Buying New Macbook Air - 11 or 13 inch?

chouglez

chouglez

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Planning to buy the new Macbook Air but in a huge dilemma to buy the 11 inch or 13 inch. Had been to PC World but could not lift the laptop as it was stupidly glued to the desk :bang::bang:

Also plan to replace my newly purchased HP Win 8, 15 inch laptop hence leaning towards a 13 inch but also will be using the Macbook Air on public transport hence thoughts about 11 inch. I know it's confusing :shake: :shake:

Will buy it from the US so even the top spec is around £300 cheaper than in our Great Britain. :D

Also please do let me know if someone think why I should not go for the new Macbook Air
 
I prefer the 13", had one before but got stolen last month. I ordered last night the 13" with i7, 8GB and 512GB SSD
 
I think in every day use the 13. The 11 is not significantly smaller/lighter to justify losing the screen real estate.
 
daugirdas said:
13" is more usuable, but I really cannot think of a single reason not to opt for 13" retina MBP instead
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Wondering what would be the difference in weight?
 
daugirdas said:
13" is more usuable, but I really cannot think of a single reason not to opt for 13" retina MBP instead
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A few reasons for me...thicker, less battery life, just the HD4000 graphics card, more expensive...To me the only pro it has is its internal screen...Considering that in my office I dock with a 30" screen as it is, it just isn't worth it.

Now if later on the Hasswell version comes out it may be a different matter, but for now...no thank you...
 
Will it be your main computer or a secondary? If a secondary then I would personally get the 11 inch. I personally don't like carrying around a lot of weight and for that I sacrifice size else the device does not get used at all. For a main computer obviously the bigger one (or s different type of mbp/laptop) would be my advice.
 
dejongj said:
A few reasons for me...thicker, less battery life, just the HD4000 graphics card, more expensive...To me the only pro it has is its internal screen...Considering that in my office I dock with a 30" screen as it is, it just isn't worth it.

Now if later on the Hasswell version comes out it may be a different matter, but for now...no thank you...
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Doesn't the Air have such a weak CPU in comparison to pro? 1.3GHz dual core was high spec in 2004 I remember, it's 2013 now. I would be concerned if Lightroom can run on one
 
daugirdas said:
Doesn't the Air have such a weak CPU in comparison to pro? 1.3GHz dual core was high spec in 2004 I remember, it's 2013 now. I would be concerned if Lightroom can run on one
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Considering my old MBA which was a C2D ran Aperture absolutely fine (although not as fast as my desktop in scrolling through graphics) and did NEF RAW near instantly...I'm quietly confident that the i5 and i7 will be fine...I'm getting an i7 one on Tuesday delivered. I think you misunderstand something though on what the clock speeds need, the speeds are variable and you are quoting the lowest speed, when demand is there it will go up to 3.3Ghz fully automatically...

Further more, the HD5000 is reportedly much faster than the HD4000 that is in the Pro....Especially in OpenGL performance which is required when working with Aperture and the likes.
 
daugirdas said:
Doesn't the Air have such a weak CPU in comparison to pro? 1.3GHz dual core was high spec in 2004 I remember, it's 2013 now. I would be concerned if Lightroom can run on one
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I dont understand that question. Doesnt the new macbook air have the newest Haswell processors? I fancy they will be considerably faster than any 2004 laptop :)

Steve
 
steve_v said:
I dont understand that question. Doesnt the new macbook air have the newest Haswell processors? I fancy they will be considerably faster than any 2004 laptop :)

Steve
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Indeed and likely faster than relatively recent MacBook Pro's too!
 
dejongj said:
I think you misunderstand something though on what the clock speeds need, the speeds are variable and you are quoting the lowest speed, when demand is there it will go up to 3.3Ghz fully automatically...
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I think you may well be misunderstanding too. The 3.3GHz is a 1-core turbo. If you are using both cores (and yes, the i7 is a dual core), it will sit at 1.7GHz. EDIT: From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...essors#.22Haswell.22_.28dual-core.2C_22_nm.29 it will run at 2.9GHz with both cores going (assuming that it can still stay in its thermal envelope and not throttle down).

dejongj said:
Further more, the HD5000 is reportedly much faster than the HD4000 that is in the Pro....Especially in OpenGL performance which is required when working with Aperture and the likes.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure of Aperture (as I'm not inclined to google it at 9:30 on a Sunday morning), but Lightroom doesn't make extensive use of the GPU. Not saying the HD5000 is not a nice boost, but I don't think you will make too much use of it.....
 
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chouglez said:
Wondering what would be the difference in weight?
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11" Air - 1.1kg
13" Air - 1.35kg
13" Retina - 1.62kg

Not a lot in it for weight. Performance boost of the Retina with the additional processor speed and RAM will be nice, although it can't match the 12hr battery life of the newer 13" Air...
 
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