macbook pro or air?

[JHZR2]

I need a small mac laptop for travel. I have a 15", but I go through airports, etc. a lot and it is just too heavy and big, considering that I try to travel with only a single bag, and also need to have a work laptop with me that is a heavy dell.

I need the mac to run certain specific software.

Smaller is better, and I think thinner is better to keep in my bag - since Ill always also be carrying a full-size work laptop.

It is really only to run a few specific software packages, and portability is key.

Money aside, any reasons NOT to go with the air?

Thanks!

 

[oilboy123]

When I bought a 14 inch I wanted a smaller sized laptop. It's still too big.

I think my next computer will be a mac.

 

[Marukai]

I'm not sure if you're near a Micro Center, but if you are they have MacBook White for $799.


www.microcenter.com

I always use www.notebookreview.com for all of my notebook research. Think of it as a BITOG but for notebook computers from every known brand. Hope this helps you.

 

[Nick R]

Air has no CD drive, you need a USB one, and it has one USB port. If you get one make sure you get one with the SSD, the 4200rpm hdd (same harddrive used in ipods (!) is extremely slow. macbooks are having overheating problems with the new Intel i7 processors (over 100* celsius, on your lap. Ouch) It's too bad you need a mac, because I hate to think anyone wants to support steve crazyhead jobs. I would say look at a netbook running XP or something otherwise.

 

[JHZR2]

Frankly, Ive run enough PC laptops of various sorts to find the apple product much more to my liking. It probably also helps that ive run apples since the IIe back in the early 80s.

The heat issue is good insight. SSD would be what I'd get. Ivebeen real happy with the 7200 RPM HD in my 15" macbook. Has lasted longer and been through more than my dell laptop, which has busted a PCMCIA slot and a HD, amongst other things...

 

[Nick R]

See the big problem I have with apple is well, the price. For the price of an imac I could build a much more powerful windows based pc. It's ridiculous, you are paying for the name. Then add to that poor quality and apples unwillingness to admit to any problem (yellow imac screens and apple denies it was happening for years). Not to mention steven jobs is just, out of his mind. He's lost it.

http://www.dailytech.com/Steve+Jobs+Skewers+Adobe+in+Open+Letter/article18266.htm


He is blasting adobe for being proprietary.... When there is NOTHING more proprietary and controlling than apple products. He is the biggest hypocrite in the entire world. Sorry, my rant. Apple also sues everyone for anything. Suing HTC for a law of nature which they claim they patented (lowering voltage in a mobile phone CPU to reduce power consumption). Insane. To each there own, but you would have to give me the mac for free, I would never spend my hard earned cash on one.

 

[JHZR2]

But frankly I don't care about any of that. My apple products have been head and shoulders more reliable and longer-lasting than my "PC" products. Ive not had a single issue with any of my apple products, including an early-model mac mini, my 15" pro and my wife's 13" pro, all of which are still in regular use.

I am not concerned about the price. I am concerned about weight and form factor. Show me a netbook with the same or better form factor than the mini, and I might consider it. I run software which I like better on the mac (scientific stuff), but could do a workaround for windows if it is compelling.

So what PC laptops have a better form factor than the air? price is not an issue to me, dimensions (thickness) and weight are.

 

[Stu_Rock]

I would advise getting the cheapest thing possible. I have had bad luck with my last two Mac notebooks--a 1st-gen Intel MacBook Pro 15 and then a 2008 plastic MacBook. They don't hold up to frequent use and transport--they're both flimsy pieces of junk.

The newer machined-case notebooks are sturdier, but treat them carefully because of all the glass.

Recent Apple notebooks are nothing like my old Pismo G3. That thing lasted six years and went to five continents with me, including Antarctica.

Personally, I'm done with their notebooks until they get their act together. I still need to use Mac software (scientific stuff as well), but my plan is just to keep Minis at both of my desks. My next "travelable" computer is going to be a Linux laptop.

 

[wavinwayne]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
So what PC laptops have a better form factor than the air? price is not an issue to me, dimensions (thickness) and weight are.


The Acer Travelmate Timeline might be worth a look.

If I were you and I had the disposable income, I would spring for the Air.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Stu_Rock
I would advise getting the cheapest thing possible. I have had bad luck with my last two Mac notebooks--a 1st-gen Intel MacBook Pro 15 and then a 2008 plastic MacBook. They don't hold up to frequent use and transport--they're both flimsy pieces of junk.


Interesting. I have a first-gen intel 15" MBP and it has been great. Pr my comments above, far better than my dell, which has seen less travel and use. My MBP has only been on two continents and across the Caribbean, but is doing just fine!

What on yours broke?

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

Parts are parts.

A few months ago, we saw about 10 dead laptops arrive at our doors. 2 of them were Mac Book Pro, the rest Dell D620 models. We support about 50 Macs total and a about 400 Dells so the numbers are always PC-heavy.

Come to find out, the MBP and D620 both used similar components and nVidia video cards. There's a class action lawsuit against nVidia for this poor design.

Mac? Dell? So much of the guts are the same nowadays. My 2008 plastic MacBook low-end model is nice & all, but after installing boot camp then installing Windows 2008 R2 Server, come to find out it uses all the cheapest parts...broadcom wireless, for example. When I looked in Windows Device manager, I was suprised at how Acer-like the components were.

Mac book Air fit the need for ultra-light portability with a keyboard. I suggest a bluetooth external mouse as was mentioned, there's only 1 USB port. W/O the need for a keyboard, an iPad is the logical choice.

 

[Stu_Rock]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
What on yours broke?


The MBP was the true piece of garbage; I ended up selling it for parts 20 months after I bought it. It's problems were:
- Trackpad button failed
- Optical drive died
- Audio connector optical/electrical sensor broke
- Top case separated from bottom case (screw tabs on top case broke)
- Battery died quickly (replaced under special Apple warranty)
- Second battery died quickly
- MagSafe connector died (brick OK, fixed with eBay pigtail)
- On AC, it would zap you if it wasn't grounded and you were

The MBP was such a waste of money that I bought the cheapest thing I could find to replace it--a discontinued model MacBook. It has fared much better. So far, the electronics have held up. The bottom case has a crack at a screw hole, and the top case has the usual cracks at the palm rest. The mini-DVI port is a little flaky, but works after jiggling the connector.

I think these computers are designed to last about two years under regular use. Use and dispose. Now that Apple is moving to non-user-serviceable batteries, they've confirmed that's their attitude.

(of course, I would be comfortable replacing an internal battery, but I don't also don't want to be overpaying for a disposable computer made of commodity-grade parts)

 

[PandaBear]

If you want the lightest without caring about build quality or look, get a Netbook and put Hacintosh on it.

If you want a lighter Mac laptop, then get the Air, and make sure you have a real laptop or PC nearby if you need to network an optical drive, and make sure you have a wifi nearby or a USB network dongle.

It is not a real laptop for real work, but close enough if you don't care about them.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
If you want the lightest without caring about build quality or look, get a Netbook and put Hacintosh on it.


+1, emphatically. If you need portable computing, and whatever application(s) you need that are Mac-specific are not really taxing on a system (like video production or weather prediction), then get an expendable, commodity piece of stuff that you research and confirm can run as a Hackintosh, and *do that*.

Even if you do need to do some "heavy lifting", then I'd stil suggest getting a cheaper, common laptop that fits the bill (is light, thin, etc.) and make sure it can run as a Hackontish. Paying a premium for Apple hardware seems unnecessary these days.

 

[JHZR2]

Even if the mbp parts are "cheap", I sincerely doubt they are worse than any other competing product.

I still challenge anyone to Sind a laptop that can pack flat an truly only be as thick, or thinner than the air. The vaio z is thicker in practical reality.

And anything running iphoneos or similar, or doesn't have a real keyboard does not count.

 

[Not the Autorx Frank]

Well I a reading this from my iPad. It is quiet. Fast and light. Tons of battery life. Only had it 2hours now. I would go MBP. Much longer life span without upgrading.

 

[oilboy123]

I have never understood the logic of asking an opinion on a product and having everyone try to talk you out of said product.

I guess giving your opinion against the product trumps everything.

 

[JHZR2]

Well, I went to see the MBA at the apple store. WOW.

I had looked at them on the apple site, and was comparing really from there. Looking at it, it truly indicated that there is NO comparison.

As mentioned early on, form factor is critical. I'd consider a windows workaround if there was a better/cheaper option, but at this point it is clear that there is not. No netbook will sit as cleanly and with as little impact on depth/weight in my briefcase. Since I carry my work dell around too, this was critical as I travel and take this stuff around a LOT.

No netbook Ive found sits as slimly in a flat pile as the MBA. Nothing. Including the X300, which is the windows apparent winner when it comes to a PC ultraportable. The Asus eee 1008HA seashell is thicker, at 27mm.

So I cannot find anything that will work as well. Add to it that the MBA is 13", versus netbooks which have smaller keyboards, 10-12" screens, and the MBA is really a winner.

As far as reliability, my last-gen 15" MBP has been a champ. Reading consumer reports today, the reliability report shows apples right in the middle of the pack, and dell lower. The best laptops Ive had are IBM thinkpads and MBPs. So I find that a good assessment. MBA was rated the best ultraportable, and as far as I can see, this is absolutely the case.

As far as the 2GB argument performance-wise, Im currently running 4GB 667 MHz DDR2 on my 2.6 GHz C2D. I routinely run parallels allocating 1GB to the Windows XP, and run everything else just fine, so I guess on 3GB.

Running a number of programs, and Im taking up about 697MB. I am still running my early-gen I mac mini without issue, and it only has 512 MB of ram for mail, itunes and internet. Very reliable.

For the specific software which I'll be running, it is not going to become bloatware going forward. I am positive of that. As I understand it snow leopard takes a smaller footprint and is more efficient than leopard. I don't see where I can go wrong. I win on form factor, and am pretty positive that over the next, say, three years, for the specific sw I need to run, I'll be fine. I win on size, weight and application capability.

So, hatred towards macs aside, and given that I have not seen a netbook which has a better form factor or profile than the MBA, any other thoughts? I cannot find a fault against it.

 

[Mike Thompson]

I don't hate Mac, although Jobs is a dork. I use PC because my engineering programs work, as well as the 100's of other progs. that only are setup for PC. If I was heavy into graphics no doubt would use Mac.
Having said all that, I just bought an Asus "thin and light" UL20A, which doesn't have an optical drive. Don't need it; others in the line have the drive. It is 13", and I love it. $550, plays HD. Alum. case, great machine. Check it out.
Mike

 

[PandaBear]

If anything Apple has shown the world in terms of PC, it is that processing power is no longer the main part of computing. Size, battery life, portability, structural integrity are now more important than a few MHz faster and a few GB bigger.

Sadly Apple also shows the world that people are willing to pay way more than necessary for nice thing, and if your item looks nice, you can force people to adapt to your way of doing business.