First Impressions: Looks like the iPad 3G beats the MBA

[PsyD4Me]

I love my MBA dearly. I've had both a revision A and a revision C. And I held onto it after ordering my iPad 3G. But I have to say, I think the iPad is a better device.

The iPad's keyboard is much better to use for serious typing than I thought. And the truth is, the 3G modem is just awesome. I'm going to keep it for a while longer, and see how I feel in a month about my iPad - but if I could only have one, it would be the iPad.

Things in the MBAs favor.

1. You can run Xcode on it.
2. Peggle Nights doesn't exist for iPad.
3. The Wifi Reception is much better
4. With the Runcore upgrade, it would be a much faster machine.
5. If I can eventually jailbreak this and get MyWi to work on it, I'll have the best of both worlds.

Bri

ill post a lengthy review later, but I disagree with your post....iPad is for entertainment and not work. Like for example, if i want to send a file to my iPad like a Keynote, i got to email it, i can't save it from my iDisk to the Ipad, i can only view it and the Idisk is not iPad specific yet so I have to view it in that tiny screen. I have to do this to every file created on my MBA or MacPro
Time consuming, but typing emails on it with the case is a pleasure....

 

[gwsat]

First of all, can we lower both the fanboyism and hostility here? I love my MBA, I'm trying to talk about the difference in the two devices.

It's not great to type on, but it's not bad either. Secondly, I totally agree it's a consumer device. It's more fun than work, and there are tradeoffs. If I had my way, I'd rather have an MBA with a 3G modem built in. Thirdly, a MBA is not powerful enough for most of my professional work. I just had to upgrade to an i7 MBP for that.

Going to wait for the newness to wear off before making a decision. But this is a great device. I would not be surprised at all if Apple killed the MBA. It would make me sad, but the devices occupy similar spaces from most people.

Of course the iPad and the MBA do, indeed, "occupy similar spaces," so I can't understand the hostility of the MBA fanboys, either. I love the MBA and agree that it is exponentially more capable that any iPad. The MBA's big problem, as you observed, is that serious, professional applications require far more horsepower than the current MBA can bring to bear. Although it makes sense to compare and contrast the iPad with the MBA in the MBA Forum, I must observe that the title you gave the thread was a bit hyperbolic, to me at least. What was it you said about "fanboyism?"

Finally, I profoundly disagree with the suggestion that the iPad could convince Apple to kill the MBA. The iPad has far too many weaknesses for that. An MBA is a real computer, capable of doing all but the most demanding jobs. In stark contrast, the iPad is decent for quick walking around Web browsing, watching some limited varieties of videos, and reading some, also limited, digitized books, most of which you have to buy. That's good, but it doesn't make the iPad an MBA or anything close to it.

 

[Spacekatgal]

?"Finally, I profoundly disagree with the suggestion that the iPad could convince Apple to kill the MBA. The iPad has far to many weaknesses for that. An MBA is a real computer, capable of doing all but the most demanding jobs. In stark contrast, the iPad is decent for quick walking around Web browsing, watching some limited varieties of videos, and reading some, also limited, digitized books, most of which you have to buy. That's good, but it doesn't make the iPad an MBA or anything close to it.

Well, it seems to me that when SJ came back to Apple one of the first things he did was simply their line of machines. If the sales were good, I think it wouldn't be an issue - but they aren't.

I don't know what industries you guys are in to do "real" work on an MBA, but I use mine for surfing, email, FBing and playing a ton of Peggle Nights with against my husband. Because I travel for work frequently, it's nice having a highly mobile machine. It's great for anything that requires multitasking, too. I use my MBP when I need to do something work related.

Both machines have advantages and drawbacks. But, if I could only have one it would certainly be the iPad with 3G.

Bri

 

[millar876]

I just don't understand this statement. "Awesome"? How so? The way it connects to a cellular network and charges you $30 a month to provide data transfer at slower speed than wifi? Oooohhhh.... C'mon, get a grip, not exactly a killer feature/USP is it now?.

maybe thats true for you, But, over here in the UK, out in the sticks, I can get 3.6Mbps 3G from "02" & "orange", two of the providers that selll the iphone over here, and although I have a 802.11n wifi network in the house its only as fast as the broadband line its connected to which is 0.5Mbps (512Kbps) so I for one look forward to getting my mits on a 3g ipad, I had been thinking about getting an air to replace my 12" powerbook G4 but due to the sise of 3G modems I'd need to run mine off of an extention USB lead. now ideal with a 2 year old in the house who likes picking up things from the sofa and running clear across the room with them

 

[gwsat]

Well, it seems to me that when SJ came back to Apple one of the first things he did was simply their line of machines. If the sales were good, I think it wouldn't be an issue - but they aren't.

I don't know what industries you guys are in to do "real" work on an MBA, but I use mine for surfing, email, FBing and playing a ton of Peggle Nights with against my husband. Because I travel for work frequently, it's nice having a highly mobile machine. It's great for anything that requires multitasking, too. I use my MBP when I need to do something work related.

Both machines have advantages and drawbacks. But, if I could only have one it would certainly be the iPad with 3G.

There is no gainsaying the advantages resulting from the iPad's remarkably small size, light weight, and wonderful display. They place the iPad in a class by itself where portability and ease of use are concerned. The down side, though, is that, among other weaknesses, it has no file transfer or printing capability without the use of various kludges. Maybe that will improve but for now it's pretty bad, or at least it seems so to me. I suggest that this is the reason you, too, use your MBP to do real work. For example, you have to use it if you want to print.

I don't know what the future holds for the iPad's 3G capability but at the moment it seems like a gimmick to me. AT&T's network is primarily for telephone calls. Its data support is severely limited. In the US, at least, high speed internet is far faster. For those without an Internet connection or one that is unsatisfactory, though, 3G could be a godsend.

All of that said, I agree that the iPad is pretty neat. I find myself using mine exclusively when I am moving around or want to punch out some data from the Web quickly. Also, these are very early days in the life of the iPad. We are going to have to wait see what version 4.0 of the iPhone OS holds and what other apps become available to make the iPad better. Inevitably, though, improvements will come. Will the iPad kill the MBA? As noted in earlier posts, I think that it won't happen but one certainly can never know for certain, especially about what the super secretive Apple bunch may be up to.

Despite my generally high regard for the iPad, if the MBA is updated sufficiently to handle my needs, I'll be first in line to buy one of them, my iPad notwithstanding.