Macbook Air--13 or 11 inch?
 

I've been asking FT members about external hd space for MBAs as I'm about to buy a refurb. I was planning to get the 13" but now, from reading feedback from that thread, I'm considering the 11" as an option, though still leaning toward 13".

Any opinions? I'm a light traveler (one carry-on, one personal bag) but visually challenged, so thinking the larger would be better for that. I plan to also travel with an iPad for watching movies. I've tried using iPad only, but it just doesn't work for me, and my MBPro is too much. Thinking the MBA will be my sweet spot. Thanks!

13"

You'll thank your eyes later. Not to mention it's not much bigger than the 11".

I'd go 13. The 13 is still exceptionally light, and it has a (IMO) more usable screen and keyboard. Plus given your interest in expandable storage. the 13 inch models have an SD card slot which you might find appealing for lightweight expansion. (Though I see you are considering a refurb... not sure when they put the SD card slot in, if it's only newer generations...)

I love the 11 nothing beats it.

I recently purchased an MBA 11" and it has worked well for me. The iPad was too inflexible for me and wanted a full size keyboard in a somewhat similar form factor. The lightness of the MBA 11" has effectively made it a solid iPad replacement for my purposes.

However, if I went into the purchase knowing what I know now, I probably would go with a 13" instead. The extra screen real-estate would be nice. Also, with photography as a hobby, it's annoying to have to bring an SD card adapter everywhere I go, since the 13" has one already.

Right javabytes, I was thinking that too, but thanks for the tip to check to make sure the refurb has that.

Thanks everyone for the validation, I think am on the right track with the 13".

If you want to actually work on a plane get the 11 inch
 

If you intend to do any significant amount of typing on the plane get the 11 inch.
In many economy seats even the 13 inch air is unusable if the person in front leans the seat back even a small amount. The lower screen height of the 11 inch means that it is still usable. If you always fly business or first or if you don't intend to type on the plane get the 13 inch.

I must agree. I have issues with using my 13" MBP in economy. Thankfully I have a full Windows 8 tablet for such tasks.

Granted - I don't work in Excel. I think for my line of work, the 11" is awesome.

I can type in any seat - no issues when the guy in front reclines. It has a full size keyboard and - most importantly, offers incredible portability. It fits INSIDE a binder or zippered portfolio.

It depends on what you do. I do a lot of stuff with MS Word, and presentations (Powerpoint/Keynote). The 11 is perfect... it will plug into any projector, run all day, and I can type/prepare presentations on the flight there/back. Otherwise it rides in my briefcase and I forget it's even there.


I love the portability and don't miss the screen size. Have at it.

I'd like to correct my post in your other thread...

Go for the 11" MBA (I own one for home) if you aren't doing intensive data processing - don't need to compare documents etc. Otherwise opt for the bigger screen.

I have the 13"; I love it. If I could justify the cost (i.e. travelling enough), I'd have both :).

I have both, different generations. I find it depends on my use, but when I travel with one of them, I'm almost all Ipad now, it is the 11 about 90% of the time. I use the 13 as a "desktop" at home.

Any reason why you don't 'dock' your MBA when at home and make use of an external screen?

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Don't really need it. I used to use a big monitor at home with a dock but if I need that now I tend to stay in my office. I have used an iPad as a second screen for a MB Air while traveling and it works well. I just typically don't need it.

Ah that makes sense. I have a home office with a 23" monitor plus the same setup in the office - I do like the Lenovo docking stations as espically when moving between travel and office is so often. I think you can get the same thing for Apple laptops - ish anyway.

Apple seems to have turned the monitor into the dock... all your peripherals plug in to your display, which you in turn plug in to your laptop.

The Thunderbolt display is awesome. I have the 11" MBA and the 27" Thunderbolt for the home office. I find that the simplicity of the "pinch" to expand / contract the screen image makes the 11" a perfect travel companion. I do recommend getting a loaded model to max out the ram and hard drive then there is no loss of performance either.

Are there hardware differences on the internals between the 11 and the 13? For example, does the 11 have only integrated graphics and not discrete? I liked the Air, but seem to recall that you had to go Retina to get discrete graphics.

http://www.imore.com/macbook-air-11-...should-you-get

Pretty good article.

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Right. I sometimes hook a MB to an external monitor but not really a docking station. The external keyboard and mouse are either USB to the Mac or more recently Bluetooth.

I have a docking station, a Thunderbolt docking station, for my MBA 11" and it is really nice. I have gigabit wired ethernet and a large USB3 hard drive connected to it now, when I am not out and about. (My MBA is from 2012 and is USB2).

It is probably my most-used computer these days even with the small screen.

It's so easy to carry around the house even.

I wouldn't go any smaller than a 13inch. Once you get down that small and Mac's in general anyway are so slim and lightweight its worth investing the extra weight and getting a useable screen.

Re thunderbolt screen discussion all good at home or in the office, but anywhere else good luck. Need HDMI.

I have a Thunderbolt to HDMI connector for anywhere else.

Get to an Apple store or other retailer, and try both in person. Ergonomics and screen size preferences are entirely personal, and what's alright for one person will be intolerably small for another.

If you really can't check one out in person, the size of the 13" is a safer choice.

BTW I doubt you are looking at machiness that old even as refurbs, but the first-generation (pre-Core-i5 aka "Late 2010") MacBook Air 11" was awfully slow -- uselessly so for some people even when new. The mid-2011 models and newer fix that, and the overall performance difference between the newer models has converged to where there's not really a difference worth worrying about in that sense.

I love my 13" MBA. But then again, I've never tried switching to the 11" to see if I could live with the smaller screen. I guess I usually end up in first class, but I don't have any problem with the 13" on regional jets with only economy.

I've had an 11" MBA since late 2011. While I had some challenges with the OS (it isn't windows!), the size of the machine was perfect for me. But then again I went from one of those Dell mini things to this :p

I use mine for travel and as a laptop around the house. I have a separate desktop (Windows machine), and work computer.

I really like the size/weight of the machine and would highly recommend it--I'll probably replace it with another eventually.

13" all the way.

I've traveled all over the world with my 13" and I barely even know its there.

The 2013 models are nearly exactly the same as the new 2014 models. Since they really don't have any moving parts (no hard drive because its SSD), there really isn't anything to break. So I'd go ahead and get a used one. They're selling 2013 13" MBA's on Amazon starting at $600. That's silly cheap.

If size is all you care about, go for the 11" but here's my reasons for going with the 13"

• Battery Life Battery Life Battery Life: Two hours more battery: The 13" battery life is two hours longer (8'ish hours vs 6'ish hours, more they "claim" on the new ones). I don't even carry my charger around with me during the day on my 13" anymore.
• SD Card. The 11" doesn't have an SD card slot. Want to transfer photos from your camera? Good luck. I use the SD card slot for more HD storage. I have an $75 StorEDGE 128gb flash drive that fits flush in my MacbookAir giving me another 128GB of space at half the price Apple charges.
• The 13" weighs .5 pounds (8 oz) less than the 11". If you can tell the difference, I won't believe u.
• 30% bigger Screen size: 13" is not just 15% bigger its more like 30% bigger because its an area relationship.
• 13" fits perfectly into the padded laptop slot of what I think are the world's best laptop bags, the North Face Surge and Mainframe. If my bag is otherwise empty, I have to check to make sure my 13" MBA is in there, because it's that light! Even lighter because you don't need to carry that charger around all day.

I have a 2013 MBA. This machine screams. It reboots so fast that I can hold my breath from when I hit reset to when I can open finder again! You'll love it.

The other thing to consider is resale value. You can usually sell your Macbook for a reasonable value, while a used PC laptop is mostly worthless.

Check on Ebay for what they sell for. I looked really quick and the prices for the 11" looked about the same as the 13" which implies the resale value might be higher for the 11". Maybe buy an 13" or 11" and if it feels too big or small you could resell it and get the other one.

Either way you'll be happy!

Looks like these are individual sales (so basically like ebay). But <30m after your post, the cheapest one available is now $750.

Thank you for all the great input. I just realized the MBAs don't have retina display (presumably for battery preservation?).... I love the retina display on my ipad, but since I'm using the MBA primarily for writing, maybe it's okay? Haven't heard any complaints about that here on FT.

I'm thinking 13" with the extra flash storage. This one:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FD...-intel-core-i5

The retina display does nice things for the sharpness of text, but if you tolerate a regular cheap PC laptop screen, the non-retina screens on the MBA (or on premium PCs with IPS or similar screens) will be significantly better than the regular cheap PC laptop screen.

I have an iPhone 5 with Retina.

When I bought an 1st Gen. iPad Mini, I could NOT tolerate the screen. I couldn't stand the pixelation and poor PPI.

Though I never say the same thing when I'm using my MBP. :confused: Not an issue here.

Retina isn't so important for a laptop because you read it much further away than your phone.

You stick your phone right in your face.

A bit further away on your lap or desk, the extra pixels aren't quite as important. I'd take battery life over retina anyday, and that's still the tradeoff.

I'm not sure it's much of a tradeoff even on the Apple; there are other differences between the MBP 13" with or without retina screen (most notably a full-power notebook processor rather than an ultrabook one*) that make a much bigger difference in battery life compared to the number of pixels on the screen even with a conventional IPS or TN panel.

Apple may start using the IGZO panels that are starting to get popular out in the PC world for high end laptops; those have most of the quality benefits of IPS, but have much better power consumption.

(* which is a lot faster, but these days, if you need the speed, you also almost certainly need the two extra cores in the 15" model.)

I've had a 13" MBA for almost 3 years. I was initially reluctant about the screen size; I think & work in high res and had thought anything less than 15" would be too small. But the resolution of the 13" works great for me at comfortable laptop working distance. And the form factor is so small and light I doubt I'd choose anything substantially larger in the future. When I really do need more screen real estate I can sit down at a desk and plug in to an external monitor.

I'm tempted to say the 11" would be too small. But that's why I explained my thought process about the 13". It could be that if I-- or you-- tried the 11" for a while it'd be okay. One definite benefit would be the ability to open it on a typical airline coach seat. The 13" is often too big for that unless I tilt the keyboard up against my chest.

As for the SD slot mentioned upthread-- my MBA is from the generation introduced in mid 2011 and has the slot. It's tremendously convenient for downloading pictures from my various cameras.

I have a 120GB SSD in my MBP (aftermarket).
Not enough room. So 256GB might be my next drive.

But for now, I threw the 500GB HDD that came with the MBP into the CD drive slot.

I digress.
More storage!!! You'll thank yourself later.