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What is it about the 11" MBA? The 13" ticks more boxes but still want the 11!

Cheffy Dave said:
Thats why I have 3 2010 11" MBA, once they release them with a Retina screen, I'll have another 3:eek:;):cool:
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All 3 for yourself? Hoard much? lol

I just love the form factor it's quite unique and sexy, where as the 13" is pretty bland and feels like your typical standard laptop.
 
on Monday i will buy my MBA and i really want the 11 inch my ONLY concern is the battery life as it'll have to last a whole school day...still haven't decided which one to get
 
lionmanpt said:
However my eyes aren't as good as 30 years ago (perhaps due to spending to much time on those VAX/VMS green or orange terminals doing endless limes of coding......)
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I remember those all too well. Puts all this colour / resolution stuff in perspective!

I thought the 11" screen was remarkably good even with my declining eyesight, but the battery life on the 13" was my deciding factor (too much travel). I really do like the looks of the 11 though!
 
caoimhe said:
I remember those all too well. Puts all this colour / resolution stuff in perspective!

I thought the 11" screen was remarkably good even with my declining eyesight, but the battery life on the 13" was my deciding factor (too much travel). I really do like the looks of the 11 though!
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I agree , I do love the 11". Seems like a unique piece of engineering !
 
I don't own an Air but I was at the Apple store today playing with the 11" and 13" and I found myself drawn to the 11" much more. The screen looks super sharp at that size and the form factor is amazing.....as everyone said the 13" seems big compared to it.


Right now I have an Ipad 2 and a huge 2010 Sony Vaio laptop(16.4" screen, i7, 6gb ram, 500 gb HD). The Vaio has 2 things I absolutely despise about it. It weighs 6.8 lbs and the batter life is a little over an hour. I hate that I have to wait a while to wake the laptop out of sleep and I hate how its basically just a small desktop because of the weight and how you basically need a plug in all the time for it.

I really been looking at the Airs as of late and they really seem like a great compliment to my iPad. I also checked out the new Dell xps13 and I wasn't impressed at all at the hardware and design. I have no problems with Win 7 and actually am a huge fan of that OS but on the Dell it doesn't seem that great.

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Also I was pricing out a 11" and 13" MBA and does anyone notice that the 13" is only $50 more when you are comparing the following


11" $1,649.00
2.0GHz Intel Dual-Core Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
256GB Flash Storage




13" $1,699.00
2.0GHz Intel Dual-Core Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
256GB Flash Storage



I was hoping the 11" would be a bit cheaper when upgraded with the i7 and HD. Pretty much 8 gb of memory seems like a nobrainer upgrade for $100. Im not sure how well I would like having the base 128 flash storage. That seems really low. Seems when it comes to upgrading ram and HD space, you always end up needing more than less.
 
I spent the better part of 2 months going back and forth on what I should get for college (going into computer engineering). Finally my better judgement won and I got the 13in for practicality reasons. However, my heart still belongs to the 11in and it will be my first computer purchase out of college when I get a better paying job other than working at a grocery store.
 
bubbleboyjones said:
I don't own an Air but I was at the Apple store today playing with the 11" and 13" and I found myself drawn to the 11" much more. The screen looks super sharp at that size and the form factor is amazing.....as everyone said the 13" seems big compared to it.


Right now I have an Ipad 2 and a huge 2010 Sony Vaio laptop(16.4" screen, i7, 6gb ram, 500 gb HD). The Vaio has 2 things I absolutely despise about it. It weighs 6.8 lbs and the batter life is a little over an hour. I hate that I have to wait a while to wake the laptop out of sleep and I hate how its basically just a small desktop because of the weight and how you basically need a plug in all the time for it.

I really been looking at the Airs as of late and they really seem like a great compliment to my iPad. I also checked out the new Dell xps13 and I wasn't impressed at all at the hardware and design. I have no problems with Win 7 and actually am a huge fan of that OS but on the Dell it doesn't seem that great.

----------

Also I was pricing out a 11" and 13" MBA and does anyone notice that the 13" is only $50 more when you are comparing the following


11" $1,649.00
2.0GHz Intel Dual-Core Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
256GB Flash Storage




13" $1,699.00
2.0GHz Intel Dual-Core Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
256GB Flash Storage



I was hoping the 11" would be a bit cheaper when upgraded with the i7 and HD. Pretty much 8 gb of memory seems like a nobrainer upgrade for $100. Im not sure how well I would like having the base 128 flash storage. That seems really low. Seems when it comes to upgrading ram and HD space, you always end up needing more than less.
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The difference is due to the fact that the upgrade from i5 to i7 on the 11" is much more expensive than on the 13". Try do a comparison with the same RAM and Flash Storage but with the default i5 and you will see a difference.....

It is difficult to explain the price difference on the upgrade of the processor.
 
Of course it's personal preference, but I really wanted to like the 11 inch and choose it, but it's just too damn small. Its cute, and cheaper, but gaming and watching movies on the 11 inch is significantly less satisfying.
 
I travel a lot. Typical day is fly from ATL to LGA, jump in a car... head to Manhattan... and then catch a 3pm (hopefully not the 5pm flight from hell) back to ATL. I do this 3 times a week. I have been using an 11", but... by noon, I'm scrambling for a power outlet (I try not to use it on the flight to NY, but sometimes I have to).


By the time, I'm on the flight home.. my MBA is dead. This is when I could really appreciate an additional 2 hours of battery.

Today I see that Best Buy has the 13" on sale for only $30.00 more than the 11" ($1,099 13/4/128).... and I can still apply by education discount and save an additional $100.00. So basically, better battery life, and twice as much memory as my 11" inch... for the same price as a $999.99 macbook air 11".

That's a no brainer for me.
My last PC was almost 7lbs... and I carried that EVERYWHERE for 2 years. I think the 12 cell battery weighed as much as my 11". I'll be okay adding half a pound.
 
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petsk said:
Sure you can fit more content on the 13 inch screen but we are not talking about that. We are talking about the size of the GUI (text, icons etc).

Some people say that their eyes get strained and they need glasses etc. with the 11 inch but not with the 13 inch. I've read this in several threads and in my opinion it's a completely false statement.

It makes no sense because you will need glasses on both machines if you need glasses on one of them. Glasses won't let you fit more or less content on the screen. Facts are facts and you cannot change that with "personal experience".
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Sorry, but what you're stating is also your subjective perspective, which is not factual. We need to recognize that there is difference between opinions and facts. If some feel they need glasses with MBA 11s, but not MBA 13s, so be it. Since your vision is different than anybody else's, why would you claim that what they are making are false statements?
 
11 is much lighter than the 13. That's it.

The thread title states the obvious: I'd rather have a 13 that weighs 2.3 lb

Of course, then the 11 would still weigh much less right? :D
 
mac jones said:
11 is much lighter than the 13. That's it.

The thread title states the obvious: I'd rather have a 13 that weighs 2.3 lb

Of course, then the 11 would still weigh much less right? :D
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how many pick the 11 over the 13?
 
The 11" is so cute! I used to call it the "baby Mac" :) I got the Ultimate one a couple of weeks ago. I haven't neglected my MBP though. I would never do that to it. I'm nice to my Macs and in return they're nice to me :D :apple: I never keep both of them in the same room though otherwise I might have little iPads running around :eek::p;)
 
Zoom feature makes for a comfortable experience on 11"

Time to revive this old chestnut.

I'm offering my two cents in the hopes that it might help someone else make a decision. So I am day 1 into a 11" 2012 MBA i7 256GB. The most common objection to the 11" is that the screen is too small. So far I think it has been fine. The great thing about newer operating systems is that they come with the two finger zoom feature. So, you can use two fingers on the trackpad to zoom into a document or web page--just like an iPhone or an iPad. Problem solved.

For someone like me who wanted a lightweight computer that I could carry around campus without hurting my back or shoulders ( I already own a first gen Macbook Pro 15"), this is great. I'm a student, so I can imagine taking this puppy anywhere and type notes, papers, or do excel spreadsheets.

If you mainly need a machine to write, surf the Internet, email, and do a spreadsheet here and there, this is great. As a second computer, it is perfect. I plan to continue using dropbox for my document saving needs and I'm not setting up my iTunes.
 
I went for the 11" because it's small and light, which I think is the whole point of the Air.

I also usually carry my iPad along so if I need anymore screen space I'll just use Air Display. Otherwise, the total weight of the 11", the iPad, a notebook and a book is just enough for my weak back.

And they aren't that different in size anyway.

I mean, seriously, this is all you lose horizontally. 74 bloody pixels.
7850819074_613cbc6814_t.jpg


And this vertically.
7850818976_9628f2bc7b_m.jpg


I don't even bother to connect an external monitor at home unless I'm watching movies or something.
 
i have a 13" pro and i still lust after an 11" air! tempted to sell my ipad and replace it with a refurb base 11
 
They may be similar in physical sizes, but are different beasts. They compliment each other nicely, but one cannot replace the other imo.
 
Blackberryroid said:
You should have stayed with it long enough. You would have adapted to it. Like me, from a 17 Inch computer.
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NutsNGum said:
Same here, gone from a 2011 17" Antiglare MBP -> 2012 8GB RAM 11" Air. It's insanely convenient. Just the best machine I've ever used.
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Mmm. I did stay with it for a couple months, which I think is long enough for me to tell if it fits my needs. Doing work on it was impossible since I needed to compare spreadsheets with programming data. Gave it away for that reason and to me, the bezel is hideous.
 
I grabbed the 13", but there is certainly something sweet about the 11" form.
 
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