Thinking of getting a Mac...

Soldato
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But I can't decide whether or not it would be the right choice for me, or which one I should go for if I decide to. The two I'm looking at are the Macbook Pro and Macbook Air, both the 13" models. I've been aiming to get something that is small, fairly thin and lightweight. The Air is obviously perfect for those criteria, but I wonder if the lower CPU power and maximum of 4GB RAM might be limiting and prompt an upgrade sooner than the Pro. On the other hand, the higher resolution on the Air and the fact that it's so tiny are highly tempting qualities.

I plan on using whatever I get, Mac or otherwise, for a range of things from the basic browsing and office work, through light image editing, lots of programming (another appeal of OSX here is that I could test cross-platform applications easily) and of course, the odd bit of Minecraft. Ideally it's something that's going to last a minimum of three years, but I'd be looking to push that to five. Inevitably I'd probably end up dual-booting Linux (maybe even triple-booting Windows 7) alongside OSX, so storage space might be an issue with the 128GB Air.

So assuming I did go down the Mac route, would I be better off getting the MBP and a decent-sized SSD, or spending that extra cash on getting the Air? How much of a difference does the extra resolution of the Air's screen make overall? Does the extra CPU speed on the MBP give a significant advantage over the slower one in the MBA or does OSX tend to be fine regardless? I know it won't be a big issue for me in Linux, though. :)

/Mac noob
 
The MacBook air is a lot lighter and a lot more portable, the Pro is quite heavey, but is obviously faster, in the Pro I think there's a mod you can do where you replace the superdrive with an SSD.

Personally I'd go for the air, more attractive, portable, better res.

If you know anyone in college/uni, get student discount1 :p
 
I'll be eligible for student discount anyways, which I would use if I went down this route. Sadly, Lenovo don't seem to offer one, and the main contender I've been eyeing up is a Thinkpad X1. Out of interest, do you know just how big a difference there is between the Pro and Air in weight? Can't currently get many sites to load, one of which is Apple. :(
 
Could you explain why the Pro is likely to last longer? Is it due to the potential for upgrades or something else?

I would've thought that in itself would've been somewhat evident due to the higher power of the Pro.

A more powerful machine would find it easier to cope with future applications. Be they desktop or web based.
 
Mm, should really have thought of that. >.>

I'm not used to having to think too hard about upgrades, I guess. Aside from the recent gift of components, I never paid all that much attention. I could have trundled along with my Athlon X2 for a while longer. :p

Ta.
 
I went with the 13" MacBook Pro. Just received it today so early days yet. Only gotten as far installing Skype and Steam (including Half Life 2), importing a few things into iTunes and having a general mess around.

First impressions are good and so far I would recommend the machine to anyone after an everyday portable, if gaming is not a major factor. The Air is certainly a nice looking machine and the Pro's screen is not all that sharp in comparison, though still good in its own right. On the other hand, the Air's screen arguably has poorer viewing angles and perhaps marginally inferior colours (at least based on a brief play with display models). The Air is allegedly snappier at loading apps, though it would be hard to describe the Pro as slow either. Benchmarks suggest pretty similar performance in most tasks between the two, so the slower CPU does not seem to be a huge handicap in the Air.

Ultimately though, I went with the Pro because I wanted the extra storage space (whether I actually use it or not remains to be seen) and could not begin to justify the 256GB Air.

In terms of gameplay by the way, Half Life 2 seemed to run smoothly enough at least during the intro segment on the train but it did kick the fan into high gear within seconds. So it is definitely possible to have some fun with it, as long as you do not mind the noise.
 
I've got a 2010 13" Pro. I was tempted to swap in for an Air but when it got down to it, I prefered the keyboard height and angle on the Pro. Hard to explain, but I know what I mean !

This pro sadly was just before the i5 upgrade so is a a C2D, but I'll drop in 8GB ram and an SSD at some point to make it hillariously quick.
 
13" air IMO. the pro has nothing going for it at the moment

Bit harsh, tbh. For a start it has £100 less on the price tag for a 13" screen model. It also has around 4 times the storage compared to that model, with something like another £200 to get half the storage of the MBP. If you can afford the difference and speed is more important than capacity, by all means, go for the Air. But the Pro definitely has its place, even if the overlap seems to diminish it somewhat.
 
Hmm, it seems that there are pros and cons to each. My major gripe is not being able to borrow one from someone for a week or two to get a better idea of whether or not either model would be suitable. On the one hand, I think the extra grunt from the MBP's CPU and the lower cost could be good, but on the other I really love the idea of the portability of the MBA. Hrmph.

I suppose the other question to ask is, just to cover myself as there exists a little doubt, do they hold their resale value well? I expect to be 95% certain before I make a purchase, but there's always the possibility I won't like it and I wouldn't like to lose too much if that's the case.

Thanks to everyone who has replied so far. This is a completely new area for me to be looking in to. :o
 
Pro, for the reason that the Air is not upgradeable. The sacrifice of the thin-ness is that the RAM is soldered onto the logic board and the SSD is a special fit blade fitment. What you would buy is what you'd have for the next five years. The MBP has two RAM sockets and a standard 2.5" HDD bay.

Until earlier in the week I was using the older aluminium MacBook which is the same casing as the current 13" Pro. I never once thought it was too big or heavy. If they'd sold the current version with a proper graphics chip I'd have bought one as the replacement.
 
Cheers for that. Having looked at a couple of them side-by-side briefly earlier, I think the MBP is more than portable enough, really. :)

One other question popped in to my mind, though. When do new models get released? I'm thinking of making the purchase in January, but I wouldn't really like to do that and then have a superior model arrive a couple of months later. :p
 
Nobody knows for are, though if they are indeed going to have the Ivy Bridge CPUs as one might expect, I know some rumours seem to put that well into next year, like about March. It is anybody's guess at this stage whether or not Apple will be ready go go with a new range that uses them so soon. I would personally have thought more like mid 2012 for anything major.

Although I would tend to say that chasing the next upgrade is not a good plan, I can certainly understand it in this case though. Minor spec bump aside, by January, this version of the MBP I have so recently gotten my hands on will be nearly a year old. I reckon it has aged pretty well but does lose out to competitors in a few areas (such as the GPU).
 
Well I've kinda made the decision to get the air as my main thing is portability (my home PC is more than beefy enough to do work/play on) and after looking at the pro and air in the apple store, as well as reading some reviews on trusted sites, I've decided to go after the 13 inch Air.

Should be arriving in the week :-)
 
The Pro is more than portable. The Air is tempting, but the lack of upgradeable RAM and potentially a bigger self-sourced SSD was a major deal-breaker that meant the decision still went in favour of the Pro.

I do wish the screen was better than the 1280x800 display currently available. If rumours are to be believed, the next update sometime next year will be a major design refresh.
 
Well the RAM would be an issue if you used it heavily for work. I think you have to balance this into the equation. On my home W7 machine, 8GB of RAM is lovely. On my old dell laptop 2GB of ram for my x86 W7 install was plenty.

Also the higher res screen on the 13" Air was part of the attraction...
 
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I've not had chance to pick up an Air, at least not without the extra weight of store security gubbins attached to it, but the Pro is definitely pretty portable all the same. Though it is probably at the upper end of what I would ever want to lug around all day.

I do find the screen resolution a little disappointing, though from what I have seen, the screen in the Air is not perfect either so best bet is to try and see them side by side if in doubt.


For me, my desktop PC is somewhat aged and the MBP is substantially more capable at everything that is not graphics intensive, so it may wind up being my main PC.
 
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