11" or 13" Air? Photographers' advice re: screen real estate

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Level 1

8 points

11" or 13" Air? Photographers' advice re: screen real estate

Hi,

I'm at the point where I need to decide between the 11" and 13" Macbook Air models. I already have a 24" iMac at home and a 15" MacbookPro at work, and want the Air for those times I'm travelling or heading off to a cafe and want to do some basic Photoshop/Lightroom work.

I won't be batch editing huge volumes of high resolution raw images - that I'll save for my main machine(s). The Air will be used more for simple layer masking, levels/curves/sharpness/shadow/highlight adjustments etc. of a few images at a time in Photoshop. In Lightroom I'll be organising, tagging, making simple synced adjustments to groups of images etc.

Portability is of prime importance, which makes me lean towards the 11" Air. The footprint of the 13" model means it can't be effortlessly slipped into a small shoulder bag, for example.

However I'm concerned that the short 768px height of the 11" model might make Photoshop/Lightroom editing a pain. Constant scrolling up and down, or having to hide and unhide palettes and windows all the time might be annoying.

Have any photographers had experience of such things on the 11" model and have opinions either way? Are my concerns justified? Are there any other benefits/drawbacks I might not have considered which would be worth knowing before making a purchase?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Posted on Feb 19, 2011 7:11 AM

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Answer 1

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,718 points

Feb 19, 2011 7:37 AM in response to pavinder

Rather than judging on others opinions why not take a trip to an Apple Store and play with Aperture on both models. If you can use LR you can easily figure out Aperture and then you can make a more informed decision.

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Answer 2

pavinder Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 19, 2011 7:46 AM in response to rkaufmann87

The Apple store I went to didn't have any photo-editing apps installed on the Macbook Airs (although I didn't check for Aperture), but your suggestion has given me a good idea.

I have a bootable clone of my Macbook Pro on a portable USB drive so I'll go down to the store with that, boot it up and try out Photoshop.

Thanks very much for your comment.

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Answer 3

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,718 points

Feb 19, 2011 7:53 AM in response to pavinder

Rather than doing that I'd recommend asking the store to load Aperture after letting them know your concerns. I think that would be a reasonable request.

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Answer 4

hawleyrw

Level 3

629 points

Feb 19, 2011 11:28 AM in response to pavinder

Your concern about the short (vertical) screen ratio was the reason I purchased the 13" for my photo work. To me, widescreen is really only good for watching movies, which I do a bit on here, but the more 'normal' aspect ratio means a lot more to me: less scrolling, etc. when working with files.

My 2 cents.

Cheers!

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Answer 5

88_King

Level 1

91 points

Feb 19, 2011 1:56 PM in response to pavinder

Hi,

I've Photoshop CS5 on my air, with the stock toolbars position, the maximum space to work on is 10.5 inches. With the 11 inch air, you will have just over 8 inches of space, not taking account dot per inch differences between the models, and you can always move the toolbars around.

I went for the 13" is due to the fact I need to work on it for prolonged period, so extra screen space and battery life are important to me.

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Answer 6

Tony T1

Level 6

10,232 points

Feb 19, 2011 2:06 PM in response to pavinder

pavinder wrote:
The Air will be used more for simple layer masking, levels/curves/sharpness/shadow/highlight adjustments etc. of a few images at a time in Photoshop.

The processor in the 11" MBA is only 1.4GHz (upgradable to 1.6GHz). You can get the 13" up'd to 2.13GHz. With Photoshop, this might be of more concern than the size of the screen. (Also, some rumor sites have some interesting rumors for the next gen MBA).

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Answer 7

pavinder Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 19, 2011 6:32 PM in response to Tony T1

Thanks for the replies so far. I understand that for heavier use the 13" would be more practical.

As far as 11" models I'm definitely considering a maxed-out machine with 4GB and 128GB SSD.

I found this gallery too which shows some apps on the machine:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattgemmell/sets/72157625720468834/with/5312089463/

Obviously Apple wouldn't ever release a machine with a screen too small to be useable, and its nice to see visual confirmation like this. Even Photoshop looks reasonable here and with tabbed windows clutter is minimized anyway.

Re: future updates, I can only see some Sandy Bridge rumors in a couple of places but to be honest for my needs I'm quite happy with the current specs. As I say, for me it really comes down simply to the question of whether the screen size is a hindrance to getting stuff done.

Of course with any machine one makes trade-offs, I just want to avoid a trade-off that might make the workflow annoying and be a disincentive to using the machine.

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Answer 8

Tony T1

Level 6

10,232 points

Feb 21, 2011 10:10 AM in response to pavinder

Well, the best way is to just give it a try. Speak to an Apple rep to confirm, but I think that you have 14 days to return a Mac, so you can try the 11" and if it's not suitable for your needs, you can return it within 14 days and exchange it for a 13"

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Answer 9

pavinder Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 22, 2011 4:24 AM in response to Tony T1

All suggestions and comments well appreciated.

I've been running my iMac (and Macbook Pro) on 1280 x 800 pixels the last few days as a simulation. The 24" screen obviously makes it feel like a child's toy - huge text etc. - but for the most part it feels functional.

In fact it's the web browsing that's the main concern, lots of scrolling....

Photoshop feels "cut-down" but no problem with operation, so doubts about the 11" Air have pretty much disappeared and I'm almost set to buy.

Unfortunately Apple announced their "Back To School" campaign this week in Japan (where I'm living) and the only Mac not included in the campaign is the 11" Air, which is unbelievably annoying I must say.
Why it's not included, I have no idea. Fully maxed out the 11" costs more than the 13" Air, more than a Macbook and more than a Macbook Pro, all of which are included in the campaign.

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Answer 10

Tony T1

Level 6

10,232 points

Feb 22, 2011 7:00 AM in response to pavinder

Take a look at the refurbished units. They go fast, but today they have a 1.6 GHz with 4GB memory  and a 128GB for $1,189 (savings of $200)
 
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_air/11?mco=MjEwNT cwMTk

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