[sdilley14]

Ok, so I got a refurb 13" MBP about 3-4 months ago. It is working perfectly fine, but there are a couple small things that are bothering me about it.

1. The caps lock key is almost unresponsive unless I hit the key and hold it down for a second. This is done by design from what I understand.

2. The light on the keyboard behind the 7 key isn't as bright as the rest.

3. Biggest one, the hinge makes quite an annoying squeaking noise when opening up the display.

These are all small problems and I know I am being picky, but I want as close to perfection as I can possibly get considering how much I paid and how I often I use the thing.

I am considering sending it back and trying to get a refurb 13" MBA. I see the newest gen MBA have popped up in the refurb store briefly in the last few days. My question is this...which machine is more powerful?...

Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.3GHz dual-core Intel i5
13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, 1280-by-800 resolution
4GB (2 x 2GB) of 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
320GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
8x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 384MB of DDR3 SDRAM

OR

MBA
13-inch : 128GB
1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
4GB memory
128GB flash storage1
Intel HD Graphics 3000

The majority of my time is spent in iTunes, Facebook, web browsing, Excel, Word, Quicktime, VLC, programs like that.

One of my concerns is storage. I currently use about 100GB internally. Will the fact that I am using 100 out of 128 GB slow things down?

Overall, which machine has more computing power and would handle my every day tasks the quickest/most efficiently?

[sdilley14]

Also, I'm assuming that if I do decide to hold onto my current MBP, I could take it to my local Apple store and they could fix the issue with the squeaky hinge? It really is quite obnoxious.

[Waragainstsleep]

The MBP has the number crunching horse power, the MBA will leave it for dead for anything where disk is a big factor and probably be generally snappier. I would guess you might get better battery life on the MBP simply due to the size of the battery.

Your app list doesn't single you out as a power user and unless you are using Quicktime to re-encode movies you won't really notice the extra CPU over the disk IMO.

Apple should repair the hinge for you under the warranty. They are not supposed to squeak. All the caps lock keys do that to an extent these days. Only fast typists tend to notice though. The uneven backlight is not common in my experience. I think you'd probably be better off with the MBA unless you really need every possible minute out of your battery.

Now brace yourself for a bunch of people extolling the virtues of the SSD over the HDD....

[sdilley14]

I keep my computer plugged in 95% of the time, so battery really isn't an issue. Being able to comfortably lay down on the couch and use the laptop is important to me, and I think the MBA would win there due to size/weight. I'm also very interested in the higher res display on the MBA.

I would not consider myself a power user at all. I multitask a bit with the apps I have listed, but that's about it.

I'm going to have to give this some serious thought and do a little more reasearch on this.

[Waragainstsleep]

I'd go for the Air unless price is an issue. You don't really need that extra 500MHz to watch movies and listen to iTunes and I'd expect the Air will hold its resale value better than the Pro. Also I'm guessing its a new one Vs. refurbished so thats also a win for the Air. Nothing wrong with refurbs, most of them are flawless but I've seen a few where they go wrong in fairly spectacular fashion needing multiple parts and longer, more complex repairs.

[OreoCookie]

SSDs don't slow down when they get fuller. On regular hard drives, this is due to the geometry of the drive: on the outside of the platters, you can store more data since the circumference is larger and thus more data can be read during one revolution.

So the last byte stored on an SSD will be read or written to as quickly as the first.

Concerning processing power, I wouldn't worry too much. For the workloads you have in mind, the Air is plenty fast. All you need to keep in mind that it will be as fast as or faster than the fastest 2010 MacBook Pro.

[sdilley14]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

SSDs don't slow down when they get fuller. On regular hard drives, this is due to the geometry of the drive: on the outside of the platters, you can store more data since the circumference is larger and thus more data can be read during one revolution.

So the last byte stored on an SSD will be read or written to as quickly as the first.

Concerning processing power, I wouldn't worry too much. For the workloads you have in mind, the Air is plenty fast. All you need to keep in mind that it will be as fast as or faster than the fastest 2010 MacBook Pro.

In regards to the hard drive explanation, that makes perfect sense.

Another thing I forgot to mention, I did buy an 8Gb RAM kit for my MBP that I haven't installed yet (it's at 4Gb right now). There's virtually no way (or no easy way) of upgrading the RAM on the MBA, correct? To be perfectly honest, the MBP I have now with just the 4Gb installed is perfectly fine for everything I am doing. I guess I just want to be sure I am not taking a big performance hit going from the machine I have now (or COULD have if I get around to getting that 8Gb kit installed) to the MBA. I'm probably just over thinking it.

[OreoCookie]

Nope, there is no way to upgrade the RAM in an Air unless you can find the correct RAM chips and solder them onto the main board manually To be honest, it's the biggest con in my book and I hope the Air will come with up to 8 GB when I need my next machine.

If you're used to having a machine with a regular hard drive, many operations will* be much, much faster than on your current machine, despite the Air's weaker CPU. Of course, you can take your Pro to the same level by installing an SSD, but in practical terms, it's plenty fast. Most apps launch within one bounce!

* I write will be faster rather than appear to be faster, because that's the way it is.

[Sholop]

You could always add an SSD to the MBP. It is not hard at all. I did this to my wife's with a 64GB $70 after rebate one from newegg. I added a 128GB $110 after rebate one from newegg to mine. I know it is not as fast as the SSD in the MBA but it starts leveling the playing field. You then also have your regular HD for an external TimeMachine drive now.

[sdilley14]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

Nope, there is no way to upgrade the RAM in an Air unless you can find the correct RAM chips and solder them onto the main board manually To be honest, it's the biggest con in my book and I hope the Air will come with up to 8 GB when I need my next machine.

If you're used to having a machine with a regular hard drive, many operations will* be much, much faster than on your current machine, despite the Air's weaker CPU. Of course, you can take your Pro to the same level by installing an SSD, but in practical terms, it's plenty fast. Most apps launch within one bounce!

* I write will be faster rather than appear to be faster, because that's the way it is.

The MBP beat the MBA by about 500 pts on the Geekbench test. How much does this really matter in "real world", every day performance? I guess I never really quite understood what metrics they use for those tests...

[Waragainstsleep]

Its reflecting the CPU at full power. You don't sound like you'd be likely to ever need that.

[sdilley14]

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep 

Its reflecting the CPU at full power. You don't sound like you'd be likely to ever need that.

That's what I thought. I figured those tests were kinda like stress tests to see how the machine would perform under heavy tasks (gaming, video encoding, RAW photo processing, etc), none of which those tasks apply to me.

I am going to start looking in to how I can get this MBP returned and exchanged for a refurb MBA. I'm going to have to kick in an extra $100 or so...unless Apple is feeling generous and apologetic for inconveniencing me with this squeaky machine.

[snookie]

Look at the prices at Apple Insider before buying a refurb. With free shipping and no tax you can get a brand new Air for the same or less than a refurb. Last time I checked anyway. To me its a no brainer that you should go for an Air. It will easily meet your needs while being light and easy to handle and a joy to use.

AppleInsider | Mac Pricing Matrix: Find the best prices on Macs

[dura_ace]

here's my 2 cents:
I have a MBP 13"
I put an 8GB memory update in it cost 76 USD
I placed an OCZ Vertec 3 SSD (on sale) 240 (256) GB .....269 USD used as primary HDD
I placed a Seagate Momentus XT w/4GB NAND as Secondary HDD cost HHD=89 USD
HDD carrier to fill superdrive spot 17USD
I mounted the superdrive in a matching external enclosure 25USD

It boots in 10 sec to the desktop.

I have Final Cut Studio 3 HD installed and can do video editing no problem. The rendering is all about crunching numbers.

As far as a MBA:You can update the memory on a MBA and if you upgrade the HDD, you're talking about what seem to be very $$$ form factors.

Hence I ended up MBP and love it. The MBA is light, but the MBP is a horse.

Then again some folks will buy based om $$$ I buy based on upgradability.

[yugyug]

Originally Posted by dura_ace 

here's my 2 cents:
I have a MBP 13"
I put an 8GB memory update in it cost 76 USD
I placed an OCZ Vertec 3 SSD (on sale) 240 (256) GB .....269 USD used as primary HDD
I placed a Seagate Momentus XT w/4GB NAND as Secondary HDD cost HHD=89 USD
HDD carrier to fill superdrive spot 17USD
I mounted the superdrive in a matching external enclosure 25USD

It boots in 10 sec to the desktop.

I have Final Cut Studio 3 HD installed and can do video editing no problem. The rendering is all about crunching numbers.

As far as a MBA:You can update the memory on a MBA and if you upgrade the HDD, you're talking about what seem to be very $$$ form factors.

Hence I ended up MBP and love it. The MBA is light, but the MBP is a horse.

Then again some folks will buy based om $$$ I buy based on upgradability.

Do you do this through authorized service? before or after purchase? Did it void your warranty? Just wondering because this is more or less what I want to do (actually I'd just be happy replacing the superdrive with a flash drive) and I thought I could ask apple do this a custom build before I purchase, but to my surprise they said no. Well actually they said, probably no, but I could ask at the genius bar....

[Waragainstsleep]

Final Cut has always been built to run acceptably on recent portable hardware so the fact it runs very well on newer portable hardware should come as no surprise.

Apple will fit an SSD in place of the HDD but will not do anything about swapping the optical drive for an HDD or an SSD. They might well void your warranty if they catch you doing it yourself. If you can do it yourself, you can always put it back in if it requires service.
Paying for Apple RAM has never been economically sensible. 3rd party RAM will not void warranty.