Which laptop size for the "Work From Home" folks?

[KohPhiPhi]

I work "on the road" rather frequently, so you'd expect that the 11" form-factor and its incredible portability would have been a winner for me... BUT the battery life gap between the two machines is indeed noticeable and so is the screen resolution. I don't think I could work comfortably on a 1360x768 resolution anymore, so 1440x900 is far better for me.

So all in all, and despite loving the 11", I had to go for the 13". It is a better all-rounder in my opinion: sure you give up on a bit of portability, but you gain significantly in screen resolution and battery life, and that tilted my purchase towards the 13". I'm very happy with my decision.

 

[alecgold]

completely logic, KohPhiPhi!
What kind of work do you do on it?

I travel a lot myself, and beside spending too much time on this forum, I often use simple things like word, mail, safari, parallels with XP (one tiny, simple, small windowed program that isn't available in OS-X).
The battery time is indeed pity, but for me it's enough. Together with a Hypermac car charger it works nicely. And I usually get up to 5 hours and with a lot of care up to 5,5-6 hours. But that isn't very much compared to the 9 hours (and sometimes even more!) that I achieved with the 13" 2010 ultimate.

A bit OT, but because I had it on my SSD, I tried last night to play Call of Duty 4 modern warfare. Man, that runs better than on my 13" 2010 ultimate MBA!! I really didn't expect that. I'm sure it isn't running full settings, perhaps even minimal settings but it's running smoothly never the less.

 

[amitdoc2b]

Easy for you to say NOW. Not so easy THEN.

I think we all go through these ordeals, even yourself, except I was over mine by the end of my thread. Did you read my last post in that thread or just the first? What do my last posts say? Regardless, even my original first post shows the same list as I state here so I am not being biased at all.

If even one extra feature was better (i.e. battery) to a full scale laptop I'd go for an 11" simply because many of us love the cuteness factor, but its just not ready for primetime.

Also, I think you took my comment the wrong way, weight was never a concern for either device as much as footprint (and then I analyzed why or why not it was/wasnt worth it).

But my point in the post you quoted me in was if others are concerned about weight, that I can carry a 2.9 pound MacBook Air without a charger -or- carry a 2.35 pound MacBook Air with another 6-8oz charger plus cords. So I was trying to state the weight is the same in this scenario for those that care, but the problem is the 11" product requires you to bring multiple things along with you in your hands or bag that makes it lose its simplicity.

Bottom line: weight is equal in 5-6 hour outing to Starbucks or work or school, which is fine either way, but the issue becomes do you want to carry around a bunch of accessories/cables/charger along with it? That becomes annoying for some (including me), while others can manage that. But if others can manage that why not just get a computer an inch longer/wider with the same slimness and avoid it altogether? But yes, if the 11" had a 7-hour battery then I may be swayed in the other direction.. till then, no way.

 

[Sounds Good]

I was really just teasin'.

 

[alecgold]

Bottom line: weight is equal in 5-6 hour outing to Starbucks or work or school, which is fine either way, but the issue becomes do you want to carry around a bunch of accessories/cables/charger along with it?

If weight is the same, the 11" with adapter will outlast the 13" without adapter for quite some time.... I've had the 13: last for 7-9 hours, but I have also seen it being depleted within 3 hours.
Don't worry, I understand your points and you made a very well educated choice for the 13", just like I did for the 11".

(And if it doesn't work out for me, I have the luxury that I can swap it back to the 13" )

Oh, what is there to do in the Starbucks that you hang out there for 5-6 hours?