I have just returned from a 24 day trip to Norway, Austria, Czech Republic and Germany. Multiple stops and overnight stays in each country. I took my MBA M2 with me on the trip along with my iPhone and watch. The MBA was in a shoulder bag from Tom Toc. This is the bag.
I wanted to carry the MBA because it integrates well with my iPhone and watch (the iPad was left home). I used the MBA to watch movies on the long portions of the flights as the bigger screen over my iPad was considered worthwhile. I had no issues connecting to multiple WiFi spots during the travel, even using the WiFi on the train in Germany (one trip was 8 hours) as I was riding in 1st class. Battery life was excellent and generally lasted all day on the long segments of the trip.
I was able to edit photos that were taken with my iPhone, place them in a website and send the link for others to view images. Photos were easily copied from the iPhone to the MBA. I ran W11 under Parallels to use some financial software that I needed to keep with the windows version for compatibility with my home desktop.
While many have debated the difference in weight between the MBA and the MBP as not being significant, my experience with carrying the MBA indicates that the extra weight of the MBP would have been quite noticeable. As it was, lugging the MBA through airports, train stations, in hotels, up and down stairs, the MBA got heavy after awhile. Not something that I expected.
In fact, everything I carried got heavy after awhile. I much appreciated the lightness of the MBA (2.7 pounds) as the heavier MBP machine (3.0 pounds) would have been more annoying. A third of a pound weight difference may not seem like much but that adds up over a lot of walking.
I found the MBA fit nicely on the tray table with a small space for a drink on the side. I don't think that would have been possible with the larger 15" MBA. In that sense I found the 13" MBA to be a good choice to use on the airplane.
I only carried a single charger (Anker for the size, weight and power) for the MBA and used USB-C cables to charge my watch and phone from MBA. That cut down on the number of chargers to one I had to carry and I only needed a charger with one USB-C port. Again, all to save weight and bulk. I was able to charge the phone and watch at the same time with the two USB-C ports on the MBA whether I was charging the MBA or not.
On my last trip to Europe I carried my Microsoft Surface Laptop. It, and the MBA, are capable machines. The MBA more easily integrated into my phone and watch, and allowed me to watch movies purchased from Apple. I used Bose over the ears noise cancelling earphones the majority of the time on the plane and train as the AirPods Pro earbuds were not nearly as quiet or comfortable for the long haul.
Just observations and opinions based on my experience and my preferences.
tomtoc 360 Protective Laptop Shoulder Bag for 13-inch MacBook Air M2/A2681 M1/A2337 2022-2018, MacBook Pro M2/A2686 M1/A2338 2022-2016, 13-inch Surface Pro 9/8/X/7+/7/6, Water-resistant Accessory Case
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I wanted to carry the MBA because it integrates well with my iPhone and watch (the iPad was left home). I used the MBA to watch movies on the long portions of the flights as the bigger screen over my iPad was considered worthwhile. I had no issues connecting to multiple WiFi spots during the travel, even using the WiFi on the train in Germany (one trip was 8 hours) as I was riding in 1st class. Battery life was excellent and generally lasted all day on the long segments of the trip.
I was able to edit photos that were taken with my iPhone, place them in a website and send the link for others to view images. Photos were easily copied from the iPhone to the MBA. I ran W11 under Parallels to use some financial software that I needed to keep with the windows version for compatibility with my home desktop.
While many have debated the difference in weight between the MBA and the MBP as not being significant, my experience with carrying the MBA indicates that the extra weight of the MBP would have been quite noticeable. As it was, lugging the MBA through airports, train stations, in hotels, up and down stairs, the MBA got heavy after awhile. Not something that I expected.
In fact, everything I carried got heavy after awhile. I much appreciated the lightness of the MBA (2.7 pounds) as the heavier MBP machine (3.0 pounds) would have been more annoying. A third of a pound weight difference may not seem like much but that adds up over a lot of walking.
I found the MBA fit nicely on the tray table with a small space for a drink on the side. I don't think that would have been possible with the larger 15" MBA. In that sense I found the 13" MBA to be a good choice to use on the airplane.
I only carried a single charger (Anker for the size, weight and power) for the MBA and used USB-C cables to charge my watch and phone from MBA. That cut down on the number of chargers to one I had to carry and I only needed a charger with one USB-C port. Again, all to save weight and bulk. I was able to charge the phone and watch at the same time with the two USB-C ports on the MBA whether I was charging the MBA or not.
On my last trip to Europe I carried my Microsoft Surface Laptop. It, and the MBA, are capable machines. The MBA more easily integrated into my phone and watch, and allowed me to watch movies purchased from Apple. I used Bose over the ears noise cancelling earphones the majority of the time on the plane and train as the AirPods Pro earbuds were not nearly as quiet or comfortable for the long haul.
Just observations and opinions based on my experience and my preferences.
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