11" MacBook Air Late 2010 vs new 13" Air Core i7?

[edokid]

Hey everyone,

I used to be a big time Mac user, I've always had one then started working at IBM so used ThinkPads mostly which I do absolutely love for a PC Laptop. I own my own business now and naturally we all use ThinkPads, mostly because one of our partners uses Dynamics CRM which we are accessing daily so really needs Internet Explorer.

Anyway awhile ago I bought the 11" MacBook Air as my personal computer. It's 1.4Ghz Core 2 Duo and 4Gb Ram. I THINK my Lenovo ThinkPad X301 is a similar processor as well.

The thing is I find my Air seems a bit slow. Like I used to use Expose constantly when I had other Macs, like PowerBooks, MacBook Pro and MacBook etc and it was always smooth. I find with the Air running Lion it seems a little choppy sometimes to the point that I don't use it any more. Even things like opening an Excel file seems to take forever sometimes, certainly a lot slower than my ThinkPad. Just as an example I have an Excel file open right now, it's not huge at all and the window is only taking up half my screen. Clicking the bottom right and dragging it to make it wider is so choppy, it reminds me of watching an Apple promo from the 90s or something.

Anyway my ThinkPad battery is what kills me, it lasts maybe 1.5 hours. I just bought the ultrabay battery yesterday so it shows now I get 4.5 hours, but as soon as the ultrabay battery died, the thing just turned right off and won't turn on saying battery is dead even though it hasn't used the main battery yet. So I've had it and am contemplating using a Mac as my main work computer. The thing is the 11" air is a bit small screen wise to use for work every day and I'm finding it slow. I think I'd sell both machines and then get the best 13" Air possible with the Core i7 but am just wondering how much faster it is? I assume Core i7 vs the Core 2 Duo in this one would be night and day?

Is it worth even getting i7 vs the i5? I know when I checked before for PC desktops people would say that i7 was really only good if you were doing hardcore tasks that took advantage of that type of processor and that if all you do is web browsing, MS office etc (like myself) it may not be worth it.

I just don't want to get it and find it's just as slow as what I have now and find out it's due to it just being the Air or something.

Thanks everyone!

 

[pigoo3]

Hey everyone,

I used to be a big time Mac user, I've always had one then started working at IBM so used ThinkPads mostly which I do absolutely love for a PC Laptop.

Almost every place I have worked we use/used Windows computers...but I still remain/remained a BIG Mac user on my own time!

Anyway awhile ago I bought the 11" MacBook Air as my personal computer. It's 1.4Ghz Core 2 Duo and 4Gb Ram. I THINK my Lenovo ThinkPad X301 is a similar processor as well.

The thing is I find my Air seems a bit slow. Like I used to use Expose constantly when I had other Macs, like PowerBooks, MacBook Pro and MacBook etc and it was always smooth. I find with the Air running Lion it seems a little choppy sometimes to the point that I don't use it any more.

Really? The MacBook Air's are supposed to be pretty "snappy" since they have the SSD. Maybe your MacBook Air needs some maintenance.

- Nick

 

[Lbatson21]

The way I look at it, you can never go wrong having more processor power. If it was just a choice issue, not monetary, I would always side with going with the better processor. The i7 MacBook Air with SSD should mop the floor with the older Core 2 Duo. Google comparisons between the i-series vs core 2 duo on the Airs and you'll see the difference the processor makes.

 

[edokid]

Thanks everyone, checked GOogle right after I posted here not sure why I didn't do that first. Now it's more whether it's worth i7 vs the i5, I think the i5 is prob still good and not worth it $300 or whatever it is extra but we'll see. My only thing is the ThinkPad keyboard is so much better than the MacBook and I love the trackpoint so it's difficult but not the end of the world