will an MBA be enough power??

[melissarae]

okay i'm asking this for a friend... he's looking to upgrade his laptop... and is wondering if the MBA would be suffice power and what not for him... he would mainly be running iWork Numbers, Excel, and FileMaker Pro for some database and spreadsheet work and cruising the internet, email, etc.

he's looking at getting a refurb MBA 2.13 GHz, 2GB RAM, 128BG SSD.

his other option he's looking at is a refurb 15" macbook pro 2.66GHz, 4GB RAM, 320GB HD.

just curious as to what some of you might suggest.

thanks.

 

[eyup]

either will easily handle that stuff (easily big enough you think?)

cheapest option will do.

 

[melissarae]

haha that's what i thought, but i wasn't sure about FileMaker Pro cause I've never used it before myself... i just wanted to make sure that he's spending his money wisely... and not getting more or less than what he really needs.

 

[stoconnell]

Some of it depends on his work habits, etc. If he his willing to carry around a lot of extra weight, the 15" MBP has a much better native screen resolution for large spreadsheets, side-by-side comparisons, etc. and is ultimately a more capable and flexible machine (easier to upgrade, has a built-in DVD), a better iSight camera if he is into that sort of thing, etc; *however*, it is much heavier, larger foot print, and has the glassy screen (matter of taste).

Personally, I really like my Air and find I rarely miss the added functionality afforded by the 15" MBP (work computer is a first gen MBP, that I now rarely use). I don't think the Air is a good fit for everybody, and it really comes down to your expectations and work habits, needs.

 

[melissarae]

well he needs to be able to create invoices and edit them on the fly... one of his concerns is the size and weight being that he'll be taking it with him to all his stores and using it in his truck. so portability is a big factor in his decision. at home he already has a ACD LED to hook it up to. i'm thinking the MBA would be plenty, like i said, i just wanted to get a few opinions of other MBA users that might use theirs for the same thing. the two machine's he's looking at (MBA and MBP) are only $50 difference... MBA being the cheaper one... so i think i'm going to tell him to go with the MBA thanks!

 

[stoconnell]

well he needs to be able to create invoices and edit them on the fly... one of his concerns is the size and weight being that he'll be taking it with him to all his stores and using it in his truck. so portability is a big factor in his decision. at home he already has a ACD LED to hook it up to. i'm thinking the MBA would be plenty, like i said, i just wanted to get a few opinions of other MBA users that might use theirs for the same thing. the two machine's he's looking at (MBA and MBP) are only $50 difference... MBA being the cheaper one... so i think i'm going to tell him to go with the MBA thanks!

For that scenario, the Air (esp. that one) should be more than sufficient. If someone is a heavy user of virtualization or needs a lot of screen resolution, the case for the Air becomes much less clear.

 

[Scottsdale]

I highly recommend the MBA. Also note, the 2.13 GHz with SSD can be had for only $1549 at Apple.com refurbished.

While a Pro has more capacity for RAM, it just isn't needed for the vast majority of Mac users. The MBA with 2.13 GHz, an SSD, and an Nvidia GPU is plenty of Mac for most Mac users. People that brag about the Pro, most of the time are just people that want more "power" and not people that need that power for anything.

The MBA is plenty powerful enough for most Mac users... something a lot of people find hard to believe because of the "power" mentality.

Good luck.

 

[Santabean2000]

I highly recommend the MBA. Also note, the 2.13 GHz with SSD can be had for only $1549 at Apple.com refurbished.

While a Pro has more capacity for RAM, it just isn't needed for the vast majority of Mac users. The MBA with 2.13 GHz, an SSD, and an Nvidia GPU is plenty of Mac for most Mac users. People that brag about the Pro, most of the time are just people that want more "power" and not people that need that power for anything.

The MBA is plenty powerful enough for most Mac users... something a lot of people find hard to believe because of the "power" mentality.

Good luck.

I'm in the boat for a new notebook, (am going for 13"MBP or MBA referb), but the concern I have over the MBA is the jumpiness of the graphics - this based from the ones I have tested in the Apple shops.

Even scrolling through the Dock looked bad, like my wife's 1GHz iBook 512MB RAM trying to run Leopard...

Is this a common problem?

 

[muronero]

I'm in the boat for a new notebook, (am going for 13"MBP or MBA referb), but the concern I have over the MBA is the jumpiness of the graphics - this based from the ones I have tested in the Apple shops.

Even scrolling through the Dock looked bad, like my wife's 1GHz iBook 512MB RAM trying to run Leopard...

Is this a common problem?

no it's not... mine is the ssd version and graphics are smoother (and it's faster) than my 2 years old macbook pro 17.... my GF has the latest version but with normal HD, of course is not as snappy in opening applications compared with the SSD version... but i can see graphics are still smooth as well...

 

[Santabean2000]

no it's not... mine is the ssd version and graphics are smoother (and it's faster) than my 2 years old macbook pro 17.... my GF has the latest version but with normal HD, of course is not as snappy in opening applications compared with the SSD version... but i can see graphics are still smooth as well...

That's what I would have expected, yet the 3 different machines, in three different stores, all suffered the same jumpiness (is that even a word?!).

The 9400 is slowed slightly as compared to other MB models, yes?

Bugger, because I almost bought one, and now I'm very hesitant...

 

[nph]

Dont know if this is valuable info or not but running WoW I got surprised by the 39fps I got from my Air!

 

[Santabean2000]

Has anyone had to return theirs with faulty/slow graphics?