MacBook Air

[minn]

I have never owned an apple computer and my Dell laptop is on it's last legs. I am thinking of purchasing the MacBook Air. Good decision? Opinions from MacBook Air owners/users?

 

[Macdaddy23]

The Macbook Air is good yet expensive not to mention how hard they can be to work on. I heard one was thrown away with papers because it is so thin.

 

[fire_breeze]

I have never owned an apple computer and my Dell laptop is on it's last legs. I am thinking of purchasing the MacBook Air. Good decision? Opinions from MacBook Air owners/users?

It depends on what you need/want the laptop for. If you travel a lot, then the lightweight, compact style of the MBA will be indispensable. Also, if you are using the laptop for emails, surfing, MS Office stuff, then it might be worth it. However, the battery life is shorter than a MacBook Pro, and it doesn't have a SD card slot. Also, if you will use your computer for databases, 3D work, etc, then you might want to go with either a MacBook or MBP. Maintenance wise, MBA can be a little complicated. Most will say a that a MBA is like an advanced iPad with an attached keyboard. It's useful if that's what you need. If not, then I'd suggest a MacBook.

That being said, I've only had Macs, and the only time I've had a problem with one is when I constantly stepped on my iBook - multiple times - and busted the mother board . Otherwise, the one I have now is 3, 4 years old and while the battery life is on the short side, it's still purring like a kitten. While an Apple is an investment and can cost a pretty penny, it's, in my experience, well worth it, particularly when I hear people bitching about Vista and PCs and having to upgrade every year and a half. Your kilometerage may vary.

Try these sites for a more in-depth comparison.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20039450-1.html
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2796610?start=0&tstart=0
http://lissie.hubpages.com/hub/MacBook-Air-vs-MacBook-Pro---Comparison
http://www.apple.com/why-mac/compare/notebooks.html

 

[CLK5002005]

Go with the MacBook Pro 13.3, if you need a laptop for travel.

After using a Dell 600m for about 6 years, I purchased a MacBook in Dec. 2008. I had researched the Mac vs. PC a lot and was more or less sold on the idea long before I jumped in. When I first made the change, it took about a month of more or less, just playing on it periodically to get used to the difference, but now I wouldn't trade it for ANY windows based PC on the market. I've got about 120G of music so I've upgrade the hard drive and added some RAM. Plus, it's got the backlit keyboard, so at night or on an airplane, I can work in low light conditions fine.

I originally added Parallels which allowed me the ability to still run Windows XP, in case I really needed anything Windows based, but in the end I wasn't really impressed with the way it operated and since deleted it.

As far as backups, there's a program built into OS X allowing you the ability to backup (to an external hard drive) quickly several times a day, or set a schedule based on your own preferences. Mine backs up automatically at 5:30 PM M-F and it works awesome.

I could go on and on, almost writing a complete thesis about the benefits of a Mac, but really you gotta make you own choice. I've used mine in a business application for almost 3 years and haven't looked back. I also have the 27" IMac on my desk at the office.

As far as the Air, I think it's prob. a great computer and you can get one now for $999, but in my opinion I think there's enough advantages to step-up to the Mac Pro.

 

[MrFiXXXit]

I would say go find someone that owns a Mac and try it on for size. I keep hearing over and over again about people who buy Mac's and are disappointed because it won't do "something." Normally, it's a case of the person trying to use it as a PC and there will be a learning curve involved. Mac users who have been users for a while will tell you how easy it is, every time. And, if you're a PC user, you'll get the same thing from the PC crowd.

Realize that if you already own PC based programs, these won't work on your new Mac unless you install Windows on to it. Granted, there are replacement programs for 95% of the programs out there, but re-purchasing will be required, generally.

Also realize that for every Mac model out there, there are a dozen other PC equivalents with a myriad of options. The operating system stability for PC and Mac are about the same, the advent of Windows 7 takes the computing experience to a whole other level of stability and performance. If you had XP before and thought it was just "ok"... then Windows 7 will truly bring a smile to your face. A familiar smile.

 

[Monika7777]

Please use this opportunity to ditch PC from your life and get a Macintosh.

With a Mac, your life will be sooooooo much easier, trouble free, virus free, and more fun.

The new MacAir is a fantastic laptop. I just upgraded to it 3 weeks ago.

It is beautiful, reliable, stable, and all around excellent computer.

I have had Mac products since they were first released. Have never had any problems and currently own a Mac Air, Mac Book, iMac and iPhone.

If you are close to an Apple Store, please take a few hours and visit one. Play with it, learn about it, touch it, and learn about it.

One you go Mac, you will never go back!

 

[chaoticDeviance]

I LOVE my mac book air, but it doesn't play games well tbh! It's perfect for web stuff, typing papers/presentations, and blogging etc.

It's so light and I love how easy it is for me to tote it around wherever I wanna go. It's defiantly no macbook pro, but I still think its pretty pro.

 

[minn]

Great Info!

Great information - thanks to everyone who responded!!

 

[Ex Princess]

I love my Mac but I borrowed my friend's MacBook Air and wasn't as impressed. It wasn't as fast as my MacBook Pro so I felt frustrated while using it. If you are looking for a daily use computer, I would go with a smaller size MacBook or MacBook Pro over the MacBook Air. If you are looking for more of a Netbook alternative though, where you do not need to use it daily I'd recommend trying an iPad2 as a less expensive, equally effective option.

 

[DeepGreenEyes]

I find that since I bought my iPad, I almost never use my MacBook anymore. The iPad is great for email, web, music, video (the Netflix app is always in use) and blogging. And with Pages, it's a fine word processor, unless you freak over the touch keypad, which does take a little getting used to.

Haven't tried the Air, so I got nothing for you there.

 

[gemaussieslut]

it all depends what you use your computer for!

 

[temp256]

Clearly there are lots of misguided opinions here.

Macs are PCs. Macs run on the same x86 chipset, and everything can run whatever software you want. Back in the day, Apple had the ingenious idea to market hardware and software as a single package. They did this so well, most people can't fathom the two as separate. The confusion leads to massive profits.

First, pick your hardware. Macs cost more for the same amount of power as any other PC because you're buying a brand name. It's also less versatile. Apple goes out of their way to make everything proprietary, so you have to buy expensive cables and adaptors.

Next, pick your operating system. Your three basic choices are windows, mac OS, and Linux. Yes, you can run mac OS on any PC if you're willing to spend a bit of time getting it working. No, it's not illegal: if you buy the OS, you're free to run it on whatever hardware you want. The same goes for windows.

Linux is my personal favourite. It's far more stable than the other two, built on open standards, and is completely free. All the basic web browsing, office programs, and email can had for free on any of the operating systems. Or, you can pay absurd amounts of money to buy proprietary programs which do the same thing, only not as well.

For those one or two programs who's programmers insisted on only developing for windows, there's a free utility called Wine which can run them on any OS.

As for my recommendation, I suggest anything but a mac or compaq, Ubuntu Linux, and the free OpenOffice program suite. There are also many thousands or free Linux programs out there, capable of doing pretty much everything the average user needs. Yes, switching to Linux will be a little difficult, but no more so than switching between the other two OSes.

 

[ahungrymind]

I personally don't care form mine.

It gets way too hot and the battery life is pretty shitty. I have a frist gen one but I've heard that these are problems of the line.

I made the switch from pc to mac six years ago an am very happy I did. My first mac, a black macbook is running like a champ to this day and rarely gives me any problems.

If you are looking for a slightly cheaper way to do it apple's site has deals on referbs that are pretty good. If you, or anyone you know, is enrolled at a university you can often get 10-30% off using that univerisity's promo deal. This differs from school to school but is worth looking into.

If you really need something something super portable you might consider an ipad and a macmini, you can control the macminni with the ipad with an app and also use it as the screen. Which is what I am going to do when I replace my macbook air.

 

[oo2b8]

I have a mac book pro and I would recommend it. I have looked at the air in the Apple store and it is too delicate for me. I recommend going to the apple store and playing with around for a bit and see which one fits you well.

 

[minn]

Thanks!

A lot of gret suggestions! I plan to do some educated research based upon everyones input - Thanks everyone!