Mac Pro vs Mac Air – close call…
(A snap review of Macbook Air 11inch, i7 1.8GHz, 120GB HD, 4GB RAM)
Just within less than a month of acquiring a Macbook Pra and writing a short review about it on my blog, now I am blessed with the arrival of this much awaited Macbook Air.
Well, I knew of its coming however not certain of when.
Now it has just been practically delivered to my door at office.
And the first impression was this wow factor. Yes certainly its impressive on a first look.
Macbook Pro – Big, strong, highly versatile and still charming, seductive…!
Well, despite its bulkiness, it is the performance that really counts for this lovely (and I still maintain its seductiveness…) Macbook Pro.
And major difference that was immediately palpable was when using the keyboard to type. Though Air is certainly much better than Sony Vaio to handle, and the keyboard is far more tactile, it is still no match with the Pro in term of easiness with typing.
Macbook Pro is certainly the best. You feel so confident typing on it.
While the Air, you can almost feel the keyboard vibration through the table or your lap (wherever the Air is seated on), due to its thinness. It is this feel of ‘wanting’ as you keep on typing, as opposed to the Pro, you feel completely secure, and satisfied with each fingerstroke.
I am a keyboard mania maybe, but I maintain that keyboard is the most important hardware that matters so much, since it is the one interface between you and your laptop which you will end up massaging, tapping or stroking day in and day out. So you want nothing but the best feel and satisfaction.
Since, I have been working to make this (Pro) laptop a workhorse computer, by now it has nearly every application and setting needed to fulfill my daily need. This is a big thing since if I switch, I will have to start from basic again, I am talking about losing those valuable three weeks of time that I have spent to make my Pro my best companion on the table.
Small vs big...I was beaten!
So, after making this Pro my close companion (hmmm that I probably spent more awake time with this machine than with my wife er….dlhkoiwbit…) I get emotionally attached, and parting with it means a loss (really…?), and I bet I will keep wondering why on earth I switched? I essentially got everything from my Pro, huge HD space, fantastic keyboard, pleasant, highly viewable screen, and of course it is blistering fast. The only thing that this machine does not have is a slim and light body…and itself may be a ‘strength’ in the sense that it is less vulnerable than the Air.
Talking about bulkiness, one thing I noticed about the Pro is, despite its large size and quite substantial weight, it sits comfortably on my lap, and it doesn’t release too much heat like any other laptops. I remember my Sony Vaio, I had a little discomfort handling this laptop on my lap, on my night wares, since the heat can be felt to cause discomfort especially with prolonged use.
I should be reminded of my experience with Sony Vaio VPCX. It is a very thin and slim laptop – dimension almost matching that of Mac Air – however, little did I ever given a thought, that it’s slimliness that killed…? Have you not ever wondered why thin people are more prone to osteoporosis? If being thin means less agile, less robust in term of resistance to breakage (or accidental mishandling), than I should have learned enough from my experience with Vaio VPCX (the laptop hinges broke apart and I almost lost the whole thing, till someone clever at the repair shop managed to patch the hinges back, at a very high cost, and resulted in the screen losing a few valuable pixels…
Mac Air – Thin and Slim, Irresistible majesty – with some shortages…
So, here I go. There is no denying of its majestic beauty…slender body, thin and ultraportable, much more pleasing to the eyes compared to that bulky Mac Pro. And it boots faster, it’s just great.
It's got that 'wow' factor and 'oh this is my dream laptop' kind of thinking for anyone seeing it...
This laptop comes in an 11inch size, it is so thin and lightweight, in contrast to the (now) fat Macbook Pro which could hardly sit comfortably in your hand, this Air can can be handled by your fingers, and I am serious. It is so thin and light that you will hardly realize this little beast is sitting inside your backpack. At the same time, unlike Sony Vaio VPCX, it feels more sturdy, and the keyboard body has more weight and feel solid, making typing more pleasant if compared to Vaio VPCX.
Keyboard keys a bit superficial…
Ouch, as I am typing I could feel the thinness of the keyboard and that the keys are rather too superficial, therefore the feel is less satisfying than when you are typing on a Macbook Pro. Another little thing I notice, the power on-off switch is seated at top right, comes as one of the keys on the keyboard. So, is there a risk that you accidentally tap this power key during typing? Didn’t happen with me though but it is a theoretical possibility, you also got to be careful when cleaning the keyboard as you may accidentally hit this power key as well…
Size wise, yes it is far smaller, far thinner of course. However, I know by having this little princess, I will lose on a few key things like – hard disk space, connectivity (no SD card – I need it often), no CD/DVD (this is also frequently needed in my work), and lack of ethernet support (these days I still need it when traveling). That is a lot to sacrifice. And of course, despite a fast SSD, the capacity is way too little.
Instead what do I get – yes I will get a featherweight thin laptop which means I don’t have to be walking around with a risk of breaking my shoulder one day. And it is less disturbing in case I need to open my laptop and operate it while I am seated in a crowd or during lectures and conferences.
How about battery life? This is yet to be tested, from initial report it was said that the battery life is probably a little less durable compared to Pro. That may be a disadvantage in real life.
A little bigger, or a little smaller? Right choice when size does matter. Both are equally powerful
Well, that’s perhaps not all. I notice this laptop has also quite a fast boot up speed, palpably better than the Pro. At least in term of speed & performance it is a close match to Mac Pro, this is what all the reviewers in CNET said. The keyboard, despite it being a little superficial, has a slightly smaller overall space, therefore all the keys are realistically more reachable compared to that of Pro.
However, looking at statistic, I am already space constrained – I just run the Finder on my Macbook Pro, check the Hard Disk, and, out of 500GB, as much as 136GB already used up! Which means, whatever I do, this tiny Mac Air will not be able to accommodate everything that I already have in my Pro, if I were to switch to it, let alone the future… To try shrinking the storage is not possible, as I keep a lot of photos and clinical images plus some videos which I think take up most of the space. Yes I did this when I received the Vaio VPCX equipped with a meager 64GB HD, I ended up missing a lot of thing, having to carry that spare external HD in case I need to dig back all those archives! Then I decided to ‘upgrade’ the storage by acquiring a 32GB SD card (highest storage available then – now you can get 64, or perhaps 128?) – however, if I were to do this with the Air, it’s not a possible option since the Air is missing that essential SD card slot. This is a serious negative factor in my decision making process.
Now, I remember, at the time when the offer came for this Mac Air, I had an option of going for a bigger SSD, at cost, of course, I sillily put the thought aside and just acted lazy by accepting the baseline spec. So, now I am stuck, not much to do but have to part with this machine, and be content with this large, chunky but fully functional Mac Pro.
I could do with both….no let’s forget the lavishness
The easy way is to keep both, but I believe by doing this in the end one of them will become redundant. After a careful and calculated thought, I have resigned myself to keeping the Mac Pro, no regret. Yes it is bulky and not slim like the Air, but I got everything I need, and it is now fully loaded with apps and optimized setting, I just have to kick off with all the works that needed done. Time to say good bye to Mac Air (…I will still miss it…)
