Macbook Pro or Air for grad school?

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum and am seeking opinions on whether to buy a MBP or MBA for law school this fall.

I don't expect to run very many programs-- I'll spend a lot of time on Firefox and Microsoft Word. Portability is definitely an issue as I will be commuting to school by train/on foot. I'm also concerned with battery life; does one model's battery have more longevity? Ultimately, though, I want to make sure that the laptop I buy will last me through school, which is three years.

I've been reading that Apple releases a new Pro pretty much every year. The same is not true for the Air though, correct? Are one or both of these due for a refresh soon? If so, I can wait up until August to purchase.


Humbly seeking opinions... if you can't tell, I know next to nothing about Macs.

 

Are there specific programs at your school that require a Mac? If not, and you're more familiar with Windows, I would suggest looking at one of the many new ultrabooks that offer similar specs but for less money, including the Asus U36JC or Samsung Series 5.

 

Thanks for the reply! I've been wanting to make the switch to a Mac for awhile, though. I'm just in the early stages of deciding which model makes the most sense for me.

 

Whether or not either series is updated has no affect on if the laptop you buy will last through school. A new model doesn't make your existing model bad or non-functioning.

For what you describe, the MBA is the better choice. But I agree with Saturnotaku, unless there is a requirement for a Mac or you really want to learn them, why not stick with Windows based machines?

 

Right, I didn't mean to imply that I thought that older models wouldn't function as well as newer ones. I would still like to hear opinions on what refreshes Apple will likely release this year, because it would be fun to treat myself to the newest model

I see what you both mean about sticking with Windows, and I've considered that option as well. Right now I've got an older HP that is on it's last leg. I'm ready for a change, though, and have a Mac desktop at home, so I'm familiar with the software.

MBA is the better choice because of portability, obviously. What about battery life, etc? Do both machines have solid reputations? Thanks again

 

The Air will have better battery life owing to 1) its solid-state storage system and 2) its low-voltage CPU.

Rumors abound about what Apple will do this year, but no one will know for certain until they actually make an announcement. If you can wait until August, there likely will be a new lineup of MacBook Pros and Airs with Intel's new Ivy Bridge processors. They will offer improved graphics (not important based on what you've said) and a modest bump in speed. At the same time, if your existing notebook is breaking down and you need to have one, you won't go wrong buying one of the current models.

 

The Macbook air could be great for your situation, but a couple things to consider:
- Is a 13inch screen large enough for you? If you do a lot of text work, your eyes may prefer a larger screen.
- Will the lack of an onboard optical drive cause any issues? In an educational setting, you may find there are times that burning a CD or DVD, or loading something up via CD or DVD is helpful.

 

I'm a little hesitant to recommend Apples to lawyers, as (1) I've never found a single firm that uses them, (2) Westlaw.com doesn't work 100% perfectly with anything besides Internet Explorer (the Windows version, not the OSX version), and (3) some popular e-transcript viewers are Windows-only.

What's your budget? Since you're looking at $1000-$1200 and emphasizing portability, a Thinkpad X220 with the $50 upgrade to the "Premium" display (which is IPS) would be a great choice. Durable, portable, good keyboard, good screen, not burdened with tons of bloatware like certain other PC brands (Asus, I'm looking at you). EDIT: oh my god, I just realized the X220 lacks an optical drive. For the reasons stated below, I'd avoid it. Optical drives are really, really important for lawyers.

Edit: as a lawyer, you will NEED an optical drive. DVD-ROMs are still the main method of exchanging documents in the legal world. I'd be very hesitant to get the MacBook Air, or any Windows Ultrabook, for that reason. If you're going to go Apple, get a MacBook Pro 13 (the MBP 15 is shockingly expensive if all you're going to do is word processing and web browsing).

 

The 13" MBA and 13" MBP are comparable in battery life. Neither gets the 7 hours rated by Apple - but I don't solely browse the internet. With a standard workload, both get 4-5 hours of battery life.

Most likely there will be an IB refresh this year as mentioned, but no official announcement yet.

 

Another thought - if I was to return to school, I would seriously consider a basic windows based notebook for word processing, etc. AND an iPad for portable use. For the cost of a Macbook (pro or air), you could set yourself up in this way.

If money is no issue, get an iPad and a Macbook pro.

 

I'm not sure an iPad would be a real advantage in law school. Taking notes, legal research, outlining...it doesn't excel at any of those things.

To the OP...after some more thought, I'd go with a Lenovo T420 (under 5 lbs, great keyboard, long-lasting battery, and durable) for about the same price as a MacBook, maybe a little less, depending on how nice of a screen you want. They start at $720, and with an i5, a 900p screen, an extended-length battery, and 6 GB of ram, they're still under $1000.

 

Mitlov I agree on the t420 and will add you the elitebook 2560p

I dont know requirements in the USA, but my brother is a Lawyer here in Canada and by our privacy regulations and most firms policies, all Macs are out for client/case data. they dont posess HARDWARE level encryption ( fully active TPM 1.2 or higher )

All firms he works with require you need to have very good physical securtity ( incase your laptop is stolen ) and a bios/firmware that can be broken by pulling ram or CMOS battery and software encryption isnt good enough

 

TPM isn't hardware encryption, it just keeps the decryption keys on the laptop. The actual encryption is software based and done through Windows 7 Bitlocker.

EDIT: And to further push the point, you can pull out an encrypted drive from a laptop with a TPM module and use it in a system without a TPM module as long as you have the password or alternatively have the recovery/decryption key on a flash drive.

 

partially correct, I was over simplifying, and were not talking bitlocker specifically. A fully active TPM 1.2 chip holds the keys, but supporting systems can LOCK that physical hard drive to that system with a massive RSA key, so if the drive is removed, sleeping or in hold state, it cant be accessed from another system or through even an external enclosure. and the newer TPM's fo hold the BIOS/UEFI passwords as well.

downside, once system locked, many cant be made open again

secondly the TPM has a MUCH larger and secured random number generstor to encrypt a 2048RSA key, not 128 or 256 common in a purely software solution.

 

Ah I stand corrected. The only system I've found that uses the TPM so far was BitLocker.

 

I think that's probably the norm at large firms. At small-to-midsize firms, those requirements don't exist because the firms themselves are not that tech saavy. I mean, if you're carrying a paper file around with you and a laptop around with you, it doesn't matter if the laptop is encrypted, because all the clients' information is in the paper file as well, and that's not "encrypted" in any way, shape, or form if it gets stolen. So we just do everything we can to make sure it doesn't get stolen in the first place

 

very good point. He is in a large firm where paper is not too common in leaving the premises ( guards even look for files not signed out )

 

That's sort of a weird arbitrary requirement, considering there's no functional difference between the type of setup you are describing, vs. doing the exact same thing in software.

 

except the hdd gets locked to that system only, and you cant force the system to give up or forget its hardware password, in my brothers issued thinkpad 3 wrong initial hardware passwords=begin of drive wipe

most systems

BIOS/EFI ---> boot hard drive --- load os and enable software encryption if password is right.

protected systems

1 BIOS/EFI
2 TPM for secured system password or
2a enable smartcard unit, verify card and PIN ( higher end units only )
3 system negotiates key with hard drive to unlock HDD
4 system boots up with drive encryption ( with keys from TPM )
5 user logs in with password or smartcard

its extra steps and checks to make sure if the laptop gets lost or stolen the information remains a bit more secure.

I may have missed steps but little brother talks too fast

 

For the record, none of this discussion really matters, because he's going off to his first day of law school, not his first day at Wie Ahre Gyiyant's Beijing office. You don't need high-level encryption to protect your civil procedure outline.

And even if, after three years, he lands a job with Wie Ahre Gyiyant, they'll probably give him a laptop that he's allowed to do office work on. It's only at the small-to-midsize offices where I'm going to trial carrying a laptop I selected and purchased with my own money.

 

Right. I think the question has already been answered in terms of "going back to school" but I will chime in. I purchased a 13" MBP before starting grad school (MS in environmental engineering) and carried it around for my first quarter with classes. I then sold it and purchased a MBA instead. For me, I wasn't really doing anything that required the higher end processor (albeit by not a noticeable amount unless you are encoding/rendering video), I definitely wasn't using the optical drive while on-the-go, and the extra weight was getting to me (the walk to campus from my lab is all uphill and up a handful of stories in stairs).

The MBA does have quite a few benefits over the 13" MBP. First and foremost, it is much lighter and thinner. Second, the 13" display has a higher resolution. Third, the display isn't as glossy as the MBP's. Fourth, it comes standard with SSD whereas Apple charges a bunch of money to upgrade to an SSD (or you can do it yourself).

There are some drawbacks though. The MBA's display isn't as high quality as the MBP's (mainly due to the edge-to-edge glass cover), it technically features a weaker processor (again, not something you are really going to notice), it lacks a few ports (mainly ethernet and FireWire 800), you can't upgrade the RAM (what you get is what you get).

Price wise, the MBA is actually really competitive with other Windows only ultrabooks out there. I saw an Asus model at Best Buy (it looked just like a MBA with the lid open) and it had a $1300 price tag yet it didn't have as high of a resolution as the MBA, the battery life wasn't the same, the trackpad was definitely inferior, and it had a few other negatives. It was still a really nice Windows machine but for the case of ultrabooks, I really think that Apple has the MBA competitively priced enough that it isn't as large of a gap (if there is even a gap) as is between notebooks and MBPs.

 

One thing completely interesting to me are the slates. They're the real future of tablet imo, since right now they're just larger phones. Something like the Series 7 slate, Lenovo Yoga, something with a desktop class OS and hardware, but with "true" mobility and a 2-in-1 factor.

 

Asus is working on a Windows 8 tablet to be revealed later this year. Remember Windows 8 is the same OS for both tablets and computers; it's just that you'll primarily use the Metro UI in a tablet and use the desktop more with a computer (with Metro just being a replacement for the Start menu). Five bucks says the next-gen Transformer Prime will have Windows 8 instead of Android...and that's one heck of a "whatever you want it to be" machine.

 

Prime is still, for the most part, running phone-esque hardware though.

And yeah, it won't really come to fruition until the introduction of W8. W7 fails in touch form.

 

I would recommend any of the business laptops by Lenovo, HP, or Dell. 14" is a good size unless you're concerned about the weight and size. Since I have a Thinkpad T410, I would recommend the T420 or T420s by Lenovo. If you want more portability, consider the X220 with IPS (premium option).

However, I think that either the MBP or MBA are solid options. Not sure what your needs are (eg battery life, screen resolution, portability, etc.) but if I were to get one, I'd definitely get the 13" MBA for the higher resolution and portability.

As for an update, it's highly probably both will be updated sometime this summer with the release of the new Intel chips but I guess we'll have to see when the time comes.

Good luck on your purchase.

 

I disagree. Notebook manufacturers have been coming out with tablet solutions running desktop OS's for a long, long time. The main issue is that they were always applying some type of pen/touch layer over a keyboard and mouse desktop. MS is working on that with Wndows 8 but it will be the first time they are focusing heavily on touch input. Not only that but users will essentially be locked into using Metro which means the "traditional" Windows experience won't be there. Lastly, units running ARM processors won't be able to access standard program unless they are built for the ARM architecture. My main issue will be with the programs that Windows 8 runs and how many will be built for touch input).

If anything, the iPad has shown us that tablets running non-desktop OS's built solely around touch input are successful and are likely the future especially since other manufacturers will have to play catchup as Apple will have been in the game for 2, almost 3 years by the time Windows 8 slates come out. I think they have potential but apps for the iPad are becoming more and more complex offering desktop-like features all around touch input.

 

I don't think you'll be "locked into" metro; this video preview of touch interactions with Windows 8 doesn't show you going into the desktop, but it does show the full Microsoft Office suite among the applications listed in the Metro UI. In my copy of Consumer Preview, when you click on any program (not app, but full-on program), it opens it on the desktop.

Get started with Windows 8 Consumer Preview

That said, Metro is definitely more touch-friendly than the desktop is. When I get a Windows 8 tablet, I'll probably spend the vast amount of my time in the Metro UI.

 

HP 2760p or 2740p. Stylus for note taking, touch screen, small, extended battery of required AND the option of buying a full three year accidental damage warranty. Although it might not look as cool as a mac eventually you might realise that Apple suck and looks isn't everything

(The 2760p supports a 2.5" 7mm drive be it SSD or standard while the 2740p supports a 1.8" sata drive)

 

The main point I'm trying to get at is that I don't want "apps". I want full-fledged software. If I want to get work done, "apps" aren't enough. I need software. I don't need Photoshop Express, I need Photoshop. I need Matlab. And so on...

Ultrabooks are definitely closer to the solution than tablets imo. Full SSD storage instead of cheap flash. However, it's tough to beat tablet's form factor when one is taking a break from productivity. Hence... slates

 

As I said, "apps" (which really are nothing more than software, let's not get into the whole apps aren't software debate) are becoming more complex. The iPad version of Pages is able to provide a nice experience that is somewhat close to the OS X version. The same thing holds true for Keynote. There are other third party apps that are able to mimic MS Office functionality quite nicely.

I get what you are saying but notebook tablets have long had a chance at trying to take the tablet market. We have even seen slates running Windows 7 (mainly the extremely expensive one from HP running a dinky Atom processor) and they have yet to do anything other than stay in their niche market. The success of tablets (such as the iPad) has shown that consumers are ready to go that route. Now it is up to the developers to decide how faithful of a "desktop" environment they want to provide with their apps. Some go all out while others are intent with providing a watered down experience.

Besides, let's not forget that the software you want to run on a slate will need to be revamped for touch input. Photoshop would be a nightmare using touch input if some of the aspects weren't changed and MATLAB would be damn near impossible since it relies heavily on keyboard input (unless you like moving the virtual keyboard around a lot to see your commands and variables). Getting the OS to be touch friendly is only half the battle, the rest remains up to programmers.

That is why I think Windows 8 slates will be in a worse position than both iOS and Android tablets. The latter have been on the market longer, they are built around touch input (and so are their apps), etc. Win 8 slates will have a long way to go before their everyday programs are built for touch input (let alone coded for ARM support).

 

Every professional PS uses a digitizer and a touch interface, so I'm not sure what you're on about. And all slates are available with keyboards, plus full USB connectivity.

Plus the point is you get a desktop class hardware/software that you can also use with one hand when you just want to watch a video/surf the web. When you want to be productive, the touch input is largely irrelevant, except in the case of PS, where I can see the touch interface being a huge bonus. So I see no reason for engineers to optimize software for touch UI because the point is you have a mouse/keyboard when you need to get stuff done.

Slates run ULV sandy's. That's on the orders of 4x+ more powerful than the most powerful ARM chips in production.

 

Not to keep this tangent going further, but I actually think Windows 8 tablets are going to be huge in just a year or so. Sure, the Windows mobile app selection is the smallest right now, but it's growing faster than iOS or Android. Windows Phone 7.5 and Windows 8 are both fantastic touch interfaces, and as another benefit, they have their own distinct identity instead of Android's fragmented identity (which in some cases ends up looking a whole lot like an iOS knock-off). NOBODY looks at a Nokia Lumia 710 running Windows Phone 7.5 Mango and says "hey, is that the new iPhone?"

And app developers are going to be really, really interested in making Windows 8 apps when Windows 8 hits the market, because you're going to be serving two separate communities (the mobile community and the computer-using community) with a single app. Android can't offer that.

My prediction? In three years, iOS and Windows 8 will be the two titans duking it out for control of mass-market mobile devices, and Android will go the way of Linux (not dead, but catering to a smaller, anti-establishment, technically-saavy market).

 

iOS is still a mobile OS. Windows 8 will be a desktop class OS. They are not comparable, and their success would depend on two different things.

Having said that, iOS is moving closer and closer to OSX with each iteration.

Android will not die given Google's direction of things. Expect a full blown OS in the near future imo.

All three tech giants have the same goal: complete integration.

Also in 3 years, Intel is gonna have a strong foothold on the mobile market, its half-century experience in producing silicon would clearly give it the edge over ARM. Really curious to see the x86 vs ARM play out.

 

Windows 8 is both a desktop OS and a mobile OS. Nokia is releasing an iPad-fighting Windows 8 tablet this summer, and other tablet and mobile manufacturers should follow soon after. So in that sense, Windows 8 is definitely going to be comparable to both OSX and iOS, whereas Windows 7 was only comparable to OSX and Windows Phone 7 was only comparable to iOS.

Here's a photoshop of what the Nokia Windows 8 tablet should look like:



Nokia Windows 8 tablet coming in June 2012?

 

Point is Windows 8 is a desktop class OS. iOS is not.

Being a subset is not comparable to the whole set itself.

Aforementioned photoshop/matlab will never run in their entirety on a mobile level system. Period. (Android booting Linux withstanding).

 

But won't having to plug in an external keyboard and mouse ruin the whole slate experience? I can understand docking a tablet when you get home to expand its functionality but what about wanting to run more complex programs on-the-go? For example, right now, you would essentially need to plug a keyboard and mouse into a Win 8 slate to run MS Office as it is not developed for touch input (even touch layers over the software are rather poor). Doesn't that defeat the purpose of a slate and its accompanying OS being built around a touch interface? I know MS is re-developing Office and it is supposed to be a radical upgrade but I am only commenting on what I am seeing now.

So what's the point of having a touch driven slate with a touch driven OS if you have to stop and plug in a keyboard and mouse to run a large portion of programs. Yes, developers will need to take this into account for their programs. If anything, I think they will take the same path as they did for iOS: release standard desktop programs and then "mobile" versions for Windows 8 slates and touch input. Otherwise MATLAB or Photoshop would never truly run on a Win 8 slate unless one were to stop and dock it thus turning it into a notebook with a touchscreen (and that is something we already have).

If anything, app developers need to make their mobile apps more complex and open things up. It can be done but may require more powerful hardware that is coming out this year (hopefully the iPad 3 rectifies some of this with a quad-core processor). That may change certain aspects and allow for more advanced mobile operating systems that will provide more desktop-like experiences. As I said, there are already plenty of Office-type apps in the app store for the iPad 2 that are able to mimic the desktop experience. It is only a matter of time before more apps are released that are able to do the same thing.

 

I vote no ipad + macbook air 13". iPads are slow to type with out a full size keyboard, the macbook 13" pro battery lasts a little longer than the air, but both it and the air should give you enough juice. A lot of people say the air is the ipad pro...

The macbook air will boot faster, resume faster, be less prone to shock since it is solid state, has a screen with more dpi so smaller text is sharper, has more working space because of the higher dpi, is lighter, and the current one has the same backlit keyboard the pro's have... The speakers are just as good too... The last one was released in July, and they did the air once last year instead of twice like the macbook pros of last year. So its possible the air will not be refreshed when the pro does in the next 1-3 months.

The air does not have as much glass on the screen either, so it looks a little less glossy which can be a good thing that will help reduce the mirror effect...

You dont need a whole lot of hard drive space either, so the smaller and faster air is perfect for you...

 

Dont let them convince you to go cheap and pc... You know you want a mac...

Timemachine, good screens, best trackpad out there, no creaking, 1000 cycle battery that lasts about 3 times longer than the batteries in most pc laptops... The list goes on and on...

And I run IE everyday on my mac through virtual box without even leaving osx. Just make sure you get 4 gigs of ram and not a previous gen machine with 2 gigs. The solid state storage of an air helps reduce the launch time of it also making virtual box much less of a headache than on a pro with a 5000 rpm standard hard drive....

I have been using the same osx machine image for 4 years on 3 different imacs on 3 different versions of osx all upgraded instead of a clean wipe install and all without slowing down... That says something...

 

Let's just put it this way. Whatever shortcoming you're naming right now is already a shortcoming of either the ultrabook or the current tablet. Ideally if one were to be productive, could he at least be given a desk? The main point is it's difficult to be productive if one doesn't have a keyboard and if one doesn't have the proper software backing.

Furthermore, look at the Lenovo Yoga. No additional peripherals needed.

I don't think making "mobile apps" more complex [and as a result more expensive] is the answer. The appstore is still really only a place for "indie" developers to thrive.

Office is easy enough to replicate with years of UI improvements and billion dollar funding and whatnot. What about PS/Matlab though? Netbeans? VMware?

 

Which is kind of my point. That essentially turns a Win 8 slate into an ultrabook with a keyboard and mouse (along with the touchscreen). I can understand the appeal of hauling around a slate running Win 8 and (really) only accessing Metro while on the go and then docking it with some type of accessory for more power use and getting into the "desktop" computing platform of Win 8.

My main issue is that current tablets are already starting to get there (just look at the Asus Transformer Prime series) especially as apps become more and more complex. There will always be a market for more complex productivity and even gaming apps whether or not the indie developers can keep up. People are fine flicking around birds at pigs while others want to progress to Infinity Blade just as some people might be fine with basic text apps while others want to dig deeper and use Pages.

My concerns come from MS being able to catchup with what Google and Apple have already done by offering touch friendly apps for their platform with previous developers migrating to touch friendly input as well. Let's face it, someone isn't going to put their slate in a keyboard dock (or flip the keyboard around) just so they can enter a paragraph of text in Word. That is currently what consumers would have to do with a Win 7/8 slate as the program itself is not touch friendly. As I said, that may change but MS (and others) would have to apply those changes across the board if they wanted their programs to be used in a touch interface.

I understand that other programs are built for mouse and keyboard input and will be that way until the end of time. That is fine and a slate would have the option of running those. However, if someone is going to constantly be using a keyboard with a slate, wouldn't they be better off just getting an ultrabook instead? Sure, it lacks the touchscreen but it has the typical notebook form factor in something that isn't that much larger or heavier than a slate (looking at the 11" or 13" MBA, other ultrabooks weigh in at higher numbers).

Which is why I think the OP would be better off with a MBA for grad school as it would allow them to have an extreme amount of flexibility while giving them the typical desktop computer platform. If they wanted a tablet, the iPad would be a viable option for note taking (I do this almost every weekday), general web surfing, etc. That way they don't have to wait for a Win 8 slate. I also have concerns over the designs of Win 8 slates and the direction that MS is taking with Win 8 in general. I don't like that they are forcing people into the Metro UI (I prefer what Apple did by offering up a similar interface to iOS but not enforcing it for everyday use since the dock is still there for that) and I don't know how well that will play out for non-touchscreen devices with current and future trackpad hardware and software. I also don't think that manufacturers will be able to match battery life numbers of current tablets. They might slap a 7 hour label on there but we all know it will get about 5 hours whereas an iPad 2 with a 10 hour label will actually obtain 10 hours or more.

 

It can just as easily said that an ultrabook is just a slate without the touchscreen [and a permanently attached keyboard]. Or a tablet is just a slate without the desktop class hardware/OS/connectivity. It's really just semantics.

Point being, this "touchscreen device with a desktop class OS and CPU with optional/mandatory keyboard attachment" is the future. Slates just happen to be the closest.

Google/Apple have a humongous lead in the mobile side of things. But obviously we're getting closer and closer to just one or two universal devices. So when hits the fan, Microsoft [and in some cases Apple] have a tremendous advantage on the desktop level software.

 

Windows 8-friendly Office 15 is in the works. The layout is different and is more amenable to either touch or traditional input. Are you going to bust out a complex Excel spreadsheet with a touchscreen? No. Could you review a Powerpoint presentation, or bust out some emails with Outlook, or add some notes to yourself with OneNote? Sure. No external keyboard needed.

Here are some preview images of the next-gen Office:

Outlook: Office “15″ full Outlook Metro UI screenshot leaks | WinRumors

Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote: Take an early tour of Windows 8's Office 15 (images) - Download.com

And for most things you'd want to do on a tablet, you'd just have a touch-friendly metro UI anyway. Checking mail, surfing the web, playing games. The advantages is that you can do the same things with the same programs on your desktop in addition to doing more complex work. You can check email with the exact same mail program, etc.

I think I'll get a Windows 8 tablet and I'm not intending on getting any external input devices for it. From messing around with the Win 8 Consumer Preview, I don't think I'd need them for anything I use my tablet for.

 

The thing is, I can legitimately see myself replace my laptop with this "device". I don't need more processing power than what's available (and I work in software), and while the odd game is nice, hopefully Haswell will bring enough GPU power to the table for at least some FIFA gaming.

 

I have heard companies (and even Bill Gates) say the same thing about notebook convertible tablets and even netbook convertible tablets so you will have to excuse me if I still have my doubts especially since Apple has proven the whole "desktop OS and CPU on a slate" idea wrong.

Which is exactly what I currently do on my iPad. Almost any spreadsheet that I use contains formulas that reference different cells across the file and manipulates them in some way. I can easily open, edit, and save more complex spreadsheet files using my iPad as the apps were built solely around touch input. I knew MS was making a more touch friendly version of Office. My issue is that they are still saying it will have touchscreen "elements." To me, that means it won't be completely driven by a touchscreen and instead offer basic functionality while anything else will require a keyboard and mouse. If MS is unable to let someone open up a complex spreadsheet and edit things solely by touch, they will be behind the competition and what can already be done on non-desktop class OS's and hardware.

 

On the other hand, you can read "basic touch functionality" as meaning you can do everything you want to in the new Excel with just a touch, but it's not built around fancy multitouch gestures. The finger is still a proxy for the cursor.

It's all speculation at this point, but I suspect you'll be able to access any menu and feature you want with touch; it just won't be a touch- oriented program like OneNote looks like it will be.

 

I don't think Apple proved the "desktop OS and CPU on a slate" idea wrong as much as they have proved that the form factor and UI is wrong.

They proved that a touch interface must be designed from the ground up, and not just an afterthought, which Win8 is -- check.

And they proved that it must be operational with one hand, and that users are a big fan of sleek + light; and with the current slates weighing in at under 2 lbs and about half an inch -- check.

 

With that said.... Get a macbook air... lol

 

unless you go to hell lot of conferences... macbook pro gives u more bang out of ur bucks

 

I would say the pro is the safe choice. has the dvd drive better processor and what not. So won't have to worry about not being able to do anything(That isn't windows only of course)

From what your saying though the air would probably work.(your can buy external dvd drives, hard drives and whatnot.) So if it being light is worth it to you then I say go for the air. I don't think you can go to far wrong with either one though.