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Will I regret downsizing my Macbook Pro to Air? (1 Viewer)

Ronald Epstein

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You know that feeling when you have money to spend and you don't
quite know what to spend it on?

Apple has some big announcements tomorrow.

I was planning on buying an iPad Air to replace my iPad 3.

However...

I suspect a new 13" retina Macbook Air is going to be announced.

Now, I already own a retina 15" Macbook Pro. I downsized from a 17" almost
2 years ago.

I was concerned about losing the real estate, from 17" to 15". But, what
I gained was more portability. I was now carrying around a lighter laptop.
And, really, no significant difference between the two sizes.

Now I am looking to give up my 15" and go with a 13" Macbook Air.

The primary reason, of course, is portability. A 13" Macbook Air would be
extremely light. It could be carried in one hand, I suspect.

The only thing I fear is losing 2 more inches of real estate.

So....

Anyone who has gone from a 17" or 15" Macbook Pro to one of the
smaller AIR laptops wish to comment on how they feel about losing screen
real estate?Also, I assume that the Macbook Air models are just as powerful as their
Macbook Pro counterparts?

When all is said and done, I suspect that since the current 13" Macbook Air
(maxed out) is about $1,700 that the rumored new model should be about
the same price if not a bit lower. Not bad, considering.

...and let's hope a new iWatch is not announced so it doesn't further confuse
spending matters. :P
 

Ronald Epstein

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What is interesting is that I can sell my current 15" Macbook Pro
to Gazelle for $1179.

So, if a new Macbook Air is announced tomorrow, I will only be
paying about $500 for a maxed out model (estimate).

Again...have to wonder if downsizing is worth it.
 

DaveF

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Some theoretical thoughts :)"Also, I assume that the Macbook Air models are just as powerful as theirMacbook Pro counterparts?"Not for simple CPU. The 9 month old MBP is 80% faster than the 1 month old MBA. (2.4 GHz i5 vs 1.4 GHz i5) I don't know if that gap will persist after a retina bump, but I'll guess it will. To maintain the Air's great battery life.Does this matter? Depends on your usage. Probably not for most people (web, Office, email) but if you're doing video or photo editing, maybe it's noticeable?How are the storage options for you? The MBA currently maxes out at 512 GB. The MBP at 1 TB. That's a lot in either case, but I don't know what you uses are.There's the question of battery life. The 13" MBA gets 12 hrs; the 11" gets 9 hrs. What happens with a retina Air? And what of the rumored 12" MBA...does it have the longer or shorter battery life? Some details might affect you, you need to see the actual product specs first.But I don't use laptops these days, so all I can offer is spec-sheet interpretations :)
 

Clinton McClure

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I have a 13" MBP and my wife has a 15" MBP. I like the portability of the 13" but a lot of times I wish I had bought a 15" instead. The difference in screen real estate when working with spreadsheets is huge.
 

Josh Steinberg

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I have a 17" MacBook Pro from mid-2009 that may have to get replaced at some point.

Kinda dreading the options -- I hate that Apple has eliminated the larger sized laptop, and I hate that they've removed the optical drives from all of them. In the past, I had been curious about the Air, but besides the smaller size, the lack of an optical drive was a real deal-killer for me. But if none of them are going to have optical drives at this point, I might take a closer look at the Air when I replace the MPB.

One of the things I never imagined back then was how much of my computer time would end up shifting to the iPhone. I got an iPhone the same time as the MPB, and within a few months, I realized I was spending far more time surfing the web on the phone than I was on the computer. I used to sit in front of my laptop for probably a couple hours a day when I'd get home from work, and now I'll just do the same things, but on my phone -- often while riding the train on the way home from work. So I probably need to re-evaluate what I'm looking for in a computer if I'm not going to be using it nearly as much as I once did.

Before getting the iPhone, I never would have predicted that. I figured I'd use it a lot during commuting, but that it would probably stay in my pocket at home. It is great to have when I'm watching a movie and I notice an actor that seems familiar, and I just need to look it up in a flash but don't want to actually get up and leave the room.
 

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