MacBook Pro or MacBook Air?

[endoftheroad]

Alot of sailors like their MacBook Pro but are there any reasons why I shouldn't consider buying the Air?
I will be getting a 13 inch unit so that leaves me comparing 13" Pros and Airs.
I haven't found any discussions on this forum regarding MacBook Air's.

Thanks

[Capt Rottnest]

My Macbook Pro sucks up too much from the house batteries. Maybe because its old, but anyhow, a Mac'Air would require less electricity. Matters if you don't have a huge bank.

[Fog Bank]

Originally Posted by endoftheroad

Alot of sailors like their MacBook Pro but are there any reasons why I shouldn't consider buying the Air?
I will be getting a 13 inch unit so that leaves me comparing 13" Pros and Airs.
I haven't found any discussions on this forum regarding MacBook Air's.

Thanks

I'm a MacBook Pro user, and we have a MacBook Air in our household. I wouldn't say any reasons exist not to consider an Air. The only variable is which model year you get, and I say that due to the HD space issue. Remembering your earlier thread I'm assuming you are seeking a gently used Air.

[endoftheroad]

Rottnest,
The 13 inch Air gets up to 12 hours battery life so I'm assuming it's quite energy effecient, btw I have a surplus of power on my boat.

Fog,
The last deal for me trying for a used MacBook went cold, I'm getting a new one now.

[Fog Bank]

Originally Posted by endoftheroad

Rottnest,
The 13 inch Air gets up to 12 hours battery life so I'm assuming it's quite energy effecient, btw I have a surplus of power on my boat.

Fog,
The last deal for me trying for a used MacBook went cold, I'm getting a new one now.

If you are going new the Air will do everything you need it to do.

[Capt Rottnest]

Originally Posted by endoftheroad

Rottnest,
The 13 inch Air gets up to 12 hours battery life so I'm assuming it's quite energy effecient, btw I have a surplus of power on my boat.

Fog,
The last deal for me trying for a used MacBook went cold, I'm getting a new one now.

Dont know how Apple determine those battery lives. Both our MB Pros did around 4 to 5 hours despite the 7 hour claim.
But the Air does everything a Pro does, no reason for a Pro apart from slightly cheaper.

[Wotname]

I use both, the Air certainly has a much longer battery life and is very noticeably lighter which is a good thing for a portable unit .

If you don't need the disk drive, I would suggest the Air fills most of the needs of the "home" user.

[youngson]

Comparing the 13' air (1099$) to the 13' pro (1349$) the only reason to get the pro over the air is if you would be using the CD drive, because the air is cheaper, lighter and more efficient.

[endoftheroad]

Youngson,
Didn't Apple recently get rid of cd drives in their notebooks?

[El Pinguino]

The basic Macbook Pro still has a DVD drive but its gone from the retina ones.

more info here Apple - Mac - Compare Mac notebooks.

[Captain Ludd]

Something to be considered is the design of both.
To reduce the weight the Air is built with everything on the motherboard so any repairs are limited, whereas the Pro is built conventionally.
Have a chat to someone in an Apple Shop or log on to the Apple forum and ask there would be my advice.

[sparau]

Originally Posted by Captain Ludd

Something to be considered is the design of both.
To reduce the weight the Air is built with everything on the motherboard so any repairs are limited, whereas the Pro is built conventionally.
Have a chat to someone in an Apple Shop or log on to the Apple forum and ask there would be my advice.

There aren't many, if any discrete devices on a Pro either.

But the air, being a smaller form factor has more issues with heat if you work it hard especially in tropical climes. e.g. forget gaming apart from solitaire, video editing. On the other hand I am a computer programmer and run a VM of windows inside OSX with SQL server, Visual Studio plus half a dozen other running programs without issue for ~5 hours to a charge (3-4 hours after >2 years).

Gotta give a fair thumbs up for either as to reliability and stability, admittedly mine hasn't spent time on water or ever been dropped but I am a computer programmer and have put ~3,000 hours of work (not emailing) on my Air since late 2011.

In that time it has hung 1 time (stopped responding) and I have probably restarted it 10 times all up.

[sparau]

Not that this is a Win/Mac thread but for a laugh I should add (after saying having restarted 10 times and 1 hang in 2.5 years) the Windows Virtual Machine (basically ideal fake hardware) has been restarted >100 times and has blue screened 15. lol

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by Wotname

I use both, the Air certainly has a much longer battery life and is very noticeably lighter which is a good thing for a portable unit .

I find the opposite the case (battery life, not weight obviously)

My MBP is early 2013 and MBA a year or two older.

My MBP replaced an older MacPro and is my primary computer for photo & video editing and I have a 30" & 23" cinema screen hanging off it.

If at home I had the latest MacPro or even a high end iMac, then I I think I would be happy with the latest generation Macbook Air with the memory and storage upgrades as my on the go computer ;-)

[endoftheroad]

This is all good stuff, naturally living in the tropics and in a hot boat it concerns me when hearing the report of the Air getting hot.
I currently have a 12 volt fan located near my proposed mounting location and can have it blow that way.
I'm sure it would be wise to keep it out of the sunlight especially while running Navionics.

Any complaints with the MBA when using Navionics?

I have a 2" octagonal solid teak post that extends from a counter at my chart table to the cabin ceiling and would like to mount at this location.
Any recommendations for a quality mount for the latest generation MacBooks?