Macbook Air 2.13Ghz or Macbrook Pro 15'' 2.66Ghz

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Hey all - great forum :D

I'm a convert (been a couple years now since I moved my business to imac). My trust Sony Vaio is beginning to reach its last legs so I am treating myself to a new notebook. You don't have to convince me to buy a mac :D

I am sort of between the following, in no particular order :

a) Macbook Air 2.13Ghz
b) Macbrook Pro 15''

If I got the Pro I would probably go for the 2.66Gz.

I love the Air for the portability - I usually bring my computer on holiday (self-employed; can't totally escape work much). If you guys tell me the Air is a genuinely solid all-round piece of kit I'd find it hard not to buy it...in fact, I lean towards it a lot for the portability, so much so that unless I was told it was basically flashy but no good I would really want to buy it.

I kind of expect that the Pro 15'' will be much less portable at 5.5 lbs...but that's not too bad (still hand luggage size) and it just looks like such a great unit.

I sort of wrote off the Pro 13'' as a compromise, because it only gets down to 4.5 lbs which is not such a big saving on weight.

I guess I wouldn't particularly be a power-user on my note-books...I mean I probably log on at least once an evening at home but basically I use 'em for that, and then for work and the occasional film etc. when I'm on the road (I know I'll need the external drive for the Air and I'm ok with that). I don't play games on them. My graphics needs are limited to my very much dabbling interest in photography - I figure both will handle that equally well.

I do absolutely hate a slow computer. Like really, really hate one.

I'm pretty happy to be able to choose between the two of them because they both look great, but I just can't make the final call :p

Your help greatly appreciated :D Which would you get ?
 
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In the end it depends on your usage but my guess is the Pro will provide for future upgradability should your scene change. If portability is paramount then the Air wins
 
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Your Mac's Specs
White MacBook 2.13ghz, 2gb, 160gb | TiBook G4 15" 800mhz, 1gb, 60gb | iPod Touch 1G 8gb
Im not sure if you can call the air so portable when you have to carry around the superdrive... I have a 15" Titanium G4 which isnt too bad to carry around, not much of a difference over my 13" white macbook.
 

CrimsonRequiem


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MBP 2.3 Ghz 4GB RAM 860 GB SSD, iMac 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7 32GB RAM, Fusion Drive 1TB
I would get the MBP. With the MBA it seems like you are getting less for what you are paying.

MBP has longer battery life. ~7 hrs compared to the ~5 on the MBA. That's kind of a deal breaker for me when the MBA is suppose to be more portable and yet it has lower battery life.

Only one USB port. >_>" You will run into problems with that down the line somewhere. You can easily remedy this stuff with a USB hub and what not...but when I travel I travel extremely lean and don't want to have to bring an external DVD drive and a USB hub with me.

Oh and only 2GB or RAM. That's a real deal breaker for me right there. Unless you only plan on not running anything computer intensive and only plan on listening to music, watching videos and surfing the web.

I'd say go with the 15". 5.5lbs is nothing. Unless you have severe muscle atrophy or something.
 
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LOL no, no muscle atrophy.

Yeah...now leaning towards the MBA...just worked out that with deductions (I can basically knock off the VAT on it, and claim it back versus income tax) it will come to 950 euros which is pretty excellent value for that computer (full price for me ordering from Apple in Ireland would be 2000 euros)...I will mull over it during the week (and check back here) but going to pull the trigger this side of the weekend on one or the other...

Thanks for your replies guys.
 
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Im not sure if you can call the air so portable when you have to carry around the superdrive... I have a 15" Titanium G4 which isnt too bad to carry around, not much of a difference over my 13" white macbook.

yes i guess if the super drive is included in the equation then MBP wins
 
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It is such a hard choice. The MBA is a very nice and appealing computer, but honestly I would also go with the MBP. The only reason I would buy an Air is if I was absolutely sure I would not use it for anything intensive. For myself at the moment I use my notebook as my primary computer so it wouldn't be a smart option for myself. If I had a Mac Pro sitting at home I think would consider the MBA knowing that all of my serious work could be done with my Mac Pro, but even then there is always that "what if" factor with the Macbook Air.
 

vansmith

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Mini (2014, 2018, 2020), MBA (2020), iPad Pro (2018), iPhone 13 Pro Max, Watch (S6)
If it were up to me, I wouldn't come close to the MBA. It's incredibly overpriced for what you get. Now, to be fair, I appreciate higher specs and I accept size as a compromise. But, to be fair, a regular size notebook isn't that large.

The benefit of a thinner notebook is not worth the extra premium.
 

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