I would go for the MBA at that price. The air will give you a great combination of portability and reasonable computing power and the SDD should make it feel pretty fast. If you decide you have made the wrong decision, you could probably sell the MBA for £1000 without too much trouble if its in good condition. This would leave you with a nice profit after you bought your ipad.
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iPad Vs Macbook Air
- Thread starter wrkactjob
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I'm actually about to sell my iPad to fund an air!
The iPad is a pain in the arse! Constant safari reloads and a pony keyboard (my opinion)
Although I'm selling iPad now I'm waiting for an update as it's long overdue!!!!!
That said if I was offered one for almost half the price I'd rip their arm off
The iPad is a pain in the arse! Constant safari reloads and a pony keyboard (my opinion)
Although I'm selling iPad now I'm waiting for an update as it's long overdue!!!!!
That said if I was offered one for almost half the price I'd rip their arm off
Although the offering iPhone and iTouch iPhone to take advantage of the use of a memory much more active than the iTouch does not. This means that the applications the chances of a slower reaction time the iPhone . Since the iPhone is to take advantage of the free memory is a phone it will use less memory applications. While the iPhone respond well to pressure can be frozen more often than the iTouch looks like the second one does not need to use the memory with the mobile phone network.
I've got both, it's awesome to have the freedom to choose. The MBA is awesome as a full computer for those times you need to type a lot, or view the internet in it's full glory. The ipad is also a great tool for those times I don't have the room to unfold the MBA, or when I need instant on and all day battery life.
If it were me I'd get the MBA first for sure. The ipad is something good to have for those times you need something quick and dirty, but it's not meant to be a laptop replacement.
If it were me I'd get the MBA first for sure. The ipad is something good to have for those times you need something quick and dirty, but it's not meant to be a laptop replacement.
If you're looking for a COMPUTER that's light and easy to carry around. Get the Air. I own one and love it. Should it be your only Mac? No. It's not as good as a MBP but it actually works as a computer where the iPad kinda sorta can if you really work at it.
Both machines are great at what they do and are intended for. The real question is not either or, but what do YOU want to do with a mobile device?
The MBA is an ultraportable laptop that gives you the full OSX to have a very light and mobile computer you can take anywhere. This gives you the freedom to view (as mentioned) sites with flash simply not possible on the iPad. The ease of having a full keyboard, trackpad makes creating documents, or say editing photo, movies etc.. handy. Having owned a Rev B 1.86/SSD model and the Rev C, I enjoy using the MBA while on the road traveling simply due to the fact it is so damn light. The things I don't like *and reason I sold both* was the build quality of the hinge, the heat issues that will happen if you watch any video at all, from Hulu, Netflix or stored movies you take with you. Yes their are some software mods such as coolbook and such you can mess with, but I didn't buy it with the notion I wanted to have to jack with setting to get it to not overheat and stutter when playing video.
The flip side is the iPad, which I currently use on a daily basis and for 90% of my work and personal needs does just fine. It is a great device to "consume" media. If your looking for an entertainment device that after using your iPhone will be easy to use and seem very familiar the iPad is a great device. It's not the end all be all replacement people want to say it is. If you understand it's limitations and understand what exactly your wanting in a portable machine both can be very handy to own.
As Apple just announced their "Back to the Mac" announcement coming Oct 20th it could be an interesting time if they update the MBA. Which imo is why the likes of Craigslist, Ebay etc... has so many MBA's popping up for sale. I don't discount that is a good price and it can be very handy for a mobile computer. Just figure out what you want to use it for and I think you would be happy with either machine.
The MBA is an ultraportable laptop that gives you the full OSX to have a very light and mobile computer you can take anywhere. This gives you the freedom to view (as mentioned) sites with flash simply not possible on the iPad. The ease of having a full keyboard, trackpad makes creating documents, or say editing photo, movies etc.. handy. Having owned a Rev B 1.86/SSD model and the Rev C, I enjoy using the MBA while on the road traveling simply due to the fact it is so damn light. The things I don't like *and reason I sold both* was the build quality of the hinge, the heat issues that will happen if you watch any video at all, from Hulu, Netflix or stored movies you take with you. Yes their are some software mods such as coolbook and such you can mess with, but I didn't buy it with the notion I wanted to have to jack with setting to get it to not overheat and stutter when playing video.
The flip side is the iPad, which I currently use on a daily basis and for 90% of my work and personal needs does just fine. It is a great device to "consume" media. If your looking for an entertainment device that after using your iPhone will be easy to use and seem very familiar the iPad is a great device. It's not the end all be all replacement people want to say it is. If you understand it's limitations and understand what exactly your wanting in a portable machine both can be very handy to own.
As Apple just announced their "Back to the Mac" announcement coming Oct 20th it could be an interesting time if they update the MBA. Which imo is why the likes of Craigslist, Ebay etc... has so many MBA's popping up for sale. I don't discount that is a good price and it can be very handy for a mobile computer. Just figure out what you want to use it for and I think you would be happy with either machine.
MBA would be my choice. It's my favourite Mac, so light, beautiful and with SSD it flies along. I love my iPad too, it has its place for light consumption but when you need OSX the MBA just feels like a dream to use - it might be old spec but still in a class of its own.
Simple Question
I have a MB Air, the very first spec, and it is great for everything, including iPhone App creation, I could not do that on an iPad.
So, in the iPad vs MB Air debate there is a simple question to ask yourself.
Are you a producer or consumer of content?
If you are a consumer, then the iPad is a great tool.
However, it you need to produce content, whether that is documents, pictures, web pages, App etc then the iPad will quickly show it's limitation.
While there are production options for iPad, iWork Apps and OmniGraffle etc, they are really only supplements to your main machine (almost for emergency use only).
If all you need is the occasional letter etc then iPad will be fine.
I have a MB Air, the very first spec, and it is great for everything, including iPhone App creation, I could not do that on an iPad.
So, in the iPad vs MB Air debate there is a simple question to ask yourself.
Are you a producer or consumer of content?
If you are a consumer, then the iPad is a great tool.
However, it you need to produce content, whether that is documents, pictures, web pages, App etc then the iPad will quickly show it's limitation.
While there are production options for iPad, iWork Apps and OmniGraffle etc, they are really only supplements to your main machine (almost for emergency use only).
If all you need is the occasional letter etc then iPad will be fine.
+1 with bossxii
it really comes down to what you need. Do you need everything Mac OS X provides or do you just need something even lighter that will allow you to watch movies, surf and answer emails.
I had the macbook air 2.13 SSD 128 Go and it was the ideal computer for someone who travels a lot (like me). Loved it !
I still think it is one of the best notebook I ever had (yes Flash and Skype can sometimes be an issue 
).
BUT
I sold it and bought the iPad as I already have an iMac at home. Over time I would only use the Air to watch movies, surf and answer emails >> hey ! that's what the iPad does best !
Now when I travel, I use the iPad (turns on and off in seconds - ideal in an airplane) and despite the lack of webcam, the Skype app for iphone works perfectly.
Needless to say I'll buy V.2 as soon as it comes out...
it really comes down to what you need. Do you need everything Mac OS X provides or do you just need something even lighter that will allow you to watch movies, surf and answer emails.
I had the macbook air 2.13 SSD 128 Go and it was the ideal computer for someone who travels a lot (like me). Loved it !
I still think it is one of the best notebook I ever had (yes Flash and Skype can sometimes be an issue ).BUT
I sold it and bought the iPad as I already have an iMac at home. Over time I would only use the Air to watch movies, surf and answer emails >> hey ! that's what the iPad does best !
Now when I travel, I use the iPad (turns on and off in seconds - ideal in an airplane) and despite the lack of webcam, the Skype app for iphone works perfectly.
Needless to say I'll buy V.2 as soon as it comes out...
Oh! This old thread, ok so in the end I got the pad and 2 months in love it!
Got a big 'ol 17" Dell laptop to store all my media on and just put on the pad what I need.
On a train commute to work each day I enjoy Curb Your Enthuisiasm on the pad with some tasty blutooth headphones and at 'work' the pad provides inconspicuous Internet usage that isn't monitored by the banks network.
I understand and explain to colleagues that the pad sits between laptop and phone and doesn't replace a laptop.
When the wife took it on her holidays I missed it.
I think tablets have a strong future.
Got a big 'ol 17" Dell laptop to store all my media on and just put on the pad what I need.
On a train commute to work each day I enjoy Curb Your Enthuisiasm on the pad with some tasty blutooth headphones and at 'work' the pad provides inconspicuous Internet usage that isn't monitored by the banks network.
I understand and explain to colleagues that the pad sits between laptop and phone and doesn't replace a laptop.
When the wife took it on her holidays I missed it.
I think tablets have a strong future.
I have a first gen Air and an iPad
If you want a device to read on, play games, watch videos etc... get an iPad. If you need to use real software get the Air.
I have mainly been using the iPad for PDF reading, recreational use and for basic photo editing. I was able to export 35,000 photos from Lightroom down to an iPad friendly resolution and take fit them all on my 16gb iPad. It fits in my camera bag (Lowepro Slingshot 200) along with a camera, lenses etc.
The Air is too big to fit... and I have no plans on carrying a bigger bag. While some of the iPad software is decent (Photogene is my favorite), a cheap copy of Photoshop Elements on the Air will blow away anything the iPad can do.
So what do you want... a real laptop, or an ultraportable but less functional tablet?
If you want a device to read on, play games, watch videos etc... get an iPad. If you need to use real software get the Air.
I have mainly been using the iPad for PDF reading, recreational use and for basic photo editing. I was able to export 35,000 photos from Lightroom down to an iPad friendly resolution and take fit them all on my 16gb iPad. It fits in my camera bag (Lowepro Slingshot 200) along with a camera, lenses etc.
The Air is too big to fit... and I have no plans on carrying a bigger bag. While some of the iPad software is decent (Photogene is my favorite), a cheap copy of Photoshop Elements on the Air will blow away anything the iPad can do.
So what do you want... a real laptop, or an ultraportable but less functional tablet?
That depends on which one you have.
The first gen (either the 80GB or 64GB SSD drive) sucked. The ones after that were/are great.
