[jogi]

Hi,

Seeing the new Macbook air, I am really tempted in buying it, replacing my 1 year and a half macbook pro 15" 2.16 C2D.

Considering that I can sell the MBP on eBay for around £600 - £800 its not a huge cash outlay.

I travel relatively frequently, but the size of the MBP has never bothered me when I cary it around. Its primary use is for movies on the train/internet + emails.

Before the MBP I used to own a 14.1" Vaio and the less weight + smaller size were quite welcome and convenient though...

Thoughts?

[mduell]

Go for it. 15" laptops are too big for portability IMO.

[JoshuaZ]

If you need the portability, why not.

Just be sure that you're willing to forgo a graphics card, Optical drive, and firewire before you buy. If you're cool with that, go for it.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by JoshuaZ 

If you need the portability, why not.

Just be sure that you're willing to forgo a graphics card

You still have a graphics card. It's no gamer card, but it works well for most things (aside from Aperture/Motion).

[Cipher13]

I'd stick with the 15". If you say the size has never bothered you, I think this is just lust for something new and cool, and you may well end up regretting it.

Entirely your call though, but in my opinion, the 15" is a far better machine.

[flabasha]

Yeah, I can't for the life of me see any reason to buy a Macbook Air, other than looking sexy. It's not even that small, being wider than a regular Macbook.

Plus, on all those trips, will you NEVER want to pop in a CD? Burn a CD for someone? Watch a DVD movie? Use a firewire port? Swap a battery?

It's just so bizarre that Apple released a product that in many ways is vastly inferior to my 5 year old titanium powerbook.

I guess it's like the iPod shuffle of laptops. A crippled piece of hardware aimed at people for whom the already microscopic Nano is somehow too big...

[mduell]

Originally Posted by flabasha 

Plus, on all those trips, will you NEVER want to pop in a CD? Burn a CD for someone? Watch a DVD movie?

Rarely; if I do I'd use another machine or the Superdrive in my bag.

Originally Posted by flabasha 

Use a firewire port?

Nope; zero Firewire devices.

Originally Posted by flabasha 

Swap a battery?

Nope.

Originally Posted by flabasha 

It's just so bizarre that Apple released a product that in many ways is vastly inferior to my 5 year old titanium powerbook.

Nevermind that the CPU is much faster, more RAM, faster disk (SSD), longer battery life, bigger (by pixels)/brighter screen, and oh yea, it's 45% lighter.

[flabasha]

"Rarely; if I do I'd use another machine or the Superdrive in my bag."

Isn't having a superdrive in your bag completely defeating the point of having an ultra-thin laptop? I couldn't help but bust out laughing when I saw the picture of the new MacBook Air Add-on SuperDrive!... a super-thin laptop with a cord leading to another box, just to have the capability of... what regular laptops have.


"Nevermind that the CPU is much faster, more RAM, faster disk (SSD), longer battery life, bigger (by pixels)/brighter screen, and oh yea, it's 45% lighter."

All of which you would expect from ANY computer five years more recent. It's just hilarious that I could sit next to someone with their sexy new MacBook Air, and be able to do all sorts of things they couldn't - with my old beater Powerbook.

But backwards-moving technology IS sort of the cultural rage now. When I see people furiously trying to text on their cellphones, I can't help but think, a century after the invention of the telephone, the hottest technology on the planet is... the telegraph.

It's got me thinking... what if I designed a tiny cellphone that's capable of doing smoke signals? And it could link to the MacBook Air... by carrier pigeon! Hmmm...

[Stogieman]

Originally Posted by flabasha 

I guess it's like the iPod shuffle of laptops.

But without the price advantage over the other laptops Apple offers.

[Stogieman]

Originally Posted by mduell 

Nevermind that the CPU is much faster, more RAM, faster disk (SSD), longer battery life, bigger (by pixels)/brighter screen, and oh yea, it's 45% lighter.

You forgot USB 2.0 (although only one port), built-in isight, bluetooth, IEEE 802.11n and backlit keyboard.

[TailsToo]

It would make a great second machine. For me, my MBP is my only computer, so I wouldn't consider the Air.

I still think Apple made too many sacrifices to make the unit as thin as it is. Why make it a little bigger and add more horsepower and storage?

[MacosNerd]

Originally Posted by JoshuaZ 

If you need the portability, why not.

Just be sure that you're willing to forgo a graphics card, Optical drive, and firewire before you buy. If you're cool with that, go for it.

Actually all laptops have a graphics card Otherwise having the display would be useless
As for the optical drive, apple provided a number of ways around this. One of which is the optional external optical drive. The other is the wireless option, allowing you to "borrow" another mac's optical drive.

[MacosNerd]

Back to the OP's question.
If you can live with the 13"screen's form factor, then I say go for it. The small size really does help the road warriors so I can see this computer being a great asset to those who want a small light computer to travel with.

I had a MacBook and found the screen too limiting. I was able to run Aperture on it, so the integrated graphic card issue is a little over blown. Is it slower then a GPU that uses dedicated vram. Yes of course, but the performance hit is only noticable on games or aperture (it ran but it was sloooow).

my $.02 - go for it.

[Simon]

Technically speaking no Mac portable has a graphics card. They all have their graphics circuitry soldered straight to the MLB. There is no card.

The actual difference is between
• a highly 3d accelerated GPU with dedicated video memory and dedicated video memory bus
• an Intel integrated graphics solution snatching away RAM as VRAM and feeding it through the regular memory bus

[Eug]

If the weight doesn't bother you, and you don't need the MBP's power, then sell the MacBook Pro and get a MacBook.

It doesn't seem the MacBook Air really offers that much to you, and its battery life is worse than the MacBook's.

[jogi]

thanks everyone for the answers..!

The reason I don't like the MacBook is because it is plastic... Compare the state of a MacBook and my MacBook pro after 2 years of use and the pro is like new while the MacBook not so any more.

Aluminium is far more durable than plastic...

With regards to features and power my MacBook pro is far better than the air.
I don't use the DVD much but I will definatelly opt for one as the air will be my primary non work laptop. I rip any movies I want to my wd passport harddrive.

Screen size is ok for the air.. I will miss the higher resolution of the pro...

So is the reduced weight worth the compromise? I only wish they made a metal MacBook....

[MacosNerd]

Originally Posted by jogi 

Aluminium is far more durable than plastic...

While its solely your decision and you don't need to justify it to us. Saying that the ALU case is more durable then the plastic is a reach at best.

There's a ton of threads here, and other forums about people dropping the Powerbooks and MacBook Pros (typically a very small distance) and it got dented.

On of the MacBook's claim to fame, as i were, is its durable plastic case. The aluminum is more malleable then the plastic so its more apt to bend or deform when dropped.

Like I said its your decision, but the MBP (and MBA) ALU case is not as durable/strong as the MB's Plastic case

[mfbernstein]

---

[scottiB]

Originally Posted by flabasha 

<snip>...It's just hilarious that I could sit next to someone with their sexy new MacBook Air, and be able to do all sorts of things they couldn't - with my old beater Powerbook.<snip>

Another thing the MBA owner couldn't do: give a sh!t.

[jogi]

Originally Posted by MacosNerd 

While its solely your decision and you don't need to justify it to us. Saying that the ALU case is more durable then the plastic is a reach at best.

There's a ton of threads here, and other forums about people dropping the Powerbooks and MacBook Pros (typically a very small distance) and it got dented.

On of the MacBook's claim to fame, as i were, is its durable plastic case. The aluminum is more malleable then the plastic so its more apt to bend or deform when dropped.

Like I said its your decision, but the MBP (and MBA) ALU case is not as durable/strong as the MB's Plastic case

what about discoloration though? Like the White becoming yellowish and the matt black becoming shiny in the palm rests and touchpad ? Same for the keyboard. These are my concerns, cause if I drop it I broke it 99%... The aluminum looks the same no matter how Manu years you have it

[Eug]

Discolouration was generally a problem with the first MacBook cases, but those were replaced under warranty. The new case doesn't suffer the same problem - it's a different formulation. I suppose since it's white it can still potentially get discoloured, but mine shows no discolouration after about a year. (My first case got discoloured after several months, so they replaced with a case with the new plastic formulation.)

There are no obvious scratches on mine either, but I tend to take care of my laptop better than some do.

[Zeeb]

Originally Posted by scottiB 

Another thing the MBA owner couldn't do: give a sh!t.

or make rent.

[harbinger75]

Technically speaking no Mac portable has a graphics card. They all have their graphics circuitry soldered straight to the MLB. There is no card.

The actual difference is between
• a highly 3d accelerated GPU with dedicated video memory and dedicated video memory bus
• an Intel integrated graphics solution snatching away RAM as VRAM and feeding it through the regular memory bus

...you beat me to it.

[flabasha]

Originally Posted by scottiB 

Another thing the MBA owner couldn't do: give a sh!t.

True. But he sure could buy one, couldn't he?

[Cadaver]

Originally Posted by Zeeb 

or make rent.

For people contemplating an MBA, I don't think trying to pay the rent is an issue.