I agree. For years I've been wishing Apple would give up the constant push for speed resulting in more heat in their notebooks. My first MacBook was too hot to use on my lap. The 13" MBP is much better but still pretty warm. I can't wait so see how really cool the new 11" Air is. Thank you Apple!
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was going to buy the 13 ended up with 11
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I agree. I'd even go further: what's the point of the (plastic) Macbook in this line-up? In my opinion, the 2 new MBA are very potent at replacing both the Macbook and the Macbook Pro 13. If next year's revision can bring backlit keyboard, cheaper SSD* and sandy bridge CPU** to the MBA 11 and 13, then they truly are the future of Apple laptops.
*i.e. $100 less on all models and $200 instead $300 for the 256 GB upgrade
**the sandy bridge IGP is rumored to be on par with the nVidia 320m
There are a lot of buyers out there who don't plan to own multiple Macs. Many of those people would pass on a computer with limited flash storage. For at least the next couple of years, I think Apple needs low end Hard Drive laptops in the lineup.
You betcha -- the MBA is my first Mac. It's an upgraded netbook for me. I've used a Dell Mini 9 for nearly 2 years and have loved, LOVED that computer. I adore the fast boot (SSD-based), zippy program launch, light weight, and form factor small enough to live in my purse.
The MBA is an almost perfect upgrade for me. A full-size keyboard (my only real complaint with the dell mini -- but I adjusted), faster overall machine, bigger SSD, bigger screen, way thinner and all for the same weight as my mini 9. The only thing that's going to be hard to give up is the replaceable batteries. My mini never leaves my purse when I come home. I just swap out batteries on my at-home battery charger. I always have fully charged batteries and never have to worry about running out of power on the road, forgetting to charge the mini when I get home, or forgetting to retrieve the mini off the charger and put it back in my purse. This will all happen with the MBA, I know. Sigh. But it is so much sexier.
Yes, the 11.6 inch MBA is absolutely my new NETBOOK.
It will be my primary computer, as I have my media on a HDD via USB to my Airport when I need it in the house. 128gigs is plenty of space for my needs. I'm sure photo or video professionals will need more power to deal with their needs, but I don't pretend to be one of the 5 or 10% of power users, nor am I a gamer so the Air does in fact easily handle my computing needs.
Yes, I use other computers. The MBA will just be for on-the-go use. My main computer is a souped up, overclocked, SSD-d Windows beast I use for everything else (including occasional video editing). I also manage remote linux servers.
One thing I did use the Dell Mini for that it was bit ill-suited for was minor photo editing on the road (I use Picasa for light-weight stuff). The poor, small screen display severely limited what I could do, and the MBA should really shine (comparatively, anyway. My critical work will still be reserved for the large color-managed display at home).
You are entitled to your opinion. But the 13" MBA is pretty darn light, and for me, the additional space around the hand rest area is highly useful for typing when the MBA is sitting on my lap in my HT room while watching TV and movies. I tried the 11 inch on my lap in the Apple Store and found it to be more difficult to really work on. To me, the 11 inch competes more with the IPad than the 13" MBA. And, similarly priced 128GB 11 inch and 13 inch MBA's are similarly priced with the 13 inch having a higher resolution screen, a sd card slot and, most importantly, double the cache'. Maybe if I was getting on and off planes, the 11 inch would be more appealing. Too each his own, and Apple should be making the 13 inch model to offer choices to all of us.
Flash storage is getting cheaper every year. HDD cost is still declining but at a slower pace. Besides, external hard drives are a great solution. I trust my 2 small (320GB) mirrored external HDD to store my music and movie library more than any internal HDD. I fail to see the point of having one single large drive in a laptop.
My prediction is that one or two years from now, HDD will only be found in sub-$800 laptops.
I played with both the 11" and the 13" MBAs in the Apple store today, and I hafta say I was very impressed, especially as I feel the prior MBA was DOA, and I think sales numbers confirmed that, but this is a different beast altogether.
I use both platforms, Windows and OSX. My corporate machine is an aging Dell M90. My home workstation is a 3.06 27" iMac.
I'd looked at the iPad earlier in the spring, but passed due to many of the reasons normally cited. To me, the new MBA is the perfect machine for people that are intrigued by the iPad, but really need a full-up computer.
I woulda bought one today, but they didn't have any 13's in stock with 4GBs of RAM. They'll get them in within a couple days.
The weight isn't that big of an issue between the 11 and the 13. The screen is so much more useful on the 13 as is the built-in SD slot, perfect for my photography without needing to carry an adapter. Oh yeah, and the screen of the 13.3" is a 16:10 aspect ratio, so a little more vertical space for open windows. Apps under Lion running full-screen are going to be sweet...
I think the 4 GB will be needed for Lion and as the RAM isn't user-swappable, I don't want to hamstring myself now and regret it later when it's only $100 for the extra 2 GBs.
As it is, the 11" with a 128 GB SSD upgrade and the extra 2 GB of RAM close enough in price to the base model 13" with RAM upgrade to make it a no-brainer , for me at least. To each his own.
As others have said, I don't think the numbers for the processors tell the whole story and the instant-on makes the whole package seem screaming fast. I'm not keen on the 256 GB upgraded SSD, as the price is steep and the difference can buy a couple nice external HDDs.
I think Apple hit one out of the park with this one. Not a fan boy, just want to get work done and I think this rev is cherry.
Tony
I use both platforms, Windows and OSX. My corporate machine is an aging Dell M90. My home workstation is a 3.06 27" iMac.
I'd looked at the iPad earlier in the spring, but passed due to many of the reasons normally cited. To me, the new MBA is the perfect machine for people that are intrigued by the iPad, but really need a full-up computer.
I woulda bought one today, but they didn't have any 13's in stock with 4GBs of RAM. They'll get them in within a couple days.
The weight isn't that big of an issue between the 11 and the 13. The screen is so much more useful on the 13 as is the built-in SD slot, perfect for my photography without needing to carry an adapter. Oh yeah, and the screen of the 13.3" is a 16:10 aspect ratio, so a little more vertical space for open windows. Apps under Lion running full-screen are going to be sweet...
I think the 4 GB will be needed for Lion and as the RAM isn't user-swappable, I don't want to hamstring myself now and regret it later when it's only $100 for the extra 2 GBs.
As it is, the 11" with a 128 GB SSD upgrade and the extra 2 GB of RAM close enough in price to the base model 13" with RAM upgrade to make it a no-brainer , for me at least. To each his own.
As others have said, I don't think the numbers for the processors tell the whole story and the instant-on makes the whole package seem screaming fast. I'm not keen on the 256 GB upgraded SSD, as the price is steep and the difference can buy a couple nice external HDDs.
I think Apple hit one out of the park with this one. Not a fan boy, just want to get work done and I think this rev is cherry.
Tony
I agree. Wife and I were debating whether to ditch her 13" MBP for equivalent MBA and decided against it since netiher of us do a lot of traveling. For those who are constantly on the road MBA makes perfect sense.
+1
When I heard about the 11" I thought I was completely sold... then I got to thinking about how much I like my current 13" MB. So, back to the fence. I'll be heading out to check them out today and we'll see what I find. Still looking for a really good benchmark of the 13" against a MBP 2.4GHz.
That's right. Not only is the 11 inch MBA's screen significantly larger than the iPad's, its front to back dimension is only .09 of an inch deeper than the iPad's and it weighs only .8 of a pound more. I experimented with an 11 inch MBA at the Apple Store yesterday and could see no significant loss of screen real estate compared to that of the 13 inch. That's a lot of power and functionality in a very small package.^ depends what you compare it to. To an iPad or iPhone it's huge
Those who claim that the difference in weight between the MBA and the 13 inch MBP is no big deal are in denial, it seems to me. The 11 inch MBA weighs only 2.3 pounds, whereas the 13 inch MBP weighs nearly twice as much, 4.5 pounds. I should add that I am 6 feet tall, weigh 168 pounds and have trained regularly for many years, so, please, nobody trot out the tired old, "You should go to a gym" canard.
I agree with you I went with the 11" and thought it might be too small however when i opened the shipment i could not believe it was so large.My perfect size
I fooled with both the 13 and 11 yesterday at the Apple Store. The 13 is sooooo tempting especially if you want it as an only computer but it still has the same foot print as the 13" pro. Anyways, as I sit here at Starbucks this morning at a small table the 11.6 is super. My poor ipad is home and lonely.
I probably will get the 11 inch instead of the 13 inch MBA. If that's the way it plays out, I will be selling my iPad because the MBA would do everything I use the iPad to do and do it faster and better in a package that's not much larger. The MBA will also do other things that the iPad can't do at all. Think Flash enabled Web pages like Hulu.
Well I agree but I am going to take my time before selling my ipad and MacBook Pro 15". I have had a great deal of fun with the 11.6. My wife just doesn't get what the attraction is
I will be keeping my 17 inch MBP, too. Even with a new MBA, I will need the MBP for its optical drive and large screen. I am hoping that I will like the MBA so well, I won't want to use the MBP for anything but copying CDs to my portable drive.Well I agree but I am going to take my time before selling my ipad and MacBook Pro 15". I have had a great deal of fun with the 11.6. My wife just doesn't get what the attraction is
Took the plunge....
So I finally made it out to my local Apple Store to check out the new Airs. Like some folks posting here, I was leaning towards the 13" model as it appears to off the best value for the money, and the pics I saw of the 11.6 screen made it look too small for serious work.
But when I actually saw and used the 11.6 model, all I could say was "Wow". It is an absolutely amazing machine. Setting it next to the 13" Air makes that model look *huge*. And the screen of the 11.6 is more than adequate to do real work on (and I have 56-year-old eyes). The keyboard felt comfortable immediately. The machine's performance is snappy, quiet and cool. I ran a 1080p YouTube video on it and it was smooth and the CPU utilization remained well under 50%. I left the YouTube video running and started up Safari, Finder, Pages and Mail and still had memory to spare (this was a 2GbE model).
The only scary moment was when I ran Getinfo on the system disk and saw that it had 50GbE remaining - on a 128 GbE disk! The Apple salesman said that they load their demo models with all sorts of software so I shouldn't be alarmed. Given that I rarely use more than 40GbE on my other Macs makes me feel (somewhat) comfortable going with a 64GbE machine.
I see the 11.6 to be what I unconsciously wanted to iPad to be in the first place (I know, it's a totally different device). Small form factor, full sized keyboard, instant on operation, quiet, cool, Flash support. I fell in love with it immediately.
So I just placed an BTO order for an 11.6, 4GbE RAM, 64GbE SSD and iWork preinstalled. With my employer's discount the total tab came under $1100. I can't wait for it to arrive.
So I finally made it out to my local Apple Store to check out the new Airs. Like some folks posting here, I was leaning towards the 13" model as it appears to off the best value for the money, and the pics I saw of the 11.6 screen made it look too small for serious work.
But when I actually saw and used the 11.6 model, all I could say was "Wow". It is an absolutely amazing machine. Setting it next to the 13" Air makes that model look *huge*. And the screen of the 11.6 is more than adequate to do real work on (and I have 56-year-old eyes). The keyboard felt comfortable immediately. The machine's performance is snappy, quiet and cool. I ran a 1080p YouTube video on it and it was smooth and the CPU utilization remained well under 50%. I left the YouTube video running and started up Safari, Finder, Pages and Mail and still had memory to spare (this was a 2GbE model).
The only scary moment was when I ran Getinfo on the system disk and saw that it had 50GbE remaining - on a 128 GbE disk! The Apple salesman said that they load their demo models with all sorts of software so I shouldn't be alarmed. Given that I rarely use more than 40GbE on my other Macs makes me feel (somewhat) comfortable going with a 64GbE machine.
I see the 11.6 to be what I unconsciously wanted to iPad to be in the first place (I know, it's a totally different device). Small form factor, full sized keyboard, instant on operation, quiet, cool, Flash support. I fell in love with it immediately.
So I just placed an BTO order for an 11.6, 4GbE RAM, 64GbE SSD and iWork preinstalled. With my employer's discount the total tab came under $1100. I can't wait for it to arrive.
agree on 11"
Just to add to the very useful thread. As many others, went expecting to like the 13 and order a fully maxed out one. Left with an 11" 128/2gig. I really liked the size better on the 11. I have small hands and the keyboard and rest area were perfect whereas the 13 did not feel comfortable. I opened the Jobs presentation on the 11, the 13 and a 13" macbook pro and the MBA's were faster and the quality of the video was exactly the same. I just could not detect any speed difference. I am aware that there are certainly heavy duty apps that would make a difference, but most of us don't use those. I tried the MS office apps and again could not see any difference. I plan to leave my MBPro at home and use logmein if I need to get to anything. I also use sugarsync so tons of docs/pics, etc are in the cloud and I can get to those as well. This is a very nice and useful machine.
Just to add to the very useful thread. As many others, went expecting to like the 13 and order a fully maxed out one. Left with an 11" 128/2gig. I really liked the size better on the 11. I have small hands and the keyboard and rest area were perfect whereas the 13 did not feel comfortable. I opened the Jobs presentation on the 11, the 13 and a 13" macbook pro and the MBA's were faster and the quality of the video was exactly the same. I just could not detect any speed difference. I am aware that there are certainly heavy duty apps that would make a difference, but most of us don't use those. I tried the MS office apps and again could not see any difference. I plan to leave my MBPro at home and use logmein if I need to get to anything. I also use sugarsync so tons of docs/pics, etc are in the cloud and I can get to those as well. This is a very nice and useful machine.
agreed,
for most the 11.6" is good , for me i will be using it as my only computer and i have switched from wanting the 11.6 to the 13.3, i will need the extra battery and screen realestate.
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Yep I just pulled the purchase trigger on the 11.6 with 4gb of ram and 1.6 processor. I cant wait!
While I was in the Apple store most folks were looking at the 11.6 model. Those looking at the 13 inch were basically doing so to validate their decision to buy the baby Air!
Yep I just pulled the purchase trigger on the 11.6 with 4gb of ram and 1.6 processor. I cant wait!
While I was in the Apple store most folks were looking at the 11.6 model. Those looking at the 13 inch were basically doing so to validate their decision to buy the baby Air!
I too concur that the 11 inch macbook air will completely turn away the ipad power users. Because ipad power users want an ipad with a keyboard + mac os x / programming ability. The 11" macbook air is all that ipad power users have hoped for. Viewed from that perspective, it's a pretty good deal. Way more power and usability for not a whole lot more price.
To turn the ipad into a laptop, you've got to:
Buy a keyboard for $69.
If you buy a stand (we'll say a nice one), that's $30.
Buy a mouse, a magic trackpad is $69.
So you're left with a $125 price gap. For that money you get a real OS, 2 gb of ram, way better graphics, and web cam.
Those accessory makers probably just got angry because anyone who's a power user would just buy a macbook air. I'm really glad that I sold my ipad 2 weeks ago before this came out. Got lucky.
I believe that the ipads need to have a $100 price cut across the board (sales numbers do not argue that one's necessary, however)
To turn the ipad into a laptop, you've got to:
Buy a keyboard for $69.
If you buy a stand (we'll say a nice one), that's $30.
Buy a mouse, a magic trackpad is $69.
So you're left with a $125 price gap. For that money you get a real OS, 2 gb of ram, way better graphics, and web cam.
Those accessory makers probably just got angry because anyone who's a power user would just buy a macbook air. I'm really glad that I sold my ipad 2 weeks ago before this came out. Got lucky.
I believe that the ipads need to have a $100 price cut across the board (sales numbers do not argue that one's necessary, however)
I can't get a 1440x900 13" display on a MBP, I can on the MBA. That's the major selling point to me. If the resolution doesn't matter get the iPad, it's more portable the the 11" and has built-in 3G.