2013 Macbook Air Review (From a PC User's Respective)

[voaz]

I'm used to the ThinkPad X series which are 12 inch screens, so 13 inches is comfortable for me. Perfectly fine for unitasking or light juggling of 2 spreadsheets, but any serious using of multiple applications on the screen at once is cramped.

Ah okay! I'm a programmer and the 1366x768 workspace is not enough for me so and 15+ inch is a must =p

 

Ty

[frustratedrocka]

I'm typing this on a 2011 Macbook Pro. It's getting  a bit dated now (2.4ghz i7, 1333mhz RAM that I've upgraded to 16gb, 6770m gnu), but it still runs like a champ and shreds most of what I throw at it in boot camp. It's just a really smooth and clean user interface. The catch is that you pay a very high premium for it - my computer was $2000 when I bought it, and that was after the student discount. Objectively speaking there is a considerably lower price/performance ratio should you buy apple. Which is why the plan for my next setup is to have a 13 inch pro for work and a desktop for play.

[Madbrood]

I'm typing this on a 2011 Macbook Pro. It's getting  a bit dated now 

 

Spare a thought for me on my '09 MBP with 2.4GHz Core2Duo then!

[frustratedrocka]

Spare a thought for me on my '09 MBP with 2.4GHz Core2Duo then!

:lol: I meant for gaming. I can still run most things at 1920x1080 on an external screen, but it's straining harder than it used to. Not that it could ever run Crysis over 1280x720.

[ultimatemythbuster]

Great review! very detailed and it makes me believe OSX isn't bad at all.

 

Isn't the 13" display a bit small? I am used to a 15.6" display at the moment.

I don't like using anything smaller than 20" widescreen.

[voaz]

I don't like using anything smaller than 20" widescreen.

For a laptop..

[ultimatemythbuster]

For a laptop..

I can hardly stand using my laptop because it only has a 13" screen.

[Darren]

I can hardly stand using my laptop because it only has a 13" screen.

 

That's weird. You hold a laptop closer than a desktop monitor would be to your face so I find it takes up the same amount of space in my vision.

 

OP, glad to hear it was a positive experience. I grabbed myself a 13" Pro w/- Retina and I've loved it ever since. Works great. I also have a Windows based gaming rig so running games was never a factor of my decision to get one.

[ultimatemythbuster]

That's weird. You hold a laptop closer than a desktop monitor would be to your face so I find it takes up the same amount of space in my vision.

 

OP, glad to hear it was a positive experience. I grabbed myself a 13" Pro w/- Retina and I've loved it ever since. Works great. I also have a Windows based gaming rig so running games was never a factor of my decision to get one.

The main problem being that when I use Visual Studio, I have the toolbox on the left, the explorer on the right and the output window on the bottom.  That doesn't leave much room to see the code on a 13" 1024x800 screen.

[Madbrood]

:lol: I meant for gaming. I can still run most things at 1920x1080 on an external screen, but it's straining harder than it used to. Not that it could ever run Crysis over 1280x720.

 

I occasionally game on my MBP, but it's usually an ancient dosbox game or something similar. It can manage Civ 5 at medium settings, but that's probably pushing it.

[kaninchenxxl]

A macbook user doesn`t care about your  bf4 fps . mb are the best thing for workinng. You just stay produktive 

[Hikaru12]

I've also considered getting into Mac but I can't dish out that sort of money for a OS I have no guarantee I'd like. That being said, I might pick up a cheap Mac Mini on eBay at some point to just mess around and give it a try. Thanks for your review. 

 

I agree with your statement that the aluminum adds a touch of class and the keys on a Mac keyboard are a pleasure to type on but take some getting used to.