MBA - worth a purchase?

BMox81

BMox81

BMox81

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Morning,

Decided against getting the 6 Plus - my 5S runs fine and I’ve only had it a couple of months.

So with that - decided to get a new laptop to replace my 7 year old Vista laptop. Been a faithful servant but it’s well overdue an upgrade.

I definitely want a MacBook - have everything else under the Apple umbrella so this would complete the set.

My budget is £700 and can’t go any higher. The MBA's are very well priced over on the Rainforest.

But all I keep hearing about are how lousy the screens are. I have used a rMBP recently just to get used to the OS, so have I been spoilt with how good that screen looks if I was to get the Air or is just people overreacting because Apple haven’t released a Retina version yet…
 
I find the screen on my 13" MBA to be perfectly fine and you'll generally have the screen at about arms length, so I don't expect you'll see the pixels. I use a different colour profile to the stock one too, which makes the colours much nicer and far less 'washed-out'.

No harm in seeing what's available at that price though. :)
 
Think to most people's eye the screen is more than adequate. If it seem's that your eyes are used to the rMBP they will adjust accordingly and you'll soon forget the difference :)
 
The Air screen is far from lousy, I was happy with my 13" Air for the best part of 2 years.

Well worth it, if you get one you won't be disappointed.
 
Sugnid said:
Morning,

Decided against getting the 6 Plus - my 5S runs fine and I’ve only had it a couple of months.

So with that - decided to get a new laptop to replace my 7 year old Vista laptop. Been a faithful servant but it’s well overdue an upgrade.

I definitely want a MacBook - have everything else under the Apple umbrella so this would complete the set.

My budget is £700 and can’t go any higher. The MBA's are very well priced over on the Rainforest.

But all I keep hearing about are how lousy the screens are. I have used a rMBP recently just to get used to the OS, so have I been spoilt with how good that screen looks if I was to get the Air or is just people overreacting because Apple haven’t released a Retina version yet…
Click to expand...

Best bet is to go to a bricks and mortar store and compare them side by side, but to me the MBA screen is fine.

Bear in mind that the Rainforest Airs are imports from third party sellers not sold by the Rainforest direct.

New 12" model likely to appear in the early part of next year but unlikely to be £700 !!
 
Currently I've got a loan 13" MBA as my 15" rMBP is in for repairs. I previously had a 13" rMBP before the 15.

I just find the MBA screen horrible though. The low resolution means there's just no screen real estate. You have to look at it also at the correct angle or it just looks horrible.

I know I've come from a retina so I'm going to have this opinion. But when I look at other laptops at work also, the airs just looks sucky.
 
Another one here to say that I don't find the display a problem in the slightest.

There are quite a few other threads on here that cover the subject, but to summarise, in my experience at least (i.e. firmware and software updates may have changed this situation entirely) the Air runs cooler, quieter, is lighter, offers longer battery life under light loads and generally is a little smoother. Personally would still buy an Air over the rMBP, however quite frankly you can't go wrong with either.
 
I've had a MBA for years and I love it. When I'm at home I hook it up to my Dell 24" IPS display and it's fantastic.
 
I bought the missus an 11" MBA and have had an Asus Ultrabook in the past to compare it to (the Asus broke BTW). I don't have a problem with the MBA screen, even the 11" version, I've got iPhone and iPads so I'm familiar with what retina Apple screens can look like.
 
I picked up a MBA early last week as I needed a new machine for work, personally I think its fantastic. I was weighing it up compared to a MBP with considerations around retina vs non-retina but opted for the Air due to the extra battery performance (can use it for a whole long day in the office and whilst commuting without the need to carry a charger).

As above if you can purchase one from an actual Apple store you have the option to return it within 20 days, no questions asked. In fact the Apple sales person I dealt with said that I could try the Air, return it, try the Pro and then return that if I preferred the first.
 
Not that long ago you could get £150 off any £749 or above apple product *and* 10% off if you opened a credit account with a certain company along with 12 months interest free credit. Sadly the offer is over, but it put the entry level rmbp down to entry level mba money and the mba down to £525ish which was fantastic value for a brand new machine.
 
Got my MBA this morning. Obviously there is a lack of Retina but I can't say it's really bothered me tbh.

Fantastic bit of kit and very happy I took the plunge and got one.
 
The retina screens are also IPS so have much wider viewing angles and better colour reproduction. Washed out colour shifted screens bother me much more than the number of pixels!

Most low-res standard def laptop screens are TN and cheap and nasty. Viewing angles suck. It's an industry wide problem, caused by a race to the bottom on costs.
 
MagicBoy said:
The retina screens are also IPS so have much wider viewing angles and better colour reproduction. Washed out colour shifted screens bother me much more than the number of pixels!

Most low-res standard def laptop screens are TN and cheap and nasty. Viewing angles suck. It's an industry wide problem, caused by a race to the bottom on costs.
Click to expand...
This is absolutely true. The MBA display is a TN panel however it isn't like those god awful £400 notebooks where they are washed out from head-on and show almost nothing from any other angle; it is a good display, just not as good as the rMBP.
 
Even the £800 corporate laptops have washed out terrible 16:9 screens now. They couldn't economically keep the better quality, sensible aspect screens. There's something wrong when a 10 year old laptop has a better screen than the equivalent current model!
 
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