New to mac will I be able to have windows too

I should say hello first
So hello
I am a ipad2 and iphone4 user and am thinking about adding a mac book air to my fleet
I currently have a toshiba lap top and am always on it of a night but it's a little old now and has a few problems with it so
I am looking of a budget of £1,200 ish
So to my plan I am interested in a mac book air but I have a few concerns maybe you could help me with please
1st most of them seem to have a relative small hard drive compared to a full lap top and I am concerned I will fill it up
2nd most of my program's I use are windows based but I have seen some people saying that they use windows as well as the apple soft ware so my question is how can I do this and how much room would this use up on the mac book

Many thanks for any help

Darren

None of the Airs have hard disk drives, they use flash drives which are greatly, greatly faster than HDDs. My MB Air has a 512 GB SSD which serves me fine. I do maintain a number of USB3 1 Tb external drives for things like my photos.

Pretty much everything you need to do you you may do quite well (some would say better and certainly easier) with Mac software. iWork will do most of your tasks. Apple - iWork - Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. For Mac and iOS devices.


Some of software like the MS Office suite are available for Mac OS as well. I do maintain a small Windows 7 partition accessed through Parallels for the very few legacy Windows only programs I use, really, just two programs.

APPLE MacBook Air MD232B/A 13.3" Laptop
This is the model I am looking at
What do you think
Many thanks

What windows software do you mainly rely on, you will likely use mac equivalents for most tasks.

You probably only need to use Windows where the mac equivalent just doesn't cut it, like Quicken for instance.

If you go for an SSD equipped mac, there are ways to keep most of the big files, like media and music on an external drive while at home and keep a slimmed down media library while on the move.

Thanks this is coppied from the spec

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion
Memory: 4GB
Hard drive: 256GB SSD
Up to 7 hours battery life
Find out more
Product available for home delivery ***
Available to Collect@Store in 1 hour *
Whatever Happens Care Plan
3 or 5 years from £379.00
So yes it has ssd. What ever this is

Thanks

Mainly I use office program's and photo editing software

Thanks

So a ssd is a drive but does this plug in somewhere on the lap top

SSD is built in like a HDD. SSD is flash storage, no spinning platter like a HDD. It's MUCH faster, you will be amazed. Photoshop, Lightroom, DPP all available for MAC OS X. Apple's own Aperture and iPhoto are as well. MACs are all about photos which is why many if not most photographers like myself use the OS X platform Macs. As I mentioned, MS Office suite is available for OS X as well. You may have no need at all for a Windows partition.

If you can manage more memory and the larger SSD now, do as you cannot upgrade these later on in a MacBook Air. What you buy is what you will live with. My 13" 2012 Air is as follows:

2.0GHz Intel Dual-Core Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
512GB Flash Storage
Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

Remember a couple of things about Airs: Not later upgradable, no built in optical drive, no ethernet port but they do have two USB3 ports and an SD slot. You can solve the missing items with the Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter if you need that. An external optical drive works fine or you can wifi file share with another windows or Mac computer that has an optical drive.

Good luck, you will love it.

First of all thanks for taking the time to write such a reply

So if I want more storage then I need to use a external hard drive

I can't afford any more money to be honest
A mac book pro Is a little on the large side for what I want I think
I'll keep looking but I think the above model is a favourite at the moment
Thanks again
Darren

APPLE MacBook Pro MD102B/A 13" Laptop
Product code: 002826

New MacBook Pro, release: June 2012 £1,249.00


This is my other option but I want something small really
What are your opinions please guys

Don't overlook Apple refurbished machines. These are machines which have been returned for a variety of reasons, thoroughly checked by Apple technicians and sold with the current operating system installed, or a free upgrade if purchased within a time limit of the release of a new operating system.

Full twelve month warranty applies from the date you purchase and if you wish you can take up AppleCare warranty extension for an additional two years within twelve months of purchase date. Have a look thorough these:-


Refurbished MacBook Pro - Apple Store (U.S.)

Dodgy-diver said:

APPLE MacBook Pro MD102B/A 13" Laptop
Product code: 002826

New MacBook Pro, release: June 2012 £1,249.00


This is my other option but I want something small really
What are your opinions please guys

Click to expand...

This is the model I'd go with. The MacBook Airs are nice if you travel frequently. But the 13" MacBook Pro is just a bit thicker and has a lot more utility. It has an optical drive, a much roomier hard disk (as opposed to the small SSD) and you can upgrade memory down the road should you feel the need to (The MacBook Airs have soldered-in memory, and a paltry 4GB at that).

And of course, with plenty of room to either dual-boot or run Windows simultaneously with Mac OS X via fast virtualization, you'll have far more flexibility.

Again, the MacBook Air looks great and travels very well due to its "go anywhere" size, but the MacBook Pro is far more flexible, while still being thinner and lighter than the thinnest and lightest Windows notebooks.

Thanks for the reply. I think you are right about the mac book being the better option
I will try and find a store local to me to go and compare the2

How easy is it to run the 2 systems allong side each other
Thanks

Also I have A iPad 2 with 3G. Can I use this sim somehow to enable me to use 3G on a mac book pro

Thanks again

No, there is no SIM on a MBP. It is not a communications device. You may use a wifi hotspot like an iPhone to access the web, your email, etc. Or other stand alone hotspots from the various telecommunications carriers will serve as well.

But Can I use the sim from my ipad2 with a USB dongle thingy with a sim adapter

I just don't want to have yet another contract

Dodgy-diver said:

But Can I use the sim from my ipad2 with a USB dongle thingy with a sim adapter

I just don't want to have yet another contract

Click to expand...

None of the current Mac models have a built-in cellular data modem (3G). You must use another device to supply 3G and share via WiFi. Your iPad already has a "Personal Hot Spot" feature for this purpose.

It's possible your current laptop has a 3G modem, in that event, you would simply discontinue the service for that device and share it through your iPad instead. Or, if you prefer to have 3G modem for your Mac, check on availability of a 3G USB modem from your carrier for the Mac and then transfer that SIM to it.