Thread: thinking about my next mac... looking at the mac book air

Originally Posted by Ilya

Exactly!

When Apple released its first MacBook Air it only had one single USB port!
They doubled that in the next release. Good move!
I really hope that Ivy Bridge MacBook Pros will feature USB3 and will have more than just 2 USB ports!

Good point about Bluetooth though! I completely forgot about that one. I should've bought a bluetooth mouse!

I would be very surprised if there were more USB ports. Particularly if the next refresh of pro's are thinner.

Originally Posted by rglore

The reason there's no Ethernet port on the Air is the socket is thicker than the computer! Can't live without built-in Ethernet, buy a fatter computer.

You are right. And as I look at my Air, its definitely thinner than an ethernet port!

Wow, don't come around and read any post for a few weeks, and next thing you know, there's new logos and Rocky has gone and bought himself two MacBook Airs! (okay, so you returned the 11")

Because we have the Apple store at our local mall, I had the luxury of playing around with both Airs before deciding on the 13" base model. I went with the base because I didn't want to pay the extra $$$ for the 256 GB SSD. I figure I will see how it goes with the 128 GB and when SSD prices come down in a year or two, I'll check out Other World Computing and see what their prices are like then.

As someone else pointed out in a different thread, people keep their Macs two to three times longer that a PC. With an upgrade to a 320 GB SSD, the Air stops being the secondary Mac and could take on the role of primary machine.

One more thing: I just read that Apple has a special version of the 13" MacBook Air that replaces the white MacBook for educational accounts for the same $999 per Mac. The catch is you need to be an Educational Account and you need to order them in batches of five.

Enjoy your Air!

Originally Posted by Foxbat

Wow, don't come around and read any post for a few weeks, and next thing you know, there's new logos and Rocky has gone and bought himself two MacBook Airs! (okay, so you returned the 11")

Because we have the Apple store at our local mall, I had the luxury of playing around with both Airs before deciding on the 13" base model. I went with the base because I didn't want to pay the extra $$$ for the 256 GB SSD. I figure I will see how it goes with the 128 GB and when SSD prices come down in a year or two, I'll check out Other World Computing and see what their prices are like then.

As someone else pointed out in a different thread, people keep their Macs two to three times longer that a PC. With an upgrade to a 320 GB SSD, the Air stops being the secondary Mac and could take on the role of primary machine.

One more thing: I just read that Apple has a special version of the 13" MacBook Air that replaces the white MacBook for educational accounts for the same $999 per Mac. The catch is you need to be an Educational Account and you need to order them in batches of five.

Enjoy your Air!

Yeah, my credit card took quite a beating the past few weeks. I actually spent an hour in the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue before I bought the 11," in the store it seemed fine, but it was once I had the machine home where it became obvious to me that it was too small. But I have no complaints whatsoever about the 13" Air - and am glad I bought the larger SSD drive. With the exception of the mbp (which has 512GB HDD), I have never had a laptop with more than 200GB storage in the past, so this one is working quite fine. I also have several external drives for storage of videos and music and photos, so it is proving quite adept at being my primary machine for work and play when I am not in the office.

One thing I like about the Air over the Pro is that the screen is not quite as glossy as the pro's. It feels more "matted" - and I have always been a fan of that. Both of my external monitors (24" Dells) are even more so. I know the Air's is still technically glossy, but it just has a more muted feel.





I did not know about that educational deal.

Originally Posted by rockymtnhigh

I did not know about that educational deal.

I just saw it over at
Macrumors

. It sounds like they took the base 11" MacBook Air innards and put them in the 13" body. So 2 GB RAM, 1.6 GHz Core i5, 64 GB SSD, but with the 13" display. Enough of a machine to replace the white MacBook in a school, but probably not what you'd want for your own machine. Edit: I clicked through to the 9to5Mac article and I think the Macrumors editors got it wrong. I don't see evidence of this deal in that article. Maybe it requires an Educational customer to look on Apple's store.

Two more advantages of the 13" MBA over the 11": the 13" MBA has an SD card slot and a bigger battery.

Originally Posted by Foxbat

I just saw it over at
Macrumors

. It sounds like they took the base 11" MacBook Air innards and put them in the 13" body. So 2 GB RAM, 1.6 GHz Core i5, 64 GB SSD, but with the 13" display. Enough of a machine to replace the white MacBook in a school, but probably not what you'd want for your own machine. Edit: I clicked through to the 9to5Mac article and I think the Macrumors editors got it wrong. I don't see evidence of this deal in that article. Maybe it requires an Educational customer to look on Apple's store.

Two more advantages of the 13" MBA over the 11": the 13" MBA has an SD card slot and a bigger battery.

Yeah that just sounds like a rumor. I'll go in the Ed store later and check though.

The battery is 15watt hours larger on the 13 and does make a huge difference, and the sd reader means one less adapter.

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