[troy67]

Hello All,

As it's my birthday, my mom has agreed to buy me a new MacBook Pro, which I have told her sits at around $2300 (CAD). After seeing the new MacBook Air (which with the addition of a SuperDrive and the 1.8 GHz processor has a very similar price point), I am both intrigued and inclined to pre-order one instead. But I do have some concerns...

Firstly, before anyone goes on another optical drive rant, let me tell everyone that it's a non-issue for me. For me (and I suspect this for most people), I use my optical drive to install new software (can you say 3 other macs in the house?), so remote disk can handle that no problem, and for the odd ocassion when I put a movie on in my room late at night, the SuperDrive will get the job done perfectly. I don't understand why the whole world is finding this lack of a drive such a problem when it is so easy to get around. And for those who find a genuine issue with it? Don't buy an Air. This all being said, it would be nice to see an optical drive in future models of the MacBook Air.

Processor speed:

I have a 15" G4 Powerbook right now... which means I have an underwhelming 1.67 GHz PowerPC processor to accompany my masses of media in iTunes. That said, I don't find my PowerBook to be all too slow right now. I figure that with a change from a 1.67 GHz PPC to (an upgraded) 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo in the Air that I should be happy with the speed. I generally only run Messenger, iTunes, Safari, and occasionally an application from my MS Office Suite at one time. Thoughts? Do I really need to upgrade to the 2.2 GHz processor in the Pro?

Hard Drive:

80 GB? ... 80 GB? damn. Sure, my current PowerBook has the same hard drive, and it isn't full quite yet, but it seems too behind the times to have such a low storage capacity.

Atop of that, I am soo tempted by the Solid State Drives (less the astronomical prices). They seem so ahead of the times in that they have no moving parts (huge), and in that they are so quiet. The mere 64 GB storage capacity the MacBook Air offers for its SSD definitely turns me off, though. This leads me to my question: although I did some research for myself, which yielded no results, I am curious if any company makes a 1.8" SSD with a capacity greater than 64GB?

Later on down the road, I would love to purchase one (If it exists, I'll be able to get one for a much better price) and have it installed in my Air for greater performance and potentially better storage.


The MacBook Pro also has a larger screen... which is always important to me 'cause I find regular MacBook screens too small. I do plan on picking up a 20" Cinema Display at some point though, so that problem is somewhat resolveable.

Anyways, please let me know what you think about this issue :)

Thanks,

Troy

[y83106]

It's not Air VS Pro. It's your needs that count most. You have not defined one single requirement for a subcompact notebook. The Air is a minimalist laptop designed for extreme portability. You pay a huge premium for that portability. You would be wasting lots of your mom's money unnecessarily for something that you don't need. It also would not be a practical primary machine.

[MacosNerd]

While the MBA's design is sexy and cutting edge, it comes with compromises.

To get everything into such a small compact enclosure apple had to use a slower cpu, use integrated graphics, reduce the number of ports and eliminate the optical drive (through you can buy one as an external option).

That said, I do not think this machine is a good main machine. Its intended segment is for road warriors who have a desktop in the office.

I'm not sure what your intended usage is, but you need to make sure the specifications of the MBA are up to that. Personally I really like the MBA but not as a desktop replacement. It is too limiting.

I'd go with either a MB if you like the small size, or the 15" MBP.

The MBP gives you a lot of power, and a good level of future proofing, that is it will have enough ram, and cpu power to run today's and tomorrow's applications.

I found 2 gig a little too limiting for my needs, but I'm not sure what your want to use it for. I use PS, Aperture, and Vmware.

One thing to keep in mind is the integrated graphics and if you intend to play games

Personally I'd wait to see prices come down on solid state drives. they're over a 1,000 bucks for 64gig, in a while (a year or two) the price should decrease while the capacity increases. There's no law that doesn't say you cannot put one of those babies in a MBP.

Food for thought.

[moose_n_squirrel]

I agree with the others. The MacBook Air is a logical extension of current trends, but is a little ahead of its time. Just the fact that you're asking for a larger version of a solid state drive that most people currently find exorbitantly expensive means that the MacBook Air is not ready for you. And you don't like the MacBook's screen, but the Air is the same screen with the only difference is the LED backlight.

No, your next computer is the MacBook Pro. And then the computer after that, in 3 to 5 years, is probably that year's MacBook Air. By then, it might be more mature, better supported, with a higher-res screen you'll like more, and when solid state drives drop to today's rotating disk prices.

[troy67]

These are all extremely helpful points, so thank you for your input. One thing that I think I failed to mention is that, despite my dislike of the screen size (which in the near future I plan on correcting with a 23" Cinema Display), My backpack is overloaded at the end of eachday and the laptop slot in the backpack hardly has room for my PowerBook after I've stuffed all my books in. Also, I do do quite a bit of travelling...

I think a new dimension has been added to the issue.

Finally, I bring up again that the Air's specs either surpass or meet my PowerBook's specs, and my PB is not yet slow enough to complain about.

PS good food for thought... SSD in a MBP... interesting.

[moose_n_squirrel]

troy67 said:

My backpack is overloaded at the end of eachday and the laptop slot in the backpack hardly has room for my PowerBook after I've stuffed all my books in. Also, I do do quite a bit of travelling...

That brings up two more questions. My PowerBook will survive being squeezed under pressure in an overloaded backpack, although it does much better when inside a foam cushioned sleeve which adds to the overall thickness. So does a thin MacBook Air have enough structural integrity to survive the cycling sandwich pressure inside an overloaded backpack bouncing against one's back, or is it fragile enough need a hard-shell reinforcing sleeve? Wouldn't want to pull it out only to find a cracked screen or little bits of broken-off motherboard components falling out of the keyboard.

And for traveling, is the battery life enough if another battery isn't easily swapped in?

[estumpges]

I have a few comments on this "dilemma".

First, based on the apps you generally run, the Macbook Air should be fine. My main concern with recommending the Macbook Air in your case is the storage. I'm almost positive that due to minimizing wasted space Apple has made the Macbook Air so that the internal storage is not upgradable. The 80GB drive only runs at 4200RPM so it's probably slower than the storage on your existing laptop. While the 64GB flash memory should be a lot faster, quieter, and cooler, that would put you well above the $2300 your mom is agreeing to pay. Furthermore, if you get either of these drives and run out of hard drive space in a few years, your only option will be getting an external drive. The problem with this is that the Macbook Air has only one USB port and no Firewire. That means the external drive will run slower and it will take up your only USB port.

Second, as others have said, if you don't really need the thinness of the lighter Macbook Air, then the Macbook Pro is probably a much better option in the long run. It offers better specs all around for roughly the same price. On the other hand, I don't think you'll notice much of a difference in performance based on the apps you intend to use. So if you just want to have the coolest computer on the block, I guess that's another reason to get the Macbook Air.

Third, you could always save quite a bit of money by buying a Macbook instead. This would have slightly better specs than the Macbook Air for a lot less money.

Fourth, if you decide you want a Macbook or a Macbook Pro, I would suggest you wait a few months for the next generation models to arrive if possible. Upgrades would likely include Intel's new Penryn chips (for the Macbook Pro at least), trackpad gestures, and other improvements.

That's just a little food for thought. Good luck with the purchase and I'm sure you'll be happy with any Apple notebook you decide to buy.

[troy67]

Thanks for all the help :) I haven't heard of the Penryn chip, what's that all about?

Also, does anybody know what the dimesnions of the Hard Drive in the MacBook Pro are?

[estumpges]

The Penryn chips are Intel's new 45nm chips. They represent a technological breakthrough that let Intel switch their chips from 65nm down to 45nm. Because the Penryn chips are smaller, they are more efficient and take up less power. I'm not an expert on the specific improvements for the Penryn line but Apple used them in the new Mac Pros and they look pretty awesome.

The Macbook Pro hard drives are 2.5" notebook drives but I'm not sure the exact dimensions. I know that some of the new 500GB notebook drives are slightly too large to fit.

[wgood]

troy67 said:

I generally only run Messenger, iTunes, Safari, and occasionally an application from my MS Office Suite at one time.

Ever tried Adium?

I don't think you can go wrong with a MacBook Pro.

[troy67]

Adium... Haven't yet but I think I may now, it seems pretty cool, although I don't have accounts on any other service. I find MSN Messenger too limited on Mac anyway. Thanks!

[pollacjw]

I will never by a first gen apple product again, my MBP was enough of a lesson for that. All in all, did I get screwed? No. But there will be bugs in the Air and you will get to experience them first hand. Worst, Apple will be slow to acknowledge them.

My MBP makes weird noises, gets super hot, and has LCD issues, all of which fall into known issues for first gen MBP and are not covered by warranty. All of which I just get to enjoy for the years to come. My friend who has a recent model has none of theses issues.

Thus my resolve never to by a 1st gen apple product (cant wait for a G3 iphone)

But my suggestion is not MBP vs Air at all. Rather I propose that you review the MB. Unless you have a compelling reason not go to with the MB, I would highly suggest that you go with the MB. Its cheeper, its stronger, structurally. Its small, just a little thicker, but all in all I would go MB over MBP and MBP over Air.

I spend way to much time on my MBP, and it shows. And its not for a lack of care, its just an all AL body computer that gets hauled around in a backpack, even one with a laptop compartment, the machine does not age so well. Furthermore, other then the screen, there isnt anything that I cant get from a MB. Again, another friend has a black MB, an it looks close to new after 14m.

Since you have many macs at home, I would wait until the next upgrade for the MB and then grab one- max it out and take the $400+ you saved and get a new iphone, but thats just me.

[MacosNerd]

I've purchased plenty of first gen apple products and they've all been for the most part fine. While I cannot discount the problems, that's not to say a 2nd, or 3rd gen computer won't have the problems. The timing of my purchases seem to coinside with apple releasing a major update.:p

Like the PBG4, MacBook, MacBook Pro, G5, MacPro. All of which were fine, well the Powerbook had those infamous white spots but apple fixed them easily and quickly.

Bottom line is that the first generation model issue is a much over-blown topic and for the most part apple releases solid defect free computers.

[troy67]

I'm not a very big fan of the MB, and never have been. Its a fine computer which works well for the majority of the world, but The only way i would compromise and get a smaller screen is if I was getting something else out of it. The MBA's thickness and portability was in my opinion, a good compromise. I find that the casings on the MBs are too weak and they often begin getting 'bendy' (the screen gets shifty from the main CPU), and the material begins to squeak. That's not to say I wouldn't prefer that computer over nothing at all or worse over a PC, but I would definitely stay in the aluminum-body family which will remind me more of my PowerBook.

I hope I haven't come across as trying to discredit the MB, because I believe that for many people it is the ideal product. It's just not for me.

I believe much of my desire for the Air was for prestige and a desire for a new and popular product.

And believe me, if Apple would get of their ass in gear and brought the iPhone to Canada, I would be buying an iPhone licketysplit.