MBA 11" - yay or nay?

Theophany

Theophany

Theophany

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So it appears that my University VPN still works despite graduating in 2011 (win) which means I'm afforded a delicious 15% HE discount on Apple gear. I've been toying with the idea of getting the 11" Macbook Air as using my iPad Mini as a makeshift laptop isn't as good in practice as it is in theory.

It will be used lightly, mainly when I'm on the road, for little more than word processing and the odd bit of wifi-hopping for Internet and email. Ideally I want great real world battery life, an x86 architecture and ultraportability. I'd like to avoid touch screens and gimmicks (Lenovo Yoga is a definite no!).

Am I best going down the fruit route or are there better alternatives to be had? As a point of reference, the HE price for the 128GB 11" MBA is £799 and for the 128GB 13" £859 (I would consider the latter for the 50wHr/+2 hour battery life).

In the words of Pat Benetar...


:)
 
I'd go for the 13" Air if you were to get any Air tbh. 11" is just too small IMO, and there is literally 2.5cm / 3.5cm (L/W) in it between them. And 270g in weight or so
 
d_brennen said:
I'd go for the 13" Air if you were to get any Air tbh. 11" is just too small IMO, and there is literally 2.5cm / 3.5cm (L/W) in it between them. And 270g in weight or so
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Agreed. Really small screen, 13" is extremely small and thin as it is.
 
Agreed, I used a friends mums 11" air and there isn't quite enough there really, the 13" is what I would stretch too if you can
 
d_brennen said:
I'd go for the 13" Air if you were to get any Air tbh. 11" is just too small IMO, and there is literally 2.5cm / 3.5cm (L/W) in it between them. And 270g in weight or so
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See, that minor size difference was what made me think the 11" was the more attractive choice to begin with, as you still get a full sized keyboard and a slightly higher pixel density.

Nymins said:
Agreed. Really small screen, 13" is extremely small and thin as it is.
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pingwing said:
Agreed, I used a friends mums 11" air and there isn't quite enough there really, the 13" is what I would stretch too if you can
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This is the only thing that I am slightly apprehensive about. Whilst the 11" may be acceptable to begin with, I do worry that I'll get tired of it being a bit too small. But that being said, any serious work gets done on my main rig, as it has loads of screens.

I just don't know what to do! Given suggestions so far though, I'm beginning to think 13" may be the better route to go down...
 
Got the 11" with i7 and 8GB (get 8, not 4).

Had a MacBook 13" before.

Do not miss the screen real estate. Occasionally use the iPad as a second screen if I am working in XCode and want some reference available without alt-tabbing. That was true of the MacBook too though. And when really necessary I plugged it into a full size display...

Do miss the SDCard on 13" which would be good for adding a pile of extra space for media files as the 128GB HDD is getting a little cramped.

Plays Diablo III, Left 4 Dead 2 and Team Fortress a treat.

The 11" is just perfect mix of size and power. But I would wait till WWDC (mid June) for the next gen Haswell MBA's. More graphical oomph and looooonger battery life.
 
I'm not convinced the extra 4GB will really do much for me given how light I'll be running it, it will be pretty much nothing beyond WriteRoom, Firefox/Waterfox and Outlook (and very occasionally Subler and MKV2M4V). It really will be little more than a glorified typewriter!

Can I hook my iPad Mini up as an extension display to it? That would be a definite win...

As to the update at WWDC, I did have a look around the rumour mill to see if it was worth the wait, but there's nothing I can really see that will be a major change? Given that WWDC has a focus on iOS and OS X, is it realistic to expect a speed bump or major refresh around then?

(Ideally, I'm looking to purchase before mid-June and have very nearly pulled the trigger three times today :p)
 
I know its the Apple forum, but if its going to be a "glorified typewriter", does it need to be a Mac?

Something like the XPS13 can be had pretty cheap on the Dell Outlet. 1080p screen too.
 
11" mba is the perfect laptop if you ask me. You just don't notice you have it with you, and it's perfectly powerful enough to do anything you will need. Best tech buy of my life, had mine for 22months now and it still zips along and has zero issues.
 
Nymins said:
I know its the Apple forum, but if its going to be a "glorified typewriter", does it need to be a Mac?

Something like the XPS13 can be had pretty cheap on the Dell Outlet. 1080p screen too.
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It looks like a nice piece of kit, but with the 15% discount factored in, it's more expensive than an MBA.
 
Theophany said:
It looks like a nice piece of kit, but with the 15% discount factored in, it's more expensive than an MBA.
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Dell Outlet has them for under £600 refurbed. They go in and out daily, so some pretty good deals can be had.

Or you can get 11% off from the Dell website with a voucher code.
 
Hxc said:
11" mba is the perfect laptop if you ask me. You just don't notice you have it with you, and it's perfectly powerful enough to do anything you will need. Best tech buy of my life, had mine for 22months now and it still zips along and has zero issues.
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I had mine about the same time and can do almost anything I throw at it still. Not a scratch or mark on it!
 
I am typing this on a 13 air and i think it great .

The card reader and longer battery life swung it for me ...the 11's screen seemed a little small when i was trying both out.
 
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