As fortune would have it, I’m in the market for a new Apple laptop. I currently own and love an early-2010 13.3″ MacBook Pro. It’s the lower-end model with a 2.0ghz Core2Duo processor with four gigs of ram and a 250 gb hard drive.
Battery life is still in the seven-hour range. I’m very happy with it, but I’d like something a bit more. I feel like I need a bit more power to help when processing video and add ram as my computing needs increase.
But honestly, my computing needs never really increase. My main programs are Things, Mail, MacJournal and Safari (multiple tabs open constantly) with little need for 3D graphic or modeling capabilities. I write and read and that’s about it.
By now, everything is pointing to a MacBook Air. The portable hard drive I have has USB, FW 400 and FW 800, so I’m covered there. Katie’s Mac Mini has FW ports for my desktop hard drives that are currently daisy chained.
After discussing my idea with multiple programmer and coder types with similar computing needs, they all recommended a MacBook Air. Under the hood of the new Air is completely equal to the horsepower of my current early-2010 MacBook Pro, but the Air has much faster transfer speeds, doesn’t seem to get as hot and its battery gives a real nine plus hours.
I also have an early-2010, seldom used Mac Mini that is always available, so if I felt the need to offload some video rendering, I could do that without worry. And then I walked into the Apple Store.
The sales associate asked how long I was planning on keeping the computer (until it dies or I get rich), if it was my main workstation (it is) and how many programs I have open at once (4-5, with lots of Safari tabs). He recommended a new MacBook Pro because of its higher RAM ceiling, improved video card and ports, including the new Thunderbolt port of which I have little use for.
Do I want a thinner, lighter and slightly faster version of what I have now? Or should I choose a computer that’s faster than what I currently have, but the same form factor? Or should I just go with the cheapest one?
Any advice?
3 Responses so far.
Ben Leivian
March 18, 2011 at 12:29 pmThe only 2 things I wish the Air had are: 1. Backlit keyboard 2. Black bezel like the mbp. I guess they would add weight/thickness tho.
shez
March 28, 2011 at 1:53 amI'm a completely new Mac User.. I love the look and lightness of the MacBook Air.. but im worried it wont have enough memory. All i will be using it for is the internet -research, saving uni files (essays, presentations) and I have loads n loads of photos. Do you think it will be fast enough and have enough memory for that.. or should I go with a MacBook Pro… its so hard!! Someone help =)
Paul Szilard
March 29, 2011 at 4:35 amIn Australia, Apple has a 14 day return policy, so I bought a top of the line MBA (4GB; 256GB HDD and faster cpu) on Friday. Was very impressed, BUT I started thinking that it was a Core 2 Duo and non-replaceable disk/ram, so what if one should fail? A back up would protect me from loss of data, but not from loss of computer! Especially if the warranty ran out!
So on Saturday I bought a 13" MBP with 2.7GHz i7 Sandy Bridge cpu, 4GB ram and 500GB HDD. So I was to compare the two, and then return one for a full refund and keep the other one. The MBP was cheaper than the MBA. I immediately replaced the HDD with a 128GB SSD I already had, knowing that if I was running low on space, I could easily upgrade to a larger one. I also ordered *GB of DDR3 RAM at way below Apple's price, from my local supplier.
The slight extra weight (600 grams) is easily offset by the convenience of replaceable components (for me). The illuminated keyboard is fantastic and having an optical drive is a bonus. My SSD converted MBP has almost the same disk access as the MBA, but WAY faster cpu, and was cheaper, to boot. QED.
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