MBA instead of MBP for main computer?

Hi, I'm currently trying to decide between the 13in. MBA and MBP. I'll be a junior in college and have finally decided to update my aging five year old Dell (the screen is coming off, it's gotten so bad). I was considering the 13 MBP two years ago, but they were still using Dual Core 2 processors. I'll be carrying my computer around campus, on flights home, and going abroad with my new computer, so its kind of annoying the 13 in MBP is still using the same chassis from four years ago.
I'm comparing the 13 in MBA with 256 SSD, i7, 8GB RAM (for about $1600) to the 13 in MBP base model for $1099 (assuming 500 GB HD and i5 are fine for my needs). I'll be using it as my main computer for all the usual tasks (word, PP, internet, videos) as well as some Photoshop work. Do you think the MBA can handle my needs? I use my computer pretty much all day, every day. I greatly prefer the MBA form factor, display, and SSD, but when talking to someone at Apple, he said that I would notice a significant performance lack on the MBA compared to the MBP, which is concerns me, especially for the extra $500 or so. I know the battery life estimate is the same, but is that true in actuality?
At this point, with everything moving the direction of the air, does it make sense to still get a Pro for the performance? Also, my budget is relatively flexible after waiting for so long...would it be a decent investment to go for the SSD in a MBP instead?
Thanks!

Limnos,
I think that comparing durability between the two is a near "push", in gambling terms. Yes, the MBP is more "sturdy" in construction, but extra mass is also a detriment. Extra mass can result in greater force when jostled or dropped. I've owned Air's and Pros. I would feel less nervous if something were to be dropped on the Pro, but less so if my Air were to be dropped. Mind you, my machines have always sported aftermarket hard shells, and transported in a reasonably well padded stiff case (I'm using a Level 8 case now).
Overall, I suppose I would have to give the Pro a slight overall edge in overall resistance to damage, but it is entirely manageable. Probably the biggest worry is the lack of any extra glass layer protection on the MBA screen, as the the 13" Pro has.

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Newer MBA or Older MBP for light - moderate music, video, and graphic editing

Essentially I would be using it for the following:
Word Processing (ms office suite)
Video editing (primarily YT videos) via FCP X
Music editing / production via Garageband, Logic Pro, and Melodyne
Adobe Photoshop CS6 (nothing to heavy like I said willing to live without retina)
Probably light gaming
Coding ( I don't think this should be an issue, but want the ability to write apps for iOS)
Web surfing obviously
Building itunes library
It seems like a bit now that I look at it, but I don't think I would have more than two of these programs running at the same time (my guess is the worst would be fcpx, garageband, and cs6 all open at the same time). I have a 500GB western digital external HD that is practically empty minus a recent backup of all my files on my current computer.
Which do you think would fit my needs more? Portability is a factor for me but I think the mba is like 1/2 a pound lighter or something which I'm not sure makes a huge difference to me since I'm currently lugging around a 15" pc that is around 7-8lbs.
So I've kind of figured that 256 gb ssd is probably going to be the most I can afford with a budget of $1190 and under ( could I get away with 128gb with my 500gb external hd?).
I know I can get the ssd and ram (at least 8GB unless 4GB would suffice) I need with a MBA but I do not know if the processor will be good enough for everything i'm planning to do. I've seen older MBP (circa 2011-2012) that has adequate ram (8-16gb) minus a ssd but regular hd with 500-700gb in some cases 1 TB. I've seen these for less than 1000 on ebay.
So which is a better choice? I don't want a system that is too old. I currently have a working cd/dvdr drive on my pc so I could live without having a cd/dvd drive in my mac or superdrive or whatever.
I'm interested in brand new or refurbished (either by apple or seller). Nothing used. An SD slot would also be nice to have but I'm unsure as to which models have them.

From what I see on Twitter and blogs, a lot of photography pros are picking up the new MacBook Airs as their road machines because with the new Core iX processors they are quite acceptable for performance. I've mostly read about them using Lightroom, though, and not as a primary machine, so you should take some of your raw photos to an Apple store and run some Aperture tests to see how it feels. Do you think there is enough room to see everything, or does it feel cramped?
The main problem with the MacBook Air is not being able to put more than 4GB RAM in it, but with the SSD you might not notice the lag as much. For most people the Air is a fantastic computer. I use the 15" MacBook Pro, because I use other graphics apps where I need room to display documents, filmstrips, palettes, etc. so I need mor pixels, and also because I need to be able to have more RAM.
I would guess that GarageBand wouldn't be a problem on any new Mac, assuming you're not piling on heaps of effects.

13" MBA or 15" MBP for a musician, amateur photographer, and college student?

Now, if I had it my way I'd wait for the next MBP release, but alas my mother says I must buy a laptop now.
I've heard that the MBA is great for just about every average user's needs, but I do use my computer for more than the average user does.
Right now I'm using an HP desktop which I'll be bringing with me to college: 6 GB RAM, an i5 2.67GHz processor, and a 512 GB HDD at 7200 rpm.
It has a sucky monitor, but I'm going to replace it very soon.
I'm excited to get my Mac and use Aperture with it, because I tried Lightroom and found that it is not good enough in terms of workflow, so I did not purchase it (pricey) and am just using the Nikon software included with my camera.
I work with RAW files and often import 8 GB of them at a time and edit them, convert them to jpegs. The processes are all just a little slow, with the conversion to jpegs being the worst by far. That could be because I'm using the Nikon software, though. I recall that Lightroom was lightyears faster at that.
My point it, I WANT to use the Macbook I get as my primary photo editing machine. Is this realistic? Can either of the machines I'm looking at really handle that?
The 13" MBA would be too small, wouldn't it?
If I got the 15" MBP, I'd get the hi-res screen as well.
But the MBA is just so beautiful and portable. I'm worried that the MBP will feel like a burden. Then again, 6 pounds isn't that heavy still. And I know that if I buy the MBP, they will release a new one and I will feel remorseful, but, hey, a new model will always be around the corner.
And I couldn't afford a SSD if I got the MBP. :/
If I get the MBA, it will be maxed out.
I will also probably be purchasing an external hard drive for photos in the next 6 months, so I'm not concerned about 256 GB on the MBA being too little.
As far as other uses of the computer, I do some audio recording and editing. How good are the two machines at Garageband?
I'll do a lot of word processing for school. I like to stream video, listen to music.
Also, I love the HD cam on the MBP and hate the one of the MBA. I will be Skyping a lot this year.
Oh my GOSH. Sorry for writing so much and being disorganized. Thanks for reading! Haha.

From what I see on Twitter and blogs, a lot of photography pros are picking up the new MacBook Airs as their road machines because with the new Core iX processors they are quite acceptable for performance. I've mostly read about them using Lightroom, though, and not as a primary machine, so you should take some of your raw photos to an Apple store and run some Aperture tests to see how it feels. Do you think there is enough room to see everything, or does it feel cramped?
The main problem with the MacBook Air is not being able to put more than 4GB RAM in it, but with the SSD you might not notice the lag as much. For most people the Air is a fantastic computer. I use the 15" MacBook Pro, because I use other graphics apps where I need room to display documents, filmstrips, palettes, etc. so I need mor pixels, and also because I need to be able to have more RAM.
I would guess that GarageBand wouldn't be a problem on any new Mac, assuming you're not piling on heaps of effects.

MBA or MBP for me?

I'm planning to get the MBA. But what do you guys think? I went to Apple store like 7 times already to check both of them out! I'll be using it as my MAIN MACHINE. I'll use it for
-browsing web (a lot) for Facebook, YouTube, email, twitter, sports
-light photo editing (nothing like the pros only as a hobby)
-about 150 music and 250 photos
-maybe Xcode and other apps
-I WANT IT TO LAST FOR ATLEAST 4 years
-I want to be able to bring it to my friends house, school (high), and other places
What do you guys think? Tell me which model of which machine I should get (ex. 128GB, 4GB ram, MBA)
Thanks!

MBA is a secondary computer, not a Main computer.
So get the MBP.

Partitionning iMac internal HD in order to use MBA as main computer?

I'm planning to use my late 2011 MBA (with the lid down) plugged to the Thunderbolt equipped iMac I'm buying now.
The MBA would therefore become my main machine (I'm actually replacing my actual iMac which is not Thunderbolt equipped. The new Thunderbolt equipped iMac will be used only for tasks I can't perform with the MBA and as a replacement machine in case my MBA goes to repair, right).
I would like to store all my data (pictures, films, websites projects, documents, iTunes & Aperture libraries, and so forth) on the new iMac's internal HD, the advantage being I could access the mentioned data at Thunderbolt speed without having to purchase an external Thunderbolt HD.
I'm thinking of creating 2 partitions on the iMac internal HD:
- one partition for the iMac
- a second partition the as my data repository I would access mainly from the MBA - and also from the iMac when needed.
Hence my questions:
- is it a good idea? if not, what could be the problem?
- if somebody has a better solution, please let me know.

If your backup external drive has a power brick the Thunderbolt<->FW adaptor will work, many bus powered drives require more power than Thunderbolt provides. However you may be fine with USB. Your first TimeMachine backup will take a while, subsequent backups are shorter because they are incremental. I tend to connect my MBA to its external USB TM drive once or twice a day at home and the backup takes just a few minutes unless I install a big OS or program update. I strongly recommend against connecting the drive to your base station - for whatever reason at some point - days, weeks or months later - the backup session will fail and after that nothing will get it going again except formatting the drive and starting over. Apple doesn't support this form of wireless backup.
Take a good look at your current drive use and try to think back to estimate how your drive has expanded over the last couple years. Adding a larger drive to the MBA later is expensive and carrying around an external drive isn't particularly fun. Will 256GB be sufficient 2 years from now? Remember, you need to keep 10-15GB free for temporary files.
Finally, remember that a computer you carry around is at greater risk than the one sitting on your desk. A single backup drive is better than most have but two is better. A third kept somewhere other than the home is best. I like having one of those backups being a clone because I can boot up with it and get right back to work.

Help needed. I have a 3TB external hard drive partitioned into 1TB's. I used one partition as backup for the main computer hard drive. But now it is greyed out as shown in the disk utility and its name changed, i dont know how that happened, i tried verif

Help needed. I have a 3TB external hard drive partitioned into 1TB's. I used one partition as backup for the main computer hard drive. But now it is greyed out as shown in the disk utility and its name changed, i dont know how that happened, i tried verifying and repairing it but had no luck. I also tried mounting and unmounting it but still no solution. Anyone to help please?

Looks bad. I would strongly advise backing up the stuff on the other two partitions as soon as possible in case the rest of the drive goes wrong.
Beyond that, Disk Utility has limited abilities to repair disks, DiskWarrior uses a different approach and might, emphasis might be more successful. It has certainly done the job for me in the past when Disk Utility could not.
See http://www.alsoft.com/diskwarrior/

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the new main computer. Thank you Miles

If your secondary system don't want to SYNC. then try the following method to stop SYNC
Type '''about:config''' in URL and search for '''services.sync.prefs.sync.''' and set the value as "fasle".

I installed Firefox (10) sync on my laptop instead of my desktop. How do I uninstall, so I may install on my main computer? In tools the only sync option is "sync now."

Question
I installed Firefox (10) sync on my laptop instead of my desktop. How do I uninstall, so I may install on my main computer? In tools the only sync option is "sync now."

It won't let me install it on the other computer as a new account, saying that my address is already in use (on the small one) -- that is the crux of the problem.
When I try to set it up as a not-new account (clicking that I already have an account), there are different problems.
Am I right in assuming it needs to be installed on the main computer first (so that the smaller one doesn't wipe out the (more extensive) stuff on the main computer as they sync? I would love to be able to uninstall it on the small one, and start from the beginning on the big one.

I do not have my discs for install. My main computer is dying and purchased new computer. How can I reinstall on new computer without discs?

Hi,
My main computer is dying - keys do not work and video is gone.
I purchased a new retina Macbook pro and want to reinstall Logic Audio Pro 9. I do not have my original discs. I can still access the program on the original Macbook to deauthorize if necessary.
But how can I reinstall wihtout the discs?
Any help would be great. Thank you!
-Alec

Carbon Copy Cloner -or-
You could remove the HD and put it in an External Enclosure -or-
Maybe try using Apple's Migration Assistant -and finally-
Once you have the new computer set up you may want to use Time Machine

How can i change the "main" computer for my iphone?

I just bought a macbook...but I initially backed my phone up to my dell pc that will now go in the trash...how do I get the new computer to be my main computer and bring everything from my old puter (like itunes and iphone backup) to my new one?

Read this about how to change the security questions: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5312
If you can't use these procedures contact Apple. See: http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/contact/

HT4557 why does my main computer need to be on for homesharing to work?

I can ply my iTunes music through my iPad so long as my main computer is on, but I would think I should be able to do it even while my main computer is off. HELP?

If you are using home sharing then it needs the computer where you are sharing your content from to be turned on, if it's switched off then it won't be able to access your computer's iTunes library.

Thinking about getting a new iMac to use as the main computer. Has anyone done this? What is your experience and recommendations?

We have a 2009 MBP, 2010 MBP, 2011 MBA, an IPAD 2, and several ipods. Currently, my 2009 MBP is the main computer, holding all the music and pictures. This has used up the majority of the available storage and definitely slows it down some. I do back up the full computer to a backup drive and also remove the large movie files to another external drive. I'm thinking about getting a new iMac to use as the main computer. Has anyone done this? What is your experience and recommendations?
I look forward to all responses.
Thanks,
Brad

Thanks for your response. I look forward to hopefully learning something new here.
A good share of my music was added via my CDs, but now everything is added via itunes and occasionally amazon. Almost all my pictures and video are added through my cameras via iphoto although I have added some with the 'add image to iphoto library' function also.

Using MBAir as main computer?

Anybody doing this with external monitor and drives? Thinking of top end Air, 256GB etc with 27" display.

I have a 24" Samsung display that I connect mine to (at home & work) and at both locations I connect to a USB drive but that's for TimeMachine. At work I connect to the network and at home I have a NAS. But connected to the external display or not, for personal work the MBA is my main computer and at work the only thing I don't use it for is video editing. That's 100% due to not enough drive space on the SSD and the as yet missing reliable thunderbolt <-> firewire converter.

Is the 1.8" HDD really suited for a computer?

I remember reading somewhere a while back that ipod drives really couldn't be used as main computer hard drives because the daily activity would burn out the mechanism. Can this drive really take the punishment of computer users?

Notebook drives - 2.5" and 1.8" aren't really designed for heavy use. There's a reason why you're not going to find "enterprise" grade notebook drives. Their small size basically dictates the use of smaller, less robust components, not to mention the amount of heat that is generated from such a small device.
That being said, the MBA isn't supposed to be a "primary" computer system for moderate to heavy users. As one of Anandtech's reviews pointed out:
"...most of the people considering the Air aren't looking at it as a second notebook or a third system, they are looking at it as their primary notebook (and will be left sorely disappointed or frustrated after a while). "

MBA closer to MBP? - Config advice and questions.

I was recently configuring a MBP, and anxiously awaiting the Back to Mac Event to see if there might be incentive / improvements to wait for purchase or perhaps go with the MBA. I was really hoping for TRIM support on the MBP. Now in consideration of the MBA release, just wondering (not speculating), if Apple may eventually just circumvent the whole SSD market and move all their products to an integrated Flash format.
The whole event has also brought the MBA much closer to the MBP and I am now considering if the MBA may be acceptable solution to my computing needs. Looking for feedback on if the following MBA config would likely perform well with the software / processing requirements and question listed below.
MBA Config:
# 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
# 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
# 256GB Flash Storage
Using:
Microsoft Office Mac Business Ed.
Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac (http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/)
Note: Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac has the following requirements (below ###). I can see the that MBA config meets these, but am really looking for clean and smooth performance with multiple OSs - XP, Win 7 (64 bit), Ultimate (64 bit), Linux distos (not all open and running at once, but each - or two at a time - being able to run efficiently in parallel with the Mac OS) - and some OS specific apps. So, don't want to see a large performance degradation and no system "hiccups".
It is the MBA 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo that concerns me the most, then the 4GB RAM (would like 8GB RAM).
Parallels requirements:
# Any Macintosh computer with an Intel processor (1.66 GHz or greater). To run 64-bit operating systems in virtual machines, an Intel Core 2 or higher processor is required.
# Minimum 1 GB of memory, 2 GB of memory is recommended.
# About 500 MB of disk space on the boot volume (Macintosh HD) for Parallels Desktop installation.
# About 15 GB of disk space for each virtual machine.
Any idea if PGP and the 256GB Flash Storage would be an issue - for any reason?
I don't have any problem going with a MBP (especially with 2.8GHz Intel Core i7 and 8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM, with larger 17" screen). So, aside from the config vs "fit for use" question, I am also interested in trying to grasp how Apple is actually evolving - as of today. Seems like MBA is now likely the center of their Mac product line. I understand Lion will be out in summer, so just trying to see how others feel about MBA taking center stage and if they might consider it suitable replacement for MBP.
PS. the lack of backlit keyboard or glossy screen doesn't factor in that much for me (currently typing away, in dim light on glossy screened HP laptop).

I've been running a 1.86 GHz MBA with 128 SSD for a couple of years. Although I have Fusion installed, I boot Win7 using Boot Camp when I want/need to do anything more strenuous than surf the web.
I love the SSD and believe that it makes the unit run faster (but it isn't "instant on" like Apple's hype claims -- boot time is very quick, much quicker than Win7, but a cold start is, in no way, "instant").
I seem to recall one of the Mac blogs doing a speed test comparing the 1.86 C2D with the 2.13 C2D when that processor was first introduced in the MBA. Surprisingly, the 1.86 was actually FASTER in some operations; I'd be leery of assuming that the 2.13 upgrade is worth $100. Clearly, 4GB of RAM is a nice, and worthwhile, improvement for $100.
In summary, I don't think you really want an MBA if you need to do a lot of parallel computing -- running multiple O/S in parallel. The MBP you've spec'd will be FAR better for the tasks you describe.
Not saying I don't love my MBA; I do. But, as the saying goes: 'a man's gotta know his limits'.
I was itching for a faster processor and more RAM, and ready to buy a new MBA. But this Rev.A unit doesn't do it for me -- I don't see that it is a substantial improvement on my 2-year-old MBA.

MBA instead of MBP for main computer?

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