[Onto]

VP: Macbook Pro with Haswell Processor should be coming out this Fall. This will increase battery life like it did with the Mac Air.

Macrumors.com is a good site to keep up on all the "rumors".

If you still like to run Windows Apps, I suggest getting Parallels which is a VM tool that will allow you to install a Windows OS and then run Windows Apps while you are still in the Mac OSX. It's pretty sweet! I have this setup and it works really great. You don't need to partition your drive or use Boot Camp. Parallels costs about $80 but for me it's worth it to run windows apps seamlessly within my Mac OS.

I thought about buying the new MB Pro with Haswell this fall, but instead decided to replace the Hard Drive in my 2007 MB Pro (3.1) with a 480GB SS Drive, upgrade from 2GB to 6GB and updgrade to the latest Mountain Lion OS. It's like a new machine now, the SS drive makes all the difference.

Total Cost of Upgrade: $700

Hard Drive: $480
6 GB Ram: $120
Techinincian: $100

This should buy me time until the next, next MB Pro comes out in 2-3 years with the reduced mm chip technology.

[NY Digital]

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-NP900X3E-K...B00CTHQQBE

Specs: http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/pcs/N...01US-specs

The battery life is rated at around 7-8 hours. But the resolution is insane: 3200 x 1800

There's also the ideapad Yoga, which has around 10+ hours of battery life.
http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-13-3-Inch-C...B00ATANTRW

That's a touchscreen laptop that you can use as a tablet as well.

The resolution is only 1600 x 900, but that's plenty.


I think the real winner is this one though:
http://www.amazon.com/Acer-S7-392-9890-1...B00D4AX780

Great reviews, 8-9 hours of battery life, 256GB SSD, latest Haswell i7,
and a foldable tablet-touchscreen interface.

Hands-on Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_RugBvhf_A

Review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR8hqE48aYs

[Nascimento]

A bit off the original thread discussion, but still related..

What apps have you guys found to be the best for the Mac?

Currently on my third week with the MBA. Only app I have bought so far is Pages (word processor).

[Vacancier Permanent]

NYD,
Thanks man, those look good, will be checking them for sure.

Onto, yeah I'm very much looking forward for the new MBP. If it's really as they claim, better than the current MBP with an even improved battery, then it'll be a non brainer. Otherwise, a pimped MBA would be a great alternative, albeit a bit more expensive.

How are you liking the MBA Capitao?

[Nascimento]

Loving it.

I like how it's so light, and I can carry it around without a charger and not have to worry about charging it the day.

Still getting used to the Mac interface. Nice change over Windows.

[ProgrammingPlayboy]

(09-02-2013 08:17 PM)Nascimento Wrote:  

A bit off the original thread discussion, but still related..

What apps have you guys found to be the best for the Mac?

Currently on my third week with the MBA. Only app I have bought so far is Pages (word processor).

Definitely get flux. It's free and will save your eyes. - http://justgetflux.com/

I'm a big fan of iaWriter for writing. It will help you focus. http://www.iawriter.com/mac/

Google Chrome for your browser. It's faster than safari.

[Vacancier Permanent]

Just a quick question:
I got the base model 13" MBA, was wondering if I can upgrade the RAM to 8GM now or is it too late?

Also, where do I check to see how many cycles the battery of my MBA has done so far?

Thanks!

[presidentcarter]

I'm trying to make a decision here and I'm still not completely convinced that I shouldn't get a Mac. The only thing I really don't like about the MBA is the fact that the screen isn't top notch. I'm almost sold on the Sony VAIO Pro with it's 1080p screen (it's also lighter and smaller than the MBA). But...battery life isn't as good and I'm still wondering if I want to switch to Apple iOS.

[Duke Castile]

I just visited this thread today wondering what happened. VP you've got me wanting a MBP bad.

Check this out.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Apple%26%231...ifications

[villageindian]

(09-13-2013 10:05 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  

Just a quick question:
I got the base model 13" MBA, was wondering if I can upgrade the RAM to 8GM now or is it too late?

Also, where do I check to see how many cycles the battery of my MBA has done so far?

Cant change the RAM now. Told you to get 8GB configured as the RAM is soldered on to the motherboard.

Reg. battery cycles, open System Information by choosing About this Mac from the Apple menu. Click System Report and under Hardware, Power is listed. Look for cycle count.

Make sure you calibrate your battery well.

[Vacancier Permanent]

Thanks VI!
Sorry for the newbie question, but how do I calibrate well the battery? I read somewhere on the macrumuors site that for the newer models of Macs, they are automatically calibrated. Is that not true then?

Fisto, that's a sweet machine! But if you can wait about a month, there'll be a newer model of the MBP released. But for someone mobile, the MBA is the way to go. Just pimp it to suit your needs. I'm very happy with the MBA even if initially, I was looking to get an MBP. I tried both and so far, the MBA is the one that I enjoyed the most.

[iknowexactly]

Things to consider:

1) The newer Haswell (?) processor will have much better batter life
2) If you do ANY extensive video editing get a Pro
3) batt util
http://download.cnet.com/coconutBattery/...75049.html
4)reset batt and machine:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964

[DirectDanger]

I just got a MBA 13 inch 1.3GHz processor with an upgraded to the 8GB of Ram and 256GB hard drive. I ordered from Macmall.com as they don't charge tax and have free shipping, plus sell at a slight discount to the Mac store.

If you go to.... http://appleinsider.com/mac_price_guide/# You get an extra 2% discount with the code APPLEINSIDER02

You can see i got my macbook air for $1,333.74 total. If I would have bought the same thing from the apple.com store because of sales tax it would have cost me $1,514.42. So I saved $180.68.

I am really happy with the MBA so far. The speed of the SSD hard drive is crazy. The only reason I could see in me wanting the MBP would be the Retina screen but I can't justify the $300+ price just for a better screen when the MBA screen is still pretty darn good.

[presidentcarter]

(09-14-2013 09:49 AM)DirectDanger Wrote:  

I just got a MBA 13 inch 1.3GHz processor with an upgraded to the 8GB of Ram and 256GB hard drive. I ordered from Macmall.com as they don't charge tax and have free shipping, plus sell at a slight discount to the Mac store.

If you go to.... http://appleinsider.com/mac_price_guide/# You get an extra 2% discount with the code APPLEINSIDER02

You can see i got my macbook air for $1,333.74 total. If I would have bought the same thing from the apple.com store because of sales tax it would have cost me $1,514.42. So I saved $180.68.

I am really happy with the MBA so far. The speed of the SSD hard drive is crazy. The only reason I could see in me wanting the MBP would be the Retina screen but I can't justify the $300+ price just for a better screen when the MBA screen is still pretty darn good.

That's pretty solid. At what point do you enter the 2% discount code? I got to the payment screen and didn't see anywhere to enter it.

[DirectDanger]

http://www.macmall.com/p/8306329?source=APPLEINSIDER02

On the right side under the buy now button it says enter promo code and then hit apply.

[Vacancier Permanent]

DD,
Does macmall ship to Canada? Not tax and free shipping sounds a good deal! Also, is macmall reliable and trustworthy? Never heard of them till you mention them in here but on their site it says they're Apple authorized resellers.

[DirectDanger]

I don't know about shipping to Canada. They are reliable and trust worthy. It is a Google trusted store and google insures up to $1,000 on any order. I and several other people I know have ordered the new MBA from them with zero problems.

[Vacancier Permanent]

Sounds good DD. Just called them and they unfortunately only ship to the US.
Does anyone know of any similar reliable sites with good deals like no tax/free shipping that ships to Canada as well?

[Duke Castile]

VP - Macmall, macconnection, and Amazon are the big 3 resellers to check out.

Also I'm going to hold off on buying that machine because I think its price will drop even further after if becomes "outdated" with the release of the new model.

Then again....I may just buy the new model ; )

Can you do video editing on the MBA?

[BigChris]

air. it's simple, does what you need it to do and it travels well.

[DirectDanger]

@Fisto Yes you can easily do video editing on the MBA. I have been testing it out using Final Cut Pro and it works great. The major problem is hard drive size. Having an external hard drive is pretty much a must because of how huge video files can get. This means you are no longer using your SSD hard drive so it is not as snappy but so far has been working great for me.

People who say you need a MBP for video editing are probably right if thats what you do for a living and use it all the time. The MBP will increase the rendering time. For my occasional video editing use as a hobby the MBA works great.

If you are using Adobe premier pro, making lots of animations, special graphics etc.... Then the extra power of the MBP will be helpful but if that is the case you should be waiting to buy the Mac Pro and not use a laptop anyway.

If you are just using something like imovie then by all means just get the MBA.

[Vacancier Permanent]

Fisto,
Just to add to DD's reply, the best config for the MBA to get is the i5, 8GB Ram and 256GB SSD drive. Portable, light, long lastime power plus extremely fast due to the 8GB Ram and a decent size hard drive. I'd also add an external portable hard drive such as the WD Passport. Cheap, light and classy.

I'm also going to wait another till the launch of the new MBP and see how it is. If it's really as they claim to be, then I'll get it or get an MBA with 8gb ram and 256gb SSD.

[Duke Castile]

Why not pay the extra 140 for the i7 processor?

Is that bad value for money?

[Vacancier Permanent]

It's not about the money, but from what I gathered reading through the macrumours forums, there's really not much difference plus the i7, as it consumes more energy, affects and reduces the length of your battery. So unless you're doing really heavy duty stuff on your laptop, you won't need the i7. Even if you were to get the i7, you'd only notice it with the heavy duty stuff, it wouldn't affect normal usage, which the i5 can more than handle.

[villageindian]

(09-13-2013 11:35 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  

Thanks VI!
Sorry for the newbie question, but how do I calibrate well the battery? I read somewhere on the macrumuors site that for the newer models of Macs, they are automatically calibrated. Is that not true then?

Nope. Since everyone's use is different, the calibration works out differently.

Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time. Apple recommends that if you leave your Mac plugged in most of the time, unplug it every 2 or 3 days and run on battery down to somewhere around 40-50%, then plug it back in. The new batteries with new Macs are designed to deliver up to 1000 full charge and discharge cycles before it reaches 80 percent of its original capacity.

Setup an appointment in your calendar where once a month, you can run down the battery completely to 0% and recharge again to 100%. That keeps the battery fresh.