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Apple Just Cannibalized the MacBook Air

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Re: Apple Just Cannibalized the MacBook Air

#31

Post by shmigheghi »

I'm not able to create the author's specced out 13" MBA on Apple's site right now, I can't find a way to get the 512GB SSD.

I also think the price comparison is disingenuous, as you have to opt for Apple's very expensive upgrades to get even close to the price of the MBP.

The MBP is also upgraded, but the SSD upgrade (most important IMO) comes stock in the MBA, and adds at a minimum $200 to the MBP. Much more if you actually go with the 512 GB as the author suggested.

The stock MBA is plenty powerful for your average user, and hundreds of dollars cheaper than the MBP.

Re: Apple Just Cannibalized the MacBook Air

#32

Post by rhizome »

zwily wrote: post #21
Segmentation wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the author is critical of Apple, it's link-bait? The title is hardly sensational.

What made you think the author is critical of Apple? Apple cannibalizes themselves all the time. It's one of the great things about them, that they're not afraid to do it.

Because "cannibal" has a negative connotation.

Re: Apple Just Cannibalized the MacBook Air

#33

Post by michaelchum »

Some people prefer the 11' MBA for portability and perhaps the MBA still has more battery life: 12 hours potentially 14-15 hours with Mavericks while the rMBP is announced at 9 hours. However, I think you would eventually be right, rMBP and MBA might fuse into one product in further generations due to their rapproaching similarities.

Re: Apple Just Cannibalized the MacBook Air

#34

Post by rayiner »

ScottWhigham wrote: post #16
benatkin wrote: post #2

The battery life is missing from the table, probably because it contradicts the author's linkbait title.

Is the battery life that big of a deal? It's something like 9 hours to 12 hours (or something close) for MBP vs MBA. I just don't see that as a major difference - it's not like a 1.7g vs 2.8g CPU.

Battery life is a way bigger deal than a 1.7g versus 2.8g CPU. My 2010 MBA with its circa-2008 CPU (Apple hung on to the Core 2 Duo for a long time) is plenty fast for me, even for development work. At this point, I'd much rather have a machine that I only had to charge once a week.

Re: Apple Just Cannibalized the MacBook Air

#35

Post by scotth »

bluedino wrote: post #20
rsync wrote: post #4

"Would you buy a MacBook Air after the latest MacBook Pro update?" I can't see why anyone has bought a 13" MBA since the first retina screen was announced 2+ years ago. I'm still nursing a late 2008 MBA along until there is a retina option. Why bother otherwise ?

Pixel art is a disaster on Retina. It's rare but I could see an indie gamer/game programmer going for the bigger pixels of the Air. I'm sure there are other applications that also don't translate well.

It's true, there are some issues, but Retina is amazing for the day to day. Being able to see the pixels that constitute a glyph or image has become distasteful to me.

Re: Apple Just Cannibalized the MacBook Air

#36

Post by the_watcher »

rayiner wrote: post #9

The price difference is $200 in the U.S. The wedge profile of the MBA makes it feel a lot smaller than the MBP (e.g. when shoving it in your briefcase). The trade-off for the lower-resolution screen is much better battery life. The MBA gets 15+ hours for web browsing with Mavricks. http://www.macrumors.com/2013/10/23/13-inch-2013-macbook-air... I'm upping my MBA to an rMBP, but I can totally see why someone would get…

I'm still leaning Air for the battery life and 11" option, but the new Pro had me considering it, while before, it wasn't even on my radar. Adding a retina display to the Air would remove one of the things I'd like, but that likely won't come until there is substantial battery improvement elsewhere, I'd bet.

Re: Apple Just Cannibalized the MacBook Air

#37

Post by lazerwalker »

jpb0104 wrote: post #18
joshontheweb wrote: post #3

Unless they come out with an 11" Macbook Pro, I'm sticking with the Air. If you have a 13" Air then yes, the pros have made more sense for awhile IMO. For me the 11" Air with 8 gigs of ram, i7 processor and a solid state drive plus a Thunderbolt display is the ideal setup. Super portable and powerful enough for anything but the latest 3d gaming plus the display for when I'm in the office.

I'd like to hear more about your experience working on the 11", when you're away from the external display. Are you cramped because of the resolution? Keyboard and trackpad?

I use an 11" Air as my full-time machine. The keyboard (and, I believe, the trackpad) are the same size as the 13". I rarely find myself cramped by the resolution. A little bit more vertical space would be nice, but I can comfortably fit two 80-column text buffers side-by-side or do light image editing work without any trouble.

Easily my favorite computer I've ever owned.

Re: Apple Just Cannibalized the MacBook Air

#38

Post by __david__ »

dchuk wrote: post #11
Karunamon wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He also treats weight as a non issue.

A half pound is barely something to care about when you're talking about non-handheld devices.

A half pound sounds like nothing, but the air is about 15% lighter than the 13" which is pretty significant.

Re: Apple Just Cannibalized the MacBook Air

#39

Post by lettergram »

The author does not do a fair comparison in price... The Air costs $1299 for 256 Gb SSD with ~12 hours battery life the 13-in Pro is $1299 with 128 GB flash and ~9 hours of battery life. The pro's advantage is Retina display and better processor, but let's get honest, who needs more than a dual core 1.3 GHz for most stuff? The battery life is worth the decrease.

Re: Apple Just Cannibalized the MacBook Air

#40

Post by Synaesthesia »

jpb0104 wrote: post #18
joshontheweb wrote: post #3

Unless they come out with an 11" Macbook Pro, I'm sticking with the Air. If you have a 13" Air then yes, the pros have made more sense for awhile IMO. For me the 11" Air with 8 gigs of ram, i7 processor and a solid state drive plus a Thunderbolt display is the ideal setup. Super portable and powerful enough for anything but the latest 3d gaming plus the display for when I'm in the office.

I'd like to hear more about your experience working on the 11", when you're away from the external display. Are you cramped because of the resolution? Keyboard and trackpad?

I actually sold my 13" Retina MBP and bought an 11" Air and I'm happier. Hard to believe but the portability counts for a lot.
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