

Macbook Air or Macbook Pro 15" - aitoehigie

I know this question has been asked a million times, but I do need the opinion of people who have used either of the 2 before. I currently use an aging 13" Hp laptop which is overdue for a replacement. I have been eyeing the macbook and the macbook air for quite some time now. I am now so used to staring at a 13" screen so the size of the macbook air wont be an issue, the only questions I have are:
1. Will I be missing something by not upgrading to a larger screen estate if I go for the macbook air?
2. Will I miss the DVD burner?
3. Can it handle expensive CPU operations? i.e. the air?
thanks
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zephjc
That's funny, a friend of mine just made the same decision last night: she
ended up getting the MBP while the in-machine burner is still available. The
next MBP design is alleged to have that eliminated.

I have a 2009 MBP (17", personal) and a 2011 Air (13", from work). I like the
larger screen and better graphics card (relative to release date) on my
machine, but the Air is super light and nice to lug around. However, the Air
tends to stay attached to a 27" Apple display (also from work), so the display
issue isn't really a big one (Terminal on small screen, everything else on big
screen).

The Air performs like a champ but seems to have its fans ramped up often, even
when running iTunes or a YT video.

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aitoehigie
from rumours making the rounds, how soon are we going to see the 15" macbook
air?

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mcrider
I'm more excited by the Ivy Bridge processor thats supposed to show up in the
new Airs. I for one am waiting for the new Air to be announced (the rumor
mills say Q1/Q2 of this year), whereupon it will replace my aging Mac Pro
(which, being almost 6 years old, is still a champ as long as you have an SSD
in it).

~~~
steventruong
Ivy Bridge got pushed back according to Intel until at least June supposedly.
If the Air is to be released during its regular update cycle, it might
actually not have it but otherwise I would look to a mid-summer launch for
both the Air and Pro with Ivy Bridge.

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philiphodgen
I had the 15 inch MacBook Pro with the biggest/fastest CPU Apple sold at the
time. Sold it and bought the 11 inch MacBook Air.

1\. Screen size has not bothered me.

2\. Lack of a DVD drive has not bothered me. The one time I needed one I did
the share thing with my iMac. Worked fine.

3\. CPU operations may be a problem for you, but I've been happy with the
MacBook Air.

4\. Once you carry around the Air you will Swear a Mighty Oath to never carry
anything heavier again. I cannot imagine ever owning a MacBook Pro (or
anything like it) again.

5\. The lack of an ethernet port hasn't bothered me.

6\. If you travel, the 11 inch MacBook Air is a delight in cramped coach seats
on a plane.

~~~
dlikhten
I am regretting not getting the 11 inch. I have the 13 and it is a delight. I
travel by coach bus to work and it is a delight to work with.

The small screen size does not bother me. The only bother is when something
starts eating CPU, battery starts draining fast. So GitXL = kill often. CPU is
good enough. I am not playing video games here. SSD is f-ing awsome. No DVD
drive is a mitzvah since I never use it (I have no DVDs anymore even for
purchased software).

The only downer is the lack of ethernet plug, but can be remedied by a
purchase from apple. I need it from time to time for network admin purposes.

Edit: The AIR's physical form makes it very comfortable to type on. 99.9% of
the time I am using it with no mouse, no keyboard, no external monitor. In
fact I got so used to it I do most of my development on my recliner.

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Firehed
I do development work on the 11" MBA (4GB RAM, i7). We run VMs all day long,
and you can definitely feel the lack of RAM in this scenario. For day to day
use it's fantastic and I love the portability, but I _really_ wish it were
available with 8GB or more of memory - the SSD does _not_ make up for the fact
that it's constantly swapping (I currently have a 6GB swapfile with 3 million
pageouts with less than two weeks uptime and three days of actual usage). CPU
has not been a problem. I haven't used physical media in any real capacity
since around 2007, so the lack of DVD burner is a welcome addition (less
weight/bigger battery/slimmer profile/whatever else it entails).

Before you ask - yes, I also use an external display. I'm not insane. But at
the same time, the 11" screen does not feel cramped unless I'm doing heavy
work away from the office.

Would I get it again, over the Pro? Hard to say, given the amount of time it
spends doing dev work. If they offer an 8GB option, it's an easy yes. Truth be
told I'd prefer to just work off an iMac (or Mac Pro tower) and have a locked-
down laptop that's really just for VPN stuff out of the office.

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coryl
I'm happy with my 2011 Air (4gb ram, 128 SSD). I'm purchasing a thunderbolt
display adapter to try and use dual screen. You can get a 3 way adapter (dvi,
hdmi, display port?) from dealextreme.com for really cheap.

Although I only do iOS development on it so I haven't pushed performance to
the limit.

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kgutteridge
I have modded 15" pro

1) I have a 128gb SSD for the OS etc where the optical drive was and a 750gb
SATA drive replacing the stock one

2) 8GB ram if you use parallels or eclipse etc this a no brainer for the
price/ease

3)the hires matt screen (1680x1050) means you can use outside

So whilst not as portable as the airs, it never lacks power and is user
upgradeable, my slight fear of the air is you would always be waiting on Apple
for an upgrade and it might not quite fit your requirements (large disk or
ram)

I also use a backpack anyway so really apart from when I ram it full,to avoid
having to check a bag on a plane, the air wouldn't really make that much
difference personally, that said its a tough choice especially if you don't
need the ram

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steventruong
I own a 15" 2010 MBP and a 13" 2011 MBA. The specs on the MBP are
significantly better since the MBA has limits on how much I can upgrade to.
Both were maxed out relative to the time they were purchased.

That said...

1\. I never use the optical drive so that's never been a problem.

2\. The MBP is noticeably heavier but that never bothered me. If you prefer a
lightweight travel laptop, go MBA.

3\. I use Parallels (rather than VirtualBox) to run Win 7 and Ubuntu (and
others) and it runs like a champ on the MBP but can lag on the MBA at times.
The lag isn't horrible but certainly noticeable. Aside from this, MBA runs
like a champ otherwise.

4\. I continue to use the MBP as my primary between the two.

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davesmylie
I've just (about 6 hours ago) bought a Macbook Air 13" i7.

I've been using Ubuntu with a 1920x1080 monitor so the screen size _is_ a
concern for me. However, the Macbook Air can easily power the external monitor
so hopefully things should work out okay there.

The reason I chose the Air over the Pro was cost vs performance vs size. As
you started to get into the higher spec'd Pro's the cost started to get far
too high for me.

The Air is fast enough (especially with the i7 processor and SSD drive) that
I'm comfortable using it as my main development machine and still has the
benefit of being (almost) an ultra portable. (I'll be biking around with it a
lot).

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daltonlp
I have a macbook air, and my wife has a Pro 15". We use both daily :)

I much prefer the air, mainly due to the performance gain from an SSD. If you
do choose the Pro, I'd recommend the SSD upgrade.

1) No. I don't miss more screen estate.

2) Absolutely no.

3) Yes, the Air handles expensive CPU operations just fine :) By way of
example, I have no trouble running windows under VMWare Fusion on the Air,
alongside OS X apps.

Some other things about the Air that I didn't appreciate until using one:

\- The weight and form factor drastically improve convenience when resting the
machine in your lap.

\- The battery life is pretty stupendous.

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eshvk
I would actually suggest a third alternative, the Macbook Pro 13". I have had
all three laptops:

1\. Macbook 15": Awesome specs, but it is pretty heavy and is not the most
convenient if you want to code on the plane. 2\. Macbook 13": Middling specs
with a DVD drive. It is almost as small and almost as light as the Air. 3\.
Macbook Air: It is extremely light but I find the fact that I can't upgrade
the RAM annoying. The battery life is pretty good but my main gripe against
the Air is the fact that the keyboard is subtly more cramped as compared to
the Pros. (This becomes an issue when you press the power button instead of
the delete).

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evo_9
Biggest drawback that I didn't notice until I was going to buy one - 4gig's
max ram. Might not be an issue for you, but if you need to run VMWare Fusion
for example, yeah tough on only 4gigs of ram with Win7 for example.

~~~
aitoehigie
How is the performance of virtualbox running win7 or ubuntu on OSX? I
definitely would be running virtualbox and Ubuntu on my macbook Air/pro

~~~
evo_9
On a Pro, it smokes (both win7 and Ubuntu). You'd probably be able to run
Ubuntu without issues on an Air (vm'd) as well, I think I usually only give
that VM 2gigs and it runs fine. I haven't tried running Win7 vm'd with less
than 4gigs so I can't say. Probably rough though.

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aitoehigie
your term "it smokes" that would mean fast or slow? sorry, but I am not
american

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evo_9
Haha, sorry my bad, I should have been more careful on my choice of wording.

Smokes in this context means very fast.

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Skywing
I currently have a 17" MBP. I've been waiting for some sort of announcement
about the next generation Macbook Air, but once it's out, I'm going to switch
to a Macbook Air. My ideal setup right now would be a Macbook Air with the 27"
external monitor.

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eliot_sykes
11 inch MBA owner - I don't mind the screen size but occasionally wish I had a
bigger screen. When that happens and if I'm at home I'll use the Air Display
app (available for iOS and android) to turn my tablet into a 2nd screen.

