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Abbas · Jul 6, 2008, 05:06 AM

I have used the Air and found it a bit slow but that was with the Hard Drive version and it was slow launching apps or stuff that was hard-drive intensive. With the price cut is SSD, I started thinking if it would be a good idea to get the SSD equipped Air.

My MBP is the 2.4GHz model with the nVidia 8600 GPU modified with a 250GB drive and 4GB RAM. I dont play much games- mainly used for writing articles, emails, browsing web, iTunes and some Photoshop. Is it worth selling my Pro and getting the Air?

Also, does the Air run very hot as well? That is probably my biggest issue with MBP

Ozz_man · Jul 6, 2008, 09:39 AM

I can help try to answer this with my two cents.

I ditched my air because of it's slowness and overheating. Any time I would play a ripped DVD (which you practically had to rip it if you didn't want to lug around the superdrive) it would freeze and skip half way through. This is AFTER Apple said there was nothing wrong with it. And the whole machine just seemed sluggish. They placed the air vents in an awkward place where they would easily get blocked by my legs to compound the problem. I hated the air.

I was so happy to go back to a Pro when I opened up the box fond memories re appeared

Cold Warrior · Jul 6, 2008, 10:34 AM

No way. Keep the MBP.

My two cents.

Abbas · Jul 6, 2008, 12:07 PM

Thanks for your comments-

The reason I was debating about the Air was that I got an EeePC 901 last week and love its portability. I find myself using the Eee more than my MBP purely because of the portability.

ChrisB · Jul 6, 2008, 02:11 PM

I agree with the statements above. Keep the pro.

As much as I am over-joyed that Apple has a sub-notebook again (I really do miss the Powerbook Duos), the Air, as the Duos were, are a compromise, that is only worth if it meets your needs, and you can do without what it sacrifices to be the product that it is.

You would be better off keeping the Pro.

mduell · Jul 6, 2008, 09:05 PM

Depends on your Photoshop usage; if it's just for the web you're probably OK, but not so much for serious photography. Everything else runs fine on mine.

Simon · Jul 7, 2008, 05:17 AM

Originally Posted by Abbas

The reason I was debating about the Air was that I got an EeePC 901 last week and love its portability. I find myself using the Eee more than my MBP purely because of the portability.

At first I was going to chime in with the whole crowd telling you that swapping a beefy MBP for a MBA makes no sense.

But this comment of yours changes everything. What good is a beefy MBP if you don't take it with you? What good is all that power if you're not making use of it?

I own several MBPs, have not and will not buy a MBA, so I'm by no means a MBA fanboi. But if you rather use an EeePC than a MBP because of weight/size/portability, you should probably reconsider sticking with your MBP - especially since none of the things you mention sound like you do very a lot of demanding stuff.

Th MBA will be slower than your MBP. I will offer less disk space, less performance and less expandability. It will not run cooler and it will not give you much better battery life. But it will be more portable. There's no question about that.

Ask yourself if you need the optical and the extra ports on the road. Ask yourself if you'd be willing to put up with lag in order to get portability. Ask yourself if those times you leave your MBP at home now, you would haul a MBA with you.

Abbas · Jul 7, 2008, 05:27 AM

Thanks Again for the responses-

I did play with a friend's Air but found that quite sluggish. It was the Hard Disk based one.
Does anybody have any experience with the SSD version? I'm reading some contrasting reviewes- Anadtech says the machine is extremely snappy while ArsTechnica didnt feel much difference compared to HD.

-a

mduell · Jul 7, 2008, 07:16 PM

I've used both and there's not a large difference overall.
The one with a hard drive acts like a hard drive based computer (good sequential performance, poor random performance, lags for spin up), while the one with an SSD performs like a flash based computer (ok sequential performance, good random read performance, poor random write performance, very little lag/latency).

@pplejaxkz · Jul 8, 2008, 09:30 AM

There would be no way I would trade in a MacbookPro for an Air. Although I want a dedicated graphics card. You're definitely getting more for your money with your MacbookPro. That is just my opinion though. Good Luck!

Abbas · Jul 9, 2008, 04:54 PM

Ok- So I've went ahead and bought the Air as I got a good deal on it. Its not the SSD version but the 80GB. I'll use it for a week before deciding to sell this or my MBP off.

So far, I'm leaning towards the Air. It runs WAY cooler than my MBP and has a pretty decent battery life- I got over 4 hours today. Yes, performance isnt as good as the MBP but in no way would I call the Air Slow.

-a

Simon · Jul 9, 2008, 05:57 PM

Interesting to hear. Keep us posted.

venecoman · Jul 14, 2008, 12:55 AM

Abbas, you mentioned that you did some photoshop/pictures. How has Air behaved?

I'm looking to upgrade my aging PowerBook G4 (1.25gHz 2gb) and i'm not sure if to get the Air, the Pro, or wait for a new Pro. I enjoy the portability of the Air, but will not sacrifice my ability to finetune my photography.

Would be very thankful for input on how the Air worked with your pics.

thanks

OreoCookie · Jul 14, 2008, 05:04 AM

You've been spoiled by a faster machine, but on the other hand, you end up using the slower machine, because you prefer portability. Sounds like an AirBook is your machine.

Keep in mind, however, that although none of the apps you've mentioned are very cpu hungry or need a fast graphics card, the AirBook would be your primary machine. If I were you, I'd go for the AirBook.

Abbas · Jul 16, 2008, 06:01 AM

Originally Posted by venecoman

Abbas, you mentioned that you did some photoshop/pictures. How has Air behaved?

I'm looking to upgrade my aging PowerBook G4 (1.25gHz 2gb) and i'm not sure if to get the Air, the Pro, or wait for a new Pro. I enjoy the portability of the Air, but will not sacrifice my ability to finetune my photography.

Would be very thankful for input on how the Air worked with your pics.

thanks

I wont call myself an extensive user of Photoshop. Generally, I would take pictures from my Nikon D40X, import them in Photoshop (about 3.5-4MB per picture), do some color correction, resizing/cropping etc. and save them in a web format.

Today, I tried this on the Air and, of course, its not as fast as MBP, I didnt find it very slow either. At first I loaded up about 24 pictures in Photoshop and as I kept working on and closing pictures, it kept getting more responsive. I think in future, I would probably open 10 pics at a time.

If I was to roughly calculate the time it takes the Air to do something to a Pro, I would say that the Air probably takes 10 seconds to do what the Pro would do in 5 or 6 seconds. So working with 20 pictures probably took me an extra time of a minute or two - I can live with that.

So far, there are two things that annoy me about the Air- the time it takes to recharge fully and the height of the trackpad button- Apple should've made it a bit taller.