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Ask HN: Macbook Air vs Mac Book Pro vs Ultrabook, help me choose.

3 pointsby Concoursover 12 years ago
I'm planing to buy a new portable computer and can afford to buy a really good one. I'm considering buying a mac book Air, mainly because of the portability and mobility. I however need a very robust computer with some a giod battery and a descent screen size, the macbook Air screen however seems to be too small for that. What would you recommend me to do? the only reason why I'm considering an Ultrabook is, I've been working with PC's all my life and have never used any Apple products. At the other hand, the Macbook pro looks very robust. Can you please advise?<p>computer used for: coding, ftp'ing, office tasks (emails, word processing...etc).<p>I'd like to write some iphone apps at some point, so a Mac mini + Ultrabook is also an option.<p>p.s. french native speaker, sorry for any "funny sentence" there.<p>Thanks

7 comments

duiker101over 12 years ago
I'd go for the Ultrabook + Mac Mini. This comes from an anti-Apple person. But I owned a Mac Mini to make iPhone apps. Then it came the wonderful Apple's programmed obsolescence and I got cut out. Apple's products are way to expensive for what they offer. Not that they are not good, but not amazing as some people would say. I now stand against Apple because of they restrictive policy. Every single things they do makes me feel like they only want your money and that they want to rule the world. Every single thing.<p>Also, there are some very good Ultrabooks.
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scottyallenover 12 years ago
I'm a fulltime developer, and a macbook air 13" is my main machine. I love it, and wouldn't trade it for anything. The battery life is better than I've ever had before (4-5 hours in real world scenarios), and the portability can't be beat. At the same time, it's not too small to do real work on. That being said, I do hook it up to a 30" dell monitor &#38; mouse and keyboard when I'm not out and about.
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swastikover 12 years ago
For portability, the Air can't be beat.<p>I use a MacBook Pro because I don't really have a use for portability but I have worked with an Air and it is more than enough for what you need.<p>The battery life is slightly lower than the Pros but, at least for me, 5 hours is pretty good.
PonyGumboover 12 years ago
I have a new 11" Macbook Air, and I use it on a daily basis for coding. Portability was my primary concern (I wanted something I could carry with me whenever I leave the house), and I've been really impressed by the speed.
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elrznover 12 years ago
Get an Asus Zenbook UX32VD (the one with the dedicated card and 1080p screen), update the HDD for an SSD of your choice and up the RAM.
UnoriginalGuyover 12 years ago
Why isn't a Thinkpad on that list? Most would agree that they're on the same "level" as Macbooks. Just with different pros and cons.
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OafTobarkover 12 years ago
For your purposes, a 13" Macbook Air would suffice.