MBA 13, 11 or MBP 13? tough decision!

[foiden]

For me, and one big reason for keeping my 13" MBP is future drive technology. (And yes, it can have 8GB of ram, too).

SSDs are still in their infancy. They're only going to get better. And you're definitely going to continue to see them usable in 2.5" drive connections. The nice thing about having the machine with a removable standard laptop drive is that you can keep upgrading to better drives. SSDs will gain size, lose cost, gain longer life cycles, etc. Just as Hard Drives did. I expect the cycle to repeat with SSDs. As they do that, my MBP will be right there with it.

 

[miata]

Arguably, so would the 13" MacBook Pro. It's hard to argue that the Core 2 Duo has the staying power to last another 4 years in a primary notebook. It's already a 4 year-old design. Apple has squeezed about as much power as it possibly can out of it in the current MacBook Air and 13" Pro by hooking it up to an advanced integrated graphics adapter in the GeForce 320m and the faster SSD. The next updates will have to incorporate the Core i-series to improve.

I just don't see CPUs improving over time like they used to. It seems like more of the industry focus is around power savings and stuff like that. On the other hand, data is growing like crazy so being able to expand internal storage and add external FW800 drives is future proofing. Newer OS and application versions usually need or want increasing amounts of RAM so being able to upgrade is a real plus.

 

[millerb7]

Thank you! Haha, well a MBA 13" ultimate sounds awesome to me! If I had the money I'd probably get that tbf. I've found an SSD that has read speeds over 300 MB/S. Im guessing that's fast? Also, you say that a MBP with an SSD would be faster, yet I've heard reviews that say the MBA is faster booting etc. than a MBP with fast SSD. Am i wrong? Do you think I could expect boot speeds of around 10-20 secs in a MBP with this SSD?

Thanks

To be honest I'm not 100% sure about the boot speeds on a MBP...I haven't stuck my SSD into it yet because if I sell I'm selling without the SSD. I would HAVE to assume it would be around 20 maybe 30 sec. though.

The big debate with SSD's now is what controller to have on them, due to OSX's lack of TRIM support. Some say go sandforce all the way, other's say there is another which is better and more specific to non-trim OS's (toshiba I think).

I purchased an OWC and have heard good things about them and OCZ. The rest of the brands seemed more of a toss-up if they were good or not.

 

[KPOM]

I just don't see CPUs improving over time like they used to. It seems like more of the industry focus is around power savings and stuff like that. On the other hand, data is growing like crazy so being able to expand internal storage and add external FW800 drives is future proofing. Newer OS and application versions usually need or want increasing amounts of RAM so being able to upgrade is a real plus.

But my point is that Intel already had made significant improvements in newer processors that are available today. The Core i3, i5 and i7 support hyperthreading. That essentially makes a dual-core processor act like a quad-core processor, which has significant potential to improve multitasking performance. They also eliminated the front side bus and made other smaller performance improvements.

For external drives, USB 3.0 or eSATA would be better than FW800. Even FW800 is only about half the theoretical throughput of modern SSDs. While Light Peak will provide even better performance, it isn't out yet.

 

[james4cet]

To be honest I'm not 100% sure about the boot speeds on a MBP...I haven't stuck my SSD into it yet because if I sell I'm selling without the SSD. I would HAVE to assume it would be around 20 maybe 30 sec. though.

The big debate with SSD's now is what controller to have on them, due to OSX's lack of TRIM support. Some say go sandforce all the way, other's say there is another which is better and more specific to non-trim OS's (toshiba I think).

I purchased an OWC and have heard good things about them and OCZ. The rest of the brands seemed more of a toss-up if they were good or not.

Think I may change my mind and go for a MBA. Unless there's any chance if I went to an Apple store, they could install the SSD drive for me?

 

[KPOM]

Think I may change my mind and go for a MBA. Unless there's any chance if I went to an Apple store, they could install the SSD drive for me?

An Apple store likely won't, but an authorized Apple tech likely will install an SSD for you. What you'd want to do first is clone the old hard drive onto the SSD, and then swap them out. I'd save the old hard drive and use it as a backup drive. Otherwise, be sure to completely wipe the data from the old drive with the right utility (a simple format or delete can be undone).

 

[james4cet]

An Apple store likely won't, but an authorized Apple tech likely will install an SSD for you. What you'd want to do first is clone the old hard drive onto the SSD, and then swap them out. I'd save the old hard drive and use it as a backup drive. Otherwise, be sure to completely wipe the data from the old drive with the right utility (a simple format or delete can be undone).

So is there an easy way to clone the data to an ssd?

 

[KPOM]

So is there an easy way to clone the data to an ssd?

I use Carbon Copy Cloner. There are other good utilities, too.

 

[millerb7]

Carbon copy cloner to clone the drive. Use disk utility to zero the drive. I'd recommend a 7-pass zero. Will take overnight to complete.

 

[millerb7]

Also, check on this, but I'd assume installing a SSD would void the warranty. I'm not 100% though.

 

[foiden]

Not sure about this on a MacBook Pro. SSD would seem to be just another form of harddrive replacement. The MacBook pro was made so you can user-replace the harddrive. It's even documented in the instructions for the thing.

 

[Neolithium]

Also, check on this, but I'd assume installing a SSD would void the warranty. I'm not 100% though.

Nope, owners can replace their HDD's and RAM to their hearts content. As long as you don't try doing it while driving through a car wash in a convertible with the top down, should remain covered.

 

[millerb7]

Nope, owners can replace their HDD's and RAM to their hearts content. As long as you don't try doing it while driving through a car wash in a convertible with the top down, should remain covered.

Goodto know. Now my debate between MBP and MBA just got harder haha.

15" base MBP (put in my 120GB OWC SSD) or 13" ultimate air (small is sexy).

 

[miata]

But my point is that Intel already had made significant improvements in newer processors that are available today. The Core i3, i5 and i7 support hyperthreading. That essentially makes a dual-core processor act like a quad-core processor, which has significant potential to improve multitasking performance. They also eliminated the front side bus and made other smaller performance improvements.

For external drives, USB 3.0 or eSATA would be better than FW800. Even FW800 is only about half the theoretical throughput of modern SSDs. While Light Peak will provide even better performance, it isn't out yet.

True. Things like games or video encoding will be quite a bit faster with hyperthreading and the better GPU, so if those are important then waiting makes sense.

I guess my point is that if you have to pick a system today, the MBPs provide MORE future-proofing than the MBAs due to their expansion capabilities. The CPU and GPUs are in the same ball-park for the MBP 13 and MBA 13.

 

[gwsat]

Goodto know. Now my debate between MBP and MBA just got harder haha.

15" base MBP (put in my 120GB OWC SSD) or 13" ultimate air (small is sexy).

I agonized over whether to buy an MBA or an entry level 13 inch MBP but upgrade its RAM to 8GB and replace its stock hard drive with a 256GB SSD. Obviously, a 13 inch MBP tricked out as I had envisioned it would have been more powerful than an MBA but it would also have been 50 percent heavier and cost even more than a 13 inch Ultimate MBA. I decided to spring for the 13 inch Ultimate MBA. I have been using it heavily for the past 6 weeks and could not be happier. Of course, if you got a 15 inch i5 or i7 MBP, the differences between it and the MBA, both good and bad, would be even more dramatic than the differences between the 13 inch MBP and the MBA would be.

 

[millerb7]

I agonized over whether to buy an MBA or an entry level 13 inch MBP but upgrade its RAM to 8GB and replace its stock hard drive with a 256GB SSD. Obviously, a 13 inch MBP tricked out as I had envisioned it would have been more powerful than an MBA but it would also have been 50 percent heavier and cost even more than a 13 inch Ultimate MBA. I decided to spring for the 13 inch Ultimate MBA. I have been using it heavily for the past 6 weeks and could not be happier. Of course, if you got a 15 inch i5 or i7 MBP, the differences between it and the MBA, both good and bad, would be even more dramatic than the differences between the 13 inch MBP and the MBA would be.

I'm glad to hear your pleased with it so far. I'm at such a toss up on what to do it's driving me crazy. My MBP is selling as I type this on ebay for good money.... so I'll have some extra cash to play with. It's a 15" MBP 2.2 GHZ non-unibody.

I want to get a 13" this time around... the 15" was just a tad big for my liking, and 11" is to small. I just find it hard to buy a 13" C2D MBP when I could just wait a tad or spend a small amount more and get the i-processors.

MBA is all about size.

 

[gwsat]

MBA is all about size.

The MBA is certainly mostly about size and weight but, to Apple's credit, the current models finally offer enough processing power, RAM, and storage to handle all but the most demanding tasks a user would want it to handle. My 13 inch Ultimate MBA runs several Windows apps under VMware Fusion, simultaneously with several OS X apps with as much speed and stability as my MBP with 6GB of RAM does.

 

[james4cet]

Just for those wondering...

Just in case some may be wondering what I ended up shelling out for, I got a MacBook Air 11 inch, base model, upgraded to 4gb of ram.

Why?

In the end the portability won me over, as I'm going to end up taking it to college and uni. I want it to last a max. of 5 years, and I'm sure it will. It's not upgradable, but 4gb ram will be just fine for web browsing, using iWork and occasional iPhoto, Garageband and iMovie.

Why not MacBook Pro 13"?

For me it would be too bulky, and slightly too expensive. I previously stated my budget was £1000, but It eventually came in at £900. And the cheapest price for a MacBook Pro 13" base model is £850 on eBay. That leaves me with £50 to find an SSD (I need the speed for fast access to apps) which is pretty impossible! Also, I think the ultra-glossy screen would bother me, and the MBA's 11" screen, while being small and lacking the large colour gamut the Pro has, will be just fine for me. Infact, it's still a good improvement over the Rev A MBA!


My Verdict?

It's in the post and should be arriving in two days I'll post a short review once I've used it for a week or two.



Thank you for all of your help!
James.

 

[D-Love]

Just in case some may be wondering what I ended up shelling out for, I got a MacBook Air 11 inch, base model, upgraded to 4gb of ram.

Why?

In the end the portability won me over, as I'm going to end up taking it to college and uni. I want it to last a max. of 5 years, and I'm sure it will. It's not upgradable, but 4gb ram will be just fine for web browsing, using iWork and occasional iPhoto, Garageband and iMovie.

Why not MacBook Pro 13"?

For me it would be too bulky, and slightly too expensive. I previously stated my budget was £1000, but It eventually came in at £900. And the cheapest price for a MacBook Pro 13" base model is £850 on eBay. That leaves me with £50 to find an SSD (I need the speed for fast access to apps) which is pretty impossible! Also, I think the ultra-glossy screen would bother me, and the MBA's 11" screen, while being small and lacking the large colour gamut the Pro has, will be just fine for me. Infact, it's still a good improvement over the Rev A MBA!


My Verdict?

It's in the post and should be arriving in two days I'll post a short review once I've used it for a week or two.



Thank you for all of your help!
James.

I've had the 11 inch MBA, upgraded to 4 gigs RAM and 128 hard drive. There are times I kind of wish I had the larger screen but then again the resolution is so high on this 11 that it makes the real estate estate seem bigger than it really is. This thing is a real pleasure to have on your lap - no weight, doesn't run hot, and when I do go out with it I get plenty of glances and comments about how awesome it is. The 13, while still remarkably thin, actually seems big compared to the 11. I love this thing.

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

T
IMO there is no reason to be looking at the 13" MBP right now, unless you absolutely can't live without the HD space and DVD burner. If the MBP's get turned into supercharged MBA's in a few months (rumors are swirling about dropping the optical drive and adding SSD's as standard) then you might regret getting the current 13" MBP today.

Sage advice.

The 13" MBP was obsolete the moment it was "updated" this past spring. You'd be better served buying a plain plastic Macbook than the 13" MBP at this point.

The next refresh may reinstate its value proposition. But compared to a 13" MBA, you really are paying a premium for a heavier machine with lackluster performance. The DVD burner and larger HD can easily be overcome via external devices if you really need them.