Went to buy a 11 MBA, ended up with a 27" ACD

[jns2001]

Dudes,

Call me crazy, I have a MBA 2.13, old gen, went today to the Apple Store to purchase a new 11" MBA, had the cash to pull the trigger, but after a conscience crisis at the store, I ended up buying a 27" ACD to go along with my old MBA, I thought it was too much money for 4 GB of memory and a lesser processor. I haven't set up the monitor yet as I had visitors that just left the house. Question is, what would you have bought?

 

[shootingrubber]

Dudes,

Call me crazy, I have a MBA 2.13, old gen, went today to the Apple Store to purchase a new 11" MBA, had the cash to pull the trigger, but after a conscience crisis at the store, I ended up buying a 27" ACD to go along with my old MBA, I thought it was too much money for 4 GB of memory and a lesser processor. I haven't set up the monitor yet as I had visitors that just left the house. Question is, what would you have bought?

Does the old MBA have an SSD?

 

[jns2001]

Does the old MBA have an SSD?

Yes, 128 GB SSD.

 

[Parrotlet]

You must be well off. It seems you went to buy a laptop and instead you impulsively bought a 27 inch screen instead. If I was in your shoes I would have bought nothing if you were having a conscience issue at the store since you went into the store to buy a laptop.

 

[shootingrubber]

Hmm... If I was in your situation I would sell the old MBA and get the new one (11 or 13-inch depending on preference). But hey, that's just my opinion.

 

[shootingrubber]

You must be well off. It seems you went to buy a laptop and instead you impulsively bought a 27 inch screen instead. If I was in your shoes I would have bought nothing if you were having a conscience issue at the store since you went into the store to buy a laptop.

+1... I went to the Apple store many times to buy the 11-inch, sometimes the 13-inch and I decided not to buy because I wasn't sure. In the end I ordered the 13-inch with 4GB of RAM from Apple.

 

[aleni]

is your old mba capable of running with 27" inch without stuttering? i played poker game on facebook with my cousin's rev B mba. it has 1.86ghz and 128GB SSD an it's lagging like crazy. the mouse cursor is jumpy, and the kerneltask is using lot of processor. it een installed with the latest version of Flash, the Gala thing which people said impoves performance on flash.

 

[ozreth]

Dude, the new MBA is AWESOME, definitely a better machine than your old one. Also, if you think the MBA isn't worth the money they are charging, do you really think the 27" ACD is? You can get an amazing monitor for half the price from any other company, granted it wont have some of the same features or the apple logo, the screen quality will be just as good and you can get an anti glare one.

 

[Hammer97e]

You can get an amazing monitor for half the price from any other company, granted it wont have some of the same features or the apple logo, the screen quality will be just as good and you can get an anti glare one.

I want to call FAIL on this, the only other monitor I know of the same quality is the Dell of the same price, hoping you can prove me wrong.

I say congrats. If your current MBA is working great for you, you might as well hold on to it and see what the next revision has in store, that is, unless you were going for the 11.6".

 

[bcaslis]

Dudes,

Call me crazy, I have a MBA 2.13, old gen, went today to the Apple Store to purchase a new 11" MBA, had the cash to pull the trigger, but after a conscience crisis at the store, I ended up buying a 27" ACD to go along with my old MBA, I thought it was too much money for 4 GB of memory and a lesser processor. I haven't set up the monitor yet as I had visitors that just left the house. Question is, what would you have bought?

I went in to buy the 11" yesterday and I'm glad I did. It's an awesome machine. The form factor is just addictive. I had the original MBA, and I've had the new 13" in the past week. The 11" feels much faster than the original MBA and in normal usage just as fast as the new 13". It feels just tiny compared to any previous MBA.

 

[jns2001]

is your old mba capable of running with 27" inch without stuttering? i played poker game on facebook with my cousin's rev B mba. it has 1.86ghz and 128GB SSD an it's lagging like crazy. the mouse cursor is jumpy, and the kerneltask is using lot of processor. it een installed with the latest version of Flash, the Gala thing which people said impoves performance on flash.

I don't know yet, but what difference would it make if I would've gotten a new one. The new GPU? Would that really improve the machine despite the processor that's in it?

 

[aleni]

the 320M is twice as fast the 9400M, and about the cpu, eventhough the old one has higher cpu clock but it's throttling down like crazy to maintain the heat where the new one is so silent and doesn't have heat issue.

 

[jns2001]

the 320M is twice as fast the 9400M, and about the cpu, eventhough the old one has higher cpu clock but it's throttling down like crazy to maintain the heat where the new one is so silent and doesn't have heat issue.

In another words, a new MBA with 1.6 Ghz and a 320M would outperform a MBA 2.13 with a 9400 M?

 

[shootingrubber]

In another words, a new MBA with 1.6 Ghz and a 320M would outperform a MBA 2.13 with a 9400 M?

Yes

 

[jns2001]

Yes

Do you have any statistics to back up your number? As we say around here, In god we trust, everything else we peer review.

 

[Scottsdale]

Congratulations

I think your setup is amazing. I have three 27" LED ACDs... I rarely use my one at home, but I use mine at my school office and consulting office connected to my MBA. I think the MBA goes from being the greatest ultraportable to an amazing instant desktop with the ACDs.

In fact, I have hooked up both of the MBAs to my home ACD today, and I was very pleased with both results. Still disappointed that the cables cannot be connected to one side of the MBA. When originally seeing the MBA with three ports on the left side, I assumed Apple fixed that "issue." Unfortunately someone here pointed out that the mDP is on the right side, and I experienced the same ACD cord stretching to both sides of the MBA.. oh well, it's the best looking display ever, (MY opinion only, * my opinion is not intended to "bully" anyone, it's just an opinion and if it differs from anyone else's, it's not intended as a personal attack, but rather just the differences in our opinions).

The capabilities of the 11" MBA are really amazing too. I love the thought of a smaller ultraportable in theory, but when using the 11" MBA I am disappointed EXCEPT when the 11" MBA is connected to the ACD.

 

[flynz4]

Congratulations

I think your setup is amazing. I have three 27" LED ACDs... I rarely use my one at home, but I use mine at my school office and consulting office connected to my MBA. I think the MBA goes from being the greatest ultraportable to an amazing instant desktop with the ACDs.

In fact, I have hooked up both of the MBAs to my home ACD today, and I was very pleased with both results. Still disappointed that the cables cannot be connected to one side of the MBA. When originally seeing the MBA with three ports on the left side, I assumed Apple fixed that "issue." Unfortunately someone here pointed out that the mDP is on the right side, and I experienced the same ACD cord stretching to both sides of the MBA.. oh well, it's the best looking display ever, (MY opinion only, * my opinion is not intended to "bully" anyone, it's just an opinion and if it differs from anyone else's, it's not intended as a personal attack, but rather just the differences in our opinions).

The capabilities of the 11" MBA are really amazing too. I love the thought of a smaller ultraportable in theory, but when using the 11" MBA I am disappointed EXCEPT when the 11" MBA is connected to the ACD.

I am really looking forward to getting a 27" ACD one of these days. We have the 27" iMac which is super. I also have one remaining PC desktop setup in a spare bedroom that has a 30" 2560X1600 display with 3 dual-link DVI inputs. I have the DL cable kit for my MBA, and I have been connecting to that monitor, and while not as crisp as the Apple 27" ACD... it is acceptable for me (for now). Still.... I want to get a 27" ACD and set it up downstairs in the main office so that my wife and I could work there simultaneously.

/Jim

 

[bmat]

Do you have any statistics to back up your number? As we say around here, In god we trust, everything else we peer review.

There are lots of tests that compare the two.

http://www.macworld.com/article/155224/2010/10/macbookairbto_benchmarks.html

 

[Doc750]

Dude, the new MBA is AWESOME, definitely a better machine than your old one. Also, if you think the MBA isn't worth the money they are charging, do you really think the 27" ACD is? You can get an amazing monitor for half the price from any other company, granted it wont have some of the same features or the apple logo, the screen quality will be just as good and you can get an anti glare one.

name one monitor that has the same picture quality, integrated speakers, isight, etc, and does it for half price.


just one ....

 

[jns2001]

There are lots of tests that compare the two.

http://www.macworld.com/article/155224/2010/10/macbookairbto_benchmarks.html

Darn, a whole lot better, I might revisit with Apple today.

 

[robeddie]

Darn, a whole lot better, I might revisit with Apple today.

Yeah. As a longtime MBA owner I will strongly second the opinion that you should have just sold the older MBA and got one of the newer ones... ANY one of the newer ones would be better than the old MBA, even the 128ssd version, which I also had.

This new one has such a better video card, and so much better cooling, and a faster SSD, that you will wonder what all the fuss about CPU speed was all about in the first place.

 

[jns2001]

Yeah. As a longtime MBA owner I will strongly second the opinion that you should have just sold the older MBA and got one of the newer ones... ANY one of the newer ones would be better than the old MBA, even the 128ssd version, which I also had.

This new one has such a better video card, and so much better cooling, and a faster SSD, that you will wonder what all the fuss about CPU speed was all about in the first place.

Just ran a quick calculation here, with my corporate discount, I will end up at 1,400 with a new MBA 11" 4 GB and 1.6 processor. I cannot justify spending 2.4 K on computer gear, I would get killed at the house.

Next month is my friend.

 

[robeddie]

Just ran a quick calculation here, with my corporate discount, I will end up at 1,400 with a new MBA 11" 4 GB and 1.6 processor. I cannot justify spending 2.4 K on computer gear, I would get killed at the house.

Next month is my friend.

I sold my old 128gig ssd, 1.86 13 inch generation 2 MBA last week for $800 on craigslist ... so assuming your system fetched around that ... you're really only looking at 1,600 or $1,700 out of pocket.