11-inch or 13-inch MacBook Air?

Any of you have experience using Adobe CS5 on your 11-inch MBAs? I do freelance design work and use my iMac as my main design station, but want to be able to occasionally open my design files on the fly (client meetings, etc.).

I thought that the 11-inch with maxed out RAM would be perfect for me, but now that I've seen it in-store I'm wondering if the screen is just too tiny to do any design work. I'm also worried that CS5 might consume too much disc space. Thoughts?

Message was edited by: ohtwo

I surprised the wife with the 11-inch MBA for the holidays. We already have two Macbook pros 17-inchers. We didn't want the oversized footprint. The small size is surperb! Outstanding computer. Really fast and portable! Go with the 4GB ram and 128 GB SSD. She really loves it! zoz

I agree with you. I thought that I really wanted the 11" but when I compared the two, I enjoyed the 13 more. While I like the unique scale of the 11', it's not the width of the screen that I need. It needs to be taller for me. I'm a little weird like that...

Either machine is completely awesome!!
Sly

the air is meant to be a portable computer! Get the 11'' its my favorite. If your going to get a 13'' get the macbook or macbook pro. That way you can burn cds and use the dvd drive etc... etc...

I ordered the 11" as soon as it became available online - it's the 4GB, 1.6GHz, 128GB SSD version. I do love the system, and it runs Adobe's CS5 suite without any challenges. Lately I have been questioning my decision, and may end up "upgrading" to the 13" model. Being a web developer and having to run WIndows with Visual Studio, Expression Suite, etc... I am starting to see some limitations in power and SSD space. I suppose what's most important is RAM, and I do wish the next gen of Air's can handle 8GB of RAM, but regardless Parallels and VMware do run a lot faster on the 11" Air than it did on my 13" MB Pro, and I'm sure it's because of the SSD. I just feel the 13" will give it the little needed boos with the 2+GHz processor, and I wouldn't need to worry about SSD space with the 228GB SSD. The resolution on the 11" isn't also the nest for running Visual Studio, Flash or other tools that would benefit from the 13" resolution due to height. As a hobby photographer, having the SD reader would be a plus as well.

That being said, the I did go to the Apple store, and the 13" seems huge and way heavier than the 11", even though it really isn't. I've also been tempted to just get the Sony Vaio Z since it weighs just a few more ounces than the 13" Air, but includes a Core i5 or i7, is also SSD powered, can handle 8GB DDR3, has a backlit keyboard, and a Blu-ray drive - but I'm not willing to give up OS X nor do I want to go through getting Windows versions of software like Adobe's CS5 suite. One thing I did notice about the 13" Air is that the speaker quality is way better than the 11".

There are a lot of pros and cons to both machines. I was dead set on an MBA, and I wanted to really like the 11" because of how unique it is for Apple. When I stated fiddling with them in the store, I just couldn't get past the large difference in screen real estate between both machines. The 11" also felt like a glorified netbook.

I went with the 13" and am thrilled with it. Your mileage may vary...
Sly

I don't see any advantage to upgrading to a MBA, from a much more powerful MBP, if you need a beast machine to program, heavy CS5 editing, etc. I do see a HUGE advantage of having the 11" (maxed out) MBA vs. lugging around my 17" MBP when all I'm doing is tooling around town, etc. My back thanks me. I can see where power users would try and cram W7 virtual or bootcamp machines on them, so they only have one machine. But, there is a definite performance hit, no matter how you look at it...... As to screen real estate, the 13" is only a slight bit taller (1440 X 900 vs. 1366 X 768). The 13" gives the appearance there is "much" more because it is 4:3 vs. 16:9 aspect ratio. The 11" has a denser pixel ratio....

I "tested" both at the Apple store and was able to force both 2 GB models to run out of memory and have the "beach ball" going constantly. With 4 GB and 128 GB SSD, the maxed out 11" is great for having multiple applications and windows open, with 2 GB free most of the time. I guess it would work well doing code, but the screen is to small for serious graphics or photography editing.

Just my two cents worth..... I love mine 🙂

You are correct about the higher pixel density on the 11" MBA. I noticed the difference in screen size most notably because I was coming from a 15.4" windows laptop. While I liked how small the 11" MBA was, it felt too net-booky to me but everyone will see it differently and for a lot of people the smaller computer is better. Everyone will choose what works best for them. Both machines are completely amazing and most people will be thrilled with them...
Sly

I'm amazed at how many people say that the 11" is a secondary machine. I've made my maxed-out 11" my primary machine and I've not one complaint nor one regret. My usage is lightweight, but that's pretty much the point. I had no need for a larger hard drive or a faster, more powerful processor or even a bigger screen. All that would be wasted on me.

It's kinda like asking what size house one wants. If you've got a huge family, you need a big house. But if you're one person, why rattle around in a mansion? You get the size that suits your needs, and this size suits me perfectly.

And in addition, I no longer feel like I'm hauling around a brick. I've also got plenty of room on those tiny coffee tables for the computer, papers and a snack 🙂

I had the exact same dilemma as you and just could not decide between them. My main issue with the 11" was the hard drive space. I ended up getting a maxed out 11" and a Western Digital 1TB Portable hard drive for mac and I have no regrets (also ended up being cheaper than the 13" air that way). The way I figured it was, if you are going to go with the 13" air then you may as well just get a 13" pro instead because it has far better features at a much better price and is only slightly thicker. Go for the 11" air for style and portability. You will love it, it is so pretty. I'm using it at my sole computer and use it for internet, word processing, music production, editing photos, listening to music and watching movies.

I played around with both model inside the apple store and decided to go for the 11 inch model. The 13 inch model seems a lot bigger. Personally I think the SSD is great for applications and programs in terms of processing speed and efficiency. It's not all that useful for media contents like music and videos. I'd rather just use a flash drive to store those stuff.

The 1.4GHz processor and Nvidia 320M combo is good enough for streaming HD contents online. If you are not going to do video editing, there's really no need to get a super fast processor.

Therefore, I just got the 11 inch base model.

I agree...for me I use my iPad for true portable internet - for a laptop, screen real estate and form factor was more important, so chose the 13" myself. The 11 was almost too netbook-like. Very happy with my choice. Great computer. It's my primary system - but I do run a full Windows system I use as a server (hosts a few terabytes worth of documents, music and video) Shared drives are a wonderful thing.

To curl up on the couch and consume endless quantities of internet content, my iPad is supreme. I even like to use the virtual keyboard. I'm thrilled with my 13MBA tho...
Sly

Has anyone put Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac with Windows 7 on a MacBook Air (11" or 13")? And if so, how is it working out for you? I am thinking about getting an Air to supplement my 27" iMac.

Has anyone installed Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac and Windows 7 onto a MacBook Air (11" or 13")? If so, how is it working out for your?