Air vs Pro Questions

[Young Spade]

I'm in exactly the same boat. I'm seriously considering upgrading from my 2007 MacBook, but would have a decrease in disk space as a result. Everything the Air does meets my demands but for the space. To tether an external drive would go against the idea of an ultraportable machine for me.

Do you have to have all of those songs with you at one time? I understand what you're saying but I guess... hmm.... you don't have a MP3 player or an iPod or something? that would allow you to load the library off of the external drive, put what you want to listen on that, then hear your music while also being able to save space.

I think that if you're set on the machine, you can manage with the storage; heck get a small, usb powered external HDD and keep it in your pants pocket or right next to the machine, they aren't larger than your standard wallet now anyway. 320gb ones are around 50 bucks.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

So after seeing the 11¨ in person and how tiny it really is, I can't imagine using it as a primary computer. Now I am thinking the MBA 13¨might be better for me. The only thing that gives me pause is the lack of optical drive, but I suppose I can buy an external one.

Just to throw a spanner in the works, here's my two-penny's-worth ... If you want this machine to last 5 years, and you do want an Air you might be better off paying the extra and getting the next model, or buying a current MBP (but refurbished).

I say this because the new AIR (or so we all seem to think) and the current MBP have Sandy Bridge chips. These are a significant jump forward in processing power. Whilst the usage you describe is far far far from high-end, all computer software is written for current levels of technology. In 4 years time all of the software and the operating system (OS X Snow Tibbles?) will be based on the latest chipset, and your MBA may struggle.

But that could just be my old PC experience. My 2008 Aluminium MacBook is holding up fine.

 

[sjrogers]

Don't forget that iCloud will be launching in full soon. You will have access to your music from most anywhere you are.

Or just follow the guide clayj posted about remote accessing a hard drive connected to your router. It's the sticky on the top of this forum, and it'll save you the $25/month that iTunes Match wants. I'm in the same boat as you library-size-wise and I'm probably going to do that and get a smaller hard drive in my MBA

 

[IJBrekke]

Or just follow the guide clayj posted about remote accessing a hard drive connected to your router. It's the sticky on the top of this forum, and it'll save you the $25/month that iTunes Match wants. I'm in the same boat as you library-size-wise and I'm probably going to do that and get a smaller hard drive in my MBA

That's $25/year, not per month.