Macbook Air for full time laptop as grad student?

Hey guys, I've never used a mac before, so I'm here to collect your collective wisdom and experiences w/ the Macbook Air

I'm starting grad school in the fall, and will need a new laptop for the next 2+ years. I'm not aware of any super intense program that I'll have to use, so the most draining programs will probably large spreadsheets in Excel and databases in Access. No need for discrete GPU as I won't be playing games, but will watch a movie here and there.

What I'm most concerned about is battery life, and portability, and the MBA excels at both. The 1440x900 resolution on a 13" is also better than most of the competition. So does anyone here use a macbook air as a full time laptop? How are your experiences working on spreadsheets and documents?

Still not looking forward to switching from Windows to OS X (and the keyboard change), but running W7 on the Air would significantly decrease the battery life. Yet the MBA is probably the best combination of hardware for my needs. What do you guys think?

 

If you want to use Access you need Windows. There is no MS Access in the Mac version of Office. Also Excel 2010 in Windows handles large excels much better than Excel 2011 for Mac.

 

I've been looking at getting an air myself. A few things I've thought about...
- I think the air is awesome if you need the portability.
- The number of ports is very weak (2 usbs, one of which will be used for ethernet)
- The screen is great. Unfortunately no one else seems to be using 13" 1440x900 displays.
- It's still using a C2D. It might be worth waiting for a revision, which might bring a sandy bridge cpu and thunderbolt.

 

Thanks wave, I didn't know that. I guess Windows it is then.

I wonder if running Windows on the Air is practical? How bad would the battery life be?

Yea, I'm very attracted to the MBA for the combination of hardware. As an ultraportable, it really is one of the best if heavy computing isn't something you need.

For USB ports, 3x would be nice, but when you're not plugged in, you really only need one for either a mouse, and maybe another one for a USB stick.

If I buy one, I would wait for the refresh in June as well

 

just install MS Access in Windows in a Virtual machine and fire it up only when you need to run it, and do the rest in OSX. With an Air using up space for a dual boot isn't very good when you have small SSDs in there. If you only have 1 program needing Windows, why run Windows for everything?

 

Additionally, you don't buy ANY Mac computer to run Windows. You buy Apple hardware to run Apple software (ie Mac OS X). It may have the ability to run Windows and it comes in handy but you don't want to do that a lot as there are far less expensive systems for running Windows that have either the same or better hardware in the 13" ultra portable notebook category.

You should also get a MacBook Air only if portability is your key focus. The 13" MBP will easily beat the 13" MBA when it comes to battery life, storage, ease of upgrading, ports, features, and performance (the Core 2 Duo's are showing their age now). However, the MBA is still the reigning champion when it comes to ultra portable notebooks in terms of portability (due to its smaller size).

Lastly, there is no guarantee that Apple is going to refresh the MBA. If they do, it will likely just be spec bumps by throwing in a faster Core 2 Duo processor and maybe more RAM. Traditionally, Apple updates their MacBook lines once a year and then spec bumps them once a year. So Apple will switch to a new processor line (going from Core 2 Duo to Core i5) in Fall 2009, spec bump those products by adding in faster Core i5 chips (along with more RAM and maybe hard drive capacity increases) in summer 2010, and then switch to Sandy Bridge processors in late 2010/early 2011 making that a new generation. Those aren't hard dates and I just made them up (except for the release of the Sandy Bridge MBP models) but it gives you an idea of what Apple sort of follows with their MacBooks.

So, since the MBA was completely overhauled in Fall 2010, we likely won't see a switch to new hardware until around Fall 2011. Any updates between now and then could very well be spec bumps and nothing more. There is no point in waiting 2-3 months for something that may never come or just be incremental upgrades especially since a more serious update would likely be 6 months (or less) after that.

I could be wrong as Apple tends to shift their product development cycles based on consumer buying trends. For example, it now looks like the iPhone 5 isn't going to be shown off until Apple's annual September/October iPod event later this year when new iPhones had traditionally been unveiled at Apple's developer conference.

 

You said a lot of helpful things, but I disagree with this one point.

Since OS preference is a subjective evaluation, whether or not Macs are good for Windows will depend on the user. Now, if we're talking about Win 7 + Mac and battery life, then you're totally right. Battery life is abysmal because iSteve either crippled the Windows drivers on purpose or cares very little to optimize them. In any case, if your primary computing is away from a power source, then you absolutely need to use OS X.

However, if you've got a 17" MBP and need less than average portability, Win 7 can be pretty nice. In fact, I'm planning on using Win 7 as the primary OS on my MBP for when I'm at home. I'll switch to OS X when I go to school. Cross platforming is really easy when you have Dropbox or Windows Live Mesh.

 

Yea, if not for the drastic battery decrease when using Windows, I'd probably have gone w/ the 2011 13" MBP. Local MC just had a sale: $999

I guess I'll probably go w/ a thinkpad then.

 

Which shows why using Windows as the primary OS on any Apple computer is not a good choice. There are plenty of other options that are just as stylish, have the same build quality, and have better internal hardware for a lower price than what Apple is asking for. They all run Windows either the same or better than a MBP. A MBP should be purchased only if you want/need to run Mac OS X. Having the ability to boot to Windows if you want to run a Windows only program is a nice feature but you should not be booting to Windows the majority of the time.

Using Windows as a primary OS on a MBP is like buying a Cadillac SUV with the sole purpose of towing a shoddy boat. Sure, it can do it without issues but you are going to scratch the Hell out of that expensive SUV and it wasn't really designed to do that type of work. You could go and spend half as much on a Ford or Chevy truck for the same purpose but will have much better results.

 

I was in the same place as you and decided to go with the lenovo x301. And here is why ... I am not trying to bash the apple product I love their products I am positing from my iPad but .... When I comes to grad school if you are using a lot of business applications and there may be some software to install while in grad school you will find yourself in a bit of a pickle.

I love the x301 and now my wife is using for her dental school ... If you need to use windows software i would look at lenovo products as well the x220 coming out will be very durable.

If it helps my macbook pro is now 4 years old and still runs great.

 

um....i'm not actually sure there is.

 

You aren't looking hard enough then.

 

care to point some out?

 

Why would you want another, cheaper, crap machine to run Windows when MBP does it just fine? I have a Win7 desktop, but it acts as my server.

 

The 13" HP Pavilion dm3t comes to mind. It is a little over $1000 when maxed out (8GB RAM, 120GB SSD, etc.) and comes with UM Core i3 processor that is more powerful than the Core 2 Duos being used in the MBA. There is also the 12.1" Lenovo ThinkPad X201 that starts at $1010 with a Core i5 processor (not even a low voltage model). Dell's Vostro 3300 starts at $470 with a Core i3 processor.

They all might be a little thicker and a tad heavier than the 13" MBA but they are less expensive ultra portable options than a MBA is someone were to run Windows 99% of the time. Even Samsung has an ultra portable that takes a design class from Apple. I think it is actually a little more expensive than the MBA but it also has better hardware (even last generation's Core i processors would be better than a Core 2 Duo).

 

you might be better off with something like this

Amazon.com: ASUS U31JG-XA1 13.3-Inch Laptop - Black: Computer & Accessories

it uses optimus switching to switch between intel or nvidia 415 to save battery life. Its a pretty balanced machine and has core i3. i dont think 699 is bad for what you get. plus the weight is only 3.7 pounds.

 

If you're okay with running Fusion/Parallels or are comfortable installing and dual-booting Windows (possible on an Air?), the Mac will be fine.

The path of least resistance, however is with a PC laptop. You will inevitably run into software that doesn't work on OS X. Unless you're willing to do that kind of work from a supplemental computer or computer lab, you'll need some way to get Windows working on your Mac. I wouldn't buy the mac without being *comfortable* with how to run Windows in some way.

 

The MBA is capable of dual-booting Windows. I think this used to be an issue back when the first MBA came out (I believe it had something to do with an external optical drive and installing Windows XP from a thumb drive, it didn't really work) but Apple has resolved some problems and Windows 7 can now be fully installed from USB media.

 

I was actually planning on getting the MBA and then just run Windows 7 on it natively (as in not via bootcamp, but deleting OS X completely). But I read Anand's review and it seems battery life suffers quite a bit when running Windows, so I gave up on that idea.

Looks like I'm gonna end up going w/ the X220. It's a bit heavier, a bit thicker, and the resolution's not as high, but that battery life's unbeatable and the IPS screen is very nice as well.

Or this lol.

 

That would be a better choice even if battery life didn't suffer on the MBA when running Windows. Go back and search through the forums, there have been a countless number of people who wanted to strictly run Windows on their Mac notebooks. They are all eventually pointed to something that has either the same or better specs and runs Windows. The rule of thumb is to never purchase Apple hardware unless you want/need to run OS X.

In my opinion, it would be rather dumb to spend extra money on Apple hardware (let's face it, the competition is less expensive) if you aren't going to run their software. There isn't anything in a current MacBook (aside from Thunderbolt and a few other small things) that can't be found on a Windows notebook for less. You don't buy a MacBook to run Windows, you buy it to primarily use OS X.

 

Here's the thing though: Is there any Windows laptop with a trackpad comparable to MBPs? I have a friend who seriously pays the margins on MBPs just for that trackpad - he runs Windows on them. HP Envy (early gen) wasn't as good IMO, did they get any better?

 

people have made drivers to improve them, and apparently the drivers work great, but i highly doubt they are comparable to mac's trackpads

 

Yeah they are still lacking but they're getting a lot better. I tested a few new machines' trackpads from HP (including one of the new Envy models), Dell and Sony and they are much better than before but to me personally they still do not compare to Apple's trackpad in response, sensitivity, smoothness and overall usablity (if you're used to the Apple trackpads) - otherwise they're pretty decent compared to what was offered before.

 

Even then though, Apple's trackpad performance is best under OS X. The Boot Camp default is nothing compared to the features offered in OS X and the few third part drivers I have messed with still can't offer everything that you see under Apple's operating system. Other PC manufacturers have come a long way with their trackpads. They still all come in behind what Apple is doing but, if you want to use the trackpad to its full potential, you have to use OS X. Besides, I don't think paying a $200-$300 premium (at least) is enough to warrant a better trackpad that won't be used to its full potential. $50 or $60? Maybe.

 

The thing is I really like the hardware, and I'm willing to pay for it. But I guess it's like kornchild said, don't buy a Mac to run anything but OSX.