Need help: New macbook air or pro?

[bart rijksen]

I am in high school now, 10th grade, and i am going to the U.S. in a couple weeks. I am going to be getting a laptop for my birthday, but i can't decide which one. I would get the 1.8Ghz, 64Gb ssd air, or the 2.5Ghz penryn macbook pro. I am going to be using it for 2-4 years. I would carry it to school every day, and would need a good battery life. If i would get the macbook pro i would play games on it, not on the air, but playing games isn't that important. I am also irritated when apps take long to load. I am not much of a multi-tasker, so a lot of ram isn't necessary. Which should i choose?

Thanks very much in advance

 

[redwarrior]

the macbook air is not going to give you the storage, speed, or networking you're going to need in school. Don't limit yourself, get the pro. I think it's a no-brainer

 

[walnuts]

Why not a macbook? It is a little more portable, better specs almost across the board (though no hardcore games) and a huge price cut. I got one as my secondary, portable computer. Even knowing that it only secondary and primarily portable, I couldn't make all of the feature sacrifices nor cough up the extra dough for the air. It is absolutely perfect for my needs.

As an aside, this is one of many threads like this. No offense to this or any of the other thread starters, but why do so many people seem to want either an air or a pro and not even consider the plain old macbook? Does everyone hate macbooks or the color white?

 

[acarle208]

Why not a macbook? It is a little more portable, better specs almost across the board (though no hardcore games) and a huge price cut. I got one as my secondary, portable computer. Even knowing that it only secondary and primarily portable, I couldn't make all of the feature sacrifices nor cough up the extra dough for the air. It is absolutely perfect for my needs.

As an aside, this is one of many threads like this. No offense to this or any of the other thread starters, but why do so many people seem to want either an air or a pro and not even consider the plain old macbook? Does everyone hate macbooks or the color white?

agree

 

[PDE]

I am in high school now, 10th grade, and i am going to the U.S. in a couple weeks. I am going to be getting a laptop for my birthday, but i can't decide which one. I would get the 1.8Ghz, 64Gb ssd air, or the 2.5Ghz penryn macbook pro. I am going to be using it for 2-4 years. I would carry it to school every day, and would need a good battery life. If i would get the macbook pro i would play games on it, not on the air, but playing games isn't that important. I am also irritated when apps take long to load. I am not much of a multi-tasker, so a lot of ram isn't necessary. Which should i choose?

Thanks very much in advance

First process of elimination:do you NEED/ABSOLUTELY WANT the small and light form factor? if the answer is 'yes' then you have no choice but to get the MBA if you want a mac. If your answer is 'no' then you should get a macbook or macbook pro since they're much more flexible and full-featured than the MBA. As for whether you should get a macbook or MBP, I'd say that given that you want it to last 2-4 years, the MBP would probably be slightly better since it has better graphics card and bigger display in case you need that later. Either one would be good, but my preference is the MBP.

The only reason you should get an MBA is for the size and design - all other features can be bested on either of the other two models.

if

 

[hotsauce]

Wirelessly posted (Apple Communication Device: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

Why not a macbook? It is a little more portable, better specs almost across the board (though no hardcore games) and a huge price cut. I got one as my secondary, portable computer. Even knowing that it only secondary and primarily portable, I couldn't make all of the feature sacrifices nor cough up the extra dough for the air. It is absolutely perfect for my needs.



As an aside, this is one of many threads like this. No offense to this or any of the other thread starters, but why do so many people seem to want either an air or a pro and not even consider the plain old macbook? Does everyone hate macbooks or the color white?

His budget appears to be in the $3000 range. Who are we to say what should be the prudent choice? As much as you deny it, we all subconsciously equate quality with cost.

 

[w00tini]

buy the MBA with the HDD for $1800, spend the rest of your savings on weekends at the roller skating rink...

what? am I that old? kids today don't roller-skate?

 

[Dsr1205]

buy the MBA with the HDD for $1800, spend the rest of your savings on weekends at the roller skating rink...

what? am I that old? kids today don't roller-skate?

we dont

in reply to the OP, You should get a iMac and a small ultra mobile pc like the EEE pc, there is a new one coming out soon with an 8.9 inch screen, its like a macbook air but it only costs 1/4 the price, The iMac will give u a great desktop to work on and game on through your years, or better yet, get an imac and a MBA, for the price of a MBP, now thats baller.

 

[nick9191]

You want it to be sexy (Macbook Pro and Macbook Air), but portable (Macbook Air), but powerful (Macbook Pro).

Black Macbook is the answer, portable, sexy, powerful, cheaper than the other 2.

 

[iToaster]

The MBP would be much better for you as your sole computer. Trust me, with that one USB port on the MBA, your patience will be as thin as the computer. The MBP is a much better suited for use as a computer by itself, more power, more expandability, more screen space, etc. Basically, the MBA is the MBPs baby cousin, even with the SSD, there is not much competition with the MBP. Trust me, you'll like the MBP more than the MBA in the long run, it's got all the features of the Air and more. I know you'll want to go for the MBA because it is such a nice little item, but in the long run, you'll be better off with the MBP when the MBA's smallness wares off. The MBA was meant to be an additional computer, but the MBP is able to surpass that and be a sole computer as well.

 

[hotdamn]

we dont

in reply to the OP, You should get a iMac and a small ultra mobile pc like the EEE pc, there is a new one coming out soon with an 8.9 inch screen, its like a macbook air but it only costs 1/4 the price, The iMac will give u a great desktop to work on and game on through your years, or better yet, get an imac and a MBA, for the price of a MBP, now thats baller.

no one cares about your EEE PC.
also, it's nothing like the macbook air.

Bart, personally, I am in the same situation as you, except I'm in college, I opted for an Air, and it turned out to be the best machine I've ever owned, BUT, since you are probably not staying in the US forever, I suggest you get the macbook pro since they're less error prone and will probably last you a lot longer.
My MacBook Air turned out to be a lemon, so I, too, got a Pro instead, until I start making my own money and can afford having 2 computers.

 

[bart rijksen]

Ok, so i think i'll get the macbook pro. For the usb ports, i almost don't have any devices to plug in, so that won't be a problem. The only concern i have with the macbook pro is that i will play games, when i should be doing school work, but i guess i'll just have to manage my time better.
Thanks a lot everyone!!!