Donna,
Looking at this, I've owned the 15in MBP and all three of the Air's, the
original incarnation and now the 2010 11in and the revised 2011 11in.
Firstly sound, if you were looking at the original 13in Air, the sound was
hopeless, with a mono single speaker I really didn't like that thing.
The 11in 2010 and 2011 models though for me solve that. there's stereo baby
built right in there, and although there's not much bass to talk of, the sound
is clear and it packs a surprising amount of punch for its size.
put against the 15in, its a notable difference in richness and output, but
against the 13in MBP, I think less so.
you do have the bass issue and if you like your tones, not just music but Alex
etc to have that depth it might make you think, but I find that once I sit down
in front of it, unless I'm working with my iMac along side the Air, which I do
every now and then, you'll not notice it.
Looking at this DVD business, lets see, presumably you're not watching DVD's in
the class room etc, so why not just leave the USB drive for that in your hotel
etc, I've seen you state that this lack of a DVD drive is a real issue, but
only as you seem to watch films, well as someone else has said, a lot of it is
downloadable now, you can also rip them, and finally, if you're like me, why
should I pay to download something I own on disk, spend the additional $80 and
get the super drive... leave it in your hotel room and you're good to go.
I use my Air for everything when I'm not at a desk, and my iMac if I am.
The issue that a lot of folk seem to be throwing up over spec and performance,
you really need to ask yourself what you're going to be doing with it, I find
my Air faster than my MBP 15in, which I had as a late 2010 model with full
processor upgrade, I think a 2.9Ghz i7 with 4Gb of RAM. but you see most of
what I do is word processing, e-mail and internet, oh and iTunes / watching
DVD's.
I carry my MBA all around the world with me, leaving the super drive in hotel
rooms or my carry on in a plane if its a long flight.
I personally think its really the way to go if you're seriously looking to
lighten the load.
there is an InCase sleeve for the 11in and 13in available from the Apple online
store, I use this and think its great... for whoever asked that question.
HTH.
Neil Barnfather.
On 15 Aug 2011, at 20:29, Donna Goodin wrote:
Hi Mika,
I believe there's a program called DVD Remaster that does that, though I
haven't tried it. In the long-term, your definitely right, I suspect there'll
come a time not all that far off when having a DVD drive will seem as obsolete
as having a floppy drive does now. But for me anyway, that time hasn't quite
arrived yet. But, as with Chris's mention of the lack of an SD card slot, this
is a question of personal preference and usage.
The processor question is a tricky one. The processor on the MBA is slower
than that on the MBP. But the solid state drive should make up for a lot of
the difference there.
Cheers,
Donna
On Aug 15, 2011, at 1:15 PM, Mika Pyyhkala wrote:
As for a DVD drive, is it easy say to copy a movie over to the hard drive of
say a MacBook Air, so that you don't need a DVD drive on the road?
I just am thinking of this as software increasingly moves to being acquired
through a platform like the Mac app store.
I'm just not sure, for me, why it would be important now a days to have a built
in DVD drive?
Things like the processor, sound, etc. are more important in the uses I would
tend to have. I'm not sure also on the MBA that just came out how much of an
improvement the processor is, etc.
BTW I now have the 11 inch MBA (the model just before the most recent release),
bought in early 2011. I still found I mostly used Jaws, mainly because I'm
still more efficient browsing the web under Jaws and for Qwitter, though I have
not really spent the necessary time to learn the Mac ways of doing things.
Best,
mika
-----Original Message-----
From: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com [mailto:macvisionaries@googlegroups.com]
On Behalf Of Donna Goodin
Sent: Monday, August 15, 2011 1:05 PM
To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: going from an MBP to a MacBook Air
Hey Chris,
Yeah, the lack of memory card is no big deal for me, I tend to use a USB drive
most of the time. The one that gets me is the lack of a DVD drive.
That 11-inch Air is *reeeeeally calling my name. I would have given anything
to have it while I was in Hawaii last week, the MBP was just big enough that I
didn't feel like hauling it on the plane and all. I can see why you're
sticking with the MBP, though - it's definitely the more powerful device. And
I totally agree, if they ever combine the Air with the iPad, I'd be all over it!
I was originally thinking I'd replace the MacBook with the Air, but I can't see
going without a built-in DVD drive, at least not at this point. So I don't
know. In addition to the work stuff, I've got some more plane travel coming up
over the next few months, and it'd be nice to be able to take the Air. I'd
definitely use it, I know that, but it's a luxury, not a necessity. Buuuut ...
lol
Cheers,
Donna
On Aug 15, 2011, at 12:49 PM, Chris Moore wrote:
Donna,
One other thing to bare in mind if you are going for the 11inch model, is that
it does not have a memory card reader. This is done via a USB dongle instead.
Not sure if this is important to you.
I must admit, the 11inch model is very alluring.
I think I will stick with my Macbook Pro and iMac for now. If Apple are
heading in the direction of merging both their operating systems, then I would
expect to see a merged Macbook Air and iPad. Now that's the baby I want. A
keyboard with a touch screen all in one.
Chris
On 15 Aug 2011, at 17:47, Donna Goodin wrote:
Hi Mika,
The MacBoo Pro has some significant advantages. It has a bigger hard drive,
faster processor, can be upgraded with more memory, has built-in ethernet, DVD
drive, and SD card slot. As Ricardo pointed out, it also has better sound.
With the Air, you can connect to a DVD drive or ether net via usb, but they're
not built-in, so that's extra hardware you need to haul around. The Air is a
great portable device, but the MacBook is a more powerful computer, with more
features built-in.
Cheers,
Donna
On Aug 15, 2011, at 12:18 PM, Mika Pyyhkala wrote:
What are the primary advantages you see the the MBP (MacBook Pro) as opposed to
the MBA (MacBook Air)?
Just wondering if people appreciate more the ports, or if it is speed of the
machine, etc?
Thanks,
Mika
-----Original Message-----
From: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com [mailto:macvisionaries@googlegroups.com]
On Behalf Of Chris Blouch
Sent: Monday, August 15, 2011 11:56 AM
To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: going from an MBP to a MacBook Air
I've hauled the Macbook all over the place and didn't mind so much with
the backpack. Maybe because the old computer bag was just so bad. Made
the change when I was presenting at a conference (cough - CSUN) that
could no longer fit in its venue and rented two hotels. Of course the
session I wanted to attend would be in one and then I would present in
the other then hike back to the first. Not that big a deal with the
backpack. If I could just remember which pocket I put the network cable
vs. the AC adaptor vs the displayport connector etc.
CB
On 8/15/11 11:12 AM, Donna Goodin wrote:
Hi Chris,
In the past, I've always felt as you do, that the MBP is very easy to haul
around. But unfortunately, I'm not just looking at schlepping my MBP to and
from work. Every class I teach is in a different building, and all those
buildings are different from the building where my office is. So I'll be
carrying it around most of the day, along with a braille display.
I do think I've decided though that the Air can't replace my MacBook. So I'll
either be trying something like what you describe, or just getting the low-end
model and using it for times when I want a lot of portability.
Cheers,
Donna
On Aug 15, 2011, at 10:09 AM, Chris Blouch wrote:
Having shlepped my MacBook to work for many years I found that it wasn't that
big a deal in a nice backpack. I used to use those computer bags with a
shoulder strap but it started bothering my shoulder. I finally picked up one
for cheap from Megamacs and have really liked it. Very comfortable and more
pockets to lose things in :) Might be worth the $20 to find out. It's been
several years now but the one I got is still available:
http://www.megamacs.com/index.php?action=frameview&id=3566552
Their cart UI doesn't move focus to the form input on each step so you have to
slog around to find where the form is, but it does work. I guess it's no worse
than many web shopping carts.
CB
On 8/14/11 7:46 PM, Donna Goodin wrote:
Hi all,
Since I'm going to be schlepping my Mac around a lot for work in the next
several months, and possibly then some, I'm seriously considering shelling out
the $$ for an 11-inch MacBook Air. I'm looking at one of the new ones, with
all the specs maxed out. My MBP is two years old, running a 2.53GHZ processor
with 4G of ram. I'm wondering if there's anyone on list who can give me an
accurate comparison of the user experience on these two models. A couple of
the things I'm wondering about are:
1. Speed. How will day-today- use compare. My MBP has the faster processor,
but the Air has the solid state drive, which I assume will compensate, at least
to some extent.
2. Sound quality? this won't be a deal breaker, but wondering how the two
compare.
If there are any other differences that people have experienced, either good or
bad, I'd love to hear.
Best,
Donna
P.S. I am aware of the connectivity differences, that's something I can live
with.
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