Letting go of my beloved MBA for one reason only...

[PsyD4Me]

Hope you're feeling better. Don't give up on the MBA. [/B]

i just spent 4 hours on it flipping back between running SPSS, word and power-point preparing a presentation, and there have been many times where I just picked it up with just a few fingers in order to transfer it to the kitchen or the living room. Portability at its best.
I'm going to wait some more....

 

[tangje]

I am not sure if Apple is using the same battery tech as uses in other Mac notebooks. I know it was the first to go non-removable. It was January 2009 when Apple introduced the new battery technology in the 17" MBPs. Apple never mentioned any changes to the MBA's battery. Apple doesn't advertise the MBA as having a 1000 cycle battery as it does with the other Mac notebooks. Nor did Apple ever advertise it as using the layered cells to decrease wasted space from cylinder shaped cells before it like it did when it introduced the technology. It mentioned that when it upgraded the MBPs and even the MB battery. I wonder if Apple can change the battery slightly to make it fit a little better using the new technology that don't waste space between the battery's cells. It could make the battery slightly denser but wouldn't add any substantial weight or demand more space.

That's what I was getting at. The MBA does say that it has a lithium-polymer battery (vs lithium-ion) which is the same tech as the MBPs. However, as you mentioned there are other reasons why it's not clear whether the MBA has the same 'advanced' battery as the MBP. I don't know whether the MBA has the flat cells or the cylindrical ones in the battery. Considering how much space is lost with the cylinders they could really boost the capacity of the MBA battery by using the flat cells (if they aren't already) with a nominal weight gain.

 

[6826835]

The one thing that I don't understand about Apple is why they are yet to have the strongest influence in the computer market. We all know the influence they have in the music and mobile phone markets (with the iPod & iPhone) I feel that this could also be easily be achieved with their computer range.

While I don't know specifics, I'm sure they have the technology to provide customers with certain features that would significantly improve their products and make them stand out even more in a market that is dominated more by features rather than design. They have already dominated one area, why not go for broke?

 

[halledise]

I love my Air.
it still (and always will) float my boat.
til death do us part

 

[rydrJ]

Where did you guys end up selling your macbook airs? I know there's a lot of fraud out there, so just wanted to figure out other people's experiences first. Thanks!

 

[bowlerman625]

I sold my Rev A on eBay. Things went just fine for me.

 

[thinkdesign]

tangje: MAybe that's how 37 watt battery...

... became a 40 watt battery in Rev. C. Switching from cylindrical battery cells to a flat arrangement. That could account for a small % of gain, like that? Same materials, just filling-in the wasted space?

Surely someone can tell us if the Air's battery type has caught up to the Macbook Pros or not?

Just a thought: Assuming the Air's battery hasn't caught up... that would be one more thing they may be "saving up" for the next edition.

If so, that's another straw on my decision scales, landing on the side favoring "Wait to buy." Sigh.

 

[Spacekatgal]

Honestly, at this point in my life I don't do much pure web surfing. Instead I am forced to multitask between writing my dissertation, analyzing data updating and grading my student's assignments, checking up on ESPN, macrumors, and listening to Soma.FM.

These are my thoughts.

I got the 13 inch MBP for grad school. There is no perfect ultraportable right now, so there are tradeoffs either way.

The best part is the battery life. My gods, with ClicktoFlash and my Intel X-25 SSD in there I can easily get 8-9 hours. If you watch Flash videos it plummets, and if you're writing it skyrockets. But it's so great to have a laptop that lasts all day on campus.

Secondly, it's a machine you can do actual work on. It's more powerful, all the way around. It can't do my PS work with 1 gig files and 50 layers, but it's pretty good. You can do basic IL work, but not final exports. Maya is a complete no-go, though. I've definitely used in instead of my MBP i7 many times now on deadlines. When I put 8 gigs in it, I'll have even more power.

The screen is also much better and you have more ports.

The bad is the size. The bad is the weight. These are known, and don't bear repeating.

Honestly, I don't love it like I did my MBA - but it was a great choice for my needs.

Bri

 

[Monolythix]

These are my thoughts.

I got the 13 inch MBP for grad school. There is no perfect ultraportable right now, so there are tradeoffs either way.

The best part is the battery life. My gods, with ClicktoFlash and my Intel X-25 SSD in there I can easily get 8-9 hours. If you watch Flash videos it plummets, and if you're writing it skyrockets. But it's so great to have a laptop that lasts all day on campus.

Secondly, it's a machine you can do actual work on. It's more powerful, all the way around. It can't do my PS work with 1 gig files and 50 layers, but it's pretty good. You can do basic IL work, but not final exports. Maya is a complete no-go, though. I've definitely used in instead of my MBP i7 many times now on deadlines. When I put 8 gigs in it, I'll have even more power.

The screen is also much better and you have more ports.

The bad is the size. The bad is the weight. These are known, and don't bear repeating.

Honestly, I don't love it like I did my MBA - but it was a great choice for my needs.

Bri

I think you hit the nail on the head here. The MBA is perfect for information consuming - browsing, checking mail, listening to music and watching (and perhaps every now and then editing) photo's. And of course writing, which actualy is content creation.

The MBP is perfect for content creators - Adobe CS, 3D, programming, virtualization etc. Those are people who also will prefer the longer battery lie over the weight and size.

I think this will make the decison for some poeple more easy; if you fit in one of the groups above, choose the models that goes with it

 

[Spacekatgal]

I think you hit the nail on the head here. The MBA is perfect for information consuming - browsing, checking mail, listening to music and watching (and perhaps every now and then editing) photo's. And of course writing, which actualy is content creation.

The MBP is perfect for content creators - Adobe CS, 3D, programming, virtualization etc. Those are people who also will prefer the longer battery lie over the weight and size.

I think this will make the decison for some poeple more easy; if you fit in one of the groups above, choose the models that goes with it

Yeah - for all of the posturing and disdain by some about the iPad being for consumption and the MBA being a work tool, I call BS. It is a worktool*, if your job could also be done on a Pentium computer from 1995.

Bri

 

[Scottsdale]

I think you hit the nail on the head here. The MBA is perfect for information consuming - browsing, checking mail, listening to music and watching (and perhaps every now and then editing) photo's. And of course writing, which actualy is content creation.

The MBP is perfect for content creators - Adobe CS, 3D, programming, virtualization etc. Those are people who also will prefer the longer battery lie over the weight and size.

I think this will make the decison for some poeple more easy; if you fit in one of the groups above, choose the models that goes with it

The MBA is plenty wonderful for creation. Some people don't give it credit, but it's plenty capable. Sure it may not be as fast, but it's 1.5 lb. lighter weight, a lot thinner, and AMAZINGLY more fun and incredible than the stuffy big brother 13" MBP. If the 13" MBP had a Core i7 and real GPU, MAYBE... but that's just not the case. Here we have slightly better performance from the 13" MBP for INTENSIVE tasks. For "consumption" tasks, the MBA with the SSD standard will blow away the 13" MBP with its 5400 rpm HDD for $1499.

 

[Spacekatgal]

Scottsdale, unless you only use PS with its most superficial functions, the MBA is just not powerful enough to run it - end of story. In fact, I would argue that you don't need an $900 image editor if you're using it on an MBA - you can save money on a competitor, and spend it on an SSD.

The serious functions of PS - the 3D capabilities of the Extended version, the content aware features, working with smart objects across several programs - you simply cannot do this. You're not being realistic.

It's not even powerful enough to run Illustrator, which is much less CPU intensive. It's an issue of RAM, primarily - but the slow Read/write speed makes you wait with each and every action.

Believe me when I say I've tried it.