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Should i get the Air?

post #1 of 25
1/17/08 at 11:44pm
Thread Starter 
I'm a high-school student, and I will be attending college starting September. My laptop is getting a little beat up so my parents have agreed to buy me a new one for school . I was going for a Dell XPS M1330, but then my friend showed me a few pictures of the new Apple Air. I was trembling in awe. It's probably the most attractive machine I have ever laid my eyes on, but you have to sacrifice so much for those looks. No cd-drive, ethernet, 1 usb. It lacks a lot. I just want your opinions on whether or not this machine would be a wise investment. I would have to get used to a new OS, but i'm fine with that. I will only be using this machine for typing assignments, music, movies and maybe a tiny bit of photo editing but thats it. Please tell me what you guys think.
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post #2 of 25
1/17/08 at 11:59pm
Not here to be an anti-appler but I don't believe you would want the air.


#1: Battery is 5 hours, unchangeable. Not something I'd consider the best for a college student.
#2: If you plan on ever hooking much into it, again not a good choice being that the ports are EXTREMELY limited.
#3: Yes the macbook air is super light, super thin, however so are other portables.

I think that the M1330 would be best for a college student, allowing for a low weight solution that can have interchangeable batteries and also gives you the ability for a bunch of ports and if you're into gaming, you have an opportunity to pick up a GPU for that that will at least play some games on medium for you.

I believe that is the all around better option, not to mention if you buy complete care you are covered so well by Dell that you have nothing to worry about.
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post #3 of 25
1/18/08 at 12:04am
Thread Starter 
My Ipod is probably the only thing besides a cd drive that will be taking space in the USB area. I don't think ill be have it out for more than 5 hours either. From what i understand , the XPS M1330, with the right options, is a far superior machine performance wise, am i right?
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post #4 of 25
1/18/08 at 12:20am
i think ur better off getting the MBP. More power imho. Are you going to game?
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post #5 of 25
1/18/08 at 1:33am
I would recommend not getting the air for several reasons. One it is a first gen product, and likely to have a bug or two that needs to be worked out. Two it is not all that great of a laptop in general. For your purposes a MacBook is probably a much better buy(And cheaper to) and if you need a discreet video card for whatever reason a MacBook Pro would be good to look at.

The air would not serve for a main computer in most cases, plus I would be worried about it breaking on campus myself.

Seablade
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post #6 of 25
1/18/08 at 2:51am
Thread Starter 
Im not going to game at all. Its just going to be an assignment writer and something to store my music collection on. It's just going to be used for the most basic of basic computer tasks. No heavy-lifting. DVD playback will probably be the roughest workout this thing will get. I dont want to buy a swiss army knife/laptop. I just want something simple.
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post #7 of 25
1/18/08 at 4:27am
Well..Air starts at 1800.. for 1800, on the apple side.

You can go with the Macbook, and still have anywhere from 200 to 500 bucks left over. That means atleast an extra battery and a sleeve.

Starving student and all points towards midlevel Mabook, you could get 1 or two extra bateries, a sleeve and still have money left over for something. Like..I dont know Ram.

Macbook isnt that heavy and you're paying a heavy premium for the Air, look at the specs.

Midlevel macbook: 1GB ram/120gb HD/2.2ghz proc

Air: 2GB ram/80gb HD/1.6ghz proc.

Dont forget that if this is your only machine you're going to need the 100usd cd drive too..
On the PC side id listen pdonket, he knows his stuff and it sounds like good advice.
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post #8 of 25
1/18/08 at 8:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Taur View Post
Im not going to game at all. Its just going to be an assignment writer and something to store my music collection on. It's just going to be used for the most basic of basic computer tasks. No heavy-lifting. DVD playback will probably be the roughest workout this thing will get. I dont want to buy a swiss army knife/laptop. I just want something simple.
If you feel partial to apple, then I would say that buying a macbook pro may be a better overall solution for you. Plus if you have a rather large song collection it will take up a bunch of space.

I think also in any laptop option you should go with (as inferred above) a decent sized hard drive, hopefully at least 100gb. You never know when you'll decide that you want to store movies on your laptop or put loads of photos on the system. And of course you'd rather not do a HD surgery on your new baby when you pick up any new hobbies

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post #9 of 25
1/18/08 at 10:21am
The MBA is not designed to be a primary computer. If you have a primary computer already the Air would be great to take to class and such for note taking and surfing the internet.

If you don't have a primary computer, however, and would still like to have a Mac the MacBook would be the best option. It's only a couple pounds heavier, comes with an optical drive, and has better performance than the Air.
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post #10 of 25
1/18/08 at 12:11pm
I would strongly reccomend the MacBook then. It is more than capable enough for all tasks you mentioned, if you run out of HD space on it it is easy to replace the HD with a larger one if needed. And MUCH cheaper(Meaning you can get Applecare which I might reccomend for notebooks for the same price easily as the MBAir)

Seablade
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post #11 of 25
1/18/08 at 9:03pm
Thread Starter 
If i do get the apple air, i will get the 1.8GHz processor. My parents don't care if its under $2500 so money isn't the issue. The only thing i'm worried about is the hard drive, but i don't think ill have 80GB of music. I have lots of time to think about it. No reviews yet either, so a decision won't me made for a while. Thank you for your thoughts.
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post #12 of 25
1/18/08 at 9:13pm
good answers were offered above. to clarify, choose accordingly:

dont like windows? macbook or macbook air

plan to carry it everywhere on campus everyday? macbook air
dont need to take it to every class? macbook

will need a future hd upgrade? macbook
satisfied with current hd offerings or external? either works

want to save money with the purchase? macbook
or want to get the most from your money? macbook


macbook air fills a very small niche of users and while it might feel a luxury on some occasions, I think the macbook will satisfy most college students more, and more of the time. the thinness and weight is really 80% of the appeal of the macbook air (which doesn't make the macbook heavy or unpackable either). and while everyone with a standard laptop wishes theirs was lighter from time to time, from observation, over 90% of college students don't take their laptops around with them during the day. for those who do, it is really a practice of habit, as pen and paper work better in many situations. so if os x appeals to you, you should be happy with a macbook. otherwise, dell or asus.
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post #13 of 25
1/19/08 at 5:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kakaze View Post
The MBA is not designed to be a primary computer. If you have a primary computer already the Air would be great to take to class and such for note taking and surfing the internet.

If you don't have a primary computer, however, and would still like to have a Mac the MacBook would be the best option. It's only a couple pounds heavier, comes with an optical drive, and has better performance than the Air.


That's basically what I was thinking. If you're going to have only one system you'll want a MB, MBP or other system. I think it could be a phenomenal system for school and business needs so long as you have another system to work with it or the external superdrive. Even then I'd miss my ports.
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post #14 of 25
1/19/08 at 1:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by themessenger500 View Post
plan to carry it everywhere on campus everyday? macbook air
I carry my macbook and charger to class every day... not that heavy, trust me. for 2.5k id take the blackbook or the MBP personaly.

Weights not that much of a factor IMHO, and ..well yeah, better machine for same price.
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post #15 of 25
1/19/08 at 3:27pm
but you would be the envy of all your friends if you got the air
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post #16 of 25
1/19/08 at 8:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Siul1313 View Post
I carry my macbook and charger to class every day... not that heavy, trust me. for 2.5k id take the blackbook or the MBP personaly.

Weights not that much of a factor IMHO, and ..well yeah, better machine for same price.
what if you could have your mb or mbp in the form factor of the mba without losing features? you'd choose the mba-size mbp

what if you never had the need for the extra power features to begin with? mba definitely

that's the mba's logical target. but everyone else needs the extra power or can cope with the weight. none of apple's macbooks are difficult to carry (including the 17" mbp) but for students who don't live directly on campus or commuters who typically pack their entire day into their bags, the luxury of smaller/lighter is not easy to resist.
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post #17 of 25
1/19/08 at 10:01pm
Quote:
what if you could have your mb or mbp in the form factor of the mba without losing features? you'd choose the mba-size mbp
That depends on the price. While I would have preferred a 13" MBP, the MBAir is significantly more expensive than anything with comparable specs, and that offsets any advantage of the smaller formfactor. By how much is up to the individual doing the reviewing, but considering the price difference between a MB that is more capable than the MBAir, I strongly lean towards the MB.

Seablade
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post #18 of 25
1/21/08 at 8:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by themessenger500 View Post
what if you could have your mb or mbp in the form factor of the mba without losing features? you'd choose the mba-size mbp

what if you never had the need for the extra power features to begin with? mba definitely

that's the mba's logical target. but everyone else needs the extra power or can cope with the weight. none of apple's macbooks are difficult to carry (including the 17" mbp) but for students who don't live directly on campus or commuters who typically pack their entire day into their bags, the luxury of smaller/lighter is not easy to resist.
I dont really agree with this, yes if I had all the features of a MB/MBP in a MBA id consider it, but not for such a premium.

No the MBA dosent have all the features I need (or most) in a laptop, true I could do without a CD drive..but would you really? true I could do with 1 usb port...but would I pay a premium to not be able to charge my ipod and copy stuff off a friends pendrive at the same time?

all for what, a bit longer battery that I cant even replace, and the fact that I feel all cool because I have a MBA?

About the whole day in a bag thing, its easily doable with my MB, wouldnt be that much diferent with the air IMHO, but to each his own.

At the end of the day, you're sacrificing useability and your money for thiness..to a degree that IMHO isnt really worth it.

If you have an actual reason to buy a MBA even if its just cash to burn, then sure go right ahead. But that dont make it logical...just understandable.
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post #19 of 25
1/22/08 at 1:20am
and I don't understand your logic for equating personal preference/need to one-dimensional ideals. the mba might not suit you (or the majority of the market for that matter, as a niche product) while the mb and the mbp might seem equally ridiculous in someone else's situation. the only logic that I implied was that people will always want smaller/lighter if it exists to ease the burden of transportation. add that to the fact that there are people who actually don't perform heavy cpu tasks, don't run cd's often, and don't own many peripheral gadgets (makes sense if they aren't computer oriented), then that makes the feature set differences completely irrelevant.

and don't worry about the price. it will come down, just like the iphone did.
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post #20 of 25
1/26/08 at 3:19pm
I say no. If you really, really find it THAT hard to carry a MacBook that is 1 quarter of an inch thicker, and 2 pounds heavier.... then I think maybe life sucks for you.

So I am selling my MBP to get a MBA, any takers?
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