HELP MBP or MPA for the same price? Or MBP with SSD?

Chris344

Chris344

Chris344

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Bexleyheath, London.
With HE discount I can get the following;

New Pro i5 13" with 128GB SSD with a free 3 year Apple care plan for £1030

or

The MBA 13" with 128GB SSD and 4GB Ram with a free 3 year Apple care plan for £1033

I don't use the machine for heavy games or video editing and I have not used my cd drive on my windows laptop for over a year or so but may do for the installation of Win 7 on VM. I do occasionally burn/play the odd DVD.

I love the slim design of the MBA but hate the fact it is using a 4 year old CPU. I love the black around the screen of the MBP but not keen on the size...

Please help, what would you guys do?! Also the new MPA might be out in OCT but if I went for the Air I could sell it with 2.5 years Apple care left knowing I only paid £1033, maybe I'd get what I paid with the care and 4gb of memory upgrade?

I have a 1TB WD passport that I use with my wireless from my current windows laptop, will I still be able to use this with the Mac as its 50% full of data?!

What would the i5 Pro be like with SSD?

Thanks
 
Tunney said:
I'd go with the MBA just because of the higher screen resolution.
Click to expand...

I do realise that the higher screen res will be better but will it be amazingly better than the 2011 MBP?

I do love the portability factor and iPad feel of the MBA but feel put out by spending £1033 for a discontinued Core 2 Duo outdated processor, if it feels fast with the C2D then how much better would it be with i5?
 
He let me order two machines so I ordered

MBP 13” i5 with 128gb ssd
MPA 13” with 128gb ssd and 4gb ram

Total £2063 with 3 years Apple care, the machine I am not keeping I will sell for a slight profit
 
Chris344 said:
He let me order two machines so I ordered

MBP 13” i5 with 128gb ssd
MPA 13” with 128gb ssd and 4gb ram

Total £2063 with 3 years Apple care, the machine I am not keeping I will sell for a slight profit
Click to expand...
How can you make a profit?
and why not just return under DSR the one you don't want?
 
whitecrook said:
i'm interested to know which one you decide is best and why
Click to expand...

I will try to post side by side reviews.

Both will be SSD with 4gb ram. The difference will be C2D and the i5, hopefully it may prove that Apple mask the not that great performance of the C2D CPU with SSD. I am expecting the MPB to be much much quicker especially with booting up/down.

We will this.
 
I had to decided between a MBP and a MBA last year when they were both core 2 duos. I went with the MBP because I wasn't too confident in the newly released MBA but after 5 months of consideration I would say go for the MBA if you take it out with you a lot. My next upgrade I will be selling my 13" MBP and getting the MBP simply for the portability. ;)
 
I had a 2009 13" MBP and replaced it with a 13" MBA.

I think you will find for non heavy use the CPU wont make that much difference as its the SSD that gives you fast boot / quick app launches.

The screen on the MBA is far superior due to the higher res so I would go without if you are not a 'power user'.
 
Chris344 said:
I do realise that the higher screen res will be better but will it be amazingly better than the 2011 MBP?

I do love the portability factor and iPad feel of the MBA but feel put out by spending £1033 for a discontinued Core 2 Duo outdated processor, if it feels fast with the C2D then how much better would it be with i5?
Click to expand...

Isn't the i5 something like 10% faster than a C2d? If so then there won't be a huge difference...
 
Really? That surprises me. My MBA flies - and that's compared to my quad-core i7 MBP.

Sure, it won't virtualise 4 machines, and it runs out of steam, but for general office based stuff the Air is a flyer.
 
My 1.6ghz core 2 duo 11inch air feels much faster then my i7 desktop for most tasks due the the ssd. From what I understand the MBA is also better optimised for booting and shutting down then the MBP even when equipped with a SSD also.

I would highly recommend an air as a 2nd computer for traveling etc. Im only using my desktop for gaming and encoding these days.
 
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