My first Mac, Macbook Air 13 or Macbook Pro 13, please help !!

ankit29ankit · Aug 1, 2011

Hey guys, im planning to buy my first mac, im really confused with the new macbook air 13 and macbook pro 13.. Please suggest n discuss the pros n cons of both the machines..

jaskaeyes · Aug 1, 2011

Well, the question is what are you going to use your mac for?

The 13"MBP is more powerful than Macbook air. Do you need a powerful mac or a mac that will do everyday task and more?

ankit29ankit · Aug 1, 2011

I need for daily usage but also want that the machine satisfies me for atleast next 3years.. Is MBA worth it?? Nd i even heard abt the heating issues..

djberry · Aug 1, 2011

Macbook Air

I bought a Macbook Air 13” as I am a consultant. The wife has a MBP. We use a iMac 27” at home. I bought the Air because it is lighter and from my perspective, just as powerful as the MBP. All apps run clean, the machine is very light due to not having a hard disk (it uses solid state disk). All software runs, I just upgrade it to LION and no problems. I can share it with my other Macs, it connects to everything. So unless you are doing some sort of CAD/CAM or heavy lifting app, the Air more than does the job. It fits inside of a brief case very nicely as it is only about 1/2 wide at the max. Hope this helps.

StMFA · Aug 1, 2011

Watch this video-
‪Macbook Pro 13" VS Macbook Air 13" 2011‬‏ - YouTube

it does a lot of comparisons between the two. All-in all they are about equal. If you need a DVD drive then get the MBP, if not, get the MBA.

jaskaeyes · Aug 3, 2011

if on a budget and will only use macbook for everyday stuff, emailing etc then you can go with MBA. I do graphic design, photography, video so i would never consider buying mba. that's just me.

ct1211 · Aug 3, 2011

I just bought the latest macbook air and I am a heavy user of Photoshop and CS5 programs in general. I have partitioned the drive 50/50 (Lion & Windows7) and I am awed at the speed of the MBA! If you have not yet used the MBA for graphics and other programs like Photoshop DON"T judge it's performance for others!
Frankly, this being my first Mac ever I was not sure which way to go. Would I survive without a built in optical drive? Should I buy another Sony Z series for $2000 or buy the macbook pro and deal with its brick like build and weight. So I waited for the new air. So far, I am glad I did! The solid state drive is instant. Graphics are great! It may not suite everyone but it did the job for me! As another idea, if you buy your computers from Best Buy you can try it for a full two weeks and get a full refund if you don’t like it!

coop923 · Aug 4, 2011

My wife is i the same position. She was ready to replace her '06 Macbook with a new one and was surprised when they disappeared off the mac site. She's trying to decide MBP or MBA in 13". She has just basic computer needs; web browsing, email, storing and organizing music and pictures, syncing her ipod and iphone, etc., and rarely uses her DVD drive. Seems to me that the Air would do all that...

StMFA · Aug 4, 2011

coop923 said:
My wife is i the same position. She was ready to replace her '06 Macbook with a new one and was surprised when they disappeared off the mac site. She's trying to decide MBP or MBA in 13". She has just basic computer needs; web browsing, email, storing and organizing music and pictures, syncing her ipod and iphone, etc., and rarely uses her DVD drive. Seems to me that the Air would do all that...

It probably would, though you'd probably want to store music and pictures on an external drive depending on how much you have. Other than that though- MBA hands down.

jaskaeyes · Aug 4, 2011

ct1211 said:
I just bought the latest macbook air and I am a heavy user of Photoshop and CS5 programs in general. I have partitioned the drive 50/50 (Lion & Windows7) and I am awed at the speed of the MBA! If you have not yet used the MBA for graphics and other programs like Photoshop DON"T judge it's performance for others!
Frankly, this being my first Mac ever I was not sure which way to go. Would I survive without a built in optical drive? Should I buy another Sony Z series for $2000 or buy the macbook pro and deal with its brick like build and weight. So I waited for the new air. So far, I am glad I did! The solid state drive is instant. Graphics are great! It may not suite everyone but it did the job for me! As another idea, if you buy your computers from Best Buy you can try it for a full two weeks and get a full refund if you don’t like it!

Well, depends how fast is "FAST". People have different perception of speed. Im sure mba is a great machine has the speed and performance a lot of people love. But they wouldn't call it Macbook PRO for nothing. Either way they're both great machine for what you use it for.

aoifeee · Aug 5, 2011

Unless you wanted to run applications like photoshop or dreamweaver or you want to run a virtual PC frequently then I wouldn't bother with the pro. The pro is much heavier and much more expensive and for what you would be using it for there would be no real benefits. If you feel you have to have be able to use CDs or DVDs then go with Pro.

StMFA · Aug 5, 2011

aoifeee said:
Unless you wanted to run applications like photoshop or dreamweaver or you want to run a virtual PC frequently then I wouldn't bother with the pro. The pro is much heavier and much more expensive and for what you would be using it for there would be no real benefits. If you feel you have to have be able to use CDs or DVDs then go with Pro.

Best reply on this thread so far

DaveSt · Aug 5, 2011

aoifeee said:
Unless you wanted to run applications like photoshop or dreamweaver or you want to run a virtual PC frequently then I wouldn't bother with the pro. The pro is much heavier and much more expensive and for what you would be using it for there would be no real benefits. If you feel you have to have be able to use CDs or DVDs then go with Pro.

That isn't exactly true in regards to the OP's question though. The base 13" MacBook Pro is $1135 while the base 13" MBA is $1249, so the Pro is actually cheaper. The Pro is certainly heavier though, no doubt about that.

I have the base 13" Pro and my wife has the 128GB 13" Air. Both are more than enough to handle anything we have thrown at them, so it really comes down to what form factor you prefer. I like the resolution of the MBA a little better than what my Pro has, but side by side the Pro has a better looking screen. My wife does miss the optical drive much more than she expected however (she now uses my Mac to rip her CDs, which is something she does more than she realized).