MBA Ultimate as my SOLE working computer... POSSIBLE?

[KohPhiPhi]

Hello guys,

Here's my deal: I am a web admin who needs a portable working computer. Right now I have a 27" iMac, but I travel a lot so I want to switch the iMac for a 13" laptop as my sole working station.

I was waiting for the MBP 13" update but the 1280x800 resolution killed it for me. So I'm turning my head to the MBA 13" Ultimate (2.13 Ghz, 4gb Ram, 256 SSD). I really need the extra resolution while I work on the road and I don't want to drag a heavy 15" around.

I have a 27" display at home which I intend to hook up to the MBA while I work at home. I often have tons of applications open at once: Mail, PhotoShop (mild use, nothing super pro), DreamWeaver, FTP, Firefox with like a dozen tabs open, ScreenFlow to record my screen, Keynote for slide presentations, Skype for work video conferences, etc. All that at once.

I dont intend to play games, or watch movies, or any 3D graphics at all.

My question is: will the 13" MBA Ultimate be able to cope with that hooked up to an external monitor? please mind that I'm going to make of it my sole working computer.

Thank you in advanced.

PS: why did they have to gimp the new MBP 13" with the 1280x800 resolution? why, oh, why?!!

 

[miles01110]

You'll probably notice some lag, but does it matter? It seems like your mind is made up to buy an underpowered machine.

 

[iNotion]

Let a "13" MBA ultimate" owner to tell you the answer.



Answer to your "possible?": yes.

I use adobe web premium, microsoft office, iWork, iMovie etc...
But if you are using MBA for intense video editing (final cut or Adobe premiere pro), i am sure it will be lagging...

 

[sam67uk]

I've this setup and very with it!

I have this setup of a 2.13 MBA hooked up to a 27" Cinema Display. I'm fact, I sold my 24" iMac to fund part of this purchase.

As far as hooking up the MBA to the Cinema display, then I can confirm that you won't be disappointed. There is no lag whatsoever and the Nvidia chip has more than enough horsepower to drive the pixels.

I wouldn't have as many programs open that you intend to have. I do have Aperture and Photoshop CS5 open, mail and Safari with a few other smaller programs open at the same time. The MBA has more than enough horsepower to keep the user experience a good one even with these open.

The 2.13 MBA is a very capable machine and the speed of the SSD really hides any lacking in the processor.

The fans under most conditions are not audible, only when importing master images into Aperture or watching 1080p video full screen on the 27" do the fans kick in, but they only stay on under very heavy load.

I would say you would be really happy with this setup, I know I am, plus I have the portability of unhooking the MBA and taking it with me and it weighs next to nothing.

Sam.

 

[cleric]

Firefox on Mac sucks, of course it will work for admin work need more power ssh to a faster machine.

 

[Boston007]

Yes

Yes for your needs, absolutely.

 

[stockscalper]

I use the Ultimate as my only machine and edit photos in Photoshop. It actually runs smoother, less lag and beach balls, than my old 15" MBP. It also runs Windows 7 under Parallels just fine. So I would say yes to your question.

 

[KohPhiPhi]

I have this setup of a 2.13 MBA hooked up to a 27" Cinema Display. I'm fact, I sold my 24" iMac to fund part of this purchase.

As far as hooking up the MBA to the Cinema display, then I can confirm that you won't be disappointed. There is no lag whatsoever and the Nvidia chip has more than enough horsepower to drive the pixels.

I wouldn't have as many programs open that you intend to have. I do have Aperture and Photoshop CS5 open, mail and Safari with a few other smaller programs open at the same time. The MBA has more than enough horsepower to keep the user experience a good one even with these open.

The 2.13 MBA is a very capable machine and the speed of the SSD really hides any lacking in the processor.

The fans under most conditions are not audible, only when importing master images into Aperture or watching 1080p video full screen on the 27" do the fans kick in, but they only stay on under very heavy load.

I would say you would be really happy with this setup, I know I am, plus I have the portability of unhooking the MBA and taking it with me and it weighs next to nothing.

Sam.

Boy oh boy good news I guess the MBA Ultimate 13" might be a decent 2nd option to the disappointing 2011 MBP. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[kapolani]

Let a "13" MBA ultimate" owner to tell you the answer.

I'm still trying to find out what the 'Ultimate' model is.

Does it just signify that has all upgrades?

The only choice for CPU that I'm getting from the Apple Store is the 1.8GZ model.

 

[MikePA]

Does it just signify that has all upgrades?

Yes.

 

[docomo]

For sure, man. MBA is a great machine.

I'm using my maxed out 11" as my sole computer for web-dev (work with Photoshop, Browsers, Eclipse, mysql+php+nginx+sphinx+mongodb, Skype, Powerpoint, etc). It's absolutely perfect for that. Sometimes I notice that I forgot about what applications I have open.

 

[KohPhiPhi]

Hmmmmm I just checked on the Apple site and upgrading the SSD from 128 to 256 costs $300... Jesus Christ... Do you guys think it's possible to upgrade it on my end?

 

[BornAgainMac]

Hmmmmm I just checked on the Apple site and upgrading the SSD from 128 to 256 costs $300... Jesus Christ... Do you guys think it's possible to upgrade it on my end?

Well, third-party SSD 256 will be priced somewhere between $0 and at least $300. Minus the convenience and assuming it is as easy and swapping it out I don't know if it is worth the savings.

 

[namtaB]

It'll do all that, but it will work hard to do it. It all depends on how you feel about it working that hard. The good news is that it doesn't get scalding hot.

 

[kapolani]

You can't select the 2.13 GZ cpu when configuring the MBA 13inch.

Am I missing something?

 

[DeusInvictus7]

Hmmmmm I just checked on the Apple site and upgrading the SSD from 128 to 256 costs $300... Jesus Christ... Do you guys think it's possible to upgrade it on my end?

It is technically possible to upgrade the SSD but Apple requested that third parties stop selling aftermarket upgrades. I'm not sure if they asked OWC o stop selling them, but stock status of all their drives say pending.

You can't select the 2.13 GZ cpu when configuring the MBA 13inch.

Am I missing something?

You can only upgrade the CPU on the higher end 13" with the 256GB SSD.

 

[kapolani]

You can only upgrade the CPU on the higher end 13" with the 256GB SSD.

Just figured that out.

Thank you for the reply.

I'm a little slow some mornings.

 

[DarwinOSX]

Its possible and usable but probably not optimal. Mostly because you are restricted to 4GB of memory and 8 would be a lot better for what you are doing.

 

[Consultant]

Yes it'll work.

You'll probably notice some lag, but does it matter? It seems like your mind is made up to buy an underpowered machine.

Wrong. Specs aren't everything. Some people simply don't understand how SSD increases performance significantly.

 

[JayDH]

I just put my late-2008 15" MBP (2.53/4GB/320GB) on eBay after purchasing the 13" MBA Ultimate. I am using the MBA as my sole computer and work machine. I am an attorney, so I don't require much processing power to do my job. I normally have Safari, iTunes, Word, Outlook, Mail, Excel, Preview with many PDFs, Adium and Twitter open at once. The MBA doesn't skip a beat, even when connected to an external 23" HD display.

Despite having worse specs on paper, the MBA runs circles around the MBP. It is faster in everything that I do. The screen resolution is the same, the battery life is significantly better and it is much easier to carry around. I think it's a great machine and probably the best computer I've ever owned.

 

[Small White Car]

You'll probably notice some lag, but does it matter?

Well, it does matter if you're just making $*%$ up.

Why would there be lag? Explain that to me because for his uses it sure sounds to me like a MBA would be faster than a hard-drive based system.

Yes, the iMac would be better for things like video compression, video games, or processor-intensive tasks. But he mentioned none of those things in his post.

So either you got confused and posted in the wrong thread or you just enjoy misleading people. It's not nice to come in and post the exact opposite of the truth when someone asks a question.

 

[KohPhiPhi]

Important detail I forgot to mention in the OP:

I occasionally do lengthy (up to 30 minutes) live software tutorials recording my screen with ScreenFlow+Keynote. Do you think the MBA is going to have problems with ScreenFlow+Keynote to procude 720p .H264 videos?

 

[Mechinyun]

YES. I have similar setup.

27 inch imac
+
27 inch ACD + ultimate 13


I use the Air as my sole computer for work, i do online marketing and web design/coding with adobe suite of tools plus other odds and ends (office etc). Works just fine, yes the imac crunches in big files faster.. but its not a huge difference in everyday work.

Ultimately everyones different with their exact needs, Id say go ahead and buy it.. using it for a week or so and if its not up to what you need, return it. Easy Peasy

 

[vincenz]

It might lag a little. You should still just go for the 13 mbp. The resolution is not that big of a deal. You're just making it worse than it really is.

 

[jenzjen]

Important detail I forgot to mention in the OP:

I occasionally do lengthy (up to 30 minutes) live software tutorials recording my screen with ScreenFlow+Keynote. Do you think the MBA is going to have problems with ScreenFlow+Keynote to procude 720p .H264 videos?

For some reason after about 5 different replies saying the same thing, it still isn't hitting home:

It will work just fine but when pushed to the limits, you will get some lag.