What do you use MB and MBA for?

People always tell me that the Macbook Pro, is the laptop for power users, and that MB and MBA are for "lighter" work and programs. Could anyone specify on this. Defining lighter work.

What programs, and applications work great with a MB?

 

i primarily use my macbook for mobile internet browsing and the like... also anything quick.. like note taking and such.. the limiting factor is the screen size/resolution and the screen's narrow viewing angle. the further limiting factor is the 2 usb port.. minimum for me is 3.

well that is before it got stolen...

 

MB is good for general use, light work, internet, office work. Don't be mistaken, the MP is a very powerful system. I guess you'll call it light work because of its portability and small screen size.
MBP is really only worth it for its screen size and graphic card, making it useful for editing and some gaming. MBA is just for road warriors who needs to travel all the time.

 

There is nothing light about my MB. I have the latest with Penryn 2.4, 4gb ram and 200gb 7200rpm Hitachi HDD. Its really fast and holds it own doing intensive work on Logic and Ableton Live (two complex music/audio programs/recording etc). I use it for everything else too.

My macbook is faster than my friends' pro santa rosa 2.2 machine with audio stuff.

I don't game or use anything graphic intense, its only in that area that the Macbook is light. Otherwise it can hold its own with anything else out there.

 

its is true that the screen can be annoying (too small sometimes). But thats easily fixed with a LCD widescreen at home. I also find the 15" Macbook pro too small for everyday, full use, but I always prefer bigger screens. But when I am at university, the small size is nice.

 

I use my Macbook for everything. From surfing the internet to ripping DVDs, creating movies in Adobe Flash to listening to music in iTunes, from watching movies in VLC/QT to running multiple instances of Visual Studio 2008 in Parallels.

With sufficient RAM, my Macbook can handle most things I throw at it. Although rendering stuff in OpenGL/D3D is a bit slow. You need a MBP for that.

 

I use my macbook for web browsing (firefox), email, taxes, spreadsheets (neooffice/numbers), documents(neooffice/pages), image editing ( gimp), photo organizing (iphoto/.mac/flickr), web authoring (html/php, iweb, taco, dreamweaver cs3, siteorbiter), palm hotsync (occasionally), digital photography via sd card (iphoto is not my default camera/ image handler). I expect to play very few games if any at all. I have a 2.4 Ghz high end Whitebook and a $139 500 gig MyBook usb drive for backup (Time Capsule was out of stock). I am very happy with the machine.

When Time Capsule gets back in stock, I plan to pick up a 500 gig unit to back up our 4 machines and use my 500 gig MyBook as a network drive managed by the Time Capsule.

The more I poke around this thing the more impressed I am. I turned on php in Apache and now can use my Macbook as a test server. Very nice. I've used Linux for years and I love the terminal. Ctrl tab ( visor) takes me to terminal in one keystroke .

Oops. I didn't mention MBA. I don't know if I could get by with MBA as my main machine. I would love to have one for my road machine, though!

 

Using my 1.6/SSD MBA for web development.. its very fast compared to my old Desktop AMD 64/2.4 GHz 1GB RAM

Everything opens instantly, Silent, Light, Very sexy..

It gets hot if I try to watch youTube or download torrent.. but i dont need both

What more would I need ?

 

I use my Macbook (C2D Merom, 2 GB RAM) for university and home use. That includes all the basics (email, Office apps, web browsing, watching movies, listening to music) in addition to stats (SPSS), database (MySQL) development, and Photoshop (editing RAW photos). It handles all of that with finesse. I use no 3D apps besides the odd Google Earth search. While it's silent during normal use, under load the sound from the fan/air movement gets somewhat loud in a quiet room. As an ecology student who does fieldwork in some remote areas, I chose it for the OS, rugged build, and size. I've remained entirely happy with it during 14 months of use.

 

I use my MacBook for everything but gaming. Its definitely got the power to do most tasks, except for the graphics-intensive front (and just a note, Photoshop is not graphics-intensive).

 

Why do people say that MBP is good for a larger screen? The 17 MBP seems so big. Is the point of a notebook, not to be small and mobile? To me it looks like its one of the most appealing things about the it, is that its a 13'. One would actually be able to carry that thing around all day. A MBA even more so...

 

Well, for me personally, my MBP is usually on my desk, so the 15" screen is perfect. It's mobile enough that I can tote it to classes and back home for breaks, but big and powerful enough that I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything with it being my only computer.

 

I use my Macbook for everything, except gaming.

 

While I don't have an MB, I do have an MBP which guess might give the flip side on your question. I use it for software development, some gaming, some 3d scene modeling with Bryce 6, lots of internet browsing and more. Most notably I wanted something that had an excellent screen on it with good resolution (the screen is incredibly crisp). I played with a 13.3-inch screen and found it too small for critical tasks such as software development (screen space is very important).

The one solid thing the MB/MBA has over the MBP is the keyboard. I hope Apple update's the keyboard on the MBP within the next 2 or 3 years... when it'll be time to upgrade my laptop.

Edit: The MB could handle most of my tasks though, and is not to be taken lightly. It is indeed a very powerful notebook.

 

True, but it's main virtue is style. I mean, the MB is by far not the only game in town when it comes to reasonably priced laptops with powerful processors and junk video solutions.

 

i use my MBP PRO 4 EVERYTHING woops caps

 

The MB and the MBA... What kind of games can they run? How would stuff like Guild Wars, WoW, Warcraft 3, Gunz, Quake 3, run on does machines? Framerate? settings?


I am thinking of getting a high end Imac, but might need a portable machine for when im on the run.


the MBP.. even in 15'4 range, just seems so big. to big to really be able to carry around like it is nothing.

 

Size-wise, yes the MBP is about an inch or two larger but the weight is mostly negligible. The MB weighs in at 5 pounds and the MBP is just a bit heavier at 5.4 pounds according to the specs listed on Apple's website.

I actually find the MBP easy to carry around as it is very thin at 1-inch with the lid closed. It fits easily in my back-pack and the weight is not bad at all.

 

I have been a Windows user for about 16 years. I recently bought a MB after hearing and seeing all that Leopard could do. Since buying the MB, I have barely touched my brand new Gateway laptop. The MB is super powerful, and does everything I want it to do, and fast. I am hanging on to the GW for gaming and those couple of "fringe" apps (Agent Newsreader) that I like better in Windows, but other than that, the MB is my main machine. I love the way it seamlessly integrates everything, allowing me to be much more organized without even trying to be. I use it for music, photos, photoediting (Photoshop runs better on my MB than my 2.2GHz, 3GB RAM Gateway). It took me a little while to get my head around the fact that something this small could be this powerful, but it can.

 

Everything from web srfing to itunes to photoshop. I had to syne 1,000 photos to my ipod and the mac had to down grade the resolution and i took about 5 minutes to do 1,000 photos. Yeah this thing is very fast.

 

Everything, except playing games. I even use it with Aperture 2 to do photo editing also. When I am at work, I have word, powerpoint, firefox, itunes, bluej (java editing program for work) and medical journal all open at the same time multitasking and it runs fine, looking to upgrade to 4GB of ram soon too