thinking of getting a mac book air

rickj

rickj

Suspended / Banned
Messages
856
Name
rick
Edit My Images
Yes
I have been thinking of getting a mac for a little while now, mainly for photo work and for use when traveling current currently use a few years old lap top for this but it is a bit slow and very heavy.
how easy are they to use and is there any pit falls I should know about.

thanks in advance Rick
 
They only have one USB port, which for my photo work wouldn't do, as I like to back up to an internal drive as I'm importing image files off a card.

There was a thread on this subject fairly recently, I think the consensus was that a 13" Macbook Pro would be a better bet.
 
I would pop into your local Apple store and take a look at the new unibody macbook pros. When the Macbook Air came out it was stunning and looked much nicer and flasher than the Macbook and Macbook pro but after the macbook/pro update into the unibody they look very similar. The unibodies are hardly fat and unwieldy but they are vastly better equipped with built in optical drives, higher memory capacity, higher HD capacity, faster and better value.

As for how easy they are to use. Well take a look at the link in my sig for the Top tips, they are not difficult to use at all although they are different from Windows. Most stuff though is rather intuitive and if you do have questions just ask. There are plenty of Mac users on here.

If you need any specific mac advice let us know :)
 
thanks for the info.
the reason for the mac air is I have the chance of good s/h one and cant strech to a new mac .
for me its a big step and I am just not sure if I will see any benefit , my trouble is I see something and have to have it :nono:
 
rickj said:
thanks for the info.
the reason for the mac air is I have the chance of good s/h one and cant strech to a new mac .
for me its a big step and I am just not sure if I will see any benefit , my trouble is I see something and have to have it :nono:
Click to expand...

You should have mentioned that at the time :thinking:

Yes go for it, they are a great computer, nice and portable. The only thing I have against them is that they are not to hot value wise but as you have that bit covered it should be a good buy.
 
from what i read the macbook pro is the better buy.

although i hear rumours there might be a new model, having had a new macbook model recently.

comet have some on discount and mac refurb have some too, macbook pro that is
 
Any Mac is going to be far better than a MS based machine. I have a fully loaded Macbook pro which is awsome. It does take a couple of weeks to get used to the different O/S but you will not regret it.
 
If you've got a decent offer on a macbook air then get that but given the choice of both new or even if the macbook air was the same price I don't know why you wouldn't choose the 13" macbook pro. I have one and it's easy to carry, the battery lasts ages and you still have all the ports, optical drives, everything most normal people (especially photographers) would need.

Having 1 usb and no optical drive would surely become a big pain??? I have to offload to discs on the move all the time.
 
The unibody MBP would be the best way to go, the air is an amazing piece of kit but it is lacking USB ports and superdrive.
 
I was recommended against an Air by one of the helpers in a mac store, he said there were issues with reliability and told me to get a unibody macbook pro. i did, and it's been ace :)
 
I've got the first generation MBA, with the 80GB hard drive. I use it for travel, go on holiday with it (it went to Canada last year) and when it's too hot to use my Mac Pro (which puts out a lot of heat). For non-intensive tasks, it's great. I'd hesitate to run something like Aperture with tens of thousands of photos or a Windows VM, but that may have changed in the newer models.

I'm not sure I'd want it as my sole computer, though. Like others have said, its expandability isn't great: one USB, a headphone socket and a mini DVI slot. If I plug my first generation iPod shuffle in, I can't use the headphones (!). You also don't get an internal DVD/CD drive and you can only have 2GB of memory.

The reason I bought mine was mainly down to the size and weight. I wanted something that I could lug around all day in a bag with a load of camera equipment. I thought both the MB and MBP were too heavy and I much prefer the looks of the Air. And I didn't need a top of the range laptop - I've already got a tower for the heavy stuff. Other than size and weight, other positives: it's quiet, the screen is fantastic and the keyboard is lovely.

I certainly wouldn't recommend against buying a MBA. But you should be aware that it isn't perfect by any shot. The best thing you can do is to go to your local Apple Store or retailer and try one out. Then try out the other laptops and see how they compare.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top