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

We are talking about usability for business. When you walk into a conference room equipped with a projector you can usually expect a VGA cable (perhaps an HDMI cable too), which you can plug into your laptop (even a netbook) without any additional adapters. With my MacBook Pro I have to remember to always carry that adapter with me. If I ever forget to take it with me to a presentation, I am in big trouble!

Well, I do it all the time, and I think you are making a bigger deal than it is. It is a small cable I keep in my bag. Its a molehill, not a mountain.
 
Well, I do it all the time, and I think you are making a bigger deal than it is. It is a small cable I keep in my bag. Its a molehill, not a mountain.

Yes, I too carry it in my bag all the time. But for some presentations I may not even have my bag with me - just a laptop. So I always have to remember to take that adapter and put it in my pocket. And then not to forget to put it back in the bag.

Big deal? Perhaps not. It's just an example. If I were making a business laptop I would make sure to equip it with a VGA port perhaps an HDMI port too, and plenty of USB ports. But that's not the Apple's way: Apple would rather force everyone to use Thunderbolt!

Apple makes good computers. I just don't find them designed or well-suited for business purposes, at least in my personal experience. No offence to Apple fans! :)
 
Ilya said:
Yes, I too carry it in my bag all the time. But for some presentations I may not even have my bag with me - just a laptop. So I always have to remember to take that adapter and put it in my pocket. And then not to forget to put it back in the bag.

Big deal? Perhaps not. It's just an example. If I were making a business laptop I would make sure to equip it with a VGA port perhaps an HDMI port and plenty of USB ports. But that's not the Apple's way: Apple would rather force everyone to use Thunderbolt!

Apple makes good computers. I just don't find them designed or well-suited for business purposes, at least in my personal experience. No offence to Apple fans! :)

That's fine, your preference. I disagree, but it's all good.

But like what you posted in the 2012 laptop thread, this is a Mac thread, let's not turn it into a Mac v. PC thread. :)

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Apple makes good computers. I just don't find them designed or well-suited for business purposes, at least in my personal experience. No offence to Apple fans! :)

You are correct it depends on the business and also what you need. Personally a usb port is not needed for a mouse or keyboard as you can just use bluetooth for those. That leaves possibly a printer and a usb drive. Most businesses or corporations have network printers so having a printer on the usb device is normally not needed. That leaves a usb drive or phone to use the two devices. Again I don't see the big deal for 90+% of true business users. Come over to my employer and you wouldn't be able to even hook a usb device to your laptop as they have software that makes the devices useless for data security.
 
That's fine, your preference. I disagree, but it's all good.

But like what you posted in the 2012 laptop thread, this is a Mac thread, let's not turn it into a Mac v. PC thread. :)

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I didn't even see it turning into one of those threads. :) Just features that others would like to see on a MAC.
 
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.
 
I didn't even see it turning into one of those threads. :) Just features that others would like to see on a MAC.
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!
 
As soon as my Bill Me Later account issue is fixed I'm ordering a MacBook Pro 13". Macmall has it for $1128 with no sales tax and free overnight shipping. :)

My boss has cleared me to use it for work as he says our parent company is already coming out with a policy just for situations like this where someone can use a personal laptop for work. My work Windows machine will reside in a virtual now using Parallels. I can't wait!!
 
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.
 
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!
 
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. :D 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.
 
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.
 
Last edited:
Foxbat said:
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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rockymtnhigh said:
The battery is 15watt hours larger on the 13 and does make a huge difference, and the sd reader means one less adapter.
The SD card seems faster than using a USB 2.0 card reader. I popped the 8GB card from my camera in there and iPhoto imported three hundred 12 megapixel photos in under a minute!
 

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