Resolved MBP/MBA ... blah blah blah.

[ademuth93]

Well, I'm heading off to college next year, and I'm looking to got a laptop. I'll probably be doing some CAD work, a little photography, some programming, and, of course, some gaming.

There seems to be endless debate on the forums about which laptop is best for which person, and I'll be the first to admit my thread is nowhere near unique.

I would really love the sleekness, portability, and price (as compared to 15" ultimate MBP + SSD, AG) of the MBA, but I would like my computer to last me through grad school. It seems like the MBA could become a little dated in that amount of time.

So, I ask you all: will the MacBook Air be relatively future-proof for 8 years, or will its performance start to suffer with new OSs, et c. that Apple throws at us? For that matter, will the MBP be future-proof (to a certain degree)?

Let's hear what you have to say!

 

[Naimfan]

You're better off with one of the new MBPs. Even then, it won't be future proof.

Lion will not support Core Duo machines--and they are not yet 8 years old. Try using even the fastest Powerbook from 8 years ago and you'll see.

So get either the base 13" or base 15" MBPs and run with them as long as you can.

 

[nfl46]

8 years? Then you definitely shouldn't get a MBA since its not upgradable. Get the 15" Pro.

 

[philipma1957]

The air book will get outdated in 2 to 3 years. The Mbp is a beast if you get the 15 inch with better gpu you will get 5 years on it. of course they can break and mac does not sell damage insurance.

 

[fyrefly]

Or, if you don't need the computer *right now*, you could wait and see if/when Apple updates the Air to Sandy Bridge (there's already rumours about it coming in June... and probably latest Sept/Oct).

That way you'd have an arguably faster/more future proof computer.

Though, I'd say if your needs are for a computer to last you 8 years... whew, that's a long time.

Re: Lion - it will not install on a CoreDuo machine, but if you put a Hard Drive in a Core2Duo, and install Lion onto it, and then put it in a CoreDuo machine (after deleting the plist that tells Lion not to work) it'll work swimmingly! It's an artificial limitation imposed by Apple for some reason.

 

[ademuth93]

The air book will get outdated in 2 to 3 years. The Mbp is a beast if you get the 15 inch with better gpu you will get 5 years on it. of course they can break and mac does not sell damage insurance.

Coolio. I do want at least my undergrad years covered, and everything after that is gravy. I'm banking on tech. developing slightly less quickly, but that'll never happen.

It looks like I'm prob'ly going to get a MPB 15" high end.

I'll post this on the Air forum and see what they think.

 

[stockscalper]

Lion will run on the Core Duo that's in the Air. It just won't run on the very first generation of Core Duo's. I was in a similar dilemma and chose the Air after using one. And although I still have a MBP, I find myself using it less and less. The Air not only can handle anything I throw at it, it just feels faster overall than the MBP. In the end it's just a matter of personal taste with what you want and need today. You're fooling yourself if you think you're going to be using any computer through grad school. Two years from now Cloudy Bridge or some such super great 12 core chip that pulls only 5 watts will be out and you along with everybody else will just have to have it.

 

[ademuth93]

-snip- You're fooling yourself if you think you're going to be using any computer through grad school. Two years from now Cloudy Bridge or some such super great 12 core chip that pulls only 5 watts will be out and you along with everybody else will just have to have it.

Grad school? Maybe. Undergrad? The computer must survive through this.

Yeah... Although I agree that a 12 core 5W chip would be nice, do you think that I could at least get by on the 4 core sandy bridge chips of today? I have a feeling many apps will still run well... Just not "cloudy bridge" well.

 

[BigAus]

How about buying a base 13 MBP now and then buy another new base 13 MBP in 4 years. You can nearly buy 2 x 13 MBP for the price of a high end 15 MBP now, and the second one you buy in four years will probably be cheaper and more powerful than the high end 15 MBP now. It will also be much more portable.

 

[kuwisdelu]

Grad school? Maybe. Undergrad? The computer must survive through this.

Yeah... Although I agree that a 12 core 5W chip would be nice, do you think that I could at least get by on the 4 core sandy bridge chips of today? I have a feeling many apps will still run well... Just not "cloudy bridge" well.

I got through undergrad with the 2007 MacBook in my sig. Even the 13" MBP should be adequate for undergrad unless you're major has a lot of video or photo editing. It'll be a lot more portable, too.

If you want to milk more years out of it, the 15" is indeed a better choice. It'll weigh you down a bit on the walks to class, but it's your call whether it's worth it or not.