Hey guys, newb here so I apologize ahead of time! After a long internal struggle, I recently chose to purchase a 2012 base model 13" MBA over the base 13" MBP. This is my first Mac. I chose the air because I will be toting the computer around in my backpack at school. I figured the lighter Air would be a lot easier on the back and Id be more willing to carry it around with me. Also, after looking at a lot of benchmarks, the performance between the two machines seemed pretty comparable. I know I could have upgraded the RAM and HD in the MBP at some future point, giving it better performance, but I figured in two to three years I will be done with my degree and hopefully in a position to buy a top of the line model. Im under a pretty strict budget right now.
Anyways, on to my question. I am a comp sci major and will be starting my comp sci classes soon. Ive been told a lot of the home work assignments are done in Linux. My question to yall is, how well does the Air run Linux? How well does it perform using programming utilities such as Java and eclipse? I need to be able to use this machine for my comp sci classes and I will probably need it to run Linux. I guess Im a bit concerned about it being able to dual boot because I will have to partition an already small 128G hard drive. Is there an efficient way around partitioning the HD? I could probably live with a 30gb partition for linux if it would work under those parameters. Will I run into trouble with this machine trying to do this? Should it be able to perform most programming tasks? I like the higher res for programming vs the MBP but Im still within in my return window, (and I might have to return this Air anyways do to battery issues, see Swithchers Hangout) and if I had to go with the MBP I could try and make it work if I had to. Any advice and or feedback would be greatly appreciated!
Anyways, on to my question. I am a comp sci major and will be starting my comp sci classes soon. Ive been told a lot of the home work assignments are done in Linux. My question to yall is, how well does the Air run Linux? How well does it perform using programming utilities such as Java and eclipse? I need to be able to use this machine for my comp sci classes and I will probably need it to run Linux. I guess Im a bit concerned about it being able to dual boot because I will have to partition an already small 128G hard drive. Is there an efficient way around partitioning the HD? I could probably live with a 30gb partition for linux if it would work under those parameters. Will I run into trouble with this machine trying to do this? Should it be able to perform most programming tasks? I like the higher res for programming vs the MBP but Im still within in my return window, (and I might have to return this Air anyways do to battery issues, see Swithchers Hangout) and if I had to go with the MBP I could try and make it work if I had to. Any advice and or feedback would be greatly appreciated!