13" MBA+ 27" iMac vs. 17" MBP?!

[amt2002]

If I could suggest another idea...

Use a 13" MBA as primary system and plug into 27" imac to use as an external display?

Why an iMac vs the 27" ACD? Well, the price difference isn't THAT bad and I use the iMac for games (on mac and windows via bootcamp - something the air doesnt excel at, even if it did have enough SSD space!).

 

[rekhyt]

I am a college student looking to upgrade my mid 2007 MB.

I feel like the combo would last a lot longer because the mba would be used mainly for basic stuff and the iMac is a hell of a machine. So what do you think? I want some opinions

I pretty much have the first set and I would recommend it. The MBA is really light and it does what most people need on the go. The MBP is pretty heavy compared to the MBA and if your just gonna be doing notes it makes more sense to just get the air. I love my iMac, self explanatory with the 27' screen.

o.0 How do you guys keep your iMac? Do you guys live in dorms at the school or have your own apartments near the uni?

 

[gwsat]

You think so? REALLY?

I run ACAD and CS4 on a 13" MBA Ultimate with NO issues. ACAD runs under Parallels and XP Pro.

Get your facts straight next time please.

I agree. My 13 inch Ultimate MBA does everything my 17 inch Santa Rosa MBP with 6GB of RAM did.

In addition to needing to get his facts straight, the poster to whom you responded also needs to do a lot of work on his social skills.

 

[Insilin1i]

o.0 How do you guys keep your iMac? Do you guys live in dorms at the school or have your own apartments near the uni?

I live at home with my parents uni is 30 minutes away. Have my own office space.

 

[BornAgainMac]

I tried having the 17 inch MBP as my only Mac and prefer the iMac and MBA combo. But there is something about having a single Mac for "everything" that is appealing.

Edit: I currently have the iMac 27 i5 and a Ultimate MBA 13. Sold the 17 inch MBP.

 

[thisisarcadia]

Well I am moving in to a house in about a month and this combo would be bought after this so i would have plenty of space to for the iMac. As far as just getting an external monitor to hook up to the MBA i have a 46in samsung LED TV so I would just hook the MBA up to that. As far as just using the MBA as a primary computer I don't think it would be enough that is why I want to get an iMac and again I dont see how it would be hard to sync everything to both computers, I have mobile me so I could just use that to share files and with the new airdrop feature in Lion I think itll make things a lot easier when keeping computers in sync.

 

[entatlrg]

I tried having the 17 inch MBP as my only Mac and prefer the iMac and MBA combo. But there is something about having a single Mac for "everything" that is appealing.

Edit: I currently have the iMac 27 i5 and a Ultimate MBA 13. Sold the 17 inch MBP.

If I was going to have a single Mac I think I'd look at the 17" too. Never used a 17" for long but the thought of having a large mobile screen is appealing at times.

When I used a 15" MBP although the screen size was nice it took away from the mobile experience compared to how great the Air is for 'everywhere' use.

The Air on the other hand now has the same screen real estate as the (standard-res) 15" MBP and it's so small and light one never thinks twice of bringing it, grabbing for it, using it anywhere and enjoying it.

The 17" doesn't offer that great 'mobile experience'. Its is heavier and more cumbersome to pull from a bag, not the most comfortable on your lap compared to the Air, takes more space on a table ... it doesn't scream take me everywhere like the Air does.

Since the Air is so portable and fun to have by your side it's saved me a lot of time and increased my productivity. If I'm checking email from my phone or ipad and I see some emails need a long reply I'll grab for the Air and bang off a reply real quick instead of slow touchscreen typing ... even if I'm on the road or traveling long distance the Air is readily and easily available to grab and start working. If I used a 17 or 15" I'd probably plink away on my ipad keyboard instead ... same for around house use, taking to bed whatever.

The Air is the sweet spot, MUCH lighter than a 13, 15 or 17" MBP adequately powerful to do real work, and it's just as easy to grab as an iPad. The difference being when you're on the Air you can fly through ALL your work, the iPad limits you ...

Having a desktop back at the office for heavy lifting, nas, backup, storage, a 'real' large 24/27" screen completes the setup perfectly. Whereas if you're relying on the 17" MBP only and you're mobile with it then you've lost your home nas, storage, back up machine because your desktop is disconnected and in your bag, any downloads you where doing etc have to be paused ... it's just not a convenient ideal set up.

With Cloud Storage like Drop Box, Mobile etc out there now it's too easy, it's all automatic sync and for me it's been flawless. Dropbox allows 100gb of storage, (yes for a fee), ... access to 100gb is all I need when I'm mobile .. a little usb HD could be used for more data.

The MacBook Air fits my needs REALLY well, it's a heck of versatile notebook with all kinds of power. Add a desktop to that and you've got the best possible set up going, imo.

 

[iRez]

You think so? REALLY?

I run ACAD and CS4 on a 13" MBA Ultimate with NO issues. ACAD runs under Parallels and XP Pro.

Get your facts straight next time please.

Really? CS4? a 3year old application that is hardly ever considered processor intensive in all it's existence...THAT'S what's supposed to impress me? and a plugin for the app? hey pal, hate to break it to ya but a MB from 2006 could handle all of that "with NO issues" especially if you pop in an ssd.

macrumors has to begin testing users during registration or something.

 

[jhr3uva90]

Currently, I use an early 2009 iMac and a brand-new MacBook Air. I synchronize between the two using MobileMe. I can even access the iMac remotely using MobileMe. For me it is worth the $70 or so I pay when I buy MobileMe from Amazon.com.

If I had to own just one computer, I would get a 15 inch MacBook Pro and maybe get a cheap external monitor. The me, the 15 inch the sweet spot if you can only have one machine.

 

[jns2001]

How to have a single computer

MBA with 256 GB and 4 GB of RAM
Operating environment OSX and a small partition with windows 7
You can use parallels to avoid rebooting
ACD 27", Keyboard and Mouse
Time Capsule for backups
WD NAS with 1.5 TB of capacity for those times that you need more storage
If you want to have further protection, you can skip the Time capsule and use a service like Mozy for 5 bucks a month.

That's what I would have for home, but then the company that I work for gave me a MBP 13" from early 2010 and I don't need it.

 

[kukrisna]

I'm in a similar predicament. I've had about $2500 set aside for a new computer "setup" since the new year, but as I don't "need" one till May, I've been holding out on getting something.

As much as I would like an Air + either a Mini or an iMac, the new MBP is very tempting as well, and there are pros and cons every which way.

Also my living situation will change soon, as this is my last semester of undergrad. In terms of hard computer work, I do a lot with audio so I do need something more powerful to replace my slowly dying 2006 Core Duo MBP, which often chokes on my heavy projects.

The problem with having two computers range anywhere from sync issues (as others have mentioned), to not being able to really take my projects around (as I would just leave the Air for basic web & document tasks), to specific problems with the "desktop" computers themselves (i.e. worried about the black spots in the iMac, and the possibility of an underpowered Mac Mini refresh). That being said I would love the ease of portability of the Air, as I dislike carrying my current 15" MBP around.

But I must ask myself how often I will be carrying around the laptop once I'm done with school. I also already own a 21.6" external screen with a keyboard and mouse, and if I got an iMac, I would have some things to sell.

But of course the MBP solution has issues too! While it'd be great to have everything in one package and have it be the same weight that I'm used to (and thus the same situations that I'm already accustomed to, as much as I don't like the weight), I do worry about some of the issues that people have listed (I know, blown out of proportion on a forum).

In terms of the issues, at the end of the day, it's really about which ones would I rather deal with straight away (even though I would have the warranty and eventually get the AppleCare). That is another thing: if I got an iMac and it had a problem, it'd be a heck of a lot harder to lug it to the AppleStore (I don't know how to drive).

And as I do want to add an SSD, I have to look at which computer is the easiest to open up (whereas if I got the MBP, I'd just add the 128GB for $90).

But enough. Right now, all this thinking is just mental masturbation and I do need to eventually pick something and at least try it out. If I had to today, I would just go with the MBP, but the thing holding me back is the knowledge that I don't need need something till May, so I could either see as many bugs of the new MBP flushed out, or see if either a new iMac or Mac Mini is released in that time. However, if I did get the MBP now, I would be able to get used to the machine (I'm still on Tiger), and customize and prep everything for a rather large project I'm taking on in May. It would probably not be so ideal if I got a new computer and the project around the same time.

 

[grawk]

The macbook pro 13" is probably the best computer on the market for audio purposes. It has firewire, and thunderbolt, it's powerful, flexible, and portable. You can interface every current audio device to it, and when they start making thunderbolt devices, you won't be left in the cold. Given that you have $2500 set aside, I'd recommend the beefiest 13" mbp configuration you can put together, and then set aside the rest for the beefiest next gen mini you can get. And use the monitor you already have when you want a "desktop" setup.

 

[kukrisna]

The macbook pro 13" is probably the best computer on the market for audio purposes. It has firewire, and thunderbolt, it's powerful, flexible, and portable. You can interface every current audio device to it, and when they start making thunderbolt devices, you won't be left in the cold. Given that you have $2500 set aside, I'd recommend the beefiest 13" mbp configuration you can put together, and then set aside the rest for the beefiest next gen mini you can get. And use the monitor you already have when you want a "desktop" setup.

except i do want a quad core - im not doubting the ability of the dual core chips in the 13", but seeing as my sessions get large (sometimes 100+ before i consolidate) with lots of plugins (though no VIs), and my current setup chokes tremendously (even on a music session when i toss in a heavy iZotope plugin), i want as much power as i can

im really leaning to the 15" MBP at this point...i think it hits the best compromise