The new MacBook Air 11.6" vs the iPad

[andiwm2003]

The so much more u get with the air than the ipad (and for basically the same cost) nullifies the "inconvenience" of having a physical keyboard.

I'm selling my ipad 3g 64GB immediately.

there are still some key differences that speak for the iPad hardwarewise: weight, battery life, built in G3, rotating screen

however the apps on the iPad are simply not productive enough, the lack of a file system sucks, the lack of Flash is a problem (i think flash sucks but I had expected Hulu and others would be available as non flash versions by now. but the aren't), no Facetime is a joke.

I'll give my iPad another few month and see how iOS4 turns out and if the overall productivity goes up. If not I might sell it before iPad 2 comes out and then rethink to either buy a iPad2, a 11"MBA+G3 or a non Apple device.

 

[ScrappyDoo80]

I am very interested to know how the MBA will work in bed...

I often compute and watch media online etc. in bed... I bought a HULKING, bad mother trcker Asus laptop in early 09, and maxed out the ram, dropped in a new screaming processor, etc.

It's mother truckin heavy and very clumsy to use in bed, and I never thought about that.

Having just had back surgery I am spending an even more time in bed and will be convalescing for like 2 years. I want an iPad but am stuck between buy now, wait and hope a better one newer one comes out etc? The MBA looks like it could be awesome but how is it in bed?

 

[Capt Underpants]

9.7-inch is large enough for a touch screen tablet, but 11.6-inch is not large enough for a laptop.

Former 12" iBook and Powerbook users everywhere would disagree.

The 11.6" MBA is heaven.

 

[BobHail]

If there would be an iPad with OS X, it would beat easily both MBA and iPad.

Too bad Apple doesn´t have the brains to do this, or maybe they will next year...

 

[Satori]

If there would be an iPad with OS X, it would beat easily both MBA and iPad.

I doubt it - OS X is simply not designed as a touch based system apart from a few track pad gestures. OS X would need to evolve for this to work.

 

[Satori]

The MBA looks like it could be awesome but how is it in bed?

I am sure that it would be very gentle with you!

 

[lozpop]

I've just seen one in a store. Awesome.
The high PPI resolution is fantastic. It doesn't even seem an 11.6 inch display.

I thought I would "suffocated" in that little display, but the resolution does its job.

 

[BobHail]

I doubt it - OS X is simply not designed as a touch based system apart from a few track pad gestures. OS X would need to evolve for this to work.

Yes, but maybe they are working on it. It definitely would be a good idea and good business, now that all the apps will come to the Mac App Store as well.

iOS sucks for an device like the iPad. Tablets need a full OS, not a mobile OS.

 

[Satori]

Yes, but maybe they are working on it. It definitely would be a good idea and good business, now that all the apps will come to the Mac App Store as well.

iOS sucks for an device like the iPad. Tablets need a full OS, not a mobile OS.

iOS does just fine for me on an iPad but an adapted OS X version would probably fly off the shelves.

 

[Nausicaa]

The only overlap between the two products is portability. But even then, the iPad is stronger at a full pound lighter, smaller, no keyboard to deal with, much better battery, and 3G.

Other than that, the two devices are completely different. If you want to buy another computer that allows you to do everything you do on your desktop in the exact same way, go for the Air. But the iPad offers something else entirely.

It offers an entirely different way to interact with a computer and different, often more effecient ways of completing basic computing tasks. No, it won't run flash or desktop class applications, but it pretty much does everything else you could possibly want it to.

I already have a work issued laptop I have to use for work stuff (security), so the iPad is perfect for me since I don't need to run any Mac OS programs on the go. Plus, it offers lots of things I can't get on a laptop, such as the ability to write and draw on the screen.

Some people absolutely need or want a full desktop OS on the go, but most don't. This is what the iPad is for.

 

[Nausicaa]

iOS does just fine for me on an iPad but an adapted OS X version would probably fly off the shelves.

I don't think it would. Almost no applications designed for desktop machines interface well with a touch screen. Even if Apple did a massive overhaul of OSX to make it touch friendly (and it would be massive), you're still left with a bunch of applications that are more difficult to use with your finger than if you had just bought a laptop.

The iPad is great because it does its own thing very successfully without extending the format beyond its limitations.

 

[Gaelic2]

I have an iMac desktop and I bought an MBA last year as an adjunct when I travel. It works very well and I like it very much and will continue to use it when traveling abroad. I purchased a wiFi iPad six months ago and I use it all the time. It resides on my couch and in my car. I use it at night when I use my scope to look at the skies with an ap for identifying what I am seeing. I use it to read a virtual cornucopia of books that are available through a number of aps. I check the weather, check my bank and credit card accounts, find my car when I park in town. I find WiFi spots, good restaurants etc. I do all this with a battery that lasts all day!
When I travel, I write reports, send photos I have taken and I find it easier to enhance my photos and write reports using Word than on the iPad. Perhaps because out of habit. Both the MBA and the iPad are fantastic devices and I won't give up one for the other. I like to eat both apricots and plums. They are similar but not the same.Bad simile, sorry.

 

[Nausicaa]

Good post Gaelic. As you point out, while the Air has some advantages over the iPad, it is a two way street. I am sick of people like Bob who have little experience with the iPad still insisting it was a mistake to go with iOS. iOS is perfect on the iPad, and there are tons of uses for an iPad, many of which aren't possible on laptops.

 

[Night Spring]

Yes, but maybe they are working on it. It definitely would be a good idea and good business, now that all the apps will come to the Mac App Store as well.

iOS sucks for an device like the iPad. Tablets need a full OS, not a mobile OS.

iOS *is* a full OS, it's just that a lot of the functions we associate with desktop OSes are hidden from the end users. But they are there, and available to app developers. With apps like GoodReader and FileBrowser, I almost have a full file management system on the iPad. Other functions, like printing, will get there. And Jobs made it clear that with Lion, they are incorporating a lot of the "look & feel" of iOS into the desktop OS. I think two or three OS revisions down the line, the desktop and tablet OSes would look and function enough like each other that people would stop complaining that the tablet version is less powerful. But as I see it, even today, iOS isn't less powerful, it's just that not all elements of the desktop OS has been ported to a multi-touch environment. Sure, Apple could have made tablets that run OSX, but that would simply have resulted in the same clunky, hard to use machines like the many Windows tablets from the last.... I think 20 years?

Even if Apple did a massive overhaul of OSX to make it touch friendly (and it would be massive)

Apple *is* doing a massive overhaul of OSX to make it touch-friendly -- they just chose to call it iOS.

 

[kdoug]

I am very interested to know how the MBA will work in bed...

I often compute and watch media online etc. in bed... I bought a HULKING, bad mother trcker Asus laptop in early 09, and maxed out the ram, dropped in a new screaming processor, etc.

It's mother truckin heavy and very clumsy to use in bed, and I never thought about that.

Having just had back surgery I am spending an even more time in bed and will be convalescing for like 2 years. I want an iPad but am stuck between buy now, wait and hope a better one newer one comes out etc? The MBA looks like it could be awesome but how is it in bed?

I can answer your question. If your watching or using these devices in bed you have 2 options for the iPad, sitting it on your stomach or holding over your head. Neither of these work very well for long. Last night I turned on my new MBA and sat it on my stomach, adjusted the screen and it was perfect! Didn't feel heavy and didn't get very got. My Sony BT headphones work much better with the Air than the iPad.

 

[Night Spring]

I can answer your question. If your watching or using these devices in bed you have 2 options for the iPad, sitting it on your stomach or holding over your head.

Or you could try the wegepad.
http://wedgepad.com/

 

[PieMac]

I have both the new 11.6" MacBook Air and the iPad Wi-Fi. I've had the MBA for two days now. Wonderful, solid, snappy machine and I am loving typing on a real keyboard again. But, I do miss using my iPad for certain things and the hands on experience that goes with it (less the fingerprints!) as well as the apps that I use on it.

I have my iPad up on Ebay as I type this and I am seriously considering keeping it if it doesn't sell. In fact, I've almost ended the listing early a couple of times, but I swore to myself (and my other half) that I would sell the iPad to help finance the MBA. There are things about the iPad that really drive me nuts, yet there are things about it that I love. I also own a 17" MacBook Pro i7 that I use for the intensive stuff...mostly Aperture and Photoshop.

If I keep the iPad, guess time will tell which one collects dust if either...will be interesting to see. One thing I can tell you that I do miss already...the 10 hour battery life-will need to go plug in my MBA in another hour!

 

[macrumors999]

Mac Air Versus Ipad and PDFs

I have been using an Ipad as a tool for reading PDF documents or about two months. I like the
ability of using the standard letter orientation on the Ipad. Is there some easy way on the MBA or any laptop to use the device in a similar way? I'm envisioning sitting with an MBA on my lap and using the touch pad to manipulate the document. Having the capability to use the full key board and
total mac capabilities on the MAB is appealing.

Thanks,

 

[darngooddesign]

I have been using an Ipad as a tool for reading PDF documents or about two months. I like the
ability of using the standard letter orientation on the Ipad. Is there some easy way on the MBA or any laptop to use the device in a similar way? I'm envisioning sitting with an MBA on my lap and using the touch pad to manipulate the document. Having the capability to use the full key board and
total mac capabilities on the MAB is appealing.

Thanks,

There are apps that allows you to use your iPad as a secondary wireless display for your Mac. Just search the store with "display".

 

[sushi]

I am amazed that the new MacBook Air doesn't have a 3G wireless option.

I believe this would add a dynamic that would sway many towards the MBA instead of the iPad.

For me, I love my iPad 3G 64GB. Long battery life and Internet everywhere. No need to search/connect to open WiFi. In fact, I turn my WiFi off when I am mobile.

I have. A 64gb 3G iPad. I'm contemplating buying a 11" MBA additionally. Don't see why they both can't co-exist together.

I've been carrying my MBP15 and iPad. When I want, I can use the iPad as an external monitor which is very convenient for more screen real estate. Also, sometimes when I work, I watch a movie/TV show on the iPad while working on my MBP15. Very convenient.

Don't worry. With so many 3G portable routers such as the MiFi, it makes more sense to own one of these, than several 3G devices and paying 3G service for each one. One MiFi will give access to all your devices.

Yes and no.

The advantage of having 3G built in, is that it's always with you and the battery life is the iPads. With a Pocket WiFi type device, your battery life is 2-4 hours depending on the model. So what happens from that time onward when the battery dies. There goes your Internet connection. Where as with my iPad 3G, I can keep working for another 6-8 hours. Sweet!

Also, I don't have to remember to carry both devices. Just pick up my iPad and go. Here in Japan, Softbank is pushing the iPad WiFi model with their Egg (Pocket WiFi). My friend decided to go that route. So far, he's forgotten to bring his Egg a couple of times. And of course, his Egg has run out of juice and mine iPad is still humming along nicely with 3G.

Note, I didn't say this was the cheapest solution. But for me, having the iPad 3G has been very convenient. I can use it anywhere for getting work and doing personal things done. I love that I can remote access and control PCs via LogMeIn while riding the train.

Not everyone. I, for one, wanted the iPad to be Apple's tablet, and it is.

The thing I use the iPad the most for is reading -- websites, ebooks, newspaper/magazines. When reading, you DON'T WANT a keyboard. Even the smallest keyboard on the tiniest netbook gets in the way. And you want to be able to hold the device in either portrait or landscape, to best fit the material you happen to be reading. The new Air is a very attractive machine, and I'm seriously coveting one, but it will never replace the iPad for me.

Well said and agree.

As far as the coolness factor, the MBA11 is awesome. No doubt about that. However, in my case, I don't think it would fulfill my needs/requirements comfortably.

I am thinking that in a couple of years when it is time to upgrade my MBP15, the MBA13 may be perfect for me. I can carry the MBA13 and iPad which would be a nice combo and provide flexibility.

Anyhow, that's my 2 cents.

P.S. Don't laugh if I purchase a MBA11 -- they are definitely cool.

 

[Cheffy Dave]

I simply LOVE my iPad, killer screen as well as outstanding battery life!
Down the road, maybe a MBA, but only after my 2007 BMB dies. Core 2Duo with 6GB Ram, fast enough for me, especially with a 320 WD Scorpio Black

 

[ciaran00]

LOL but what "you think" doesn't equate to squat 'cuz you have no knowledge on how others think. The products shoot two two differing purchase groups.

But thanks for letting us know "what you think" of 64 GB iPad owners purchase decisions...

Thinking and sharing opinions is what this forum is about. Please stop being a downer.

 

[J400uk]

I've got both, iPad for play and new MBA for work. Simples

 

[J400uk]

I have an ageing Mac osx netbook (Dell 2GB RAM - 64GB SSD) that runs really rather well for basic use. I only use it as a rough and tumble travelling device when I don't want to take my shinny expensive MBP.

The point is that I use my iPad (16GB) all day every day for loads of different tasks in loads of different situations.
I never find myself grabbing the small, light, perfectly functioning netbook with full osx!

They are very different animals!

Sounds like you have a fairly similar setup to me as I also have an old hackintosh netbook that I like to use when I don't want to risk taking my rather more expensive MacBook out, but I'm still finding things to use my iPad for as its an entirely different device.

 

[lozpop]

I love iOS. It's an awesome OS for some tasks.
But sometimes I really miss OS X.

Anyway, for my tastes, the iPad and the MacBook Air 11.6" could coexist without problems.

iPad 3G everywhere you go for consuming web and media.
MacBook Air every time you need an ultra portable "iPad-hardware-style" OS X.