few questions comparing MBP to MBA before purchase

hi guys, i'm struggling to decide between the 13" Air & 13" Pro. tilting towards the Air.

Air
Lighter/thinner, better display (both big plus points)

Pro
Optical, CAT5, slightly better battery (no deal breakers here)

there is some info i haven't been able to find.

1. how do the speakers compare?

2. i understand the Pro camera is 720p. is that also the case with the Air?

3. is the Air's flash storage noticeably faster than the SSDs in Pros?

thank you all

 

Air camera is not HD, so it is not 2 MP. SSD's wouldn't matter unless you are comparing an older MBP to a newer MBA whose interface is faster, like SATA II is faster than SATA III in how much data can transfer.

The main question you should be asking is about your needs vs. the portability factor of MBA. You always can lug around a Pro, but it is heavy if you are doing more than walking.

 

I bought a new 13'' Macbook Air about a week ago, And its been better than expected. The performance is great, Playing games works great..Been playing Starcraft 2, Portal 2, Half-Life 2, Left 4 Dead 2. Lion has some nice features and runs very smooth, The touch gestures are awesome when you get used to using them. The SDD makes a big difference in my opinion. Nothing ever lags, Its quiet, stays cool, battery lasts forever, charges fast Cant wait to see if they do some things with Thunderbolt( External GPU? Mini hub with tons of ports?). The screen is amazing..Definitely better then the Pros, and speakers work great, they get loud and stay clear. I compared the Pro to the Air for a couple weeks, And i decided on the air, Im happy I did.

Had a XPS m1530 before this, and the Air wins in every aspect.

 

Also don't forget that the 13" MBP comes in at a lower cost than the 13" MBA while also offering better performance. The MBA line uses ULV Sandy Bridge processors while the MBP line uses full voltage notebook Sandy Bridge processor. The baseline 13" MBP (which can be purchased for $999 at certain stores) is going to beat out the 13" MBA in everything except hard drive speed tests (unless you equip the MBP with a SATA III SSD). Earlier this year, I had to decide between a MBP and MBA. I went with the MBP because, at the time, the MBA was still using aged Core 2 Duo processors and it wasn't offering a backlight keyboard. I could live with the processor but the backlight keyboard really was a deal breaker for me especially since I use my computer a lot in the dark (and in a poorly lit lab). I can fully see my keyboard when I am entering numbers in Excel in my rather dark lab, when I am giving a presentation in a room where the only light comes from a projector, etc. I didn't have a backlight keyboard in my notebook I purchased in 2005 along with my 2009 netbook and it about killed my eyes. So I went with the MBP because it was upgraded to the new Sandy Bridge processors, was in a small enough form factor for me, and offered everything I required in a system.

Having said all of that, I would purchase the 256GB 13" MBA if I had the chance today (though I would not upgrade to the Core i7 ULV since the Core i5 version isn't noticeably slower and even comes right behind the i7 ULV by just a few numbers in all the benchmark tests I have seen). The reason I say that is because I really dig the form factor and the Core i5 ULV would be more than enough to last me a while (the dual-core Core i7 in my 13" MBP is already more CPU than I will need). The only aspect about the MBA I don't like is its lack of expansion ports. Thunderbolt is nice and all but nothing has come out of it yet aside from a very expensive RAID configuration and another overly expensive Apple monitor. I keep waiting for the day when manufacturers will release more Thunderbolt accessories and I have no doubt they will be coming but the summer has already come and is almost gone (that is when both Apple and Intel said Thunderbolt accessories would start to come out).

Either way, both will be a fine machine. The MBP is more powerful (due to the processor and its ability to work with more than 4GB of RAM since you can't upgrade that in the MBA), has been getting somewhat longer battery life numbers from real world tests, and definitely has better built-in speakers (I would say they are above average for 13"-15" notebooks but still nothing special) while the MBA will be faster at booting OS X and loading programs (thanks to the SSD), offers higher resolution displays (whether or not that makes them higher quality is up to you since many people prefer lower resolution options), and a smaller and lighter form factor.

 

I just sold my 2011 13" Pro and bought a 256GB 13" Air. The speed difference is minimal, according to Xbench (I can't really feel a difference in actual use even running Win7 in Parallels, but I don't do heavy duty video encoding or that sort of heavy duty task on it), and my Pro was equipped with an SSD and 8GB RAM. As far as CPU muscle is concerned, the new Air models are faster than last year's 17" Pro with the i7.

After using the 13" Air, I simply can no longer work with the tight 1280x800 resolution of the 13" Pro. The 1440x900 of the 13" Air may not sound like that much to you on paper, but it offers MUCH more desktop space.

Believe it or not, the speakers in the Air is actually louder than the Pro! It is very full-sounding considering the very thin chassis. Apple definitely did an awesome job with the speakers.

If you buy the Pro and add a 128GB SSD to it, you'll be very close to the price of the 128GB 13" Air, and this is assuming you can get the $999 price on the Pro. Assuming Amazon's price of $1136, plus ~$200 for a 128GB SSD, you're right there at the price of the 128GB Air.

As for the SSD, other than running a benchmark, in actual use you will be hard pressed to tell the difference as long as it's a current generation SSD model. My PC desktop runs a dual SSD RAID0 setup that benchmarks at >500MB/s read and ~450MB/s write, but the Air still boots the OS way faster than it, yes I'm comparing Apples and oranges here That said, you may be aware that Apple is shipping the Air models with either Toshiba and Samsung SSD. I would not have been happy if I got a Toshiba unit, but fortunately both my SSD and display are Samsung. (I had a Sony Vaio Z with dual Toshiba 64GB SSD in RAID0, it benchmarked slower than a single Sandforce SSD).

Unless you MUST have the ability to install 8GB of RAM in it and regularly use the optical drive, it almost makes no sense to buy the Pro IMHO.

PS the Air runs Windows 7 x64 natively faster than the Dell Latitude you see in my signature in every benchmark I threw at them. So coming from your XPS M1330 which I had myself, this will be a major upgrade in performance for you.

 

Resolution. Get the MBA.

 

I got the 2010 second generation MBA. If you carry it around a lot the 2.9 lbs. weight (3 lbs. for the current model) with sufficient performance is the best reason to get a MBA.

 

Yesterday I made the decision, after three weeks of debate, to settle on the 13'' Air for school. I am 100% satisfied with my decision aswel. Similar to what an earlier poster said, the resolution difference alone is a huge factor. There just seems to be so much more room on the Air's desktop when compared to that of the 13'' Pro. Also I'm pleasantly surprised with the performance of the Air. I've just played TF2 and SC2, but it has handled them perfectly and internet browsing is very snappy (this is coming from someone with a custom built desktop)

 

realize that subforum on the top of this one? ^_^

 

thank you all for great responses. i'm definitely going for the 13" Air; now i'm just debating the 256gb (will probably go for it).

as for price: student discount ftw - just need to find a student...

 

You can also find a teacher (or "instructor") in K-12. When ordering online, the whole thing is based on the trust system. It doesn't ask you for a student ID number or anything, it just asks you to locate your university/school and that is it. Whether or not you are actually a student is a moral dilemma you will have to live with.

Also, I would definitely go for the 256GB 13" MBA. The extra 128GB of storage may come in handy especially if you ever bootcamp it. I think most people could easily get away with 64GB or 128GB of storage but I would pick up the 256GB model just to be safe. At least that would give you more breathing room in terms of filling it up.

 

Sorry not to hijack the thread, but what is the difference if any between the sata interface between the two referenced laptops?

 

went for the 256. was expensive.

 

they gave me the 3 year hardware warranty for free though. and a £65 app store voucher. what ownage

 

The MBP uses a SATA III interface like any other SATA III notebook while the MBA has its own modified connection that is essentially SATA III but a lot smaller. You can upgrade the SSD in the MBA but it is expensive (since it uses that non-standard connector and has a different form factor) and also voids the warranty. Upgrading the hard drive in a MBP does not void the warranty as both the hard drive and RAM are considered user replaceable by Apple and nothing in the MBA is considered user replaceable by Apple.