macbook air 13 v macbook pro 13

hi guys i'm thinking of gettting the macbook air 13 inch but i'm debating over the macbook pro as it has sandy bridge processor. i'm just look for some advice over what to get

I will mainly be using this for goving to and from uni just to write note and surf the web nothing to taxing (would like to no from user if flash video plays ok on the air) as i have a gaming computer back in my room.

I'm leaning to wards the macbook air

-weight
-don't need DVD drive
-extra ports on macbook pro are not needed (firewire/thunderbolt)

however the macbook pro

-price
-battery life? (I dont no about this one can anyone tell me which one has better battery)
-sandy bridge

can anyone just give me some advice and see if i have missed anything

thanks

 

13 inch air has a 1440x900 display, compared to the MBP's 1280x800. Air also has nvidia 320m graphics chip. While old, it is still superior to the sandy bridge graphics. Air has no ethernet port (you need a usb adapter, thus taking one of the usb slots).

 

For your needs the Air is the way to go for sure. Everything's going for it except for the price. A fully loaded MBA 13 is not cheap but it's a fantastic little machine.

 

It doesn't sound like you need much power so the better Sandy Bridge CPU in the MBP or the slightly better GPU in the Air don't really matter.

I'd recommend Air though for its size, screen resolution, and it comes standard with an SSD. I think the 13" base Air will be a better experience than the 13" base MBP for your needs.

 

You could easily satisfy your needs with a netbook and save yourself 1k. Otherwise, just go for the 11" air. It will still be overkill but the form factor really makes it fantastic for every day usage.

 

i no i could use a netbook but i always worry about netbooks as i hate the small screens and the low resolutions. also i like the combiation of battery life, super light weight and the fact that its still a full sized laptop. The laptop that its replacing was a touchsmart tx2 which i loved to peices (love the touchscreen win7+touch amazing dont let anyone tel you other wise) but it was really really heavy for a 12.1 inch tablet pc.

 

I wouldn't get a netbook as they are slowly fading away. Tablets and new, smaller notebooks (often referred to as notbooks) are taking their place. Netbooks had their day in the Sun a few years ago but they are pretty stagnant when it comes to advancements. Case in point, Intel is barely releasing an update to the Atom platform allowing for 1080p video playback with Intel GMA 600 graphics. Even other parties have kind of stopped focusing on developing new technologies for netbooks.

A MacBook Air (MBA) will be expensive but it will fit your needs just fine. The 13" MBP would be an all around better machine (more powerful processor, about 50% longer batter life coming in at 7 hours, backlight keyboard, more built-in storage, more RAM, easier to upgrade internal components such as hard drive and RAM, etc.) but it really sounds like you don't need anything more than what is already in the MBA.

Just make sure that you want/need to run Mac OS X. Otherwise the battery life on the MBA is going to be awful. You want to purchase Apple hardware to run Apple software, otherwise their are other solutions that can run Windows better than what Apple is offering.

 

I thought the SSD and the RAM were both soldered to the logic board in the Air, making upgrades completely impossible; so the only option if you want to upgrade is the MBP.

 

Right, that is why it is easier to upgrade the internal components on a MBP. You essentially have to order the MBA as-is. So any SSD capacity or RAM increases have to be customized with the MBA when it is ordered. I thought there used to be a 3rd party company that would upgrade the SSD to a higher capacity and take the stuff that was installed by Apple and put it in a USB 3.0 enclosure. However, I think Apple shut them down.

 

I'd be inclined to opt for the MBP; spending the sort of money Apple demands for the Air on a laptop with a Core 2 Duo CPU is simply ridiculous. However, the Air will likely be refreshed soon with Sandy Bridge CPUs, and this may factor into your decision.

 

I've read that the 13''MBA runs cooler than the new 13'' MBP, so if the hot/fan noise might be an issue for you, take this into account as well.

 

Considering you are not going to be using it for anything major... I really think the Air will suit you just fine. Its smaller/lighter but still has the same size screen realestate. Battery life on the air will be better as well. You have no need for a large hard drive considering you are just messing with documents, so thats not really an issue. The instant on of the SSD will be a major plus for taking from class to class. In most peoples cases, I am all for the MBP... but in your case, I say the air. Air fits your needs better considering you already have a good home desktop as your "powerhouse".

 

Battery life is better on the MBP. It is almost 50% better than the 11" MBA and it has been going for about 30-40 minutes longer than the 13" MBA (based on several reviews). The 13" MBA has the same 7 hour rating as the 13" MBP but the MBP has been meeting or exceeding Apple's battery life estimates while the 13" MBA has normally been coming in a little short.

 

i have seen on cnet they say the mbp does 90min longer in there tests which is making me think but i still like the higher res display on the air do you think when the new airs come out with sandy bridge that the battery life will be the same or not

 

They might be or they could last the same. When the 13" MBP switched from the Core 2 Duo line to the Core i5/i7 Sandy Bridge processors and chipset, the battery life was essentially left alone. The C2D MBP was rated at 10 hours but most people were getting around 7-7.5 hours of usage out of it. So I wouldn't be surprised if the MBA's battery life is unaffected if/when Apple refreshes it.

Remember that any hardware refresh rumors are just that; rumors. Apple traditionally launches new hardware (computers, not iDevices) once a year and then spec bumps it about half-way through the product's lifecycle. So Apple could conceivably only spec bump the MBA this summer and not fully switch to the Sandy Bridge platform until this Fall (one year after it was completely refreshed). In fact, it has already been 6 months since the MBA was completely refreshed so a spec bump might be just around the corner or Apple could wait a few more months and refresh the MBA again with Sandy Bridge processors and chipsets.