Late 2012 Mac Air nice but need more power

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I purchased a Mac Air late October 2012 as i am working remotely in the middle east, but the Air is just not powerful enough for me unfortunately.

It is struggling at times at it is powering 2x Thunderbolt displays, Running Win7 Ultimate with a SQL server development area. It has 2 thunderbolt storage areas connected.

I really need to stay mobile, so an upgrade is needed, i do not want to go for a Windows laptop as i am happy with the Mac. How much performance would a MacbookPro Give over a Mac Air.

I would have considered a MacPro (Tower), but i already have 2x thunderbolt displays which cannot be used as there is no compatible graphics card.

A final option would be a fully loaded Mac Mini.
 

pigoo3

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I purchased a Mac Air late October 2012 as i am working remotely in the middle east, but the Air is just not powerful enough for me unfortunately.

It is struggling at times at it is powering 2x Thunderbolt displays, Running Win7 Ultimate with a SQL server development area. It has 2 thunderbolt storage areas connected.

I really need to stay mobile, so an upgrade is needed, i do not want to go for a Windows laptop as i am happy with the Mac. How much performance would a MacbookPro Give over a Mac Air.

I think that it would help if you could describe in more detail exactly how the MacBook Air is struggling. Basically the two biggest differences between a MacBook Air and MacBook Pro's are:

- MacBook Pro's have a higher max. ram (which can help)
- MacBook Pro (15" only) have dedicated graphics hardware
- MacBook Pro (15" only) has a quad-core cpu (which may help with some things)

It's possible that the higher ram and graphics would help with the "struggling". And the quad-core cpu can help as well depending on the applications you're running.

I would have considered a MacPro (Tower), but i already have 2x thunderbolt displays which cannot be used as there is no compatible graphics card.

A final option would be a fully loaded Mac Mini.

Getting a Mac Pro or a Mac-Mini (MUCH different price tags)...wouldn't really be sticking with your staying "mobile" goal mentioned above.:) Also...a "fully-loaded" Mac-Mini would have a higher max. ram & a quad-core cpu...but the Mac-Mini's don't have dedicated graphics hardware (which really can be important).

So I think that if you want to stay mobile...and need more power...a 15" MacBook Pro is what you want.:)

- Nick

p.s. In fact...not only would the 15" MacBook Pro be what sounds like what you really want...when you go to the configuration page...you should also upgrade the cpu (faster cpu). I'm not saying this because the faster cpu is better (which it is slightly)...but with the cpu upgrade...you also get double the graphics ram (vram). You get 1gig of vram with the cpu upgrade...instead of the stock 512meg of vram.
 
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The MacAir, is just getting unresponsive when using parallels. Occasional just locks up for 2-3 seconds then resumes. Then repeats every so often,, just gets annoying, it only happens when using SQL

Everything else is ok. But i need to keep MsSQL running for my work. Money is not really an issue, but just want to make sure that it will run well before i spend the cash.
 

pigoo3

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Everything else is ok. But i need to keep MsSQL running for my work. Money is not really an issue, but just want to make sure that it will run well before i spend the cash.

If you want/need to stay mobile...an upgraded 15" MacBook Pro is the best you can do!:)

- Nick
 

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