
Apple Just Cannibalized the MacBook Air - Griff
http://www.clear-coat.com/blog/apple-just-cannibilized-the-macbook-air/
======
rayiner
The price difference is $200 in the U.S. The wedge profile of the MBA makes it
feel a lot smaller than the MBP (e.g. when shoving it in your briefcase). The
trade-off for the lower-resolution screen is much better battery life. The MBA
gets 15+ hours for web browsing with Mavricks.
[http://www.macrumors.com/2013/10/23/13-inch-2013-macbook-
air...](http://www.macrumors.com/2013/10/23/13-inch-2013-macbook-air-gets-up-
to-15-hours-of-battery-life-with-mavericks)

I'm upping my MBA to an rMBP, but I can totally see why someone would get the
former instead.

~~~
twiceaday
Apple made it abundantly clear that they wish to differentiate current Airs on
battery when they doubled battery life instead of adding a retina/touch screen
like the competition. However the 2013 Air is actually slightly slower than
the 2012 one in CPU benchmarks [1]. I think this is the last hurrah for this
generation of Airs. The current Air body is about as old as the Pro was then
the Retina refresh occurred. I think next June Apple will release a new Air
body and I can't wait to see it.

[1] [http://anandtech.com/show/7085/the-2013-macbook-air-
review-1...](http://anandtech.com/show/7085/the-2013-macbook-air-
review-13inch/3)

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joshontheweb
Unless they come out with an 11" Macbook Pro, I'm sticking with the Air. If
you have a 13" Air then yes, the pros have made more sense for awhile IMO. For
me the 11" Air with 8 gigs of ram, i7 processor and a solid state drive plus a
Thunderbolt display is the ideal setup. Super portable and powerful enough for
anything but the latest 3d gaming plus the display for when I'm in the office.

~~~
jpb0104
I'd like to hear more about your experience working on the 11", when you're
away from the external display. Are you cramped because of the resolution?
Keyboard and trackpad?

~~~
Alphasite_
I think the screen and trackpad are the same size for all MacBooks.

~~~
gambiting
The trackpad on the 11" is smaller.

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benatkin
The battery life is missing from the table, probably because it contradicts
the author's linkbait title.

~~~
ScottWhigham
Is the battery life that big of a deal? It's something like 9 hours to 12
hours (or something close) for MBP vs MBA. I just don't see that as a major
difference - it's not like a 1.7g vs 2.8g CPU.

~~~
rayiner
Battery life is a way bigger deal than a 1.7g versus 2.8g CPU. My 2010 MBA
with its circa-2008 CPU (Apple hung on to the Core 2 Duo for a long time) is
plenty fast for me, even for development work. At this point, I'd much rather
have a machine that I only had to charge once a week.

~~~
ScottWhigham
I think you sort of missed what I'm saying - we're talking about a MBP that
has better battery life already than your 2010 MBA. The 2013 MBP has a 9-hour
battery life compared to the 12-hour 2013 MBA battery life. That's a
"difference" but is that extra three hours of battery life worth trading for a
60% faster processor? I don't see that as a good trade off.

~~~
rayiner
Sorry, I read out the word "the". I thought you were saying "battery life is
good enough."

I would rather have the 3 extra hours than the 60% faster processor (though I
would rather have the retina display than the 3 extra hours). My aging MBA
compiles LLVM, the biggest thing I ever build these days, in 10-12 minutes. Do
I care if that number is 7-8 instead? Not really.

On the other hand, three extra hours can mean leaving the charger at home.

------
antirez
IMHO the "real" MBA, from the point of view of what happens when you use it as
your main computer, is the 11" version, and there is a huge difference between
that computer and the MBP 13".

The MBA11 means that your computer is from the point of view of portability no
much more than an iPad with a keyboard. It has a minimal weight, minimal
impact even on a very small table, and when you close it you can walk with it
in your hand like if it was a tablet.

Also it is a computer comfortable to stay near the couch if you want to grab
it and quickly search for something. It has impressive battery life.

Basically the MBA is a different computing experience, IMHO. I use solely that
and in my normal business I just attach it to a big screen, keyboard, wireless
mouse, external backup disk, and so forth (everything except the screen is
just a single USB cable that goes to the Hub).

When I grab it, I restart working from the bathroom or while waiting for my
son music lesson, exactly from where I left.

~~~
npalli
Among the apple products, the 11" air seems like a oddball option to me. Two
things

1\. For people who say it is like an iPad with a keyboard, I find that the iOS
apps I use (games, camera, touch based things) are very different than those
on the MBA (Developer tools + Adobe stuff). So not sure what the connection to
the iPad is. It is not even touch enabled. How can you say you are getting an
iPad/Tablet experience without touch??

2\. I find the 11" pretty cramped (keyboard space and screen size) to be
honest. Especially if you spend more than a few minutes working. Looks like
you find it too, given you have to put in additional paraphernalia (keyboards,
external disks etc.) to make it work. It also has a much poorer battery life
compared to the 13" counterpart.

~~~
MetaCosm
Umm, the 11" and 13" use the same keyboard ->
[http://blog.timecenter.com/content/uploads/2010/08/macbook-a...](http://blog.timecenter.com/content/uploads/2010/08/macbook-
air-2010-116-vs-133-thumb-600x493-45.png)

~~~
npalli
Nope. Look at the keyboard pad space, much smaller on 11". Unless you have
baby size hands, your wrists will feel like they are hanging in the air and
become uncomfortable pretty soon.

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teahat
The retina display on the 13" MBP actually results in less application real
estate at native resolution than the 1440x900 on the MBA. It's also half a
pound heavier, more expensive and with significantly poorer battery life. In
my opinion, the 13" MBA is the best laptop Apple makes, and is the best
computer I've ever owned.

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gambiting
As an owner of the Air, I really do not see why would I want to upgrade to the
Pro. It is heavier(marginally,but still!), and the Retina screen is something
I would really struggle with. I have the 15" Retina as well,and it's only
usable in either the native mode,or at half the resolution. Any resolution in
between introduces blur which drives me crazy. The problem with the 13" Retina
is, that at half the resolution, you end up with....less workspace than on the
13" Air! And the native resolution is way too small. So why would I swap my
Air for the Retina Pro? I really don't know.

~~~
omonra
Exactly how I feel.

My wife has MBP 15' Retina and I simply don't find its screen better than my
MBA.

I only use applications in maximized screen mode (but have 7 desktops that I
switch between). So the whole 'Retina is better' mantra is lost on me.

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lettergram
The author does not do a fair comparison in price... The Air costs $1299 for
256 Gb SSD with ~12 hours battery life the 13-in Pro is $1299 with 128 GB
flash and ~9 hours of battery life. The pro's advantage is Retina display and
better processor, but let's get honest, who needs more than a dual core 1.3
GHz for most stuff? The battery life is worth the decrease.

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kevinherron
Can't believe nobody mentioned this, but for me the Air is still the winner
because it has more usable screen space.

The 13" rMBP, while nice, only has an effective resolution of 1280x800, which
I find to be unusable.

With the Air you get 1440x900 at a DPI that's still pretty nice.

~~~
auggierose
Nope, got the new 13inch retina today, and it has 1680x1050 resolution. It
astonishingly usable in that resolution, although I was sceptical before, my
doubts are gone. Only thing: When working with my 17inch macbook, suddenly
everything looks so freakishly large!

~~~
kevinherron
It has scaled-mode resolutions including 1440x900, 1680x1050, and maybe
1920x1200, which all have noticeable annoyances.

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shmigheghi
I'm not able to create the author's specced out 13" MBA on Apple's site right
now, I can't find a way to get the 512GB SSD.

I also think the price comparison is disingenuous, as you have to opt for
Apple's very expensive upgrades to get even close to the price of the MBP.

The MBP is also upgraded, but the SSD upgrade (most important IMO) comes stock
in the MBA, and adds at a minimum $200 to the MBP. Much more if you actually
go with the 512 GB as the author suggested.

The stock MBA is plenty powerful for your average user, and hundreds of
dollars cheaper than the MBP.

------
Shivetya
I really don't see the need for the Air at this point except to go to the
eleven inch size. The 13s are just to close in price with Pros and the Pro has
such better resolution for very little more.

The disappointment I have with Apple is that I have to start with the top of
the line FIFTEEN inch Pro to get discreet graphics. (non Intel).

That half pound difference won't even be noticeable to me, not with everything
else I cram in my case.

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michaelchum
Some people prefer the 11' MBA for portability and perhaps the MBA still has
more battery life: 12 hours potentially 14-15 hours with Mavericks while the
rMBP is announced at 9 hours. However, I think you would eventually be right,
rMBP and MBA might fuse into one product in further generations due to their
rapproaching similarities.

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rsync
"Would you buy a MacBook Air after the latest MacBook Pro update?"

I can't see why anyone has bought a 13" MBA since the first retina screen was
announced 2+ years ago.

I'm still nursing a late 2008 MBA along until there is a retina option. Why
bother otherwise ?

~~~
bluedino
Pixel art is a disaster on Retina. It's rare but I could see an indie
gamer/game programmer going for the bigger pixels of the Air.

I'm sure there are other applications that also don't translate well.

~~~
scotth
It's true, there are some issues, but Retina is amazing for the day to day.
Being able to see the pixels that constitute a glyph or image has become
distasteful to me.

------
protomyth
At this point, I wouldn't mind them coming out with a new form factor for the
MacBook Air with the same screen from the iPad Air. Lots of pixels and a 3:4
ratio[1].

1) Truthfully, a retina 11 1/4" 3:4 Macbook Air would be a dream

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posabsolute
Exactly what I was thinking I currently got a air 13 inch & i'm like fuck for
0.5 pound I much prefer having the new 13 pro.

Specially since upgrading the air cpu (& being still less powerful) puts you
roughly at the same price.

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kylelibra
I was kind of wondering about this as well, the line between the smallest low
end Macbook Pro and the high end Macbook Air is blurring. Perhaps they will
eventually roll all the Macbooks into one product line again?

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sjtgraham
The 11" Air is the ultimate hacker computer. I take it everywhere because it's
so small and light. That I can be hacking within moments wherever I am is too
appealing for me to consider anything else.

~~~
aray
A few years ago mine was a 10" tablet with the apple bluetooth keyboard in an
origami stand.

> That I can be hacking within moments wherever I am is too appealing for me
> to consider anything else.

This is more attractive to me than other specs, and I suppose there is a lot
of intrinsic value in a device that makes me _want_ to code more often and in
more places.

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eonil
As the proverb says, "If you don't cannibalize yourself, your competitors will
do."

Maybe off-topic. Sorry.

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auggierose
Did the flamewar mechanism of HN kick in for that article :-) ?

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programminggeek
The author is a moron. The MBA is a much better machine for the average user
and their pricing reflects that. As a developer, I would take the 13" MBA over
the MBP. Also the author forgets the 11" Macbook Air.

This is just dumb. I don't think the author understands how business works, or
more specifically how Apple works.

~~~
brymaster
Why does criticism of Apple products bring out rage in people as if they're
being personally attacked?

Why do users need to 'get' or furthermore 'approve' of how Apple works?

> As a developer, I would take the 13" MBA over the MBP

Weird thing to say considering the decrease in specs with the MBA. Are you the
type of developer that compiles code and wants to do so quickly?

~~~
nsxwolf
He only uses vi.

~~~
programminggeek
Actually, I do primarily use VIM.

