued with him but in the end, I think him buying a crazy gift for me will do more for him than for me. I'll just return the favor with something over the top for his birthday.

Anyway, I do travel for business every week and I really feel like the Air is exactly what I need. The iPad is great for lounging around the house or going to a coffee shop, but when I'm away for up to a week at a time, it doesn't do everything I want. Even jailbroken.

So, thanks again. Once I stop traveling so much for work I'll probably move over to a 17" MBP. For the next few years, I have to go for what's practical and I think I'll be really happy with what the MBA offers. It seems like a nice compromise between specs and portability. I actually got to play around with the latest 13" model yesterday with one of the doctors I work with and he sort of sold me on it, too. He has a MBP at home and a MBA at his practice (btw, seeing a lot of MBPs at hospitals and doctors offices lately and it has something to do with the increased utilization of electronic medical records).

Sorry for rambling. Thanks again. This forum continues to have the most friendly and knowledgeable posts.