Will I regret...?

Colliewobble_2

Hi all,

Looking forward to hearing your views. I moved out of the family home two years ago taking an ancient 15" Dell laptop with me and leaving behind the family iMac and I'm a bit of a Mac convert if I'm honest.

Fast forward two years, the laptop is finally dead and as I'm looking for a new job I really really need a new one.

I don't want to get into a Mac/PC debate: I know I want a Macbook Pro!

Now after my job searching all I'll be using the lappy for is mooching round t'interweb while on the sofa watching tv, playing iTunes, and a bit of photo manipulation (nothing too exciting: just cropping/sharpening/contrast/levels etc - not bothering with unsharp masks and pixelpeeping - that's what I do in the dayjob!).

So question is, (and without wanting to sound too Carry On...:D) will I miss the extra two inches if I go for the 13 incher?? Or should I save up a bit more for the 15"?

I'd be really grateful for your experiences.

Thanks in advance,

CW

RussJK

Do you mean the 13" Macbook Air? That's what I'd go for if I wanted a Mac and didn't mind screen size; has an SSD, and by all reports is a very responsive and powerful machine. It'd want to be really for the price.

Only real way to answer it is to try out a 13" model in the shop. If you do need the extra space at home, an external monitor is possible. Even with my main laptop, I extend the display to an external monitor.

My cousin by far prefers her 13" Macbook Air over the Macbook Pro she replaced it with. I have a 12" AMD netbook, and the screen size is okay for light use at home - so 13" would be noticeably better than that.

Colliewobble_2

Hi Thanks for your quick response,

I was going for the Macbook Pro over the Air as it's more powerful and has a better processor. Interested to hear that your cousin prefers the Air over the Pro!

CW

RussJK

It's because of the SSD I'd say - makes far more of a difference for the frankly light activities she uses it for, than a slightly more powerful CPU with a normal HDD. On modern machines, it's the hard drive that's the biggest bottleneck.

Just took a quick peek at some comparisons:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20082192-1/macbook-air-vs-macbook-pro-which-apple-13-incher-should-you-buy/

"Benchmark results are so close they're practically indistinguishable: despite the Air having a lower-speed CPU, it performs nearly identically to the Pro."

Better resolution on the Macbook Air as well Both are quite powerful.

boxst

I prefer the convenience of the 13" Macbook Pro as it is obviously lighter and easier to carry around. I don't miss the 2" of screen display.

Steve

Colliewobble_2

Just looked at the difference in price between the Air and the Pro - looking at that I could upgrade the hard drive to 500GB of the Pro for less money than the entry level 13" Air.

Ionkontrol

Get it from the refurbished store on the Apple website. You can save hundreds.

Colliewobble_2

Thanks for all your input.

Been looking on the refurb site and they have a 13" Intel i7 with a 500gb hard drive for the same price as a 15" i5 with a 320gb hard drive. Decision decisions, eh!!!

Does anyone know if the refurbs would ship with Lion already installed?

2bFrank

Just wondering what you went for.

I saved up for the macbook air 11inch, went into the apple store to try it out first before I bought it, the 11inch was tiny. Moved over to the 13" air and the macbook pro 13inch, both are perfect, however I prefer the beefy-ness of the macbook pro.

I went in wanting the 11inch air, and come out with the 13inch pro. I was looking at the 15inch pro, however strange enough the two inches didnt make much of a difference (but the two inches did from 11 to 13, strange). Plus the extra money for the 15" is mental, even though you get a better spec, for what your using it for I will not make much of a difference.

As a side note, try and get a student friend to come in with you. I was with my mate and his partner who is a student, a quick flash of her student ID saved me over £300, for the macbook pro, apple care and also a £65 itunes voucher...result.

cazziebo

I'm also thinking of a Macbook Air. I went into John Lewis last week and they were all nailed to the desks (or glued or something!) so I couldn't find out how heavy each was. They were out of stock anyway, and completely unable to tell me when they were coming in. I like the two year warranty JL offer.

Do you only get the student discount from the Apple store? My daughter is a student but 500 miles away from me.