MacBook Air 11 any good?

MichaelAwkward · 4 Nov 2014 at 17:37

Looking for a replacement for my ageing Thinkpad x200s. I've upgraded it with an SSD, added another 2GB of ram but the battery is not lasting as long as I'd like and even though it was once one of the thinnest laptops around, it's fairly noticeable now in my bag.

So I'm looking at the base MacBook Air 11" to replace it? I'm at university so I can get the education discount.

Just had a few questions - how good/bad is the screen in every day use? My ThinkPad is a TN 1280x800 panel, but unless it's plugged in it's fairly unlively although viewing angles aren't as bad as some other laptops I've used.

Battery life? Is 9 hours easy to achieve without having to turn everything off and set the brightness to minimum? I'll mainly be using it on campus every day (I have a fairly powerful desktop at home) and for when I travel home and abroad.

And just generally what's it like to live with? I heard that a Retina version was on the way but I assuming that's still a way off and will be much more expensive?

Thanks

lamboman · 4 Nov 2014 at 18:15

To be honest I wouldn't consider the 11" unless I was travelling a lot - and by that I mean using the thing while travelling (e.g. aeroplanes, trains, etc).

The display is generally fine, likely to be better than your ThinkPad's. Battery life, you should be able to achieve without being too careful (though again, the 13" is better in this regard - I get about 10 hours or so running Windows 8.1 in a VM for Office).

Retina version...IIRC rumours are that this will happen next year, but when is of course unknown. So it really comes down to how badly you'll need it. The only concern, as with the current retina models to a certain extent, is graphics performance (dropped frames etc).

MichaelAwkward · 4 Nov 2014 at 18:39

Hi, thanks for the reply.

The main reason for considering the 11" is because I only use my ThinkPad at the moment when I'm travelling (whether that's 4 hours away to family and whilst I'm there, or to Ghana and Seattle, or from lecture to lecture and meetings at university). I was considering getting an iPad Air too, but I think I would need a proper laptop really for what I do when I'm away from home (note taking, writing papers and essays, everyday stuff, as well as a little bit of SPSS and GIS work (although that's mainly going to be dealing with outputs rather than any real work). I have considered the 13" model but I think the extra size and bulk would annoy me greater than the benefit of the extra screen resolution.

The battery concern was mainly for peace of mind. I'm rarely away from a power source for more than 5-6 hours at the most. Sadly my ThinkPad is unable to manage that any more despite the bigger battery.

As for Retina, I doubt it's going to make much difference apart from just being a nicer experience, and if it's an extra £300-400 then I can probably live without it.

Hxc · 8 Nov 2014 at 00:02

MBA 11inch is the best tech buy I've ever made. I absolutely love the thing and I've had it 3 years now. Cannot reccomend it enough.

I did some GIS and some computer modelling in MODFLOW and the like during my degree. Managed just fine.

MichaelAwkward · 8 Nov 2014 at 09:47

Cheers

I went to Apple store whilst in town yesterday and compared the 11 and 13 together. Definitely going to go for the 11, 13 just felt too big.

danielanthony · 8 Nov 2014 at 12:29

I bought the 11" whilst in the US in May for the missus as she uses laptops around the house a lot. The MBA has the best battery life by far, she spends days doing essays away from the power socket, and the screen isn't as bad as some people like to make out. Its also the right size for her, if I were using it all day I think I'd rather have a 13"+ screen but I'm twice her size

Also, being aluminium, its hardier than the standard plastic Windows laptops we used to have.

InfiniteNoise · 8 Nov 2014 at 15:02

11" is nice, it's portable, but the screen feels too cramped and it's 16:9 ratio (not bad for movies but it should be 16:10 like the rest of MacBook line up)

Went with 13" in the end, haven't looked back since then.

Caged · 8 Nov 2014 at 15:03

I have an 11" i7 Air from work, and a 13" Retina at home. I wouldn't like to have the 11" as my primary laptop, but it's great if you're on the move all the time.

schambers · 21 Nov 2014 at 00:10

I was using a 15" or so Macbook Pro for a while but once it broke I have also been considering the Macbook Air. I'm wondering if the 11" would feel too small for me coming from a larger screen, but it does look really nice and portable!