Fully Loaded MBA worth it?

Assuming you are going to keep the MBA for a reasonable time, getting a maxed out configuration makes the most sense. The CPU upgrade is only $100 and for the percentage price of an upper end 13" would be worth it. The performance difference is small but can be felt on CPU intensive tasks. Considering that you can't upgrade later I would recommend you get as much as you can afford when you purchase.

I've only had my maxed out MBA for a few days, but in my case it will definitely replace my MacBook Pro as my only laptop. I opted for the 2.13ghz/4gb/256gb model in order to maximize performance. It's a great addition to my iPad and iPhone, and very speedy with everyday tasks because of the incremental speed of the SSD. Highly recommended!

Depends on what you want to do with it. I have the $999 version and am very pleased. 🙂

I own a macbook pro and a macbook, as well as the latest mac book air(just basic configuration).

I must admit that I wish I would have gone for more the larger SSD drive.
As for faster cpu and ram, well that always helps, but even with the basic configuration, I am really loving the new macbook air.

Compared to my other two macs, the super light weight and size as well as the virtual lack of heat, when sitting on your lap is just phenominal!

You definetly won't be sorry!

Bercanees wrote:
Question: Do you deem it worth to purchase the fully loaded 13 inch MBA?

I'll play devil's advocate here. At $1799 USD for the "ultimate" MBA, you're at the identical price point to the 15" MBP (entry price point). If I'm going to spend $1800 on an Apple portable, I'm getting the 15" MBP, even more so if it's to be my only machine. If the Air is designed to be a "supplemental" machine, then maybe. I personally think the 'appeal' of the Air is the ultra portability at the attractive price point.

The other thing to consider, what are your needs? How will you be using the computer on a daily basis? Without knowing that, how is that the "ultimate" MBA is even the best fit? If it's a money burning a hole in the pocket scenario, then why not consider an i7 MBP with hi-res matte screen?

Regarding external storage, have you ever wondered how File Sharing, AirPort Storage, and iDisk (MobileMe) compare to USB 2.0 storage in terms of transfer speed?

Did you know that, although an SSD does not do large sustained transfers any faster than an HDD (when both are connected to the MacBook Air's USB 2.0 port), the SSD can do 45 times as many small random write transactions per second?

Did you know you can install software on your MacBook Air just as quickly using a remote optical drive as with a local one?

Those topics and more are covered in an article entitled, "By Land and By Air: External Storage For 2010 MacBook Air"
http://barefeats.com/mbpp32.html

In one word-- YES! The smaller/slower (CPU) MacBook Air is actually outperforming my 15" 2009 MBP. I got the top-of-the-line 13" and I don't regret. Hook it up to an Apple LED Cinema, and you have so much versatility + speed.

Bryan

me too. same basic model and very impressed.

I ended up buying a 13-inch with the 1.86 and 2GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. I had always bought the maxed-out version of computers in the past, but after talking with the guy in the store, he convinced me that the extra RAM and a faster processor wouldn't really do much for me, since at most I might be running Safari, reading PDFs and editing Word documents at the same time. I'm not noticing any significant decrease in performance at all, and I've still got 75 GB of storage, which is plenty for now.

I think that either of the 13 inch MBAs are great. I opted for the maxed out version as I am going to use it as my primary computer at home. It is much faster than my 27 inch iMac. In regards to the maxed out price of the MPA vs. 15 inch MBP, the SSD was the kicker for me. I really, really wanted the 15" MBP, but after playing with them in the stores, I don't think I will miss the 2" of screen real estate. Especially when I hook this up to the Cinema display.

rob_ART wrote:
Those topics and more are covered in an article entitled, "By Land and By Air: External Storage For 2010 MacBook Air"

"USB 3.0 FLASH DRIVES" as an article topic doesn't seem a critical factor for current users of the MacBook Air, and while yes there may be backwards compatibility it doesn't seem to be that great a purchase idea for Apple consumers yet, outside of those who also own systems produced by the PC manufacturers that have actually incorporated the new standard to date into products.

While I agree that a maxed out MBA enters the price range of a MBP, it still does not serve the same purpose and offer the same benefits.

First off, a 256GB SSD addition to a MBP would be a hefty price jump, not something you can really equate to the entry point MBP 15".

A lot of people have been saying that the new MBA is a secondary machine but I don't think it has to be. I use my MBA for everything. The only thing it physically cannot do is use CD media which I solve with a USB drive. How often do you really need that? If it is really that often, I think a Superdrive would be a fine compromise.

I'm an IT developer mostly using .NET technologies. I hate leaving Mac OS and I don't even like using BootCamp so I've been running Parallels 6 + Visual Studio 2010. I do all of my computing tasks on the MBA. For movies and music, I have a Time Capsule that contains all of that and I can even mount it remotely (via Internet) and listen to it wherever I have internet access (everywhere with phone tethering).

For 99% of people's needs, including a lot of power users, the MBA is more than enough. The Core 2 Duo is still a strong processor even if it is a bit 'old' and the Nvidia 320M is absolutely a beast.

So why not a crazy i7 MBP? First off, the iCore processors might as well be portable space heaters. They are amazingly fast, but honestly way too inefficient for their TDP. The current MBA is at 20 watts. The i7-920 can get up to 130 watts. That's going to be a lot of heat under heavy usage (and we all know how Flash is -amazing- at being generous on the CPU, /sarcasm).

I'd almost go as far as to say that the 256GB Air is not necessary, though the 4GB could be. For how cheap external storage is, why bother loading the Air up with everything that could be stored elsewhere (like movies/music). 128GB is more than enough for OS X, games, Window 7 partition, and all your documents.

The Air is about realizing that there is no need to have a huge computer with all this extraneous power. Why do you need 4 cores? Why do you need 3 GHZ? Why do you need 8-16GB RAM? Why do you need 1GB VRAM and 234829472348 shaders? You don't really. A modest process (C2D), strong mobile GPU (320M), decent RAM (2-4GB) and a solid state disk for performance with ample space.

So many people think that their GPU/CPU are the bottlenecks of their PC without realizing that a large majority of load times are based on I/O limits from the hard drive. You can't move stuff into memory faster than the disk can read it, even if your memory/CPU are a billion times faster. The load times you experience when you click Safari or in-game are all based on your hard disk. That's why the Air seems so fast, the solid state drive is simply amazing.

Take a sample of your daily usage on a computer. For the majority of the time, what are you doing? Are you seriously maxing it out or anywhere close? That's why the Air is beautiful, while it is powerful and able to do some serious tasks as well, it makes doing what you do most of the time that much easier and more responsive.

Master of the Intangible wrote:
For 99% of people's needs, including a lot of power users, the MBA is more than enough.

I believe this is utterly wrong .
I own the MBA 11.6 ultimate, an MBP and MacPro - I love the MBA, but it is what it is, a midget with big shoulder pads, aka SSD .