Help on choices please

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Hi All,

Thank you for reading my post. Im changing my personal computers to Apple after many years.

It is a two stage approach (to get past the wife!) - first is to buy her a 'laptop'. I contemplated an iPad, but have decided she prefers a ever present keyboard. So i have looked at Airbooks and Mac books.

Need advise on which way to go?

She will use it for emails, Facebook and some light excel (or numbers) work. Storage wise i was going to get a separate drive for anything beefy.

I initially was going to go with the 11" 2Gb mem and 64Gb HD but not sure if 2Gb is sufficient as i am new to Apple computers. Can anyone help? Is this base model adequate for her simple needs?

I will eventually (6 months time) buy myself an iMac and Time machine, so the need for optical is minimal if at all.

Many thanks,

Ant
 
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Your Mac's Specs
MBP 17" 2011, 2.3GHz Intel Quad-Core i7, 8GB RAM, MacMini 2011, 2.7GHz Intel Dual-Core i7, 8GB RAM
The Air will be fine, but I can pretty much guarantee those stats will leave you wanting.

I would recommend getting the best you can. Nothing in it can be upgraded at a later time as it is all soldered to the mainboard. Get the most RAM, at least get 128GB SSD. Get the best processor you can afford.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
21.5" iMac i5 2.9 Ghz, 15" MBPro i7 2.0 Ghz, iPhone 5, iPhone 4s, ATV2, ATV3, iPad2, iPad Mini
A couple of other thoughts:

Given what the computer will be used for the MacBook Air is more than enough, you do not need a MacBook Pro.

I do no think you mentioned what she used before but to ease the transition I would suggest getting a 13" model instead of the 11" model. If she has been using a keyboard based laptop before I would think that it was bigger than 11" and moving down to a little 11" would be quite a transition.

DavidH
 
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Your Mac's Specs
15" MB Pro, 2.66 i7 ; 11” MBA 1.8GZ i7; 13"MBA 2GZ i7 8 GB mem 512GB SSD, 2 iPad3s, 1 iPad Mini
Mba 11"

is fine but do upgrade to 4 G memory and 256G SSD storage, there is no doing that after you have the machine. I have that machine and it does everything I need and more. My main laptop is a MB Pro 15" with 500 G HDD.
 

BrianLachoreVPI


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Your Mac's Specs
March 2011 15" MBP 2.3GHz i7 Quad Core 8GB Ram | Mid 2011 27" iMac 3.4 GHz i7 16 GB RAM 2 TB HDD
I did the same thing recently - but went with the base model 13" Macbook Air. My wife's needs are no more demanding than what you've described - and she loves it. I didn't bother shelling out for the 256MB drive because a.) it was Christmas and the Apple Store only had the 128 in the store (I was last minute shopping) and b.) I'll be surprised if she ever uses all 128MB - but if she does - we'll just get an external drive for the extraneous files.
 
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Sorry for delay in response and thanks for the replies.

Mac store are doing refurbs
2011 MacPro 13" 2.4Ghz i5, 4Gb Mem and 500GB for £849, or
2011 MacAir 11" 1.6Ghz i5, 4Gb 128Gb SSD for £849

I love the size of the air, but feel i'm missing out by not getting the Pro - even though i may not need the spec / power.

Would the above spec of either machine be good enough for the Mrs's needs? Or is the air just that good enough but not great?
 
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Your Mac's Specs
MBP 17" 2011, 2.3GHz Intel Quad-Core i7, 8GB RAM, MacMini 2011, 2.7GHz Intel Dual-Core i7, 8GB RAM
At that price, I would go with the MBP.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Early 2012 13" MBA Core i5 1.8 GHz, 4GB RAM, 128 GB SSD, OS X 10.7.4
The MacBook Air will be more than sufficient.I have te 13" MBA with the Core i5 processor and 256 GB SSD and 4 GB RAM. This machine has become my primary computer. I find myself using it more than I do my iMac. It's small and light and easy to carry around. The MBA is just the right one for your wife. My suggestion is to get the 13" model and max out the RAM as you can never add any more to it in the future. It sounds like 128 GB SSD should be sufficient. Outboard HDDs are fairly inexpensive these days. If you think your wife loves you now - wait until you give her the MBA!
 

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