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Yet another MBA VS. MBP Thread

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It seems to me that the MBP should be out of the question, since you already have a Blackbook and don't need anything more powerful.

Sure, the MBA would be cool to have, but if you don't really NEED the slim form factor, the novelty will wear off.

I would just hold on to your Blackbook and wait for Apple to introduce brand new MacBooks.
 
Wait, you are possibly selling a Macbook because its too much for you to get an Air or a Pro... that makes no sense. If a Macbook is too much, then those will be WAY too much.

Keep your Macbook and save your money. It works fine. It seems that you just want to buy something new because you can. That's a bad idea.

Tell your parents to use that $2000 they would use to buy you a Macbook Pro and spend it on a trip for your family. Have them take you to Disney World or something. Better use of money considering you already have 2 perfectly working and practically brand new computers.
 
I think this thread is really intersting in a way that we fight for the morals of spending money. I'm completely ignoring jnc as I say this: I'm completely on the side of shfreelance.

bc008, you have an imac, macbook, iphone, ipod... What more do you need? I see that you want to replace your macbook, but why? You say its fragile and you don't want it scratched up or something... That's just a really lame excuse. Why not take good care of it? Its completely feasible.

You know, I'm 15, and I have the white iMac (before aluminum refresh). Its 20" 2.16ghz(C2D) and standard 1GB and I feel so fortunate. My parents gave it to me for the hard work I've done in terms of everything I've done. If that's lame excuse, I can prove otherwise. I was using a family laptop before then, and that could barely run the things I was working on. I had "grown out" of it.

Now, I'm saving up (for the past few years, gleaning everything I can) for a laptop so I can do development work on the road, and take it to all the competitions I participate in. (like debate, speech, etc)

You know, my advise to you is keep that money. If your dad really gave it for you to spend, why not save? In a time of pretty large-spread "recession" I think the worst thing you can do right now is spending the money your dad got for military settlement for just more and more (or better and better) personal possessions.

Talking about earning money, assuming there are 12 weeks in your summer break, and you have lots of neighbors (20 minimum) who want you to mow their lawn, and they want you to mow their lawn every week for those 12 weeks, you'd have to mow 4 lawns each day, Monday through Friday, and assuming you get paid $10 for each time, that's about $2,400 throughout your whole summer. Now I'm pretty sure you don't have 20 neighbors who want you to mow their lawn and I'm pretty sure you'll be on at least a couple weeks off for vacation, think how hard it is to actually earn the money you are spending. (For this, I ignored the money you'll get from selling your macbook... though since its used for at least a good year or so, I don't know how much you are gonna get out of selling it) I know your family earns a lot more than just the numbers I put, but think about everything of that income that goes in to things like mortgage, car loans, city utility bills, electricity bills, phone bills (talk about that iPhone) and all the food and fuel(Chicago's approaching $4 a gallon). Just think how much relief it would be to your dad and your family if you didn't spend it.

My suggestion is... just think about the money you are spending.
And my final suggestion is keep your macbook. That macbook can easily last 10 years. One of my junior friends has a G4 iBook. That's about 5~6 years old according to him, and its running Leopard. My family also has this archaic Thinkpad. Older than I am, and it still runs Windows 95 faster than our family desktop runs XP ;) If you take good care of it, that macbook will easily last throughout your college days.

Take care,
keehun
 
neiltc13 said:
The silliness of this topic is that the guy actually already owns a very speedy 2.2GHz MacBook in black.
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Some people have more money than others. For all I know his family recently came into a $10M settlement -- in that case buying a third high-end Mac is like me buying a $10 CD. It simply is inconsequential, financially.

Not for me to say. He wants to know what option is best. We can give suggestions. It's up to his parents to nix it if it's a bad use of their money.

And if money is no object, and he wants the coolest thing out, go for the $3000 SSD MBA.
 
DaveF said:
Some people have more money than others. For all I know his family recently came into a $10M settlement -- in that case buying a third high-end Mac is like me buying a $10 CD. It simply is inconsequential, financially.
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Not to throw more gasoline in to this fire but just because they have $10 million laying around doesn't mean he just needs to get a new macbook(air|pro)... I guess $10m is a lot, but using that as justification for buying a new machine spontaneously is just lame.
 
the fact that this thread isnt talking about if a macbook pro/air would be a better, more durable computer then a macbook is odd.

of course you know we didnt get 10 million dollars, but my parents like to get nice things for their children, as well as themselves. i am grateful for them and i know i am extremely lucky and i am happy that they care about me so much to make sure i have nice things.

enough of all this, i dont want this to get wastelanded, i want to know if paying the extra 200 would be worth it, even though it isnt necessary.
 
Well, I guess I'll just get on the matter then...

Considering how under-featured Macbook Air is, $200 extra for MBP is a wiser choice.. Though seeing that Macbook is too much for your needs, I don't know why MBP is worth that money. By the way, Macbook Air is just like MacBook in specs (CPU, graphics, memory, etc) except that it has that ultraslim-size-factor (and lcd screen, keyboard, etc)
 
Seriously OP, disregard the bumptiousness (I think that's the right word) presented by other posters in this thread.

All you need to ask yourself is... what do you truly dislike about the MacBook? Because if it's the glossy 13" screen and integrated GPU, MBA won't fix that. It's simply a non upgradeable MacBook at half the weight, sans optical drive (with multi touch, LED and illuminated keyboard, granted).

Thus, if your issues are with the screen size/res, performance, connectivity etc. MBP is the ticket.
 
give the money to charity. it'll do more use there than wasting it on a computer that will do no more for you than your present ones.
 
jnc said:
Seriously OP, disregard the bumptiousness (I think that's the right word) presented by other posters in this thread.

All you need to ask yourself is... what do you truly dislike about the MacBook? Because if it's the glossy 13" screen and integrated GPU, MBA won't fix that. It's simply a non upgradeable MacBook at half the weight, sans optical drive (with multi touch, LED and illuminated keyboard, granted).

Thus, if your issues are with the screen size/res, performance, connectivity etc. MBP is the ticket.
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i would love a graphics card that would let me play some games in bootcamp. not crysis or anything but sims or roller coaster tycoon.

do you have a glossy/matte preference?
 
bc008 said:
i would love a graphics card that would let me play some games in bootcamp. not crysis or anything but sims or roller coaster tycoon.

do you have a glossy/matte preference?
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Having moved from a white Core Duo iMac to a white Core 2 Duo MacBook, my preference is definitely with matte. I'll be buying a MBP this week and it'll be matte.

Edit: I should point out my uses include the CS3 suite so I kinda need the better colour offerings.

If your interests are in media consumption rather than production you may prefer glossy.
 
bc008 said:
I am wondering what one to get. the base end macbook air or the base end macbook pro.

i am only 14 and only need a computer that can do light web browsing (thats about it) (i have my iMac for other stuff)

i am selling my black macbook because i thought it was too much for my needs.

i know it sounds like i am leaning toards the air, because i am. i know i dont need a macbook pro, but for 200 more dollars it seems like i would be foolish not to.
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I don't understand why you need a MacBook Pro or a Macbook Air (imo not even close to worth the money) when all you will do is light web browsing. If that is all you are going to do why not keep the macbook and save time and money? Where does a 14 year old get the money for this stuff neways?
 
the thing is, if i were to get the pro, it would become my main computer, and my iMac would become my homework/web browsing/movies computer
 
XboxEvolved said:
I don't understand why you need a MacBook Pro or a Macbook Air (imo not even close to worth the money) when all you will do is light web browsing. If that is all you are going to do why not keep the macbook and save time and money? Where does a 14 year old get the money for this stuff neways?
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bc008 said:
thanks for actually stating what one you like better!

not that it is anyones business, but my dad was hurt in the Vietnam war, and because of an agent orange settlement we have some money now.
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http://www.agent-orange-lawsuit.com/settlement.html


That is where he got his money..... But you have a perfectly good working iMac and Macbook, keep them save the money. If you really have the urge for a new notebook and as you stated that the blackbook was to much computer for you. Sell the Macbook and get a MBA. The Macbook is just a good cross between the MBA and MBP, performance wise. That being said the Blackbook you already own is the best bang for the buck. But the Air will fit your needs better, since you have an iMac to do what ever heavy computer uses a 14 year old needs. The best option I could give you is sell your Macbook and old off for the next rumored aluminum Macbook, if it does not come get the MBA.

These are just ideas. But my original suggestion still stands.

~Steven
 
bc008 said:
the thing is, if i were to get the pro, it would become my main computer, and my iMac would become my homework/web browsing/movies computer
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What do you actually do on these computers pray tell? Are you making movies, or do you just do homework like every other 14 year old?

I seriously think this is insane. Gluttony.
 
bc008 said:
i would love a graphics card that would let me play some games in bootcamp. not crysis or anything but sims or roller coaster tycoon.

do you have a glossy/matte preference?
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Then you want the MBP. I've last summer's MBP, and I finally played through The Orange Box (Half Life 2, etc.). Unreal Tournament 2004 works. I've played a few minutes of the BioShock demo and it runs well enough.

Or, buy a MacBook and an XBox 360 for the price an MBP.
 
keehun said:
Not to throw more gasoline in to this fire but just because they have $10 million laying around doesn't mean he just needs to get a new macbook(air|pro)... I guess $10m is a lot, but using that as justification for buying a new machine spontaneously is just lame.
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Who said anything about "need"? This is a "want". We buy the things we want if we can afford them. Spontaneously, even. :)

Would you apply the same reasoning to someone making $50k / yr deciding whether to buy some songs from iTunes? There are people in the world who simply can't afford a $.99 song from iTunes -- it's pretty lame for a middle-class American to spontaneously waste money on frivolous music just because they can afford, right? It's all about financial perspective.

I don't know the poster's situation, but his parents apparently have the means and the interest in buying him a third Mac. Who are we to say otherwise?
 
jnc said:
Try not to project your conceptions so self-importantly. We all live differently.
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No, it's my opinion. Yes, we do all live differently. I'm not even the slightest bit religious, but children today have no concept of money. It doesn't matter anyway I guess, we're headed for a recession.

Buy the 17" MBP and keep the American economy afloat!
 
how often do you take your laptop outside the house? If you travel a lot with it wherever, then the air is a good choice. otherwise, keep your current macbook.
 
I guess if the OP doesnt want his macbook then just sell the macbook and use the extra $$ to buy the mbp.

If not why not just sell the macbook and the imac and buy a mac pro desktop and a dell 24" screen + a macbook air (since your getting the funds for a new toy anyway!).
 
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