I got the top of the line MacBook Air. It was my first Apple product ever. After tax was 1900 ish, which I do admit is super expensive. It does everything I need, and is SUPER portable -- I can carry it like a piece of paper. Everything is super responsive, and compilation is fast enough. I run Photoshop from time to time, and its not a problem whatsoever. Also tried out Portal 2, no problems at all.
MacBook Air is enough for a work machine
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Re: MacBook Air is enough for a work machine
#82My MacBook Air was $1,799 and the equivalent MacBook Pro (top of the line 15″, because why would you buy the 13″?) would cost me just over $3,200 (adding 3rd party SSD, Apple 8GB RAM and the Hi-Res screen). Man, this is disingenuous. 8GB RAM? As if you can't get it cheaper (or the MBA even offered 8GB RAM as an option)? Or as if the 15" MBP doesn't blow the Air out of the water in every other aspect? I bought a 13" P…
It is easy for the comparison to come out either way depending on personal preferences because the specs are pretty close.
I did the exact same assessment as you 4 months ago and bought the MBA 13" because a) I cared about the high-res screen more than the processor speed, and b) I only expect it to last 2 years so 4GB RAM is enough (insofar as you can ever have enough RAM.)
Re: MacBook Air is enough for a work machine
#83My MacBook Air was $1,799 and the equivalent MacBook Pro (top of the line 15″, because why would you buy the 13″?) would cost me just over $3,200 (adding 3rd party SSD, Apple 8GB RAM and the Hi-Res screen). Man, this is disingenuous. 8GB RAM? As if you can't get it cheaper (or the MBA even offered 8GB RAM as an option)? Or as if the 15" MBP doesn't blow the Air out of the water in every other aspect? I bought a 13" P…
It is easy for the comparison to come out either way depending on personal preferences because the specs are pretty close. I did the exact same assessment as you 4 months ago and bought the MBA 13" because a) I cared about the high-res screen more than the processor speed, and b) I only expect it to last 2 years so 4GB RAM is enough (insofar as you can ever have enough RAM.)
so 4GB RAM is enough (insofar as you can ever have enough RAM.)
If you're doing lots with VirtualBox or VMWare, then 4GB isn't quite enough. 6GB is pretty comfortable, though.
Re: MacBook Air is enough for a work machine
#84My MacBook Air was $1,799 and the equivalent MacBook Pro (top of the line 15″, because why would you buy the 13″?) would cost me just over $3,200 (adding 3rd party SSD, Apple 8GB RAM and the Hi-Res screen). Man, this is disingenuous. 8GB RAM? As if you can't get it cheaper (or the MBA even offered 8GB RAM as an option)? Or as if the 15" MBP doesn't blow the Air out of the water in every other aspect? I bought a 13" P…
Very true. I've used an Air as my only development and design machine for 2 years now; I love it; the thing has only 2Gb of RAM and it's still blazing fast for most everything. This is completely due to the SSD, which wasn't standard when I bought it, but seemed worth splurging for. I sleep better at night with less moving parts. When I sleep. Which I don't.
Re: MacBook Air is enough for a work machine
#85Interesting that I seem to be the only 17-inch fan here. I can see the attraction of an MBA, but I prefer having a screen big enough that I can do everything on it without an external monitor, and I don't mind lugging it around at all.
17"MBP here too, and after 2 years its been a great machine, still decent specs by today's standards. But the size is starting to wear on me. I've entertained the option of upgrading to a new 15"MBP but it doesn't seem like a big enough jump to justify the cost.
I hope Apple has a 15" Air in the works because that would feel like an upgrade in multiple dimensions - cpu, ram, display, weight, thickness, portability.
Re: MacBook Air is enough for a work machine
#86I concur with authors opinion of MBA. The 13in MBA is the best computer I've ever owned. My current Mac Lineup consists of: * Latest gen 13in MBA * 17in MBP (~1yr) work paid for it * 13in Black Macbook (loved this one too!) * Mac Pro (totally pimped out) work paid for it * 3rd gen mac mini The only machine I use now is the MBA. It is everything a Web Dev needs, great resolution, fast, travels well. It even plays Mine…
I don't understand this obsession for backlit keyboards I've been reading about a lot lately on forums. It definitely looks nice but its just a battery drain and I assume most HN people don't look at their keys. I always keep mine off for the sake of my battery.
backlit keyboard aren't just for looking nice. they're for working at night in dark rooms. before touch typing you need to glance quickly at your hand's position above the keys, to make sure your hand position isn't transposed slightly up, down, left, right--which happens easily when you're blinded by a monitor in the dark, and the key bed is pitch black. yes, you can fold down your monitor till the light illuminates the keys, squint while you orient your hand, then raise the monitor to eye-level...but that is a distraction to workflow when hacking at night. way too much effort just for checking hand orientation. backlit keys solve that problem, which is one of the most serious 1st world problems facing rich people with nice computers today.
Re: MacBook Air is enough for a work machine
#87Not to sound like a fanboy (I believe I posted something about my Air a while back on HN), but I'm a big fan of my 13" MacBook Air after a few months of using it. I agree with the original poster that it is more than sufficient for an everyday work machine.
As an aside, it's a pretty decent gaming machine as well... We recently started playing Borderlands GOTY edition LAN games at the office and my MBA ran the game much smoother than another a ~1.5 year old 17" Macbook Pro in the office. He had to downgrade the video to get it working nicely, while my MBA hummed along without much of a sweat.
Re: MacBook Air is enough for a work machine
#88My MacBook Air was $1,799 and the equivalent MacBook Pro (top of the line 15″, because why would you buy the 13″?) would cost me just over $3,200 (adding 3rd party SSD, Apple 8GB RAM and the Hi-Res screen). Man, this is disingenuous. 8GB RAM? As if you can't get it cheaper (or the MBA even offered 8GB RAM as an option)? Or as if the 15" MBP doesn't blow the Air out of the water in every other aspect? I bought a 13" P…
> Sure, I don't have a Hi-Res screen (the one Pro feature I wanted on the 13"), but I can actually upgrade my computer in 3 years when 4GB RAM becomes a bottleneck. Now that's a low year-over-year computing cost.
You can also upgrade your MBP RAM cheaply today (or tomorrow) to 8GB.
Not only does the MB Air not support 8GB, it's soldered on, so you can't upgrade.
Re: MacBook Air is enough for a work machine
#89I am currently using an original 2008 Macbook Unibody as my work machine. I bought a 2011 i5 Macbook Pro last weekend, but I ended up returning it. Instead, I bought a 2010 Macbook Pro. It will support my 256GB Crucial SSD and two 1920x1080 27" monitors and will be my new work machine.
Re: MacBook Air is enough for a work machine
#90I concur with authors opinion of MBA. The 13in MBA is the best computer I've ever owned. My current Mac Lineup consists of: * Latest gen 13in MBA * 17in MBP (~1yr) work paid for it * 13in Black Macbook (loved this one too!) * Mac Pro (totally pimped out) work paid for it * 3rd gen mac mini The only machine I use now is the MBA. It is everything a Web Dev needs, great resolution, fast, travels well. It even plays Mine…
I don't understand this obsession for backlit keyboards I've been reading about a lot lately on forums. It definitely looks nice but its just a battery drain and I assume most HN people don't look at their keys. I always keep mine off for the sake of my battery.
Have you measured the battery life difference? I'm pretty sure each lit key has a fibre optic lead, with all the keys going to a single white LED. That should be a draw of about 120mW, which is pretty tiny compared with the couple of watts the rest of the computer is drawing.
I pretty much love my current laptop, but I still do miss the backlit keys of my old powerbook.