13" mbp vs 11/13 mba

[jlyanks85]

I seriously considering selling my ipad and getting a laptop as my 2nd computer (27" inch i7 imac is my main rig). Would be using it for school for note taking, put some music on it, web browsing and travel since I usually go away few a few weeks every summer.

So I was deciding between the 13" mbp or the air but don't know what would be the better buy. I'm leaning towards the air more, but the new thunderbolt port it making the decision harder. Also how much more powerful is the dual core chip in the mbp compared to the intel c2d in the airs?

 

[rkheyfets]

I dont think thunderbolt is that useful yet.. but it might be for you,
as for the i5 its defiantly a substantially more powerful chip than the cd2 however depending on your usage the cd2 should be more than enough and the mpa has the better graphics with the nvida 320 as opposed to the intel graphics in the mbp

I seriously considering selling my ipad and getting a laptop as my 2nd computer (27" inch i7 imac is my main rig). Would be using it for school for note taking, put some music on it, web browsing and travel since I usually go away few a few weeks every summer.

So I was deciding between the 13" mbp or the air but don't know what would be the better buy. I'm leaning towards the air more, but the new thunderbolt port it making the decision harder. Also how much more powerful is the dual core chip in the mbp compared to the intel c2d in the airs?

 

[topmounter]

Unless you're on a very strict budget, the 13" MBP continues to occupy this weird no-mans-land between the much more portable 13" MBA and the much more feature-full 15" MBP.

And yeah, it is really hard to get excited about Thunderbolt (not that it won't be a worthy replacement for Firewire)... especially since the lack of Firewire didn't stop me from buying my 13" MBA (I still use FW800 on my iMac though and I'm not excited about having to bin my FW drives if they don't include FW on my next iMac).

 

[jlyanks85]

I mainly want a laptop for portability (ipad is great for that, but not exactly great for note taking and other stuff in school) and casual web browsing and I'd be taking it with me when I go on vacation, since I do that a lot in the summer.

Like I mentioned in my original post I have a 27" imac, so I wouldn't need the power of the 15" or 17". So that's why it's coming down to either the 13" pro or the air.

I'm hearing a lot of bad things about the 13" pro though, on the mbp board. So it's looking more likely I'd get the air. The thunderbolt port though does make the mbp more "future proof" if you want to call it that compared to the airs, even though most companies don't even have anything to support thunderbolt yet.

 

[Buck987]

I mainly want a laptop for portability (ipad is great for that, but not exactly great for note taking and other stuff in school) and casual web browsing and I'd be taking it with me when I go on vacation, since I do that a lot in the summer.

Like I mentioned in my original post I have a 27" imac, so I wouldn't need the power of the 15" or 17". So that's why it's coming down to either the 13" pro or the air.

I'm hearing a lot of bad things about the 13" pro though, on the mbp board. So it's looking more likely I'd get the air. The thunderbolt port though does make the mbp more "future proof" if you want to call it that compared to the airs, even though most companies don't even have anything to support thunderbolt yet.

I agree with some of the comments above. You probable dont need more the the C2D. I would check out refurbed airs or the base model 2010 13" for about $929

good luck

 

[KohPhiPhi]

I mainly want a laptop for portability (ipad is great for that, but not exactly great for note taking and other stuff in school) and casual web browsing and I'd be taking it with me when I go on vacation, since I do that a lot in the summer.

For that use, the MBA 11" is plenty powerful and it's just as portable as the iPad. No need to push it up to the MBA 13" for school use.

 

[J&JPolangin]

...yea, base 11" MBA would be fine for a portable machine with your iMac at home...

 

[Tyrion]

Honestly, the 13" MBP continues to be kind of a rip-off. Apple doesn't seem to be taking it seriously, and they are always crippling it in some crucial areas so that you'll feel compelled to buy the 15" MBP if you want a consistent, well-conceived configuration. Case in point: the terrible GPU in the new 13", the terrible and non-upgradeable resolution, and the terrible and slow 5'400RPM-HDD. Don't even get me started on the obsolete Superdrive. The only things it has going for it are the i5 and Thunderbolt. But honestly, I'd get an 11" or 13" MBA over the MBP anytime. It's especially baffling to me that the MBP has a screen that's vastly inferior to the 13" MBA's display... IMHO, the MBP is really only worth it if you're looking at 15" and beyond. The 13" is a joke as a "pro"-machine; it would be adequate as a $999 Macbook.

 

[fibrizo]

Also how much more powerful is the dual core chip in the mbp compared to the intel c2d in the airs?

Just to compare, it's hard to find alot of benchmarks yet. These are sissoft CPU scores from the i5 in new mbp and the core 2 su9400

Base 13 mbp i5-2410 = 34.535 GOPS
Base 13 mba Core 2 SL9400 = 14.638 GOPS
Base 11.6 mba Core 2 SU9400 = 11.367 GOPS

 

[KohPhiPhi]

Just to compare, it's hard to find alot of benchmarks yet. These are sissoft CPU scores from the i5 in new mbp and the core 2 su9400

Base 13 mbp i5-2410 = 34.535 GOPS
Base 13 mba Core 2 SL9400 = 14.638 GOPS
Base 11.6 mba Core 2 SU9400 = 11.367 GOPS

For most users that's irrelevant, since the bottleneck is almost never the processor but the GPU or the 5400 rpm hard drive. You will suffer from more hiccups coming from the GPU or HD than from those coming from the processor.

 

[Buck987]

For most users that's irrelevant, since the bottleneck is almost never the processor but the GPU or the 5400 rpm hard drive. You will suffer from more hiccups coming from the GPU or HD than from those coming from the processor.

I have the 4gb 11" mab and it seems very zippy to me for all the business apps i use with it

 

[sgtalexmom]

i was going to wait for the MBP's but i am so glad i got my 13" mba!