Would MBA be much slower?

[Quicklite]

Really want an MBA 13 due to the amazing battery.

I currently have a 17.3" Windows laptop at home (i7-3630QM, 650M, 840 Pro), which is about 4kg in a bag. Now I'm looking for something lighter - MBA seem to fit the bill. I want to set it up with an external display at home / office - and carry it around for work.

Would pretty much use the MBA for email, surfing, movie - my current laptop is a bit heavy / overkill - so I'm wondering would the i5 MBA 13 good enough? I can't really stand stutter / lag.

 

[fedecape]

Really want an MBA 13 due to the amazing battery.

I currently have a 17.3" Windows laptop at home (i7-3630QM, 650M, 840 Pro), which is about 4kg in a bag. Now I'm looking for something lighter - MBA seem to fit the bill. I want to set it up with an external display at home / office - and carry it around for work.

Would pretty much use the MBA for email, surfing, movie - my current laptop is a bit heavy / overkill - so I'm wondering would the i5 MBA 13 good enough? I can't really stand stutter / lag.

email, surfing, movie?

No problem.

The 11" can handle that as well, in case you want even more portability.

 

[NewbieCanada]

Really want an MBA 13 due to the amazing battery.

I currently have a 17.3" Windows laptop at home (i7-3630QM, 650M, 840 Pro), which is about 4kg in a bag. Now I'm looking for something lighter - MBA seem to fit the bill. I want to set it up with an external display at home / office - and carry it around for work.

Would pretty much use the MBA for email, surfing, movie - my current laptop is a bit heavy / overkill - so I'm wondering would the i5 MBA 13 good enough? I can't really stand stutter / lag.

It'll be fine. There's very little processing going on in what you do, and SSD is wicked fast. Put it this way - it boots up Windows 7 in about 18 seconds in a virtual machine.

You can see a lot of Macs in my (not yet updated) sig line. The 2013 MBA 13 is pure joy - and the first time I didn't bother with an i7.

 

[hexblot]

I can say for sure that for the tasks you describe, the Air will fit the bill perfectly, even in the base configuration.

You might be interested in Thunderbolt docks as well, since that will make disconnecting/reconnecting all of your peripherals (monitor/mouse/keyboard/speakers etc) a one-cable deal.

 

[Steve121178]

Just to echo what has been said above, the MBA will be absolutely fine.

 

[zipur]

It'll be fine. There's very little processing going on in what you do, and SSD is wicked fast. Put it this way - it boots up Windows 7 in about 18 seconds in a virtual machine.

You can see a lot of Macs in my (not yet updated) sig line. The 2013 MBA 13 is pure joy - and the first time I didn't bother with an i7.

Interesting; your list makes you a collector. Since you have almost every variation of Apple PC. What is your opinion is the Best for average use. What is your go to machine if you were allow to leave the earth and could only take one.

 

[luisito]

...so I'm wondering would the i5 MBA 13 good enough? I can't really stand stutter / lag.

The MBA processor has a base clock of 1.3GHz but reaches up to 2.6GHz if needed, twice the base clock!, so no worries, you will forget what lag means.

I've found that some people think that 1.3GHz is a slow processor, but they do not understand that is simply a low base clock for better battery managment and doesn't mean that the processor is limited to only that.

For email, surfing, and movies you will find out that you in fact, got another overkill machine. Haha.

 

[NewbieCanada]

Interesting; your list makes you a collector. Since you have almost every variation of Apple PC. What is your opinion is the Best for average use. What is your go to machine if you were allow to leave the earth and could only take one.

Well the MBA 11 is going to be sold soon - it was replaced by the MBA13. The older Mini is relegated to home theatre use now.

I suppose if I had to limit myself to one, I'd need to go with the rMBP because it's the most powerful while remaining portable. I know it could handle any situation any computer could handle during my off-earth exile.

But for travels on this planet, I'd probably go with my new MBA 13. I've travelled with both the 11 and 15 this year, and both had their disadvantages. 11 - small screen and battery life and less useful 16:9 ratio. 15 heavier and really awkward on airplane trays.

The 13 has the advantage of always staying cool in normal use - no fan noise and you can always have it comfortably on your lap if needed.

 

[MacBird]

Particularly if you want to run Windows on the MBA then I would recommend to get 8 GB of RAM.

I have the 2012 MBA and it runs quite fast and I have no lag issues when attached to an external 24'' monitor.

 

[Quicklite]

Went to a reseller today, hoping to have a play on the MBA. They only had a 2010/11 model on display?! It had spongy keypad, was a bit slow, low contrast screen. Will pop by a proper store, because I think the latest Air has fixed all those issues - got to have a look in person first.

The latest Air makes perfect sense on paper and from all I've read - but when I was in the resellers, noticed that the rMBA 15's Retina screen on the really stunning - decision decisions.