Should I Buy New Macbook Air?

[ngkong]

I've been using ubuntu for 2 years. I'm a web developer (php, mysql, html, css, javascript, photoshop). currently using 10.04 with dualscreens, one monitor mostly used for virtualbox to boot windows xp, running photoshop and IE.

my current laptop is running under celeron processor, it's best time to upgrade. i'm interested in new macbook air for its incredible size and battery time. im gonna do travel alot, i plan to go for europe backpacking next year. i've just got my diving license and i won't waste it by doing nothing. it means size and battery do really matter, and those are the only reasons i want to go for mac. i've never used a mac in my whole life. last time i saw my friend's imac, i could not even find the power button. i know nothing about mac.

so what do you guys suggest? should I go new macbook air? is it programmer friendly? if not, what laptop do you suggest for it's size/weight and battery life?

ideally, i need only a good text editor, ftp, ssh, browser, photoshop, apache server and a video player when i get bored but nothing to do.

[t0p]

No. It's wonderfully light, thin etc, but it's seriously overpriced.

[Islington]

This is just a personal policy but I never buy first gen tech, you end up in the best case scenario overpaying for the cool factor, and in the worst case scenario end up being a beta tester.

As for laptops, I recommend a thinkpad, awesome build quality and generally great linux support. I have never owned a macbook, but I hear they are also good build quality. :)

[TNT1]

No. It's wonderfully light, thin etc, but it's seriously overpriced.

+1.

Get more bang for your buck with a dell or hp. (oh, yes, or a thinkpad)

[handy]

I'd buy either a 13" Macbook, or 13" Macbook Pro, due to their superior performance, & most especially due to their vastly superior battery time.

They may be a little more weighty, (the Macbook Pro is about a 100grams lighter than the Macbook) than the Air. But I'm pretty sure both of them will last longer & be far more versatile/powerful than the skinny little thing.

Personally, I prefer a few more muscles in every area that I find the anorexic MB-Air lacking.

[smellyman]

If you've never used a mac before I'd suggest using one for a while if you can.

For hardcore traveling macbooks are good because they are pretty much indestructible.

overpirced? perhaps macbooks are when comparing component to component of other laptops, but build qualtiy, engineering, screen, battery life ect. are second to none when it comes to laptops.

[Ric_NYC]

no. It's wonderfully light, thin etc, but it's seriously overpriced.

+2

[3rdalbum]

After using the Air, you'll yearn for the sheer performance of your old Celeron notebook.

[del_diablo]

No. It's wonderfully light, thin etc, but it's seriously overpriced.

If its overpriced, that means you can get a similar weighted ultraportable with similar batterylife and performance for a lot less.
So..... What do the competition offer that makes your claim valid? The entire ultraportable segment is partially overpriced.

[KiwiNZ]

The specs of the Macbook Air are very good for a unit so slim. It returns excellent performance. I would suggets you visit an Apple store and try one there.

You are unlikely to gain many sensible responses here.

[NightwishFan]

I doubt it. Though truly the strength of it is the size/weight/performance balance, that might not be what you want. Others gave their "not very sensible?" opinions generally toward the user might miss performance or not like the price.

Though I agree he should stop by and actually try one. I certainly would.

[koleoptero]

Based on recent snooping around I did looking for a good netbook, I'd suggest you go for an alienware m11x if you go that expensive. It definitely beats the air in power, and is small and light. I also like its appearance much more, but there the opinions differ greatly so you should check it out yourself.

[handy]

I'm going to buy a notebook in the not too distant future, & I expect it will probably be the 13" Macbook Pro. It has as good "quoted 10hr" battery life as does the Macbook 13", though it has 2GB more RAM, a firewire 800 port, an SD card slot & an aluminium (good heat sink) case.

There is $250-Oz difference in the price for that lot included on the Pro; apart from that everything else (as far as I can make out) is the same. The price difference is truly questionable. The RAM in particular!

But Apple have you over a barrel somewhat with the initial purchase, as they charge far too much for their RAM (& every other offered) upgrade in a custom build.

I'll be primarily using the machine in conjunction with my photography; I'll be using Lightroom-3 as well, so the 4GB RAM definitely helps.

Since my camera uses SD cards, that also helps swing me towards the Macbook Pro. Even though the Macbook does everything (apart from what I've mentioned above) else the Pro does.

So for the few minor differences I expect that I'll go with the Pro. Though it may take 4 months or so before I get to the purchase point, & who knows what changes may have happened in the Apple line up by then?

By the way, in this household we primarily run 2 x 24" 2007 alu' iMacs, 1 x 2000 model 15" Powerbook, 1 x iPhone & my iPod Touch.

So, apart from the dual booting & whatever else is going on here, in combination with the obvious evils of nearly ALL of the corporations; we still are happy to be using both OS X, & Linux, as opposed to MS stuff. (Actually, I only use OS X, when I must, so there is little happiness for me here in that regard.)

Also, there are other machines here that I have built myself, for various purposes. :) (Or obtained from the rubbish dump to be a firewall/router. :))

They are obviously not Apple products, they are just your average pile of consumer available bits & pieces put together by me when I wanted a machine to be a particular way.

When people draw a line & say don't cross over it due to your last name, all they are doing is repeating the stupidity of the family, tribal, (so called) racial, religious & whatever other political stupidity of the past.

Use what suits you, try to educate yourself so that you can apply intelligent pressure on the various levels of your government.

Don't waste your time on the little guys, aim at the a/holes at top, they are the ones that really matter.

[kaldor]

I'd buy either a 13" Macbook, or 13" Macbook Pro, due to their superior performance, & most especially due to their vastly superior battery time.

They may be a little more weighty, (the Macbook Pro is about a 100grams lighter than the Macbook) than the Air. But I'm pretty sure both of them will last longer & be far more versatile/powerful than the skinny little thing.

Personally, I prefer a few more muscles in every area that I find the anorexic MB-Air lacking.

Exactly.

The new MacBook Air is only good if you do a load of travelling and want a REAL OS X-powered device (not iPad, iPhone etc).

The entry level MacBook is an amazing machine if you want a laptop. For 200 dollars more or so, you can get a 21 inch iMac.

Edit to Handy:

It's been a while since the MacBook line has had an update. OS X 10.7 comes out in the Summer, so I'd wait until then instead of blowing all the money now and realizing how awesome the new stuff is in a few months ;)

[ngkong]

This is just a personal policy but I never buy first gen tech, you end up in the best case scenario overpaying for the cool factor, and in the worst case scenario end up being a beta tester.

As for laptops, I recommend a thinkpad, awesome build quality and generally great linux support. I have never owned a macbook, but I hear they are also good build quality. :)

that makes sense. thanks Islington.

actually, i prefer laptop with an ubuntu inside. i love ubuntu 10.04. the only consideration is the comfortability for traveling. i dont need a super laptop which can do all tasks that my home pc offers. of course it would be great if it can be a such thing. i don't care if it is an apple, thinkpad, dell, or anything.

my max budget is 1,5k. and the first priority are battery life and durability, it will be in my backpack most of the time while travelling. i would be really happy if there is a device that comparable or even better than macbook air, especially if it's fully compatible with ubuntu.

[fatality_uk]

If you can afford it, want a Mac, want a laptop, get it!

[Grenage]

I've been using ubuntu for 2 years. I'm a web developer (php, mysql, html, css, javascript, photoshop). currently using 10.04 with dualscreens, one monitor mostly used for virtualbox to boot windows xp, running photoshop and IE.

my current laptop is running under celeron processor, it's best time to upgrade. i'm interested in new macbook air for its incredible size and battery time. im gonna do travel alot, i plan to go for europe backpacking next year. i've just got my diving license and i won't waste it by doing nothing. it means size and battery do really matter, and those are the only reasons i want to go for mac. i've never used a mac in my whole life. last time i saw my friend's imac, i could not even find the power button. i know nothing about mac.

so what do you guys suggest? should I go new macbook air? is it programmer friendly? if not, what laptop do you suggest for it's size/weight and battery life?

ideally, i need only a good text editor, ftp, ssh, browser, photoshop, apache server and a video player when i get bored but nothing to do.


My wife has a Macbook Air, and it's a good bit of kit - at least for her. It weighs nothing, takes up no space, has a good-sized screen, runs all she needs very well - and it never goes wrong. Pretty much what you'd expect from a Mac. I'm not sure how it would deal with Photoshop, but office/movies run very nicely.

Would I buy a Mac to run Ubuntu, no; but I might to run OSX.

[Dr. C]

I would take a good look at the Panasonic Toughbook line. They are rugged, lightweight and have very long battery life. http://www.panasonic.com/business/toughbook/laptop-computers.asp?cm_mmc=PCSC_Toughbook-_-Vanityies-_-Homepage-_-laptop-computers.asp

[LMP900]

ideally, i need only a good text editor, ftp, ssh, browser, photoshop, apache server and a video player when i get bored but nothing to do.

It looks expensive because Apple decided to use an older processor, but the full-size keyboard, large trackpad, great screen (http://www.anandtech.com/show/3991/apples-2010-macbook-air-11-13inch-reviewed/5), flash storage, and the iLife suite are more important to me than raw power. For less money, the ThinkPad X100e seems to be a capable machine. However, you give up a lot of the nice Air features mentioned previously.

Personally, I'm waiting for AMD and Intel's next generation of processors due in a few months. But, I'm not in need of a laptop right now. Your situation might be different. If AMD delivers on battery life while maintaining their low-cost, then I will likely get an X-series ThinkPad.

[handy]

I've been using ubuntu for 2 years. I'm a web developer (php, mysql, html, css, javascript, photoshop). currently using 10.04 with dualscreens, one monitor mostly used for virtualbox to boot windows xp, running photoshop and IE.

You really do not want a Macbook Air, it is not suitable for what you are doing as stated above.



my current laptop is running under celeron processor, it's best time to upgrade. i'm interested in new macbook air for its incredible size and battery time.

The Macbook Air's, battery time sucks, compared to the 13" Macbook & the 13" Macbook Pro. Apart from the fact that both of those machines are SO much more powerful in every other way as well. Except they aren't as skinny...



im gonna do travel alot, i plan to go for europe backpacking next year. i've just got my diving license and i won't waste it by doing nothing. it means size and battery do really matter, and those are the only reasons i want to go for mac.

For another 1kg in weight, you get far more than 1 more horse power in usability. Let alone hours more out of the battery IF you step up to the 13" Macbook, or Pro.



i've never used a mac in my whole life. last time i saw my friend's imac, i could not even find the power button. i know nothing about mac.

OS X, is the easiest system to learn (apart from the Amiga), so don't worry about that. You can also easily install a distro on it & dual boot, triple boot if you must (running a Windows too).



so what do you guys suggest? should I go new macbook air? is it programmer friendly? if not, what laptop do you suggest for it's size/weight and battery life?

I've already told you multiple times what my opinion is. Don't get the Air. If you do you will regret it. Your money would be invested in far better in a genuine Apple notebook, & the 13" varieties are where you get the very best battery life, possibly of all notebooks. They quote 10hrs* (with an asterisk of course ;)).



ideally, i need only a good text editor, ftp, ssh, browser, photoshop, apache server and a video player when i get bored but nothing to do.


Again, I say, the Air is NOT built for what you want to do.

[del_diablo]

It looks expensive because Apple decided to use an older processor,

Did they not do that so it could get a ION intrigrated Nvidia GPU instead of using Intels really really crappy one?
Then how can it be bad?

[LMP900]

Did they not do that so it could get a ION intrigrated Nvidia GPU instead of using Intels really really crappy one?
Then how can it be bad?

I never said it was bad. ;) I said it looks expensive for what you get. But most people don't consider other important factors like keyboard, trackpad, screen quality, and weight. They simply look at the gigahertz, the gigabytes, and the wifis to decide whether it is a good laptop or not.

[Ctrl-Alt-F1]

My wife has a Macbook Air (not the new one) and I really like it. It's small but has a nice screen, has a reasonably powerful processor, but gets bogged down sometimes with flash video. It stays cool because of the metal case, which dissipates heat, but the flip side of that is that the case gets very hot sometimes. The trackpad and keyboard are great! Overall I'm glad that she bought it. It's great for having a pc...I mean Mac...that is easy to travel with, sturdy enough that you're not afraid of breaking it, and attractive.

[Laterix]

Buy it, you won't regret.

[RandomJoe]

I'm so tempted to by an Air myself... Probably already would have, if I didn't have a netbook that is perfectly serviceable. (Much as I like the form factor, there's no way I could use something that small as my primary machine - I need screen space!)

However, for the uses you mention I wonder if it would be sufficient. Can you cram all those programs into 128GB? (Unless you go to 250GB for the 13" model.) Keep in mind it doesn't have a standard form-factor drive inside, so (at least for now) no easy way to swap to a larger one. I have a MBP with 320GB HDD and between my VMs and larger apps even that is getting cramped.

I'd also wonder about battery life - is 5 hours enough in a backpacking setting? Can't swap in a spare battery, so you're stuck with finding a place to recharge before you could use it again.

I do like OS X though. Used to be 100% Linux, for over 10 years total. Got the MBP last year intending to boot Ubuntu, but liked OS X so much I put Ubuntu in a VM instead.

[KingYaba]

I wondered why they couldn't put an i3 or an i5 in that machine until someone told me it's because Intel wants Apple to use their graphics instead of that Nvidia 320something. It was a licensing issue. Apple is now what, one or two generations behind in CPU? And they still charge such a high price! What a waste of money.

[era86]

I've been using ubuntu for 2 years. I'm a web developer (php, mysql, html, css, javascript, photoshop). currently using 10.04 with dualscreens, one monitor mostly used for virtualbox to boot windows xp, running photoshop and IE.

my current laptop is running under celeron processor, it's best time to upgrade. i'm interested in new macbook air for its incredible size and battery time. im gonna do travel alot, i plan to go for europe backpacking next year. i've just got my diving license and i won't waste it by doing nothing. it means size and battery do really matter, and those are the only reasons i want to go for mac. i've never used a mac in my whole life. last time i saw my friend's imac, i could not even find the power button. i know nothing about mac.

so what do you guys suggest? should I go new macbook air? is it programmer friendly? if not, what laptop do you suggest for it's size/weight and battery life?

ideally, i need only a good text editor, ftp, ssh, browser, photoshop, apache server and a video player when i get bored but nothing to do.


Running photoshop and a local apache server for web development on a Macbook air? No thanks.... You'd be better suited for a Macbook Pro 13". Or even a 15" MBP.

If you're willing to continue using Ubuntu, the Thinkpad T410s is a great portable machine. If you want better battery life, go with an X201.

Edit: With SSDs in them, the performance is even better!

[LMP900]

I wondered why they couldn't put an i3 or an i5 in that machine until someone told me it's because Intel wants Apple to use their graphics instead of that Nvidia 320something. It was a licensing issue. Apple is now what, one or two generations behind in CPU? And they still charge such a high price! What a waste of money.

Many are willing to pay the high price for the great screen, flash storage, large trackpad, full-size keyboard, and slim design. Some things matter more than gigahertz. Compared to other ultra-slim laptopp, you'll find it's priced competitively.

[KiwiNZ]

I wondered why they couldn't put an i3 or an i5 in that machine until someone told me it's because Intel wants Apple to use their graphics instead of that Nvidia 320something. It was a licensing issue. Apple is now what, one or two generations behind in CPU? And they still charge such a high price! What a waste of money.

It's an ultra lite ultra portable not a desktop replacement or a Workstation replacement ;)

[hhh]

There are a hundred reviews out already, have you read any? Also, besides the competitive products that are already out, there are dozens in the wings that will be out in the weeks building up to Christmas.

[EnGorDiaz]

No. It's wonderfully light, thin etc, but it's seriously overpriced.

for the ssd and the processor compared to other netbooks including gpu not really as such overpriced

[Dr. C]

It is a very interesting form factor. The 11in screen may actually do very well, as net-books all max out at 10.1in because of Microsoft's arbitrary licensing limitations in Windows 7. With full OS X this is an Apple device that actually does make a lot of sense.